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Leaving for Iraq on Friday. I made an indirect plea for support by posting my
acceptance speech to Project Censored-- not much response from the list, so
I'll try a more direct approach.
This will be probably be my final message to CASI for a while-- minimal
response from CASI to the Rizer article, which I feel more chilling than
"Iraq Wat. Tr. Vul.". While we knew the info. from, e.g., the Harvard Study
Team, Rizer, 2001 is the first admission I've found in a major military
journal. Further, my reading is that the article defends its estimated 100,000
Iraqi civilian deaths from bombing-induced waterborne epidemics as ethical,
legal and even the product of official doctrine.
To me it defends bombing as a way to reduce "civilian morale", but how is
that differnt from classical terrorism, except that the former operates on a
larger scale. Against this backdrop, my worry about the trip increase, for the
Iraqi kids and not the least for my own hide.
==============================
It seems every reason for my not going to Iraq is actually a compelling reason
to go. Would I hesitate going if Jewish or Christian kids were at risk?
Actually, they are,in a very meaningful sense, at risk because killing even
more Iraqi kids (indirectly by imperfections of smart munitions) or directly
by bombing the electrical system again which leads to inevitable "rendering
useless" water systems (Rizer, 2001) will kill, I suspect, far more kids than
Desert Slaughter I where the toll was about 3,000 civilian "directly" and
100,000 civilian "indirectly" --these are figures used in the DOD's E
Journal, Air and Space Power Chronicle" in which the Rizer (2001) article
resides.
Surely killing even more of "their kids" endangers "our kids". And surely
compassion for ALL kids rather than slow death for huge number of kids is the
best safeguard.
To any detached academics on the list whom my style may offend as being
a bit too maudlin , I ask, "What would you tell your kids if the world's
strongest (and one of the most ruthless) powers spoke casually of escallating
its war against the country in which you and your kids reside? And if your
kids starting showing signs of waterborne disease despite your best efforts,
what then would you say? How is it possible this question is so rarely asked
in the US and UK?
I would appreciate comments from people who are not annonymous "high
government officials". Statements of support would really help my morale. I
feel like a very lonely academic on this trip. Where are the other professors?
I'm sure there are others, but I fear there are not many yet.
I salute all those who have gone to Iraq, even on multiple occassions. I
criticize myself for delaying so long.
Can I count on support from CASI colleagues if I run afoul of the US/UK
humanitarian war or the actions of the mercenaries of this pair? Or if things
should go badly , am I just getting what's comming to me for leaving my ivery
tower at the "center of it all"
Sincerely with fear and hope,
Tom Nagy, Ph.D.
Assoc. Prof
GWU Sch. of Bus. & Pub. Mgt
Washington, D.C.
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