Xref: utzoo misc.headlines:24959 trial.talk.politics.peace:92 talk.politics.mideast:36801 alt.desert-storm:12131
Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!cs.utexas.edu!yale!cmcl2!panix!mydog!gcf
From: gcf@mydog.UUCP (Gordon Fitch)
Newsgroups: misc.headlines,trial.talk.politics.peace,talk.politics.mideast,alt.desert-storm,alt.conspiracy
Subject: Re: Missing in Action
Message-ID: <9103162147.2178@mydog.UUCP>
Date: 17 Mar 91 02:47:15 GMT
References: <9103132214.879@mydog.UUCP><1991Mar15.221730.15632@oneb.wimsey.bc.ca>
Lines: 71

gcf@mydog.UUCP (Gordon Fitch) writes:
| >Iraqi dead.  According to the Geneva Convention, the party in
| >control of a given territory after combat is responsible for
| >making its best effort to find, count, and identify the
| >casualties of its adversary, including the dead.  The U.S.
| >command has made it clear that it has no intention of doing so.

twheeler@cbnewsj.att.com (theodore wheeler):
| Fitch, you unmitigated moron, graves registration units of all
| the services are right now combing the desert for dead Iraqis.
| Each body is identified as closely as possible, then buried
| with a marker. ...

root@oneb.wimsey.bc.ca (Super user) writes:
| Can you provide specific evidence that the U.S. command has 'made it
| clear', or in any way stated it has no intention of pursuing the
| issue? (I don't get much tv time, so may have missed something.)
| Please provide whatever documentation is available to you which 
| supports this allegation.

Unfortunately, my sources have been radio and television.  While
these are no more or less reliable than the printed word, they're
harder to trace.  Here's what I have:

1.  I personally saw an American general asked, on TV, about the
Iraqi casualties.  He stated that he had no idea and that he
didn't think the information would be available.  I believe
General Schwartzkopf himself said that he was "not going to play
the body-count game" but this statement could have many
interpretations.

2.  The radio station WBAI interviewed a woman working for a
relief organization in the Middle East who said they had become 
concerned about Iraqi MIAs because no one seemed to care about 
the situation, and that her organization had been "stonewalled."  
Because my car radio doesn't have a recording tape deck and my 
memory isn't perfect, I can't state the names.  The telephone 
number of WBAI is 212 279 0707 if anyone wishes to call them.  
I called this number myself a few days ago and spoke to Robert
Knight, who is one of the producers of "Undercurrents", a
nationally-distributed radio program.  Knight said that they are
aware of more than one report of this type, and that a program
will probably be devoted to the subject in the near future.

3.  I've received confirmation of the story by e-mail, and I've
written back asking for further information.

Let me add that this case may be one in which the act of
observation changes the thing observed.  Specifically, public
attention to a procedural "oversight" may cause the problem to be
suddenly corrected.  As a veteran I am rather sensitive to this
issue and I would prefer to be "wrong" than to have the situation 
continue. 

Mr. User alludes to photographing KIAs.  I had not heard of this
before.  It might be a good idea; I understand that many of the
Iraqi troops did not have shoes[1], and they may have lacked dog
tags as well.  However, because a procedure exists -- and this
refers not only to the articles I quote but to other articles as
well -- a recitation of the steps of the procedure, or its
demonstration in front of a television camera, does not mean it 
is being carried out in the field.  Nor does the fact that the
U.S. Government says something mean that it is necessarily true.
--
[1] Village Voice, vol. XXXVI no. 12, dated March 19, 1991, pg.
8, third column, about 2/3 of the way down the page.
--
Gordon Fitch  |  gcf@mydog.uucp  | uunet!cmcl2.nyu.edu!panix!mydog!gcf

--
Gordon Fitch  |  gcf@mydog.uucp  | uunet!cmcl2.nyu.edu!panix!mydog!gcf