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CounterPunch
January
30, 2003
Iraq: Web Resources
by ABU SPINOZA
With a looming war on Iraq, it would be useful
for activists and citizens to have at hand various Iraq-related
links, articles, and books to learn about Iraq and its people,
the background to Persian Gulf War, and more important to refute
the claims of the War Party.
Organizations
There are number of activist organizations
that involved in anti-war and anti-sanctions effort.
Education for Peace in Iraq
Center is organization dedicated to improving humanitarian
conditions in Iraq and defending the human rights of the Iraqi
people. It has worked on the education and the involvement of
Americans in a national dialogue about Iraq.
Voices
in the Wilderness is a joint
US/UK campaign to end the economic sanctions against the people
of Iraq. Since March 1996, nearly fifty Voices delegations have
traveled to Iraq in open violation of the sanctions. Each small
delegation represents thousands of people in America and England
who oppose cruel economic warfare. Voices in the Wilderness has
put together not only some
excellent documents about the sanctions and its
effects.
The Campaign
Against Sanctions on Iraq (CASI) based in Cambridge, England,
provides information about the humanitarian situation in Iraq
and its context. It aims to raise awareness of the effects of
sanctions on Iraq, and campaigns on humanitarian grounds for
the lifting of non-military sanctions. The Iraq
Action Coalition is an online media and activists' resource
center for groups and activists who are working to end the war
against the people of Iraq.
The National
Network to End the War Against Iraq a nation-wide coalition
of over 140 peace and justice, student and faith-based organizations
united to work for a common cause: ending the illegal, unjust,
and inhumane war being waged against the people of Iraq by member
states of the United Nations, led by the United States.
News and Commentary
One of best sites with daily updates
is Antiwar.com. Its coverage
of war news is comprehensive. It carries not only links to the
mainstream press but also viewpoints and op-eds, including their
own columnists. The regular columns of Justin Raimondo are always
lucidly written and worth reading, even if you don't agree with
his libertarian views. The folks at antiwar.com have done a commendable
job in bring together some of the best antiwar materials.
Znet's Iraq page
is comprehensive too, with articles by Milan Rai, John Pilger,
and many others.
Noam Chomsky remains one of the leading
anti-war writers. Check out the older Noam
Chomsky Archive as well as the Bad
News Noam Chomsky for sustained and penetrating critique
of US foreign policy.
Counterpunch.org, edited by Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St.
Clair is probably the best left newsletter in the country. It
has plenty of articles on Iraq and the Middle East.
Iraqjournal.org provides direct coverage of recent developments
in Iraq. It has plenty of video and audio materials.
Middle
East Report is an excellent
magazine with comprehensive coverage of the Middle East.
Even though Tony Blair's United Kingdom
has the most dedicated lieutenant of US policy toward Iraq, British
newspapers often provide good analysis. Liberal papers such as
The Independent
and The Guardian
provide excellent coverage of international affairs, including
Iraq and Middle East. Robert
Fisk's articles, which appear regularly in the Independent,
are probably the best reports from the Middle East. Occasionally
the even tabloid The Daily
Mirror has good articles too by war critics, like John
Pilger
Speakers
Iraq
speaker bureau, a project of
EPIC-USA, provides direct access to policy experts, diplomats,
former UN officials, human rights activists and public health
researchers who are committed to taking you beyond the headlines.
Books
There are a number of good books on Iraq.
Several worth mentioning: Arnove, Anthony, ed., (2002). Iraq
under Siege: The Deadly Impact of Sanctions and War, updated
edition. Cambridge, Massachusetts: South End Press. (Recently
reviewed in www.pressaction.com).
Alnasrawi, Abbas, (2002).
Iraq's Burden: Oil, Sanctions, and Underdevelopment. Westport
Connecticut: Greenwood Press. [This book look at the structure
and development of Iraq's economy and the effect of sanctions.]
Brown, Sarah Graham (1999). Sanctioning
Saddam: The Politics of Intervention in Iraq. New York,
NY: St. Martin's Press. Simons, Geoff (1996). The
Scourging of Iraq: Sanctions, Law and Natural Justice. New
York, NY: St. Martin's Press. Rai, Milan. (2002) War
Plan Iraq.
Action and Activism
The mainstream US media rarely reports
the actual condition of people in Iraq. There has been little
debate about US planned war against Iraq except in a narrow sense.
However, there are plenty of resources and documentation showing
the devastating consequences of the Persian Gulf War (1991) and
the sanctions against Iraq. There is no valid reason for another
war against Iraq on the pretext of dismantling Iraq's alleged
weapons of mass destruction.
If the people in Western capitalist democracies
can educate themselves, organize and resist, they can stop the
planned US war against Iraq.
[*Abu Spinoza is pseudonym for
an economist. An earlier version of this article appeared in
pressaction.com.]
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