Bitter fruit from seeds of hate

[IRIS Author <iris_author@DELETETHISyahoo.com>]

Bitter fruit from seeds of hate

                By Charley Reese
                Commentary

                Published in The Orlando Sentinel on
November 26, 2000

                Most Americans don't realize how
heinous our own
                government has been in its foreign
policy.

                The Sunday Herald, a Scottish
newspaper, last
                September reported that the United
States and its allies
                deliberately destroyed Iraq's water
supply and in the
                nine years since have deliberately
prevented it from
                being repaired by keeping out the
equipment and
                chemicals necessary.

                A Georgetown University professor has
obtained a
                seven-page document, prepared by the
Defense
                Intelligence Agency, that pointed out
the vulnerability of
                the water system, its dependence on
imported
                equipment and chemicals, and the
likely consequences
                of its destruction.

                The report was dead accurate. The
United States and its
                allies destroyed the system. The
Sunday Herald
                reported that eight multipurpose dams
were repeatedly
                bombed, smashing the infrastructure
for flood control,
                municipal and industrial water
storage, irrigation and
                hydroelectric power. Four of Iraq's
seven major
                pumping stations were destroyed, as
were 31 municipal
                water and sewage facilities.

                The result: Water-borne diseases --
typhoid, dysentery,
                hepatitis, cholera and polio -- have
killed thousands of
                civilians in Iraq. There is always a
rough justice in the
                universe, however. The Sunday Times
has reported that
                tens of thousands of American and
British troops are
                suffering from radiation poisoning
from the depleted
                uranium shells fired during the Gulf
War. No wonder
                both governments are trying to deny
that Gulf War
                Syndrome even exists.

                The water-supply system, which we
attacked, had
                absolutely nothing to do with
supplying or supporting the
                Iraqi troops in Kuwait. It was a
deliberate,
                cold-blooded attack, intended to kill
and sicken Iraqi
                civilians. It was a war crime.

                People who like to yap about the rule
of law should see
                to it that their own government obeys
the law.

                The new president of Yugoslavia has
our number when
                it comes to the rule of law. He said,
"Washington
                introduced into the rule of law
everything that is opposed
                to the rule of law: voluntarianism,
insecurity and
                arbitrariness."

                It's one thing to knock out
communications towers,
                bridges and ammunition dumps, but a
city's sewer and
                water system has nothing to do with
the military. Taking
                those out seems more malicious than
any American
                would be capable of -- unless you've
met some of the
                unthinking automatons and some of the
heartless sharks
                who infect the Beltway. They flit
around like wraiths,
                whispering their poisonous malice into
the ears of the
                office holders.

                It would be comforting to imagine that
one day the
                American people will elect to public
office men and
                women who make clear to the world that
we do not
                make war on women and children.

                Unfortunately, I fear that the cruelty
and disregard for
                human life and human rights is a
reflection of the
                American people's own attitudes. So
long as the victims
                are "the others" -- foreigners -- most
Americans don't
                seem to give a flip what is done to
them.

                One hates to keep returning to the
universal wisdom of
                religion, but what one sows one reaps.
Our government
                has, in our name, been sowing hate,
and one day we will
                reap the fruit of that hate. It will
be bitter fruit.

                It will not be much consolation, if
one day someone
                poisons our water supply, to know that
that person got
                the idea from the U.S. Defense
Intelligence Agency.

                We need a new, more benign emperor in
our Rome on
                the Potomac.





=====
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