Those who dare to count the dead
In today’s Guardian, Naomi Klein presents evidence for her claim that U.S. forces in Fallujah specifically targeted anyone who dared to report on civilian casualties, placing them under arrest and removing any ability to communicate. In particular, doctors, journalists, and clerics were targeted, according to Klein.
To: David T Johnson, Acting ambassador, US Embassy, London
Dear Mr Johnson, On November 26, your press counsellor sent a letter to the Guardian taking strong exception to a sentence in my column of the same day. The sentence read: “In Iraq, US forces and their Iraqi surrogates are no longer bothering to conceal attacks on civilian targets and are openly eliminating anyone – doctors, clerics, journalists – who dares to count the bodies.” Of particular concern was the word “eliminating”.
The letter suggested that my charge was “baseless” and asked the Guardian either to withdraw it, or provide “evidence of this extremely grave accusation”. It is quite rare for US embassy officials to openly involve themselves in the free press of a foreign country, so I took the letter extremely seriously. But while I agree that the accusation is grave, I have no intention of withdrawing it. Here, instead, is the evidence you requested….