Kill their women and children

Iraqi doctors and humanitarian aid agencies in Iraq are begging "those with humanity" to bring to a halt the latest US offensive in western Iraq.

Arab TV networks carried the pleas of Shaikh Osama Jadaan, a Sunni leader and showed footage of entire neighborhoods levelled in the fighting.

The US said it conducted nine aerial bombings of villages and towns in western Iraq.

Arab press carried stories of entire families wiped out in the onslaught.

I am sure we will hear of a humanitarian catastrophe in the days to come.

The offensive came days after Iraq's (Iranian) defence minister Saadoun Al Dulaimi called on US forces to wipe out entire families and destroy the houses of resistance fighters with their women and children inside.

First mention of this was made on Raed in the Middle Blog in early November. Aljazeera just confirmed that Al Dulaimi did indeed make these statements.

No mention was made of this in foreign media, for reasons not altogether surprising to us. No wonder Rummy's panties are always in a knot when Aljazeera reports something.