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10 YEARS and 1 MILLION+ DEAD and COUNTING
"Here we are in the middle of the millennium year and we are responsible
for genocide in Iraq. All of us that live in the silent
democracies are
responsible for sustained genocide in Iraq."
"Saddam Hussein remained the only Arab head of state capable of
providing Arab leadership and resistance to neo-colonial US/UK
and
western domination of the Middle East, and its oil."
MID-EAST REALITIES - www.MiddleEast.Org - Washington - 2 August:
It's ten years ago this week that the army of Iraq moved
into the once-British now American protectorate of Kuwait, an area that
indeed once was but a fishing village province of Iraq.
The whole affair has its earliest roots in the 20s when
the British carved the area to become known as Kuwait from Iraq, and as
usual, found themselves an Arab family to annoint on their behalf.
By the 60s, when the British formally departed, the West had adopted the
meaningless borders of the region for their own reasons of divide and control.
By the 80s the West and Gulf Arab client regimes were arming Iraq to attempt
to bring down the Iranian revolution -- millions died, weapons of mass
destruction were introduced and encouraged. By the 90s Iraq had grown
too powerful, so the U.S. and Israel conspired to manipulate oil pricing
and supply
creating a plot that encouraged Iraq to invade Kuwait, giving them
the excuse
they wanted to further divide and conquer the region.
In the wake of Iraq's destruction and the concomitant
occupation of the Gulf region by American military and intelligence forces,
the U.S. and Israel went on to quickly concoct their latest regional designs
known as the "Peace Process." Madrid led to Washington led to Oslo
led back to Washington led to Camp David. Indeed these days all roads
actually lead to Washington, many to Israeli Jerusalem, and many of the
tributaries can be traced to the power of the Israeli/Jewish lobby and
the bank accounts of the western-created and empowered Arab potentates.
The following article by the former U.N. Assistant Secretary
General who resigned in moral protest against the genocide being perpetrated
on the Iraqi people was published today in the British paper The Guardian.
TIME TO SEE THE TRUTH ABOUT OURSELVES AND IRAQ
Denis J Halliday*
[The Guardian - 2 August]
Here we are in the middle of the millennium year and we are responsible
for
genocide in Iraq. Saddam Hussein certainly gave Bush and
Thatcher a gift
when he invaded Kuwait in 1990. He facilitated the opening of
the
much-needed respectability of a UN umbrella for a US-led alliance to
destroy
Iraq.
Why? Because despite the costly debacle of the war with Iran,
Saddam Hussein
remained the only Arab head of state capable of providing Arab leadership
and resistance to neo-colonial US/UK and western domination of the
Middle
East, and its oil.
The war was always about controlling oil supplies, and never really
about
Kuwait. But Saddam's invasion of Kuwait, in breach of international
law,
provided the opportunity for showing American military muscle, damaged
by
the Vietnam defeat; for experimentation with depleted uranium; and
for the
destruction of Iraq, combined with impoverishment of the rich Arab
world .
All of us that live in the silent democracies are responsible for sustained
genocide in Iraq. Today the prime minister, Tony Blair, is on the defensive
on a range of largely domestic issues. He does not appear to be on
the
defensive over genocide. His unending endorsement of the Clinton/Albright
programme for killing the children of Iraq is seldom mentioned.
Have decision-makers learned nothing from the Pinochet humiliation?
Or do
they still feel immune under international law for crimes against humanity?
What does that say about us all? Does it say that, after 10 long decimating
years of the UN economic embargo on the people of Iraq, we simply do
not
care? We do not care when Unicef reports that 5,000 children under
five
years old die each month unnecessarily from embargo-related deprivation.
And
Unicef does not count the teenagers, the adults and the aged that die.
Do we not care that the UN allies, in breach of Geneva conventions,
destroyed the lives of civilians through direct bombing and destruction
of
electric power capabilities, clean water systems, sanitation and health
care?
Do we not care that Iraqi society, culture and learning, rooted in the
cities of Mesopotamia, is dying alongside its people? Are we really
that
racist? Are we really that anti-Islamic? Could Britain stand by and
watch
the same holocaust within a white Christian state?
What can be done? Why not set aside US propaganda and demonisation and
do a
Nixon to China, or a Clinton-Putin outreach to Pyongyang - ie, communicate.
Begin to understand what is happening in Iraq, and begin perhaps to
influence change and better relations within the Middle East.
Why not address the concerns of the Kuwaiti and Saudi leadership, who
fear a
resurgence of Iraqi regional ambition, by encouraging their political
collaboration with Baghdad? At the same time ease fears through control
of
purchasing by, and sales to, Iraq of offensive weapons of mass or other
forms of destruction. Demand the removal of weapons of mass destruction
from
the region, including Israel, as in the US-drafted paragraph 14 of
UN
Resolution 687.
Critically, end the economic embargo and allow the Iraqi economy to
resurface. End malnutrition and high child mortality rates. Get people
back
to work. Re-establish the dinar and its purchasing power. Repair the
power,
water and urban sewage systems. Rebuild agricultural production, health
care
and education.
End the killing now. Remove any excuse that Baghdad has today for the
ongoing catastrophe. End human rights abuses by the UN via the embargo.
Demand an end to civil and political rights abuses by Baghdad.
Acknowledge we have reduced the Iraqis to refugees in their own country,
being fed inadequately despite use of their own oil revenues.
Let us not be blinded by wasteful expenditures on palaces or luxury
cars.
Should we expect a higher standard in Iraq when the UK spends millions
of
pounds on a dome while British people are homeless and hungry?
Let us be honest. We do not care for democracy in the Middle East as
much
too threatening to that oil cow Saudi Arabia and its offspring Kuwait.
Admit
the US/UK governments want country stability so that they can invest
profitably and be sure of oil but regional instability so that demand
for
arms manufacturing and sales is sustained.
Let us invest in people and peaceful coexistence in the world, including
the
Middle East. Let's rally around the world as the one small threatened
unit
it is today, just as the Iraqis have rallied around Saddam Hussein
under
western attack.
Let us recognise the calamity of the US/UK- driven UN economic embargo
on
Iraq. Calamitous not only for Iraq and its people, but for us all,
including
the very survival of the UN itself as a credible instrument for peace
and
security.
Let us take some risks. Let us even remain ultimately self-serving and
yet
visionary - by responding to such global crises as Africa, global poverty,
HIV-Aids, the environment, globalisation ills - the things that really
matter, while allowing the children of Iraq to live.
• Denis J Halliday was Assistant Secretary General of the United
Nations
and UN humanitarian coordinator in Iraq 1997-98. After
seeing first-hand
what was happening in Iraq Halliday resigned ending a 30+ career
with
the U.N. The two subsequent persons sent by the U.N. to
take over
the same position Halliday held have also resigned for similar
reasons.
For details and analysis
about the Iraq situation during the
past few years go to:
http://www.MiddleEast.Org/iraq.htm
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