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Dear Rania and casi When Iraq, surprisingly, invaded Kuwait the US through the UNSC imposed a very generous compensation scheme to those effected by the invasion. The UN administered Iraqi compensation fund paid money even to Israeli cinema operators for lost profit during the 91 war! This action by the US & UN has set up precedence that needs to be applied to the current situation. The US willfully and deliberately defied the international community and the UNSC and invaded Iraq. The US invasion of Iraq has caused tremendous destruction to the infrastructure of the country as well as huge damage to personal property, loss of earning, and human suffering that need to be compensated for. The US must pay from its own money for the compensation for all those affected by its illegal invasion. As an occupying power, the US is responsible for all the ill effects of its actions, or inactions, which further compounds the US liability. The invasion of Iraq has created a chaos in the country. It is the US responsibility to see to it that this is corrected with or without the help of other countries or the UN. The quick withdrawal of US forces, to minimize US casualty, does not absolve them from their obligations to correct the chaos that they themselves created. The sooner the US realized this and takes actions to compensate the people or the state of Iraq the sooner they can leave. Failing to understand that realty they should bleed to death, for all I care. Best regards Ghazwan Al-Mukhtar Baghdad, occupied Iraq ----- Original Message ----- From: "Rania Masri" <rania@nc.rr.com> To: <rania@nc.rr.com> Sent: Monday, November 10, 2003 6:05 PM Subject: [casi] LA Weekly: Where are the Democrats and the Peace Movement? > > [ Presenting plain-text part of multi-format email ] > > "Back in the spring, before the invasion of Iraq, the peace movement was > ahead of the curve, staking out a politically unpopular position. Now, I'm > afraid it has fallen behind. Majority public opinion is now opposed to the > war - at least in the inexplicable and unilateral way the Bush > administration is carrying out the occupation. But the American public is > too smart to believe the solution resides in the simplistic slogan of > immediate withdrawal of all U.S. troops." > > > > Comments? > > > > > > > Published by the November 7, 2003 issue of LA Weekly > <http://www.laweekly.com> > > > Iraq Spins Out of Control: Where are the Democrats and the Peace Movement? > > > by Marc Cooper > > > > > > It's the Islamic world that celebrates the just-initiated holy month of > Ramadan - but it's George W. Bush who better start praying. Maybe we all > should. > > The conservative spin machine and its White House engineers can whine and > sputter all they want about the supposed lack of good news from Iraq to be > found in the media, but the simple fact is that there just isn't any to be > reported. > > Consider the toll of the past two weeks: 15 Americans killed in one missile > attack, an average of 25 attacks a day against U.S. troops, a tightly > coordinated string of car bombings, the shelling of the Al Rashid Hotel > housing none other than Paul Wolfowitz, an assault that basically chased the > Red Cross out of Iraq, escalated targeting of the newly trained police force > and a rumor campaign that forced the shutdown of Baghdad's public schools. > The casualty toll reached more than four dozen dead and 200 wounded. > > Bush responds that the wholesale spilling of blood should be read as none > other than a sign of our "success," that the murder campaign in Iraq is but > a sign of desperation. Sure. We've heard this kind of reasoning before. War > Is Peace, Hate Is Love, Slavery Is Freedom. And that old standard: Arbeit > Macht Frei. > > This official sense of denial is the scariest part of the whole Iraqi > debacle. At least Richard Nixon came into office recognizing that somehow or > other, the U.S. had to figure a way out of Vietnam. As wars go, Iraq's still > pretty small potatoes. But the unreality and rank politicization of the Bush > policy, its drift and deception, and its mounting human and economic cost > spell only continuing disaster. > > Not that Congress, or the Democrats for that matter, plan to get in Bush's > way. The staggering $87 billion supplemental plan (read partial cost) passed > along by the White House for the splendid little adventure was formally > approved this past week without so much as a debate, let alone any sort of > meaningful protest. Even some centrist Democrats, like syndicated columnist > Matt Miller, were outraged at the obsequious rollover by their own party. > > Here was a golden opportunity for some brave Democrat to revitalize the > entire national debate, Miller wrote last week, by staging a filibuster. Not > to deny the payment but to hold it hostage to a reversal of the Bush tax > cuts. > > Such a move would have owed nothing to revenge but all to social justice. > What kind of fairyland is this nation living in when - with record deficits > - we continue to rebate taxes to the superwealthy while running up a tab of > tens of billions in Iraq? Now we know what Bush meant by "leave no child > behind." As a result of this shameful refusal to properly fund his own war > making, the president (and Congress) - by my calculations - has dropped > about a $1,500-per-head bill on each and every teenager in America. This is > an infinitely more important economic statistic than the much-ballyhooed 7 > percent growth figure reported for this past quarter. Instead of the > Democrats blowing up the fiction of the Bush economic program - guns, no > butter, and tax cuts for the rich - they have left the door wide-open for a > GOP propaganda blitz. > > On second thought, hoping the Democrats would provide real opposition is > much like thinking that my aunt could be my uncle - in either case they'd > have to grow a set of balls. > > That leaves only the option of a citizens' movement. Back in the spring, > before the invasion of Iraq, the peace movement was ahead of the curve, > staking out a politically unpopular position. Now, I'm afraid it has fallen > behind. Majority public opinion is now opposed to the war - at least in the > inexplicable and unilateral way the Bush administration is carrying out the > occupation. But the American public is too smart to believe the solution > resides in the simplistic slogan of immediate withdrawal of all U.S. troops. > > > Americans, unlike their government, would be more than ready to share the > burden, costs and responsibilities of occupation with the rest of the world > community. And that, indeed, is the only sensible way out of the morass. > Simply packing up and leaving 26 million Iraqis at the mercy of those who > now target the Red Cross, the U.N. and the incipient Iraqi authorities would > be one more crime against humanity. Those setting off car bombs in downtown > Baghdad are not some sort of romantic resistance, but rather are carrying > out the bloody and criminal traditions of the deposed Saddam Hussein > dictatorship. > > The Bush administration had a shot at internationalizing the occupation last > month when it won a unanimous rubber-stamping of yet another U.N. > resolution. But as a friend remarked at the time, that "victory" was like a > bald man winning a free haircut. The White House's refusal to cede any of > its total control over Iraq guaranteed that no significant amount of foreign > troops or foreign funding for reconstruction will be forthcoming. > > Instead, our children and our grandchildren will be paying for the war in > Iraq, long after George W. Bush will have quietly and unremarkably passed > into history. Iraq may, indeed, lead to the undoing of this administration. > Let's hope the country doesn't go down with the presidency. > > Copyright 2003 LA Weekly > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Sent via the discussion list of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq. > To unsubscribe, visit http://lists.casi.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/casi-discuss > To contact the list manager, email casi-discuss-admin@lists.casi.org.uk > All postings are archived on CASI's website: http://www.casi.org.uk > _______________________________________________ Sent via the discussion list of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq. To unsubscribe, visit http://lists.casi.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/casi-discuss To contact the list manager, email casi-discuss-admin@lists.casi.org.uk All postings are archived on CASI's website: http://www.casi.org.uk