Remembering the bombing of the Ameriyah civilian shelter in Iraq
February 12, 1991: F117As streak across the Iraqi skies at 5:20 a.m. Laser-guided bombs* lock on. Fire one. Fire two. Bomb one hits the Ameriyah shelter, smashing through ten feet of concrete and steel. Precisely, it explodes milliseconds after penetrating the shelter. The shelter is wide open with 325 women and children and elderly people screaming. Seconds pass in front of people’s eyes when bomb two arrives on time. White light, white heat. Bomb two is an incendiary bomb, designed to cremate the target. 317 bodies burn for seven hours, as the workers attempt to open the doors that are welded shut. Out of desperation, the doors are blown open with dynamite. There are 7 survivors.
(Text by Tatsu Ikeda)
Pittsburgh students and community activists were so moved by this event that four people performed civil disobedience and were arrested at the CMU-DoD Software Engineering Institute (SEI) in 1992, in commemoration of the first anniversary of the cremation of Iraqi civilians. Students for Peace also sent two students to Iraq to see the Ameriyah shelter in suburban Baghdad first hand.
The students met people who were still mourning the death of their loved ones and the beginning of US/UN sanctions. They thrust black funeral banners in their hands and asked the peace delegation to show them to the American people. An amazing photo show was brought back, featuring stills of the Gulf War provided by Iraqi artists. All of us promised each other and the people of Iraq that the day of the Ameriyah bombing, February 12th, like Hiroshima, would be a day to remember and a plea for peace.
Dorothy Day, co-founder of the Catholic Worker Movement, once said that the most radical quality a person could possess is a long memory.
Never in the last 13 years could those of us on the steps of SEI imagine what was to come... sanctions bleeding the Iraqi people of life and resources, another war, and now... the occupation.
So there we were, February 14th, 2004, on the steps of SEI, author of many smart bomb weapons systems. The cold went straight to the bone as we stood in the shadows of a building that has seen a lot of peace traffic, vigils and arrests, holding a banner that said "Stop the Occupation… In Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine." In turn, participants spoke out passionately and thoughtfully. The event was recorded and posted to the web.
Standing there as the banner was being rolled up, with the bullhorn packed away, I strained for clear memories of two decades on these granite steps. Soon to travel to Iraq with a journalist delegation. Realizing that on March 20th, the first anniversary of the second US war on Iraq, I might be standing in front of the entrance to the Ameriyah shelter, which was never rebuilt. A monument to the waste and murder of war. Lest we forget...
mp3 audio of anti-war speakout:
http://staughton.indypgh.org/news/2004/02/12460.php
*
similar to guidance systems CMU's software engineering institute is developing- Vincent Eirene
