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Re: [casi] War is over? (and Peace?)



Dear Elga and list

Surely you must know that there are enormous numbers of people in Iraq and
Iraqi exiles who have very good reasons to rejoice at the fall of Saddam
Hussein. Although of course some opposition leaders have received US money
that really has nothing to do with the scenes of rejoicing we have seen in
Baghdad.

So far as I can gather the jubilant crowds largely come from Saddam City
which is a vast shanty town of the poorest and most desperate people in
Iraq, many of whom - the 'Marsh Arabs' for example - have been rooted out of
their homes and ancestral ways of life by Iraqi government policy. If ever
there was to have been a popular rising against the Iraqi government it
would have come from Saddam City and for that reason the whole area was
under intense, brutal repression. Of course the people living there feel
that a huge weight has been lifted off their backs and no-one could expect
them to analyse coldly why that weight had fallen on them in the first place
and what was the role played by their 'liberators'. Looking at the situation
from the comfort of my armchair in South Wales, however, I have no doubt
that the policy pursued by those liberators over the past thirteen years (at
least) was deliberately calculated to turn Iraq into hell.

The Baath Party clearly believed that Iraq faced a choice between their own
severely repressive regime on the one hand and anarchy/militant
Islam/Imperialist domination on the other. The next couple of years may or
may not prove them right but one can hardly blame the people at the
receiving end of the repressive regime for rejoicing that it is over.

One of the most distasteful things about the George Bush/Tony Blair view of
the world is its deeply immoral and antichristian black and white view of
the world (Chrisianity, though many Christians seem to have forgotten the
fact, is rooted in the consciousness of Sin as an inescapable part of our
everyday life). Saddam is bad, therefore George and Tony are good. It is a
trap we too are only too prone to fall into ourselves (George and Tony are
bad therefore ...). The people rejoicing in Afghanistan may have been
largely the Northern Alliance but why should I automatically assume that
just because George and Tony chose to ally with the Northern Alliance for
their own reasons the Northern Alliance are therefore Bad? Whatever we do,
whatever side we take, we cannot help being implicated in evil consequences.
Which is, incidentally, how I understand the story of Adam eating the fruit
of 'the kowledge of good and evil'.

Best wishes, and thanks for some very useful and moving mailings

Peter Brooke

> From: H Sutter <citext@chebucto.ns.ca>
> Date: Wed, 9 Apr 2003 21:11:18 -0300 (ADT)
> To: casi-discuss@lists.casi.org.uk
> Subject: [casi] War is over? (and Peace?)
>
>
> Dear Anai and List,
>
> Some or many of you may feel rather wistful. You
> may ask yourselves if the Iraqis are now celebrating
> amidst shouts of 'liberation', what did we, the peace
> proponents' demonstrate for?
>
> But what about the victims - the dead, the maimed, the
> orphaned, widowed, homeless. What about the traumatized?
> What about the shock and awe tactics, missiles, cluster
> bombs? What about the 12-year USUK bombing reign? And
> what about the 12-year starvation/deprivation tactics
> to bring Iraqis to their knees through the brutal
> sanctions regime?
>
> Do a few hundred Iraqis shown on western TVs -
> supposedly celebrating and rejoicing - wipe the slate
> clean? And what about the future? Is war going to
> be peace and ignorance strength?
>
> I didn't see the 'celebrations' on TV (don't watch it),
> so the visual impact was lost on me. But I read the AP
> accounts very carefully. I even printed them out. And
> certain things just don't seem to add up.
>
> I might be less sceptical if this were the first
> liberation fest I am privy to. But I remember
> Afghanistan - very similar: laughing, smiling women
> throwing off the Burka. The North American media
> couldn't get enough. Conclusion: The US carpet-bombed
> a devastated Afghanistan further into the stone age so
> Afghan women wouldn't have to wear the Burka.
> (Unocal was pretty happy too - now they could get on
> with that pipeline.)
>
> As it turned out, the celebrating Afghans came from
> the Northern Alliance (NA) contingent - the 'allies'.
> But as the Revolutionary Association of the Women of
> Afghanistan (RAWA) reported, women never took off the
> Burka - too afraid of the "rapist and looter NA".
> And RAWA had been against that 'war' all along.
>
> (e.g: "RAWA: The People of Afghanistan Do Not Accept
> Rule by Northern Alliance", November 15, 2001
> http://www.counterpunch.org/rawa1.html )
>
> There is also the story about the celebrating Kuwaitis,
> rejoicing in their liberation - timely equipped with
> little US flags. And this would have made sense. But
> as I recall, the PR firm Rendon Group had thoughtfully
> provided these little flags - and the celebrators.
> (Does anyone remember this?)
>
> Anyway, there is no need to abandon all critical
> faculties in this wave of liberation euphoria.
>
> A 'liberation celebration' in Iraq was to be expected:
> There can be no 'victory' with resisting Iraqis. The
> 'liberation' mantra had suffered quite a bit. Now it
> can be used to tell the world, especially those
> recalcitrant peaceniks: see you idiots, we told you so.
>
> So who are the celebrators?
>
> There plenty of _genuine_ Iraqi/Baghdad celebrators
> found in the opposition in exile and other factions
> fill the bill. (4 million exiles?):
>
> (1) the Iraqi Coalition of National Unity (ICNU).
> These people are currently on a looting rampage of
> civilian homes in and around Najaf. They threaten
> civilians by saying "We are with the Americans, you
> can do nothing to us". (The head of the ICNU, a
> former artillery colonel, has made himself 'acting
> mayor of Najaf'.)
>
> (2) Other Iraqi opposition exiles brought in by the
> CIA and the US forces - notably INC. (They were also
> brought in to some fighting, and of course to form
> the US puppet.)
>
> (3) Ditto the Kurds - plenty of celebrators there.
> Many, but not all, have been bankrolled by the CIA
> for years.
>
> (4) Now we also hear about Assyrians in exile,
> bishops located in the US. In Iraq they make up
> about 1(?) percent of the population. And they
> have historically sided with the invader.
> (In the thirties, the Assyrians, as British levies,
> were used to suppress Iraqi national uprisings
> against the invaders.
>
> As to genuine Baghdad (Iraqi) residents, those
> who have suffered under the sanctions and the
> bombings, I'll take the 'celebrations' with a big
> lump of salt. So far, they have been firmly opposed
> to foreign occupation - and have even returned home
> to fight for their country.
>
> Wait and see... and think.
>
> And as to peace, that ain't no peace.
>
> Celebrations or no celebrations, it's still about
> oil, geopolitics, and power. As one of my neighbours
> (16) said, "would a capitalist country, such as the
> US, invest billions on a war without expecting a
> return?" - Smart kid, he'll go far.
>
> Elga
>
> -------------Original Message-------------
> From: Anai Rhoads <anairhoads@rhoadsdev.com>
> Subject: [casi] War is over?
> Date: Wed, 09 Apr 2003 10:56:03 -0400
>
>
> Dear list,
>
> I see celebration in Baghdad and even some networks
> are claiming the war is over...
>
> They are crying out "liberation" and maybe it is
> so.. but what about the families that lost loved ones.
> It seems like forced sacrifice.
>
> Nothing was found, no chemicals were used.. who is going
> to explain this to the public now.
>
> Anai
>
>
>
>
>
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