An Orwellian century of war
An Orwellian Century of War
Mazin Qumsiyeh
March 2003 (before the war on Iraq)
Let me get this straight:
- The British government was caught using plagiarized material distributed as "intelligence analysis."
- Chief UN inspector Blix contradicts claims by Powel regarding Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.
- The US government was caught passing forged documents that claim their intelligence showed Iraq had acquired material to use in nuclear technology from an African country. The Bush administration claimed the forged documents were supplied by a third country (unnamed but many speculate is actually Israel) and "not checked".
- We issued 76 vetoes at the UN security council (35 to protect Israel) then we now claim that a veto by France, Russia, or China against going to war will make the UN Security Council irrelevant.
- American forces in the gulf plan to drop thousands of bombs in the first 24 hours on a city inhabited by millions while "minimizing collateral damage" (read civilian casualties). Like in Afghanistan, we will drop food rations (oh wait, some of those yellow packages were deadly in Afghanistan) immediately after the bombing stops.
- The key people around Bush are connected intimately to the Israeli lobby & Paul Wolfowitz's Tritreme company is slated to profit handsomely from this war. His wife is on the board of an Israeli propaganda organization called MEMRI.
- Vice President Cheney while in office collected millions from Haliburton which conveniently also got the contract for Iraqi oil wells under an "emergency bid procedure" by USAID.
- We will have democracy in Iraq just like we have it in Afghanistan. I wonder who will be the "Karzai" of Iraq and whether US Special Forces will also protect him in his palace from his liberated people.
- We claim there is governmental support yet the media ignores the resignation of the speaker of the British House of Commons and several US State Department officials.
- Israel will be encouraged to show restraint. Last time we bribed Israel to show restraint. This time, not only are we giving billions but also a green light for mass killing and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian natives (which has been going on in installments for 30 months).
- Our US troops in the field are not allowed access to world media but only to selected "cheerleader media" and to a newsletter from the army titled "Stars and Stripes." None of our troops include children of any political leader in Washington DC. We actually have a government over-run by draft dodgers of the 1960s.
- We are going to war so that we can save the UN system and guard international law and to do that we will ignore the UN and the United Nations Charter since they do not agree with us.
- We spent so much effort to get a second UN security council resolution and when we failed, we claimed it was not important to do that. We will go to war against the will of teh UN to enforce UN resolutions.
- Our government claims Iraq's army is so weak and demoralized that the war will be over quickly and yet our justification for going to war is partially based on the idea that Iraq is a threat to its neighbors and even the security of the world.
- Britain, the US, and Australian governments declare Saddam a threat to their countries while Turkey and Iran (his neighbors) state he poses no threat and is contained.
- The UN security council sends inspectors to Iraq and as they report good progress the US government asks for them to be removed. Kofi Annan complies since he was appointed following dismissal by a UN Chief who was not sympathetic to Washington's hegemony on the UN. This illegal action occurs without approval of the removal of inspectors by the body that sent them there: The UN Security Council.
- The US government is fighting for freedom by curtailing freedom of speech, assembly, and dissent. We are also suspending key elements in the bill of rights because we are fighting terrorists who are attacking our freedom. The thousands we detained without due process and the use of "secret evidence" and profiling are legitimate means to defend freedom.
- The war may go well for us because, unlike Vietnam, we will have no reporters roaming uncontrolled and documenting atrocities (we asked those to leave and in the past few wars "detained" those who resisted our demands for their "safety"). The compliant journalists are now in the trenches training with our troops. Heck, some even proudly display the American flag lapel pins in their reporting on Fox and MSNBC (and those are indeed influential media outlets). Even if atrocities are documented, we have already explained that those are committed by Saddam forces dressed up as American GIs.
- Millions in the world protest and public opinion shows that 80-90% of the inhabitants of this planet are against the war and yet Bush claims he has wide support for this war.
If you really want to understand the war on Iraq and the dissonance between the public and our government, just follow the money trail. Since Bush came into office, a projected government budget surplus of 5 trillion over 10 years changed to projected deficit of 5 trillion. If Bush manages to push tax cuts through, our economy will be further devastated. Yes, some of the extra money needed for wars will come from increased deficits, but also will come by having to cut other programs like social services and healthcare. There are enough pieces of military contracts in enough congressional districts guaranteeing a continuation of this pork barrel system. In Connecticut, Sikorsky Helicopters ensures that elected officials not rock the ship of death. Special interests ensure that the couple of thousand highly paid jobs at Sikorsky are more relevant to reelection campaigns of Senators Lieberman and Dodd than budget deficits and layoffs in the thousands of state employees.
What will happen in Iraq? According to the Washington Post, the US government has suspended its usual procedures of open bids to solicit emergency bids from select US companies for post-war Iraq development. The companies solicited for the "initial" $900 million in contracts include Haliburton, run until 2000 by none other than VP Dick Cheney. But Iraq has estimated oil reserves valued not in millions or billions but trillions. Iraq also has a rich landscape for agriculture and an educated population that can provide excellent cheap labor to rich and powerful multinational corporations. The possibilities are endless for making money under a pliable government controlled by new rulers of the "New American Century" but not concerned for the environment or for livable wages. The Iraqis will uptimately resist foreign occupation and domination and the world will find out the truth.
Richard Perle, the chief advocate for a war on Iraq, was chair of the committee that in 1996 presented a study to the Israeli Prime Minister titled "Securing the realm" and calling for regime change in Iraq and redrawing the geopolitical map. Perle is now chair of the Defense Advisory Board, an unelected group of neoconservatives (many of them previous or current lobbyists for Israel) that wields significant influence on US policy. Yet, Perle is also founder and chief benefactor of a little known company called Tritreme. Tritreme foresees unlimited "business opportunities" for its "security business" as terrorism will become the biggest threat to countries and individuals.
But what if the US really will establish a democracy in Iraq, give its natural resources to its people, and set in motion a wave of democracy in the Middle East? If you believe this, please contact me as I have a bridge to sell you. How many of the 50 countries we bombed since the end of WWII is now a functioning democracy? Further how many elected democracies did we topple since the CIA toppled the Mosaddak secular democracy in Iran to reinstall the brutal kingdom of the Shah in 1956? Our latest was the bombing of Afghanistan killing 3000-5000 civilians to leave a ravaged country run by warlords. Our puppet Karzai is not a "president" of a "liberated" or "democratic" Afghanistan. He is not even a legitimate Mayor of Kabul as he is able to leave his palace only thanks to his US bodyguards. Torture and corruption are rampant and, while women can go to school, there will be no jobs for men or women. Our major accomplishment was revealed a couple of months ago when American companies signed the deal to build the gas pipeline from Kazakhstan to the gulf via Afghanistan and Pakistan, a project that will generate billions in corporate profiut. Had the Taliban signed this contract earlier, they would still be in power with or without Bin Laden. Talking about Osama, has any one noticed that all his captured top lieutenants were captured by classic police work (not by the so-called war on terrorism).
Our government's refusal to support the International Criminal Court and its dogged support of Israeli apartheid and hegemony over the Arab world all add fuel to this fire. Why would the world believe our complaint about an upcoming veto by France or Russia when the US vetoed the most UN resolutions. Even if we look at resolutions passed and not vetoed, Israel is in material breach of over 70 UN Security Council resolutions. Why is the media in the US not talking about the hypocricy of the US foreign policy? Again, the answer is money. Ten mega-corporations own 95% of our media outlets making millions for their CEOs and many of them (like GE, owner of NBC) also do a lot of the military contracts.
The only obstacle left between humanity and a world of corporate greed and police states sustained by fear remains the tens of millions of people protesting. Their growth and their actions are beginning to get louder against globalization and against war. Stay tuned.
It is now clearly evident from their own documents that those who put Israel and personal wealth ahead of US public interests were first to plan this war over 15 years ago. They set up the conditions for the foolish venture of Saddam into the quagmire they helped set-up for him in 1990, they then pushed for ending teh regime in 1991. They were not satisfied with the killing of a million Iraqis by sanctions and simply wanted more power. Perle, Wolfowitz Feith, Cheney, Wurmser, and others had this group named JINSA: Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs. Their goal ostensibly is to ensure that US and Israeli security are not only perceived as intertwined but are physically intertwined. In 1996, even as Clinton bombed and starved Iraq, many of those "neocons" wanted him to do more and shedding any pretense, they submitted their recommendation in 1996 to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu titled "A clean break: a strategy for securing the realm" It is available on IsraelEconomy.org and I urge you to read it. It envisions a program to enhance Israel security intertwined with "American Interests" by sequential taking out f its adversaries (like Iraq, Iran, Syria) and managing their suppliers (like North Korea). American reporters of influence are now to use their words "imbedded" with our troops.
How else is one to explain the absence of any discussion of how two Nixon-era convicted felons (Elliott Abrams and John Poindexter) have recently been endowed with significant government
positions?
How else to explain the muffling of news about this 23 year old American student, Rachel Corrie who was bulldozed to death using an armed Caterpillar made in the USA and paid for by our taxes to a regime that violates over 70 UN security council resolutions and that fails to implement international law such as granting the right of Palestinians to return to their homes and lands.
While Israel continues its daily massacre and ethnic cleansing world public opinion continues to be horrified by our double standards.
How else to explain the media's continued marginalize the peace movement, the largest this planet has ever seen in the history of humanity.
I am not a Muslim but Islam has this saying that they plan, and God plans and God is the ultimate planner. Islam also says that God will not change a nation until people change themselves. We as humans must combat the evil within our own hearts first. That is I believe what we are witnessing today as people reflect and then as we act. |