Anti-War
First Step: Getting Legislators to Sign Onto A Resolution Demonstrating the U.S. Intends to Leave
Daniel Ellsberg, of Pentagon Papers Fame, gave the worst news of the day to those examining lessons from Vietnam thirty years after the end of the war – we're going to be in Iraq a long time. It will be tougher to get out of Iraq, than it was to get out of Vietnam. Why? The major difference between Vietnam and Iraq is Iraq has oil, Vietnam doesn't and we need oil.
It is much easier to start a war than it is to end one.
Ellsberg was speaking at a forum organized by the Institute for Policy Studies held Thursday, April 28 at the Rayburn House Office Building. He pointed out that in 1968 the anti-Vietnam War protests were at full force and the U.S. did not get out until seven years later, 1975. President Nixon even ran for office promising he had a secret plan to end the war – and we did not get out for years after that. If it had not been for Watergate, says Ellsberg, we might not have gotten out.
Daniel Ellsberg, of Pentagon Papers Fame, gave the worst news of the day to those examining lessons from Vietnam thirty years after the end of the war – we're going to be in Iraq a long time. It will be tougher to get out of Iraq, than it was to get out of Vietnam. Why? The major difference between Vietnam and Iraq is Iraq has oil, Vietnam doesn't and we need oil.
It is much easier to start a war than it is to end one.
Ellsberg was speaking at a forum organized by the Institute for Policy Studies held Thursday, April 28 at the Rayburn House Office Building. He pointed out that in 1968 the anti-Vietnam War protests were at full force and the U.S. did not get out until seven years later, 1975. President Nixon even ran for office promising he had a secret plan to end the war – and we did not get out for years after that. If it had not been for Watergate, says Ellsberg, we might not have gotten out.
The Bush administration was understandably happy with the Iraqi election. Despite the death of approximately 50 people, 57 percent of the population voted. President Bush declared that “The people of Iraq have spoken to the world, and the world is hearing the voice of freedom.” However, a quick glance at recent history easily dispels the myth that elections lead to democracy and freedom.
After three years of political disagreements between Muslim and socialist political parties in Algeria, both sides agreed to participate in free elections in 1991. The Islamic Salvation Front won the first round of parliamentary elections, garnering 59 percent of the vote. As the country prepared for a second round of elections, the High Council of State, which was backed by the socialist National Liberation Front, cancelled the elections and appointed socialist politician Mohammed Boudiaff as president. This sparked nine years of civil war in Algeria, resulting in the death of over 100,000 people.
After three years of political disagreements between Muslim and socialist political parties in Algeria, both sides agreed to participate in free elections in 1991. The Islamic Salvation Front won the first round of parliamentary elections, garnering 59 percent of the vote. As the country prepared for a second round of elections, the High Council of State, which was backed by the socialist National Liberation Front, cancelled the elections and appointed socialist politician Mohammed Boudiaff as president. This sparked nine years of civil war in Algeria, resulting in the death of over 100,000 people.
In December, the Supreme Court opted not to hear the civil suit Clair Callan Vs.
President George W. Bush. The plaintiff in the suit is a senior citizen and
former Congressman from Nebraska. The case has slowly made its way through the
lower courts, which have rejected it on the grounds that they have no
jurisdiction to hear the suit, or that Mr. Callan does not have a lawful cause
of action. The suit alleges that the president violated American law by
invading Iraq. Specifically at issue is compliance with the War Powers Act.
President Bush's unilateral, preemptive war against Iraq is the worst foreign policy decision in the history of our country. Even GW Bush's father said in his book "A World Transformed" the following: "I firmly believed that we should not march into Baghdad. ... To occupy Iraq would instantly shatter our coalition, turning the whole Arab world against us." It is too bad that GHW Bush's son has put our military in the position as very low paid mercenaries, who are only in Iraq to protect the interests of dozens of republican-friendly corporations, like Halliburton, all companies who have contributed to the republican party.
“Whereas the child, by reason of his physical and mental immaturity, needs special safeguards and care…..”
“Whereas mankind owes the child the best it has to give”
Declaration of the Rights of the Child, 1959
It is a tragedy for the children of Iraq that the United Nations gave the power of occupation of their country to the only nation in the world (apart from the stateless Somalia) not to have ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child. We should not be surprised that in the past year the children of Iraq have been subjected to every breach of human rights imaginable and that the United States aided and abetted by Britain have shredded the most fundamental tenets of our common humanity.
To enter Iraq one year after occupation is like visiting another world. I remember an April day in Baghdad two years ago, watching some young girls playing happily and safely in the street outside their home, and praying that the US would never invade this beautiful city. I don’t know where those children are now, whether they are alive or dead, but even my fearful imaginings of that time could not grasp the terrible reality that was to come.
Though I am utterly opposed to his methodology, I am in total support of Bin Laden’s three demands on the U$A.
One is to end the bombing of Iraq. For eleven years, Britain and the U$A, without UN mandate, have been bombing Iraq. This deliberate, continued bombing of water and sewerage infrastructure has resulted in the needless death of over 500,000 Iraqi children (UNICEF). In 1990, there were zero cases of cholera per 100,000. Today the figure is more than 1400 people getting cholera per 100,000 and that’s only the cholera.
Two is for the U$A to take a more even-handed approach in the Israeli / Palestinian crisis. A good starting point would be getting behind UN resolution 242 which Israel blatantly disregards. UN resolution 242 calls upon Israel to get their collective ass out of the occupied ‘terrortories’. Instead, Israel continues to usurp land from the Palestinians imprisoning them in their own homes.
One is to end the bombing of Iraq. For eleven years, Britain and the U$A, without UN mandate, have been bombing Iraq. This deliberate, continued bombing of water and sewerage infrastructure has resulted in the needless death of over 500,000 Iraqi children (UNICEF). In 1990, there were zero cases of cholera per 100,000. Today the figure is more than 1400 people getting cholera per 100,000 and that’s only the cholera.
Two is for the U$A to take a more even-handed approach in the Israeli / Palestinian crisis. A good starting point would be getting behind UN resolution 242 which Israel blatantly disregards. UN resolution 242 calls upon Israel to get their collective ass out of the occupied ‘terrortories’. Instead, Israel continues to usurp land from the Palestinians imprisoning them in their own homes.
U.S. soldiers and CIA contract professionals, with the knowledge and encouragement of their superiors, committed war crimes against Iraqi prisoners that are all too clear in the graphic images that Dan Rather and CBS executives chose to suppress for two weeks at the request of the Pentagon. There was no justification for this delay or for the argument, as made by the reactionary columnist William Safire in the May 10th New York Times, that the delay was needed to save the lives of American soldiers. If it weren't for Seymour Hersh and The New Yorker's plans to publish the story, Rather might still be sitting on this news, denying the public the knowledge we need to participate in our democracy, and doing so simply because the Chairman of Bush's Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Richard Myers, asked him to.
As we watch the horror unfolding before our eyes like a giant time-delayed broadcast, a deeper horror should also be setting in. The entire discussion surrounding the "revelations" of mistreatment of Iraqis by the US (does bombing water purification plants count as mistreatment?) has taken on a sickening, surreal turn. I feel like we are watching "things fall apart," as Chinua Achebe once wrote. The center, indeed, does not hold, and we are witnessing the spiraling out of control of almost every element of our perception: moral compass spinning aimlessly, intellectual ground slipping, right merging with wrong, a sort of Mad Imperial Tea Party. Up is down, day is night, and war is peace as we descend Down the Spider Hole.
As revelations surface from interviews with Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski,
former Iraqi prison commander, that the Abu Ghraib prison evolved into an
interrogation center -- Orwellian goodspeak for torture chambers -- and
control of the prison shifted to the military intelligence command, one name
resurfaces from the archives of recent scandal: Boykin.
Army Lt. Gen. William Boykin is under a reluctant investigation for a church-to-church speaking tour last year in which he demonized Islam and Muslims and characterized the current conflict as a religious war between Christians, who are good, and Muslims, who are on the side of 'Satan.' To make matters worse, it was discovered that he often wore his military uniform during these speeches, furthering the impression that he was speaking from the military's viewpoint.
Army Lt. Gen. William Boykin is under a reluctant investigation for a church-to-church speaking tour last year in which he demonized Islam and Muslims and characterized the current conflict as a religious war between Christians, who are good, and Muslims, who are on the side of 'Satan.' To make matters worse, it was discovered that he often wore his military uniform during these speeches, furthering the impression that he was speaking from the military's viewpoint.
Those who read my column, FranklySpeaking.info you have seen that I have tried to be as frank/honest and up front as possible about the issues America! These few days and weeks have provided many testimonials from fellow Americans, who have sons and daughters fighting in Iraq. Today on TV there was a father, who had two sons, who had served one year in Iraq and were asked to go back for another stay. The father was trying to rationalize his feelings about their return. But it was not until this week when I learned that a Grandson of mine had joined the National Guard that the reality of this foolishness hit me in the belly.