Judge, jury, and executioner: while it isn't yet illegal to own or sell weapons in Iraq, unloading weapons from a car is now punishable by death in Tikrit (BBC), where U.S. "soldiers spotted the men unloading weapons and bomb making equipment from a car and shot them - no questions asked."
A military spokesman said that anyone who picks up a weapon becomes a "combatant."
S heard about this from a television blaring near where he was working, and was amazed at how shooting people who were unloading a car was completely accepted by the television reporter covering the story.
The reporter later asked, 'How can you tell the good guys from the bad guys,' which tells you that the black and white thinking of the Bush Administration has been all too widely accepted. S reported that there are photographs of various 'wanted' people in Iraq and our soldiers are under orders to shoot them on sight. No 'innocent until proven guilty' no 'fair and fast trial,' just 'kill 'em and let God sort 'em out.'
Public executions without trial will NOT lead to democracy, or love of those of us who claim to believe in justice.
Saturday, August 09, 2003
Mainstream media? Yoo hoo? Are you awake?
The Bush Administration has granted the oil industry sweeping immunity from lawsuits in Iraq, regardless of human rights or environmental damage they may do. (Indymedia) Executive Order 13303 (link provided in article) gives the oil industry Bush donors working there free range. "Like the recently reported U.S. corporate mobile phone monopoly being instituted in Iraq, Executive Order 13303 is yet another example of corporate colonization and a U.S. regime gone out of control."
Additional information is available at Earthrights.org and Corporate Watch, including a thorough article containing these excerpts:
"The two public interest organizations charged that President Bush far overreached a May 22, 2003, United Nations resolution that was designed to protect Iraqi oil revenues for humanitarian purposes when he signed an executive order that could place U.S. corporations above the law for any activities "related to" Iraqi oil, either in Iraq or domestically. Bush signed Executive Order 13303 the same day that the UN Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 1483, which sets up a development fund, from Iraqi oil revenues, for "humanitarian purposes."
"This order reveals the true motivation for the present occupation: absolute power for U.S. corporate interests over Iraqi oil," said IPS Senior Researcher Jim Vallette. "This is the smoking gun that proves the Bush administration always intended to free corporate investments, not the Iraqi people."
An interesting and somewhat unique development: the Bush Administration has granted sovereign immunity to Iraq for crimes perpetrated during the Hussein regime (from Law.com - a subscription may be required to read this). As cases awarding massive judgments to U.S. soldiers who were detained in Iraq as prisoners of war during Gulf War I were zipping along in American courts (without an Iraqi defense), if you didn't know it. But now any payments would come from the current regime, that is to say, the U.S. regime, and that's not acceptable.
It would be great if people wouldn't be held responsible for the obligations of their evil rulers if they opposed them, but I don't think this reasoning will apply to other nations. If it did, many nations suffering under enormous international debt would have their debts forgiven, because their corrupt rulers made off with huge international loans that the people (now obligated to pay them back) never benefitted from.
It would be great if people wouldn't be held responsible for the obligations of their evil rulers if they opposed them, but I don't think this reasoning will apply to other nations. If it did, many nations suffering under enormous international debt would have their debts forgiven, because their corrupt rulers made off with huge international loans that the people (now obligated to pay them back) never benefitted from.
An item I should have included earlier: the U.S. Justice Department's internal investigation shows a variety of civil rights violations perpetrated against Arabs and Muslims. (SFGate) Parts of it are scary, including substantiated comments from a doctor telling a detainee that if he were in charge, he'd execute all of the people rounded up, whom he apparently considered guilty through some sort of collective ethinic/religious association. *shudder*
Thursday, August 07, 2003
Some quotes from Traveling Solider.org:
War is still hell.
"...I saw people taking pictures of dead people. I thought: That's disgusting. I asked my tank commander, 'Why are you doing that?' He said, 'If my son says he wants to join the Army, I'll show him this [photograph] and tell him this is what the Army does.' " ----[The quotes are attributed at the website.] Some of the other quotes are more graphic in the detail of what the soldier are having to live with, including throwing old women from their homes, facing dead children, and complaints about needless deaths caused by the language barrier.
"Some of the people I killed who I didn't know if they were innocent or not. That won't leave me." - Sgt. 1st Class ---.
War is still hell.
Tuesday, August 05, 2003
Gee, Arlene, you sure do report a lot of bad news about the situation in Iraq.
Well, yes. There's a lot of bad news to report, though I notice it's slipped from the front pages of the papers. And the thing that bothers me most, I suppose, is that all this bad news seems... unnecessary.
Are you suggesting that there's an alternative? What would you do differently if you were occupying Iraq?
I guess that's the thing: I would NOT be occupying Iraq if I were a superpower. It's been done before, and it didn't work well that time, either: the colonial British did it, forced people to form a country who didn't have much in common, arbitrarily drew some borders, and mucked things up badly enough that the aftermath is still being felt today.
There is no 'undo' button for colonialism, or for war, or for occupation. These things create aftermaths that simmer for decades.
It's very difficult to create a just society from unjust beginnings.
Okay, specifically, what would you have done differently in the past few decades?
Gosh. If I were President Reagan, I wouldn't have sold Hussein chemical weapons. I wouldn't have extended his credit after learning that he gassed people within his borders. I probably wouldn't have allowed U.S. companies to sell weapons to both sides in the Iran-Iraq war.
If I were President Bush I and President Clinton, I probably wouldn't have been so chummy with Hussein that he thought the U.S. was winking at him when he invaded Kuwait. Changing that and providing a stern warning might have prevented full-scale war right there. If the U.S. chose to intervene on Kuwait's behalf, I probably would have insisted that Kuwait clean up its abysmal human rights record, since the idea of battling one despot for the freedom of another group of despots doesn't seem like a good investment of U.S. lives.
But some of my ideas are so humane that I probably wouldn't have done well in politics as any of those men anyway. I don't really believe that Americans should put dinner on the table by selling landmines to poor countries, often subsidized with American tax money, that blow up children. I would promote democracy through development assistance with other countries that invovled nutrition and medical programs, including scholarships for medical students that want to be doctors who are willing to serve both underserved communities in the U.S. and underserved communities abroad. I would be reluctant to form alliances with non-democracies, countries with poor human rights records, places without freedom of the press or of religion. I would want our country to enjoy a truly high standard of living, not based on how many TVs and VCRs and cars each home has, but based on how many children have enough to eat at night and how many people have health and medical care, while attempting to ensure that all people who work hard really do have a chance to earn rewards, rather than watch their retirement savings stolen by corporate pirates.
See what I mean? Too humane. Insufficiently oil-driven. Too... friendly. I believe in punishing despots and invaders -- I do -- and I believe in doing it through a strong body of international law, such as the International Criminal Court. If evil deeds go unpunished, it throws societies out of wack and sets the stage for future disputes. People who feel justice has been done are less likely to hold grudges. Yet our current policies, and the policies of other former colonial powers, just assumes that one decree that a dispute is over is enough, and that everyone can go about their business...
So many things could be better. So very many things. And if we forget that, we'll just keep doing the same stupid things our countries have been doing for years, and never learn, never get better, never really live in peace and prosperity without exploiting or killing or cheating. I think we could do so much better. And that's why this whole war and occupation are so discouraging. A better future -- a better PRESENT -- is possible. But it seems just out of reach.
Well, yes. There's a lot of bad news to report, though I notice it's slipped from the front pages of the papers. And the thing that bothers me most, I suppose, is that all this bad news seems... unnecessary.
Are you suggesting that there's an alternative? What would you do differently if you were occupying Iraq?
I guess that's the thing: I would NOT be occupying Iraq if I were a superpower. It's been done before, and it didn't work well that time, either: the colonial British did it, forced people to form a country who didn't have much in common, arbitrarily drew some borders, and mucked things up badly enough that the aftermath is still being felt today.
There is no 'undo' button for colonialism, or for war, or for occupation. These things create aftermaths that simmer for decades.
It's very difficult to create a just society from unjust beginnings.
Okay, specifically, what would you have done differently in the past few decades?
Gosh. If I were President Reagan, I wouldn't have sold Hussein chemical weapons. I wouldn't have extended his credit after learning that he gassed people within his borders. I probably wouldn't have allowed U.S. companies to sell weapons to both sides in the Iran-Iraq war.
If I were President Bush I and President Clinton, I probably wouldn't have been so chummy with Hussein that he thought the U.S. was winking at him when he invaded Kuwait. Changing that and providing a stern warning might have prevented full-scale war right there. If the U.S. chose to intervene on Kuwait's behalf, I probably would have insisted that Kuwait clean up its abysmal human rights record, since the idea of battling one despot for the freedom of another group of despots doesn't seem like a good investment of U.S. lives.
But some of my ideas are so humane that I probably wouldn't have done well in politics as any of those men anyway. I don't really believe that Americans should put dinner on the table by selling landmines to poor countries, often subsidized with American tax money, that blow up children. I would promote democracy through development assistance with other countries that invovled nutrition and medical programs, including scholarships for medical students that want to be doctors who are willing to serve both underserved communities in the U.S. and underserved communities abroad. I would be reluctant to form alliances with non-democracies, countries with poor human rights records, places without freedom of the press or of religion. I would want our country to enjoy a truly high standard of living, not based on how many TVs and VCRs and cars each home has, but based on how many children have enough to eat at night and how many people have health and medical care, while attempting to ensure that all people who work hard really do have a chance to earn rewards, rather than watch their retirement savings stolen by corporate pirates.
See what I mean? Too humane. Insufficiently oil-driven. Too... friendly. I believe in punishing despots and invaders -- I do -- and I believe in doing it through a strong body of international law, such as the International Criminal Court. If evil deeds go unpunished, it throws societies out of wack and sets the stage for future disputes. People who feel justice has been done are less likely to hold grudges. Yet our current policies, and the policies of other former colonial powers, just assumes that one decree that a dispute is over is enough, and that everyone can go about their business...
So many things could be better. So very many things. And if we forget that, we'll just keep doing the same stupid things our countries have been doing for years, and never learn, never get better, never really live in peace and prosperity without exploiting or killing or cheating. I think we could do so much better. And that's why this whole war and occupation are so discouraging. A better future -- a better PRESENT -- is possible. But it seems just out of reach.
In life, you can learn a lot of things accidently, by happenstance. You can learn from your mistakes (or not). But sometimes, you have to go out of your way to avoid learning something.
The U.S. is going out of its way not to learn how many civilians have died in Iraq, either during the war, or during the occupation by U.S. forces.
That's very odd to me.
As the growing number of civilian deaths in Iraq increases resentment against U.S. forces, surely there is something to be learned? (SF Gate) Something other than, 'the life of an occupied people is cheap,' which is something we already knew, sadly.
*
After an incident in Khaldiyah where resentment of the troops resulted in a mob torching the mayor's office, U.S. troops withdrew without making a positive impression. (Washington Post) One local said that it was not sympathy for the ousted regime but outrage that the soldiers shot teenagers and blew up shopfronts during their visit that upset the crowd.
*
How to know you've lowered your standards for success: when the military announces they've gone two whole days without an American casualty. (Washington Post)
The U.S. is going out of its way not to learn how many civilians have died in Iraq, either during the war, or during the occupation by U.S. forces.
That's very odd to me.
As the growing number of civilian deaths in Iraq increases resentment against U.S. forces, surely there is something to be learned? (SF Gate) Something other than, 'the life of an occupied people is cheap,' which is something we already knew, sadly.
*
After an incident in Khaldiyah where resentment of the troops resulted in a mob torching the mayor's office, U.S. troops withdrew without making a positive impression. (Washington Post) One local said that it was not sympathy for the ousted regime but outrage that the soldiers shot teenagers and blew up shopfronts during their visit that upset the crowd.
*
How to know you've lowered your standards for success: when the military announces they've gone two whole days without an American casualty. (Washington Post)