Fwd: Message from Art Laffin-Today Marks the 35th Anniversary of U.S. Bombingcof Amiriyah Shelter in Iraq--God Forgive U.S.!

[Catholic Worker]

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Art Laffin <artl...@hotmail.com>
Date: Fri, Feb 13, 2026 at 2:21 PM
Subject: Message from Art Laffin-Today Marks the 35th Anniversary of U.S. Bombingcof Amiriyah Shelter in Iraq--God Forgive U.S.!
To:

photos of Amiriyah Shelter Now Turned Shrine to the Victims

Remembering the U.S. Bombing of the Amiriyah* Shelter Massacre in Iraq

by Art Laffin

Today marks the 35th anniversary of the U.S. bombing of the Amiriyah Shelter in Iraq. There is no indication that the U.S. government and military will ever repent for this unspeakable war crime. And it is unlikely few, if any political, military or even religious leaders, will ever decry this mortal sin! But on this day the people of Amiriyah and Iraq remember and continue to mourn and grieve, and still ask why? Thirty-five years later they ask, does anyone remember the victims? Please see this article from Al Jazerra: 

https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2021/2/13/amiriyah-bombing-30-years-on-no-one-remembers-the-victims

Jesus commands His followers–then and now: "Thou shalt not kill!" "Love one another." God forgive the U.S. for defying these divine commands! Let us pray that the U.S. will one day truly repent for this crime, part of a much larger crime of over three decades of U.S. warmaking and intervention in Iraq, which has resulted in over several million Iraqi deaths and countless injuries from bombings, sanctions, torture and occupation;  over four million refugees; immeasurable trauma for an entire society; political and social instability; and an endless cycle of violence. All of these factors served to create the conditions for the rise of the Islamic State. Six years ago, Iraqis demanded change. Over 400 protesters were killed in a brutal crackdown by U.S.-backed government security forces. 

The criminal murder of the top Iranian commander, Qasem Soleimani, by a U.S. killer drone strike in Iraq on January 3, 2020, ordered by President Trump, further contributed to a worsening of U.S.-Iraq-Iran relations. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qasem_Soleimani

If there is any hope to make true peace with Iraq, the U.S. must express forgiveness and make reparations to the Iraqi people for its warmaking and occupation, withdraw remaining U.S. military advisers and all CIA and private contractors from Iraq.

In the name of all victims, let us continue to nonviolently resist the current imperial reign of terror and call for the abolition of war and all weapons of war, including killer drones and nuclear weapons, for an end to all U.S. military intervention worldwide, as well as for an end to torture, racial hatred and all forms of systemic racism, violence and oppression. In this perilous time, let us redouble our efforts to create the Beloved Community as we seek to live and proclaim God's reign of love, justice and peace and Gospel nonviolence.

Note: The shelter that was bomb was located in Al-A'amiriya (Arabic العامرية), a neighborhood in the Mansour district of western Baghdad, Iraq on the way to the Anbar province. There is no agreed spelling for the name "Amiriyah" in English. The name is also written  Amariya, Amariyah, Ameria, Ameriya, Amerya, Amiriya and Amiriyah.

 

I wrote the below reflection (which has been slightly revised) during a visit with seven Voices in the Wilderness members to the Amiriyah Shelter in Iraq on Feb. 13, 1998, the 7th anniversary of the bombing. Umm Greyda, a woman who lost eight children in the bombing, moved into the shelter to help create a memorial to her children and all the victims. At the time of our visit, she served as the primary guide of the Memorial Shrine and conducted the tour for our group on that most memorable day. 

Photos of children killed in the bombing are displayed inside the shelter. An Iraqi woman pays tribute to the murdered children. 

Amiriyah

by Art Laffin

February 13, 1991, 4:30 a.m. 

Hundreds of Iraqis, mostly women and children still sleeping,

take refuge from the terror of U.S. bombs at a shelter in Amiriyah, just outside Baghdad.

For several days a surveillance plane had flown over the shelter. U.S. officials say they think Saddam Hussein is there.

The U.S. military knows different.

A decision is made in secret by President George Bush, Defense (War) Secretary Dick Cheney and General Colin Powell — bomb the shelter, massacre the innocents! 

First, one “smart” bomb is dropped to make an opening in the roof, killing scores of people.

Then, through the opening, another bomb falls, reaching deep into the shelter basement, killing everyone in its path.

In total, over 400 and as many 1,000 Iraqis are murdered--women and children burned alive.* 

No more than 17 survive.

I see flesh still seared on a wall under the basement stairway. 

People, reduced to mere shadows, form a human silhouette on the stone wall.

A replay of Auschwitz, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Vietnam, El Salvador, Panama.

The crime, premeditated and barbarous.

The sin, mortal.

The perpetrators unrepentant!

Seven years later, eight peacemakers from the U.S. and the U.K. come to pay homage to the victims at this shelter, turned inferno, turned shrine.

Photos and drawings of the dead adorn the walls of the shelter.

We repent, we mourn, we witness

the ongoing nightmare of the survivors.

We eight do what we can –

to console the mourners,

offering love and solidarity to the Iraqi people, already crucified to a cross of economic sanctions.

We stand with the victims, the children, seeking to stay the death-dealing hand of the U.S. empire.

Note: The precise number of Iraqi's killed vary. Estimates range from over 400 to as many as 1,000 victims. A doctor who had served at the shelter stated that on the night of the attack a sign-in book for the shelter contained 1,000 names. Neighborhood residents reported to several groups investigating the bombing that over 1,500 people regularly used the shelter. Sources for this information are derived from groups who investigated the bombing and include, Iraqi Commision officials, the Algerian Red Cross, Palestinian Human Rights Information Center and Gulf Peace Team. 

See: Ramsey Clark, The Fire This Time: U.S. War Crimes in the Gulf. Thunder Mouth Press, 1992. pg. 70-72.