Collective punishment

The Associated Press is reporting that 39 civilians have been killed in a U.S. air-raid against "insurgents," in two villages just outside of Ramadi. A tribal leader and other witnesses found that 25 civilians were killed in Al-Bu Ubaid. Witnesses to the bombing of Al-Bu Faraj claimed that 14 civilians were killed by American bombs. AP Television News footage showed that the Al-Bu Faraj dead included at least 2 children and one woman.

This is collective punishment and it is prohibited by the Geneva Conventions. In other Geneva violations, a U.N. official is asserting that American soldiers are starving Iraqi civilians:
""A drama is taking place in total silence in Iraq, where the coalition's occupying forces are using hunger and deprivation of water as a weapon of war against the civilian population," Mr Ziegler told a press conference in Geneva. He said coalition forces were using "starvation of civilians as a method of warfare.""

Mr. Ziegler will present his report to the U.N. on October 27.