The three participants in the third U.S. presidential debate last week pretended Iraq didn't exist, but if you go to a rally of supporters for either candidate it's the top issue talked about. Baghdad, a city in ruins, divided into ethnically cleansed fiefdoms of rubble, rats, and open sewage, a place where one risks death by walking outside, is managing major rallies of tens of thousands of people in opposition to the treaty to extend the occupation for three more years (and beyond) that is being negotiated by Bush and Maliki. And yet, the U.S. peace movement is largely hibernating until the November 4th U.S. elections, and the U.S. Congress remains almost entirely comatose.
To a consumer of U.S. corporate media this makes some sense. The occupation is for the benefit of the people of Iraq and, with the help of "the surge", it is "succeeding." President Bush is actually working on an "agreement" to "end" the "war." Peace activists should be celebrating, right?
To begin the reeducation process necessary to recognize such positions as sick jokes, I recommend the best history of the U.S. occupation of Iraq that I've seen: Michael Schwartz's "War Without End: The Iraq War in Context." This book puts incidents of violence we hear about in the context of the massive violence we don't hear much about, and puts all of it in the context of the economic and social devastation imposed on Iraq by the people we absurdly call our public servants. Schwartz also helps to make the complex clearer and simpler by framing his account in terms of the actual oily motivations of our government, rather than any of the pretended rationales.
Iraq was to be a brief stop on the march of U.S. empire into other Middle Eastern nations. But Iraq was not to be invaded and then allowed to recover in its previous form; it was to be completely remade as a totally privatized participant in the global economy. Of course, these two ideas were incompatible and resulted in the occupiers' attempt to accomplish in days what would have had to take decades in order to succeed at all even on its own terms. And massive additions of U.S. troops even early on would only have slowed the process of economically driven resistance. "The cycle of protest, repression, and escalation," Schwartz convincingly argues, "would have eventually run its course."
The resistance grew out of U.S. actions that destroyed the Iraqi economy and infrastructure and prevented their restoration, actions sometimes aimed at creating a neocon paradise of trickledown success, and sometimes aimed more successfully at destruction and mass punishment. And yet, most of the violence has never come from the resistance. It comes from the U.S. occupiers. The assault on Fallujah was an assault on a relatively peaceful city aimed at wresting control of it from opponents of the occupation, not at pacifying any violence. U.S. assaults on civilians are, by and large, not collateral damage, but the intentional sending of a message to other civilians not to aid the resistance. And the various acts of handing sovereignty over to Iraqis have never been understood by most Iraqis as anything more than laughable pretenses.
Most of Iraq is controlled by Sunni or Shia militias. The U.S. military and the puppet Iraqi government control very little. The U.S. military has negotiated cease-fires with Shia and Sunni groups, reducing violence but adding to the groups' consolidation of local power, power that will be increasingly used to demand major public economic projects of exactly the sort that the U.S. government refuses to provide, either in Iraq or in the United States. Yes, many are dead and many more have been driven from their homes, and still many, many more are weakened and injured. And yet, there is every indication that the resistance will be growing, not diminishing.
It is in this context that we should view the current attempt by Bush to legitimize and extend the occupation, his releasing last week of yet another unconstitutional "signing statement" giving himself the power to spend funds to control Iraq's oil, and his efforts to unconstitutionally create a treaty with Iraq, without Senate approval. If the treaty is put into place and accepted by the Iraqi Parliament and ignored by a spineless Congress, it will sanction three more years of occupation (to be followed by endless years of reduced-size occupation) but require "ending" (meaning reducing) the occupation by 2011. It will also technically take immunity from Iraqi law away from US troops and mercenaries in limited circumstances when off base and off duty, although the likelihood of actual prosecutions seems limited. Oh, and we will have established that a president can make treaties without even going through the pretense that Congress still exists.
A handful of Congress Members, led as always by Kucinich, are speaking out. And it is entirely possible that a bipartisan coalition of the sort that temporarily opposed Paulson's Plunder will coalesce in Congress: some opposing the treaty because it subjects American criminals to the rule of law in Iraq, others because it is a treaty created without Senate approval thus putting another nail in the coffin of Congress, and still others because it sanctions three more years of killing and dying and the impoverishment -- on different scales -- of the people of both nations. And yet, in very rare cases can this opposition in Congress be expected to amount to anything more than rhetoric, at least not without massive pressure from us -- yes, you and me.
If the treaty is rejected, the occupation will lose its United Nations fig leaf of legality on January 1st, and the general consensus is that all troops and mercenaries will be kept on bases. We will have the opportunity then of pointing out the resulting reduction in violence, of insisting on the rule of law, and of demanding the immediate withdrawal of every man and woman serving in Iraq as occupiers.
We need members of Congress to demand publication of the treaty in English and Arabic, hold public hearings, and insist on the Senate's right to ratify or reject all treaties. Yes, I know that we can usually count on the Iraqi Parliament to represent us better than our own Congress, and yes, I know, there is a U.S. election next month, but that just makes two particular senators especially important to lobby. No election can stop you from sending Obama, McCain, and every other member of Congress a note like this one, or calling them on the phone, or visiting them in person with this message:
Dear ______________ (member of Congress)
I am aware that President Bush is currently in the process of unconstitutionally making a treaty (misleadingly called a Status of Forces Agreement or SOFA) with Iraq without Senate approval. I am writing to ask you to insist that this treaty be published in English and Arabic, that public hearings be held on the matter, and that the Senate reserve the right to ratify or reject the treaty. Should this so-called SOFA be enacted without Congressional approval, it will establish that a president can make treaties without Congress, which, as you know, is unconstitutional.
As my representative, it is your fundamental duty to ensure that the Constitution of the United States of America is respected and upheld.
If you and your colleagues in Congress choose to ignore this matter and the SOFA is put into place and accepted by the Iraqi Parliament, there will be three more years of occupation followed by many more years of what will amount to a reduced-size occupation. A majority of American people has already made it abundantly clear that we want the U.S. out of Iraq as soon as possible. I strongly urge you to do everything you can to carry out our wishes.
Take action -- click here to contact your local newspaper or congress people: No Treaty With Iraq
David Swanson is the author of the upcoming book "Daybreak: Undoing the Imperial Presidency and Forming a More Perfect Union" by Seven Stories Press and of the introduction to "The 35 Articles of Impeachment and the Case for Prosecuting George W. Bush" published by Feral House and available at Amazon.com. Swanson holds a master's degree in philosophy from the University of Virginia. He has worked as a newspaper reporter and as a communications director, with jobs including press secretary for Dennis Kucinich's 2004 presidential campaign, media coordinator for the International Labor Communications Association, and three years as communications coordinator for ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. Swanson is Co-Founder of AfterDowningStreet.org, creator of ConvictBushCheney.org and Washington Director of Democrats.com, a board member of Progressive Democrats of America, the Backbone Campaign, and Voters for Peace, a member of the legislative working group of United for Peace and Justice, and convener of the accountability and prosecution working group of United for Peace and Justice.
Over 4,100 American soldiers and over 1,000,000 Iraqis were killed in George W. Bush's war against Iraq on "false pretenses", A BIG LIE, which are "unlawful deaths", each and every one, requiring that George W. Bush be "indicted and prosecuted" on "murder and conspiracy to commit murder" charges, as noted and documented by renowned prosecutor and best selling author Vincent Bugliosi in his stunning, best selling true crime book, "The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder", Vanguard Press, Link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ItIOaBgyDQ
In view of the above information, this is to implore you to indict, prosecute, impeach, and charge George W. Bush with one or more of four charges: conspiracy to commit crimes alleged in other counts; crimes against peace; war crimes; or crimes against humanity.
SPECIFIC CHARGES include the murder of over 4,100 American soldiers, and over 1,000,000 Iraqis, pursuing an aggressive war, the brutality of the occupation and detention centers, and the use of illegal weapons.
Leave not only Iraq, but every country on the globe. The days of building an American empire are over. We are bankrupt! Return our military to our shores, protect our borders, and rebuild our infrastructure, with the savings. All nations down through history that attempted to create a worldwide empire have faced the same fate: Egypt, Rome, Britan, Germant, Russia, all failed and were brought to their knees. America used to be the light of the free world, now we are viewed as imperialists to be feared and hated. Finally end the fiat currency of the banking cartel: The Federal Reserve, which has destroyed our economy and brought the world to the abyss of bankruptcy. Let Bush sneak off to South America and Cheney to the middle east and good riddance. Let's try to save America, while we can.
by
ronheri (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 216 comments)
on Saturday, October 18, 2008 at 10:18:18 PM
Corporations and banks have wrested control of our government from the people.
War is far too profitable to stop or prevent it and both current candidates will continue to promote war at the expense of our infrastructure and our people, and at the expense of the disposable people of the world.
What we are witnessing is perhaps histories last and greatest resource grab and it will likely continue for years.
Great editorial and wonderful concepts. Perhaps if we lived in a Democracy they would be realistic goals.
by
jeff prager (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 186 comments)
on Sunday, October 19, 2008 at 3:06:55 AM
We've been bombing the Hades out of Afghanistan with Uranium weapons and bombs for over 7 years.
Does this not deserve a mention?
The hijackers did not destroy the towers and no one's even lookin' for the guy in the cave. The person pushing the thermite as method of destruction of the towers worked for the national weapons lab folks and the patriot pushing the "9-11 Official Truth Movement" was the head of the advanced energy weapns program (laser weapons called Star Wars) under Ronald Reagan.
I smell a distinct omission of the truth whenever "the other war" is not mentioned.
There is more than one war going on. And I find it more than curious it is not mentioned.
Cathy Garger
by
Cathy Garger (23 articles, 7 quicklinks, 29 diaries, 108 comments)
on Wednesday, October 22, 2008 at 8:30:28 AM
4 comments
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