The slaughter of Al-Amariya Bomb Shelter

Two GBU-27 laser-guided bombs were dropped on the shelter by U.S. stealth aircraft because U.S. intelligence thought it was a military command-and-control bunker.

(For a visual depiction of how the GBU-28 works view the grapic produced by Bob Sherman and USA Today on-line.)

About 4 a.m. on Feb. 13, 1991, two American missiles scythed through the reinforced concrete ceiling of the civilian bomb shelter and killed more than 400 people inside, nearly all of them women and children. U.S. officials said at the time they thought it was an Iraqi military command center, even when everybody in the neighborhood knew it was a public shelter.

The place has been left largely intact. On the floor in several spots, plexiglass covers the outlines of bodies incinerated by temperatures of hundreds of degrees. The brown patches are dried blood, she said.

A visit to Al-Amariya Bomb Shelter with its display of photographs of mutilated bodies and the visible tiny hand imprints of children on its ceilings is another stark reminder of the infamous moment.

The single most atrocious attack of that war, the bombing of the Al-Amariya bomb shelter in Baghdad, was first dismissed as “Iraqi propaganda” and then defended. The 288 civilians killed by American bombs, including 91 children, were said to be proof that the Iraqi regime “does not share our value for the sanctity of human life.” (?)

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La matanza del refugio de Al-Amariya

 Dos bombas guiadas por láser fueron lanzadas por aviones stealth. (Para ver el funcionamiento del misil:: Bob Sherman and USA Today on-line)

Sobre las 4 de la mañana del 23 de febrero de 1991 dos misiles americanos rompieron el techo de concreto reforzado y mataron a más de 400 personas que se encontraban allí refugiadas, casi todas ellas mujeres y niños. Oficiales americanos dijeron, en ese momento, que creían que era un centro de comando iraquí.

El lugar ha permanecido intacto. En el lugar algunas láminas de plexi-glass protegen las siluetas de los que fueron instantáneamente carbonizados. Alrededor quedan manchas oscuras de sangre seca.

En una sola visita al refugio de Al-Amariya se pueden ver fotografías de cuerpos mutilados y las pequeñas marcas de manos infantiles en el techo es otro intenso recordatorio del infame suceso.

En este atroz ataque de esa guerra, el bombardeo del refugio de Al-Amariya fue atribuído a la propaganda iraquí e incluso defendido. Los, al menos, 288 civiles muertos por las bombas americanas, incluían a 91 niños. Se llegó a decir que el régimen iraquí "no compartía nuestros valores de lo sagrado de la vida humana" (?)