Iraq War Newsletter #12 March 19, 2012

OMNI NEWSLETTER ON IRAQ WAR #12,  MARCH 19, 2012, ANNIVERSARY OF THE INVASION.      BUILDING A CULTURE OF PEACE TO REPLACE THE CULTURE OF WAR and EMPIRE, Dick Bennett, Editor.   (We seek a new editor.)   (#11 Feb.9, 2012;  #10, October 18, 2011; #9 August 8, 2011; #8 March 19, 2011; #7, April 29, 2010; #6 March 17, 2010, # 5 June 1, 2008; #4 April 3, 2008;  #3 March 24, 2008, #2 Jan. 16, 2008, #1 Nov. 2, 2007.)

MARCH 19 ANNIVERSARY OF US INVASION OF IRAQ 2003

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Contents of #10

Support the Lee Bill

Occupation and Resistance in Iraq and Afghanistan

Pew Poll of US Troops: War Not Worth It

Kucinich Steadfast

Bennis: Iraq War Continues

100 Poets Against the War

Violence Follows Withdrawal?

Leave Iraq When Promised

Van Buren: We Meant Well?

Contents of #11 Feb. 9, 2012

Haditha Films

IVAW Winter Soldier Film

Four Articles from HAW

Engelhardt: US Weakness

USA Today versus Invasion of Iraq

Cindy Sheehan on Leaving Iraq

WRL on Iraq’s Future

Cockburn, Lost Battle Against IEDs

Hedges and Al-Arian on Killing Innocents

Van Buren, on US Aid

Shear, Novel About Returned Marine

Zunes, Those Responsible

Hayden, Sectarian Future

Vets for Peace: Obama Declares End of War

Casualties and Deaths

Contents #12, March 19, 2012, Invasion Anniversary

Dick Bennett, Harms of Iraq Wars, Embargo, Occupation

Google References

HARMS OF IRAQ WARS

Dick Bennett

This is only a sketch of course.  

TRAINING AND INDOCTRINATION FOR WAR

Subversion of Law and Love: Training to Kill

The function of military basic training is to reverse one’s lifetime respect for law and rejection of killing.   “’Survive and kill.  That’s what it’s all about,’ said Lt. Col. Dave Bellon, commander of troops training at Camp Robinson. ADG (6-28-06).

False identification of Government with Country

“In celebration of the 4th of July there will be many speeches about the young people who "died for their country." Let's be honest about war. Those who gave their lives did not die for their country, as they were led to believe but for their government. The distinction between country and government is at the heart of the Declaration of Independence, which will be referred to again and again on July 4, but without attention to its meaning.” Howard Zinn

FIRST INVASION OF IRAQ 1991 AND EMBARGO

A.     Another Air War by the US  Against Civilians

WWII, Korean War, Vietnam War, Libya, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Grenada, Panama, Iraq 1990: the US has made it routine to bomb civilian targets in opposition to international laws.   The deaths of civilians in WWI was approx. 10% of total casualties; in WWII 50%; in Vietnam War 85%.  With economic sanctions almost 100% of the victims are civilians.

B.     Air Warfare Violates International Laws

US air warfare is international terrorism as defined by the US legal code (Title 18’2331):  involve violent acts or acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the US or of any State, etc.

C.     Embargo Also Against Lives of Civilians

Surgery is frequently carried out without anesthetics, and antibiotics are also scarce to unavailable.  Scanners, X-ray machinery, and incubators lie idle for want of spare parts.  Cancers have risen fivefold since the Gulf War.  According to the World Health Organization, in 1989 Iraq offered 92% access to clean water and high-quality healthcare, along with high nutritional standards.  By 1997 1,211,285 children had died of embargo-related causes, according to UNICEF, a figure comparable to Pol Pot’s genocide in Cambodia. Mothers are too malnourished to breastfeed and unable to afford milk power (a tin exceeds a doctor’s monthly salary).

D.    Embargo Caused Enormous Shortages of All Kinds and Inflation

The per capita income of Iraq has declined from almost $3000 to $60 a year.  The price of wheat flour in 1995 was 11,677 times higher than in 1990.  Knowledge is embargoed: medical journals are not allowed, or pencils, erasers, exercise books.  Shroud cloth for burials and  film to remember their dead children by are prohibited.  And toys, children’s bikes, shoelaces, sanitary towels.

Economic Sanctions Violate International Laws

Protocol I Additional to the Geneva Convention, 1977, Part IV, Section I, Chapter III, Article 54: 1. Starvation of civilians as a method of warfare is prohibited.

And: Charter of Economic Rights & Duties of States, UN General Assembly, 1974.   UN General Assembly Resolution 44/215, Dec. 22, 1989, Economic Measures as a Means of Political and Economic Coercion Against Developing Countries.  International Conference on Nutrition, World Declaration on Nutrition, Food and Agriculture Organization/World Health Organization, 1992.   UN General Assembly, December 1997.  The violations are numerous.  See Ramsey Clark, ?

E.     The Future for Iraq’s People is Threatened

According to the UN, rebuilding the health infrastructure and other civilian needs would require $22 billion a year.   The Bush Admin. budgeted  ??. but diverted most of that money to the war.

F.      Who is the international criminal?

Amnesty International estimates  that Hussein’s regime killed 130,000 people between 1979 and 1989.  The sanctions have killed more than 10 times that number.   UNICEF estimated that 500,000 children died as the direct result of the Gulf War invasion and subsequent embargo.   Who has violated the Genocide Convention more?  And compare Iraq to Israel.  Israel occupies territory illegally, violates Geneva conventions, conducts terrorist assassinations and invasions, secretly built an atomic arsenal, imprisons the scientist who exposed it, employs spies to steal US secrets, yet Iraq and not Israel is labeled a “rogue” state.  Is Iraq more dangerous than any of the other nuclear states—than Pakistan? India?

G.    And who the hypocrite?

The US is the only country to have dropped a nuclear bomb on humans, and they were mainly civilians.  The US is the largest stockpiler of weapons of mass destruction.  And during the past 50 years it has supported some of the most atrocious dictators in the world.  Yet its harsh treatment of this one atrocious dictator exceeds anything ever seen in US history.

H.    The World (except the United Kingdom) Opposed US Bombings and Sanctions

In Dec. 1997 the Cairo Declaration to Save the Children of Iraq and ban economic blockades as weapons of mass destruction collected 18 million signatures in Europe and the Middle East, the world’s largest petition.

SECOND INVASION OF IRAQ 2003

MASS KILLING OF CIVILIANS

Some estimates give 130,000 civilians killed since the invasion.  The U.S. government—and none of the occupying forces-- keeps statistics on the civilians killed by our troops and by other causes.  See Collateral Damage: America’s War Against Iraqi Civilians by Chris Hedges and Laila Al-Arian, and The Deaths of Others: The Fate of Civilians in America’s Wars.

EVEN LARGER MASS KILLING OF ANIMALS

We can only guess at this extermination, since invading and  occupying governments disregard them completely. The horrors of mass killings of humans are so great, even the environmental organizations are largely silent about the torture and killing of animals.

DESTRUCTION OF THE LAND

As with animals, the blind callousness of Bush et al. prevents any consideration of the devastated earth, which will continue for decades from unexploded bombs, and for decades more from the “depleted” uranium.   See The Green Zone: The Environmental Costs of Militarism by Barry Sanders.

TORTURE

The torture of Iraqis drastically undermined the morality not only of US military, Presidency, and Congress,  but of the populace that allowed it.   See Torture Team: Rumsfeld’s Memo and the Betrayal of American Values by Philippe Sands.

CULTURAL DESTRUCTION

Here is one example:  According to a British Museum report, the ancient city of Babylon, one of the world’s most important archaeological sites and dating back to the time of Nebuchadnezzar, was substantially damaged by the invasion and occupation.  Despite objections from archaeologists, some 2000 U. S. and Polish Forces have used the city as a military depot for the past two years.  Examples of destruction are: military vehicles crushed a 2,600-year-old brick pavement; vast amounts of earth mixed with archaeological fragments were dug up for sandbags; and large areas of the site was covered in gravel brought in from the outside, compacted and chemically treated to provide parking and storage areas.  All of this violated the Hague convention requiring occupying forces to protect major archaeological sites. 

INTENSIFICATION OF MILITARISM

The military and surveillance functions of government have been vastly expanded.  Nothing now equals military expenditures in extent, with a budget of $500 billion for 2006-07 alone.   The Pentagon conditions all aspects of life in the U.S.  We are not merely the military-industrial complex, but the MILITARY-corporate-White House-Congressional-Mainstream Media Complex.   And the President is now Commander-in-Chief, not only for invasions, but for controlling the U. S. public by increasingly secret and pervasive surveillance of the people.  See The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic by Chalmers Johnson (and the other books of Johnson’s “Blowback” series).

EXTREME EXPANSION OF  GOVERNMENT

The GOP has traditionally opposed big government, but under the Republicans the government has enlarged exponentially, particularly for violence, global aggression, and domestic repression  (rationalized as “national security” expenditures).  See: Top Secret America: The Rise of the New American Security State.

EXTREME EXPANSION OF NATIONAL DEBT, RUINOUS DEFICIT SPENDING AND DEBT

The US deficit continues to skyrocket, building a massive debt for future generations of US public. 

Clinton left the federal government with a budget surplus of $237 billion.  We now face a deficit of over $400 billion.  This is not for welfare, for which the Republicans always blamed the Democrats, but for the military.  The total cost of the 2^nd Iraq War will cost $1 trillion to $2 trillion, if we include the Pentagon (the pig of pigs), the Dept. of Homeland Security, The NSA, the CIA, the FBI, the National Counterterrorism Center, and many more agencies.  See The Trillion Dollar War by Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes.

UNDERMINED DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL LAW (Geneva Conventions)

Illegal detentions, “renderings,” torture.  See above: Torture.   See Blood on Our Hands: The American Invasion and Destruction of Iraq by Nicolas Davies.

ALIENATED US FROM WORLD COMMUNITY

Most countries of the world oppose unilateral US militarism and imperialism.  Iraq, and the US , need support from the international community.  But the US chose unilateral wars and occupations, permanent war.  See Washington Rules: America’s Path to Permanent War by Andrew Bacevich, The

American Way

of War: How Bush’s Wars Became Obama’s by Tom Engelhardt.

INCREASED TERRORISM  AGAINST US

Bush Admin. aggressions abroad and repression at home have earned our nation widespread hatred and contempt,not only from Islamic nations but  from former allies.  “The U. S. occupation is a catalyst for violence.  The longer the U. S. occupation continues, the more Iraqis will join the resistance, which primarily opposes the foreign presence.  Conservaztie estimates say the number of resistance fighters in Iraq increased from 5,000 in Nov. 2003 to 20,000 in Nov. 2006.”  AFSC

DIVIDED THE COUNTRY AND ENCOURAGED CIVIL WAR

The occupation deepens tensions within Iraq.  The US made several major mistakes: 1) disbanded the Iraqi army and police while unprepared to take their place, 2)failed to dismantle the militias, 3) supported Shi’a desire for regional autonomy.

DESTABILIZES THE MIDDLE EAST

The invasion and occupation has undermined relations with other Middle East governments, even former allies, and US aggression has galvanized militants throughout the region to join the insurrection in Iraq and attack other countries, such as Jordan.

OCCUPATION INIMICAL TO DEMOCRACY

The Japanese democracy grew under U.S. occupation, but the conditions in Iraq are dissimilar and not conducive to the democratic system. 

IRAQ NOT RECONSTRUCTED AND REPAIRED

1991 invasion, 12 years of bombings and sanctions, 2003 invasion, and the occupation have devastated Iraq’s infrastructure and its population.  Water and sewage treatment, electricity, health care are severely crippled.    The US has not rebuilt and restored what it has damaged.  While it has spent some $300 billion fighting, it has not spent half of the $18 billion originally allocat4d for reconstruction.  See We Meant Well: How I Helped Lose the Battle for the Hearts and Minds of the Iraqi People by Peter Van Buren.

IRAQI RECONSTRUCTION  CONTRACTS GIVEN TO US COMPANIES

Awarding major contracts to U.S. corporations creates little benefit to Iraqis, while Iraqis need jobs.

THE DESTRUCTIVE, FUTILE WAR WASTES MONEY AND RESOURCES NEEDED AT HOME

Funds are being cut on all levels in the US for schools, libraries, hospitals, transportation, the environment, preparing for climate change. 

USE OF NATIONAL GUARD TROOPS LEAVE STATES SHORTHANDED

When disasters strike, as with Hurricane Katrina, states are unable to respond as needed

CONFUSION OF HUMANITARIAN AID AND MILITARY

Blurring lines between the military and aid efforts has caused almost all NGOs and UN agencies to leave Iraq.  On the humanitarian excuse for invading or intervening in another country, see Humanitarian Imperialism: Using Human Rights to Sell War by Jean Bricmont.

REFERENCES

Ehrenreich, Barbara.  “Bush’s Bloat,”  The Progressive (June 2006).

Pemberton, Miriam and William Hartung.  Lessons from Iraq: Avoiding the Next War.  2008.

“Ten Reasons Why the U. S. Must Leave Iraq.”  American Friends Service Committee.  http://www.afsc.org/

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24, 2012. For most of the last decade, Iraq occupied center stage in the Arab world, as it was swiftly invaded and occupied by American forces in March 2003 .... in the city of Zubayr, just west of Basra, to commemorate the last day of Arbaeen.

2.                             Dorothy Day Catholic Worker Washington, D.C.

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What: As we enter into Holy Week to commemorate the Last Supper, arrest, ... What: March 19, 2012 mark's the 9th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

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Two Events to Mark the 9th Anniversary of the Iraq War. Two events in Los Angeles to commemorate the 9th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

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Sep 13, 2011 – Commemorating al Qaeda's Heinous Attacks on America, Forgetting ... A thorough search conducted by the American forces invading Iraq failed to find any – ANY! ..... Iraq War veteran shoots 11-year-old sister — Mar 16 2012 ...

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Interactive: The Wikileaks Iraq war logs provide us with a unique picture of ... 17 Mar 2012: Followers of Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr say they have .... Iraq: a memorial ... Jonathan Freedland: The 2003 invasion has tainted the idea of liberal ...

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1 Scope and impact in the United States; 2 Prior to the invasion of Iraq ..... flag- draped cardboard coffins, commemorating each of the U.S. fallen troops as of that ...

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In September 2003, six months after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, the autonomous government of Iraqi Kurdistan built a towering memorial on the outskirts of the ...

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An event Monday at Utah State University, “Out of Iraq”, is a series of panels and programs to discuss the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq on the nine-year anniversary of the start of the combat. ... Story Created: Mar 15, 2012 at 12:02 AM MDT ...

9.                             Candlelight Vigil & Rally on the 9th Anniversary of the Invasion of Iraq

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Tuesday, March 20 2012, 5:00pm - 8:00pm, by alexa, Hits : 47 ... In a matter of 9 years, the U.S. invasion resulted in a stunning 1.3 million killed, ... On the anniversary of the U.S. invasion, join us for a candlelight vigil to commemorate the more ...

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After investigation following the invasion, the U.S.-led Iraq Survey Group ...... A local memorial in North Carolina in December 2007; U.S. casualty count can be seen in ... between 2001 and 2003 about Iraq's alleged threat to the United States.

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The United States public's opinion of the invasion of Iraq has changed ... 1.1 1992; 1.2 February 2001; 1.3 October 2002; 1.4 January 2003; 1.5 February 2003 ...

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15, 2011, the American military formally ended its mission in Iraq, one that cost the .... in the city of Zubayr, just west of Basra, to commemorate the last day of Arbaeen. ... and Iraq have been especially strained since the 2003 American invasion ... 11, 2001 — some argue, even before — President George W. Bush began to ...