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US foreign policy is considered blundering and immature. That may be a
cultivated illusion. The biggest bully on the block is not motivated to
develop common civility and negotiating skills. The US behaves as the
biggest bully on the block. The UN refused to approve the US war in
Yugoslavia so the US made it a NATO operation in violation of the NATO
charter.
As the US started planning war against Afghanistan three months before 9/11
the Bush adminstration has been trying to create a cause for war with Iraq
since Bush took office.
The US claims to be motivated by lofty goals such as democracy and self
determination. In fact the US is motivated lobbyists with political clout
and campaign contributions to make and nothing else. Americans have always
been sent to kill and be killed to further the goals of the lobbyists. Early
in the last century Americans were sent to fight for business interests in
bananas. Oil interests are much more influential than banana interests ever
could have been.
Since WWII all wars have been the same. During the Vietnam war 57,000
Americans and upwards of one million Southeast Asians died because the US
would not permit a reunification election to be held in Vietnam. So much for
an interest in free elections.
The US encouraged Hussein to invade Kuwait and then did everything possible
to prevent a peaceful resolution. So much for peace-loving. We now see the
build-up to a replay of the Gulf War. Congress holds hearings and again
eleven years later only calls witnesses in favor of war save for a few who
advocate caution and none against the war.
The hearings open with a statement by the chairman that the American people
have to be educated to the dangers of Iraq. The stated purpose is
indoctrination. So much for a debate.
So before this war comes lets at least put the facts on the table so we know
we are engaging in this new war for the sake of the lobbyists and nothing
else.
- Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11
This needs be repeated over and over. There is no evidence of any Iraqi
connection to 9/11. In fact the US has announced that even after the
conquest of Afghanistan and eight months of investigation all over the world
there is not one bit of evidence that either the Taliban or al Qaeda was
involved much less Iraq.
- Hussein's career in international affairs started when he was
recruited as an assassin for the CIA. The US supported him in his war
against Iran
As a conspiracy theory it is far from loony that he is still on the US
payroll. But most likely he is simply a man who decided he could do better
on his own than working for American interests. Who would expect a man
recruited as an assassin to have a morality different from that which got
him his first job?
- Iraq is no where near developing nuclear weapons
If nothing else that requires uranium ore. Thousands of tons of it. Iraq is
importing zero pounds of ore. The embargo is so strict Iraq cannot import
common lead pencils because the "lead" in them is really graphite and can be
used in a nuclear weapons program. The UN inspection team found everything
related to nuclear weapons and destroyed it all. Iraq has no capability to
manufacture nuclear weapons.
- Iraq will not again attack his neighbors
Iraq did that in 1991. Hussein has demonstrated a lot of things but
stupidity is not one of them. He is least likely to attack the US, Russia,
the UK, Israel, France, China, Pakistan, and India as they are nuclear
powers. An attack on any of them by Iraq would lead to annihilation. None of
the neighboring countries except Israel claims to be threatened by Iraq.
Iraq's neighbors, except for Israel, are against an attack on Iraq. Iraq is
almost as socially open as the West and is therefore no friend of Islamic
fundamentalism. He had weapons of mass destruction during the first Gulf War
before they were destroyed. He did not use them for fear of retaliation.
- Iraq did cooperate with UN weapons inspectors even while the US used
them to spy on matters unrelated to the inspection
This was particularly serious when US tried to gather information to
assassinate Hussein and collect GPS targeting information. What did the US
expect Hussein to do? I suspect the US wanted the inspections to end. Even
Scott Ritter, head of the UN inspection team, said he also worked for
Israeli intelligence while heading the team. The espionage is no Iraqi
invention.
- The US and the UN are responsible for over one million Iraqi deaths
consequent of the embargo
Iraq cannot import chemicals for water purification like chlorine because
they can be used to make poison gas. The inability to purify drinking water
in itself is a cause of death. The US targeted the water supply during the
war. That is a direct attack upon civilians. Iraq is not permitted to import
equipment to restore sewage treatment facilities or electric power. All of
these could be imported if the US were to permit it. The US refusal
is the cause.
- The US has said it will refuse to lift the embargo even if there is
compliance with inspections
In all the US attempts to blame Iraq the US has said it will only agree when
there is a new government to its liking in Iraq. Albright said it and
Clinton said it. That is the bottom line to it all. This is a US government
vendetta against ex-CIA employee Saddam Hussein.
- Iraq has accepted while the US has refused every UN, Russian and Arab
plan to lift the embargo
The US has raised spurious objections to every plan. Even Britain has not
supported the objections. Every friendly European nation in Europe has
considered the objections ridiculous. European nations have supported most
of the plans.
- Saddam Hussein did not gas his own people
That story has been repeated as often as the Kuwait incubator lie. There has
never been any evidence to support it. It happened during war with Iran. The
claimed victims were Kurds who were fighting for Iran. Turkey persecutes
Kurds just as does Iraq. Kurds are trying to gain independence in both
countries. Turkey has nixed the idea of a Kurdistan independent of Iraq as a
condition of supporting the war. The Kurds will get no better deal under a
new regime than under Hussein.
- The people of Iraq will not welcome a US attack
Despite everything the Russian people suffered under communism there was
never a question they would fight to repel any attack just as strongly as
they did in WWII. Iraqis have it much better under Hussein than did the
Russians under Stalin. Why would Iraqis be different and welcome an attack?
Consider the million deaths as a consequence of the last attack as a
demonstration of what the American people are really like. As the head of
the government of Iraq it is his fundamental obligation to defend Iraq
against foreign aggression.
- The war will be over quickly
If a few bombing raids can quickly end a war then Japan should have
collapsed with the Doolittle raid. Afghanistan should have collapsed in
hours. In the first Gulf War it took 44 days of sustained air attacks before
900,000 ground troops were prepared to move on the over-extended Iraqi
troops in Kuwait. The current cost estimate for this war is $80 billion if
everything goes exactly according to plan. Nothing ever does. Given the
inflation rate, that cost has increased by $1 billion since it was made
public. The current plan is to station 75,000 US troops in Iraq for the
foreseeable future without any plan to withdraw ever.
- The US and Britain have bombed Iraq at least once a week since the
Gulf War ended.
There is no reason for this other than to train pilots in live fire
exercises. The "no fly" zone is a US invention. It serves no US
interest. It does not protect the Iraqi Kurds. The Secretary General of the
UN has declared it illegal.
- The US intends to install a pro-American dictator in Iraq.
Congressman Tom Lantos who is privy to US intentions told visiting Israelis
of this US intention.
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