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April
26 / 27, 2003
Elaine
Cassel
The Other War: Bush, Ashcroft and
the End of Civil Liberties
Saul
Landau
Iraq War: a Policy of Christian and Jewish Fundamentalism
William
A. Cook
Sharon Recruits US as Mercenaries Against Syria
William
S. Lind
Now the Real War Starts
John Chuckman
In Jesus's Name:
Franklin Graham's Christian Empire
David
MacMichael and Ray McGovern
Ex-CIA Analysts on WMD: Where? Find?
Plant?
Gary Leupp
Why the War on Iraq was (and Remains) Wrong
Robert
Sandels
Cuba Crackdown: a Revolt Against Bush's National Security Strategy?
CounterPunch
Wire
An Open Letter to Jerry Brown on Oakland Police Violence Against
Peace Activists and Dock Workers
Mickey
Z.
Our Ba'athists
Anthony
Gancarski
Nader Plays Pullman
Scott
Handleman
The Mumia Abu-Jamal Case in Its True Colors
Claud Cockburn
Evelyn Waugh's Ear Trumpet
Poets'
Basement
Matt Simon, Sam Hamod, Hammond Guthrie and Stew Albert
Steve
Perry
Bush's War Web Log 4/26
April
25, 2003
David
Vest
It's Not the Oil; It's the Art!
Steven
Higgs
All About Tucker Carlson
Walt
Brasch
The Shock and Awe of American Ignorance
Alexander
Cockburn
The Decline of American Journalism:
the Case of Judy Miller
Zeynep
Toufe
A Letter to the People of Iraq from an Anti-War Activist
CounterPunch
Wire
Season of the Witch: Jeane Kirkpatrick Unbound
Hammond
Guthrie
Springtime in Iraq
Steve
Perry
Bush's War Web Log 4/25
Website
of the Day
Having
a Great Time, Wish You Were Here: Postcards from a War
April
24, 2003
Lois
Whitman
An Open Letter to Rumsfeld on the
Child Detainees at Guantanamo
Uri
Avnery
Abu vs. Abu: It's Not About Egos
David
Lindorff
Day Care in the Name of National Security? About Those Kids in
Camp X-Ray
John Grebe
Rev. Pat Robertson's Message in the Temple
Dokhi
Fassihian
Monster.Com: Ethnic Cleansing on the Web?
CounterPunch
Wire
Israeli Army Chief Threatens Peace Activists
Sam
Hamod
Our Man in Baghdad
Annie
C. Higgins
Do You Regret Being an American?
Harold
A. Gould
Will They Hate Us Forever?
Stew Albert
Big Brother in Bed
Steve
Perry
Bush's War Web Log 4/24
Website
of the Day
Muscles
Abroad
Hot Stories
Elaine
Cassel
Civil Liberties
Watch
Michel
Guerrin
Embedded Photographer Says: "I
Saw Marines Kill Civilians"
Uzma
Aslam Khan
The Unbearably Grim Aftermath of War:
What America Says Does Not Go
Paul de Rooij
Arrogant
Propaganda
Gore Vidal
The
Erosion of the American Dream
Francis Boyle
Impeach
Bush: A Draft Resolution
Click Here
for More Stories.
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April 28,
2003
Get the US Out
of Iraq
And Its Military Out of Our
Mind
By RON JACOBS
So, the US is occupying Iraq. What does that mean?
Does it mean that US marines are shooting
into crowds of Iraqis protesting the US presence and killing
some members of the crowd?
Does it mean the reappearance of death
by cholera and typhoid in the city of Baghdad because the hospitals
in that city have been bombed, looted and burned and these hospitals
don't have the medicines to combat these diseases and others
related to the destruction wrought by years of US sanctions and
days of bombing?
Does it mean the theft of priceless antiquities
by organized gangs of criminals while US marines stood guard
at Iraq's oil ministry building?
Does it mean the death by cluster bombs
and depleted uranium shell casings of more Iraqi civilians?
Does it mean the denial of entry into
Iraq of UN weapons inspection teams by the United States?
Does it mean the construction of US military
bases on Iraqi soil? Bases constructed for the purpose of maintaining
US control of the country and to enable an easy attack on any
other nations or popular movements in the region who refuse to
go along with the US desire for global domination beginning in
the Middle East?
Does it mean that anyone challenging
the Americans and their plans is subject to arrest by the US
military?
Does it mean incredible profiteering
off the Iraqi people's misery by corporations whose connections
to the regime in Washington DC are more than just coincidental?
I wish I could truthfully answer no to
all these questions, but I can't. Unfortunately, the answer to
every single one of them is yes. What this means is that the
US is once again disregarding its moral and legal obligations.
Not only was their war on Iraq immoral and illegal, so is their
occupation! The invaders have a moral and legal obligation to
rebuild the infrastructure they destroyed with money from their
own pockets. The invaders have a moral and legal obligation to
clean up the unexploded ammunition and the shell casings its
attack left strewn about the country with money from their own
pockets. The invaders have a moral and legal obligation to provide
security and food to the citizens of the country that they so
brutally destroyed-with money from their own pockets. But the
US is doing none of this!
This fact is reason enough to insist
that the US military get out of Iraq now and take all their weapons
and airplanes with them. They shouldn't wait until after their
democracy anointed by Bush and Rumsfeld is installed. They shouldn't
even wait until their version of security is in place. Heck,
they shouldn't even wait until next week. They should leave NOW!.
The US has not begun aid shipments, it
has blocked them. The US has not opened up the rebuilding of
Iraq to the international community, it has made itself very
clear that it has no intention of opening this process up. Indeed,
the only thing the US has done in Iraq besides killing protesters
opposed to its presence is get the oil flowing again.
Even if the US were to do an about face
and meet all of its obligations they should still demand that
they get out of Iraq. Why? Because they don't belong there, that's
why. Nobody invited them in. Who, then will help the Iraqis rebuild
if the US doesn't? How will they ever achieve democracy and freedom?
Well, here's a revolutionary thought.
Why not let the Iraqis rebuild their country? Why not let them
organize their own government? Can they do that? Do they know
how?
Let me answer that by talking about another
kind of occupation.
Occupation is not just a military action.
It is a psychological and social phenomenon, too. Occupation
is one of the first steps towards colonization. In the case of
the US and Iraq in 2003, our country is the colonizer whether
we like it or not. Now, the colonial mindset does not only affect
the colonized, it also affects the colonizer. As surely as there
are US servicewomen and men occupying Baghdad, our psyche is
occupied by a mindset that leads us to question the ability of
Iraqis to govern themselves and rebuild their country without
US interference. Why? Because we are trained to think that only
the US (and maybe some of its allies) know what a good government
is. Many of us think this even if we don't like our government.
It doesn't matter if we think the US
should run Iraq or if we think the UN should. It doesn't matter
whether we think the US liberated the Iraqi people or just took
over the place for their oil. The very fact that we question
the Iraqis' ability to take care of themselves shows how our
consciousness is tainted with the stain of the occupier.
As long as the United States is in Iraq
and the Middle East, we are occupiers and colonizers.
So, can the Iraqis rebuild their own
country?
Of course, the Iraqis can rebuild their
own country.
Furthermore, the only way the Iraqi people
will be able to really choose their own destiny is by getting
the US masters of war out of their country. Likewise, the only
way we in the United States will ever be able to truly choose
our own destiny is by getting the masters of war out of our government.
In other words, the first step towards real democracy in the
USA is also the first step towards democracy in Iraq-and that
first step is getting the US out of Iraq.
I watch the daughter of a friend every
afternoon. This little girl has helped me remember in the past
several months, more than anything or anybody else, why I oppose
war and work for justice and peace. It's a very simple reason:
I want the world that she lives in to be a place where she and
her generation can thrive. Not just survive, but thrive. Not
just here in the US, but everywhere in the world. I want her
smile and the smile that almost every child has, no matter what
their circumstances, to never disappear from her face because
of something I did or something I failed to do.
Insisting on the immediate withdrawal
of US forces from Iraq is not only about improving the future
of Iraq and its children, it's also about improving the future
of the United States.
Ron Jacobs
is author of The
Way the Wind Blew: a history of the Weather Underground.
He can be reached at: rjacobs@zoo.uvm.edu
Yesterday's
Features
Elaine
Cassel
The Other War: Bush, Ashcroft and
the End of Civil Liberties
Saul
Landau
Iraq War: a Policy of Christian and Jewish Fundamentalism
William
A. Cook
Sharon Recruits US as Mercenaries Against Syria
William
S. Lind
Now the Real War Starts
John Chuckman
In Jesus's Name:
Franklin Graham's Christian Empire
David
MacMichael and Ray McGovern
Ex-CIA Analysts on WMD: Where? Find?
Plant?
Gary Leupp
Why the War on Iraq was (and Remains) Wrong
Robert
Sandels
Cuba Crackdown: a Revolt Against Bush's National Security Strategy?
CounterPunch
Wire
An Open Letter to Jerry Brown on Oakland Police Violence Against
Peace Activists and Dock Workers
Mickey
Z.
Our Ba'athists
Anthony
Gancarski
Nader Plays Pullman
Scott
Handleman
The Mumia Abu-Jamal Case in Its True Colors
Claud Cockburn
Evelyn Waugh's Ear Trumpet
Poets'
Basement
Matt Simon, Sam Hamod, Hammond Guthrie and Stew Albert
Steve
Perry
Bush's War Web Log 4/26
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