The so-called withdrawal

Lots of comment in the last few days about the fictitious nature of the US withdrawal from Iraq. Robert Fisk in The Independent was the most eloquent:

US troops say goodbye to Iraq

Robert Fisk reports for The Independent (August 20^th): We should not be taken in by the tomfoolery on the Kuwaiti border in the last few hours, the departure of the last "combat" troops from Iraq two weeks ahead of schedule. They are leaving behind 50,000 men and women – a third of the entire US occupation force – who will be attacked and who will still have to fight against the insurgency.

Yes, officially they are there to train the gunmen and militiamen and the poorest of the poor who have joined the new Iraqi army, whose own commander does not believe they will be ready to defend their country until 2020. But they will still be in occupation – for surely one of the "American interests" they must defend is their own presence – along with the thousands of armed and indisciplined mercenaries, western and eastern, who are shooting their way around Iraq to safeguard our precious western diplomats and businessmen. So say it out loud: we are not leaving.

Instead, the millions of American soldiers who have passed through Iraq have brought the Iraqis a plague. From Afghanistan they brought the infection of al-Qa'ida. They brought the disease of civil war. They injected Iraq with corruption on a grand scale. They stamped the seal of torture on Abu Ghraib. They sectarianised a country that, for all its Saddamite brutality and corruption, had hitherto held its Sunnis and Shias together.

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-us-troops-say-goodbye-to-iraq-2057387.html

Ranj Alaaddin added in The Guardian (August 20^th): Fifty thousand US troops will stay in Iraq until 2011, down from 96,000, ostensibly to play a supporting role and advise Iraqi forces. That is, however, 50,000 armed US troops, backed up by major military hardware and artillery and who will operate in "self-defence" and could intervene in armed combat at the request of the Iraqi government.

As volatility continues to grip northern Iraq and the south experiences an increase in attacks, those triggers for American intervention could come sooner than most think, rendering the whole withdrawal of "combat" troops a meaningless, public relations stunt that makes a mockery of the intelligence of the Iraqi and American people.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/aug/20/us-iraq-exit-phoney-withdrawal

And there's an interesting interview on Democracy Now!

US Withdrawal Plan Marks "Privatization of Military Occupation"

Staff Sergeant Camilo Mejía, the first US combat veteran to publicly resist the war, on Democracy Now! Radio (August 20^th): What is not being reported as strongly as the final troop leaving Iraq is that we’re still leaving 50,000 troops in country, not to mention that the 4,000 who are leaving are being replaced by 7,000 security contractors.

We already have over 100,000 contractors in Iraq operating, many of them operating in the capacity of mercenaries. If you read the coverage by the New York Times, you realize that these are not just going to be security guards, these are going to be highly specialized former military personnel who are going to have the skills and the ability to operate radars, to go out there and find improvised explosive devices.

So, basically, it’s the privatization of a military occupation - the transferring of military authorities and duties from the US military into corporate paramilitary forces.

http://www.democracynow.org/2010/8/20/iraq_war_vet_camilo_mejia_us

And here's the full statement of a coalition of anti-war groups in the US:

The Iraq Debacle: The Legacy of Seven Years of War

by Iraq Debacle Coalition

We, the undersigned organizations and individuals, mark the August 31st partial withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq with the following evaluation and recommendations:

• The U.S. occupation of Iraq continues and the reduction of U.S. troops in Iraq can at best be called only a rebranded occupation. While the number of U.S. troops in Iraq will be reduced from a high of 165,000, there will still be 50,000 troops left behind, some 75,000 contractors, five huge "enduring bases" and an Embassy the size of Vatican City.
• The U.S. military's overthrow of the brutal dictatorship of Saddam Hussein did not lead to a better life for Iraqis-just the opposite. It resulted in the further destruction of basic infrastructure-electricity, water, sewage-that continues to this day. The U.S. dropped more tons of bombs on Iraq than in all of WWII, destroying Iraq's electrical, water and sewage systems. Iraq's health care and higher education systems, once the best in the entire region, have been decimated. The U.S. war on Iraq unleashed a wave of violence that has left over one million Iraqis dead and four million displaced, as well as ethnic rivalries that continue to plague the nation. We have seriously wounded millions of Iraqis, creating a lifetime of suffering and economic hardship for them, their communities and the entire nation as it struggles to rebuild. Life expectancy for Iraqis fell from 71 years in 1996 to 67 years in 2007 due to the war and destruction of the healthcare system. The U.S. use of weapons such as depleted uranium and white phosphorous has taken a severe toll, with the cancer rate in Fallujah, for example, now worse than that of Hiroshima.
• The majority of the refugees and internally displaced persons created by the US intervention have been abandoned. Of the nearly 4 million refugees, many are now living in increasingly desperate circumstances in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and around the world. As undocumented refugees, most are not allowed to work and are forced to take extremely low paying, illegal jobs ($3/day) or rely on the UN and charity to survive. The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) has documented a spike in the sex trafficking of Iraqi women.
• Iraq still does not have a functioning government. Many months after the March 7 elections, there is still a political vacuum and violence that is killing roughly 300 civilians a month. There is no functioning democracy in place and little sign there will be one in the near future.
• The Iraq War has left a terrible toll on the U.S. troops. More than one million American service members have deployed in the Iraq War effort. Over 4,400 U.S. troops have been killed and tens of thousands severely injured. More than one in four U.S. troops have come home from the Iraq war with health problems that require medical or mental health treatment. PTSD rates in the military have skyrocketed. In 2009, a record number of 245 soldiers committed suicide.
• The war has drained our treasury. As of August 2010, U.S. taxpayers have spent over $750 billion on the Iraq War effort. Counting the cost of lifetime care of wounded vets and the interest payments on the money we borrowed to pay for this war, the real cost will be in the trillions. This misappropriation of funds has contributed to the economic crises we are experiencing, including the lack of funds for our schools, healthcare, infrastructure and investments in clean, green jobs.
• The U.S. officials who got us into this disastrous war on the basis of lies have not been held accountable. Not George Bush, Dick Cheney, Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powell, Karl Rove, Donald Rumsfeld. No one. Neither have the Bush administration lawyers who authorized torture, including Jay Bybee and John Yoo. The "think tanks," journalists and pundits who perpetuated the lies have not been fired-most are today cheerleading for the war in Afghanistan.
• The war has led to the pillaging of Iraqi resources and institutionalization of corruption. The U.S. Department of Defense has been unable to account for $8.7 billion of Iraqi oil and gas money meant for humanitarian needs and reconstruction after the 2003 invasion. The invasion has also led to the erosion of Iraqi government control over the nation's oil. In 2001, Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force, which included executives of America's largest energy companies, recommended opening up areas of their energy sectors to foreign investment. The resulting draft Iraq Oil Law threatens global grab for Iraq's resources as the international oil cartel seeks to reestablish its control. Adoption of the oil law, however, has been stymied by stiff popular resistance, foremost by the oil workers and their union.
• The war has not made us more secure. The US policy of torture, extraordinary rendition, indefinite detention, violent and deadly raids on civilian homes, gunning down innocent civilians in the streets and absence of habeas corpus has fueled the fires of hatred and extremism toward Americans. The very presence of our troops in Iraq and other Muslim nations has become a recruiting tool.

Given the above, we, the undersigned individuals and organizations, mark the occasion of this troop withdrawal by calling on the Administration and Congress to take the following actions:

• Withdrawal of all U.S. troops and military contractors from Iraq and the closing of all U.S. bases;
• Reparations to help the Iraqis repair their basic infrastructure and increased funds for the millions of internally and externally displaced Iraqis;
• Full support for the U.S. troops who suffer from the internal and external wounds of war;
• Prosecution of those officials responsible for dragging our country into this disaster;
• Transfer of funds from war into resources to rebuild America, with a focus on green jobs.
• The lessons of this disastrous intervention should also be an impetus for Congress and the administration to end the war in Afghanistan. It's time to focus on creating real security here at home and rebuilding America.

To be listed as an Individual Signatory to above statement please click here.

To have your organization listed below email us:

• Bay Area Labor Committee for Peace & Justice
• CODEPINK: Women for Peace
• Community Organizing Center
• Courage to Resist
• Fellowship of Reconciliation
• Global Exchange
• Institute for Policy Studies' New Internationalism Project
• Iraq Veterans Against the War
• Jeannette Rankin Peace Center
• Just Foreign Policy
• Military Families Speak Out
• Pax Christi - USA
• Under the Hood
• US Labor Against the War
• Veterans for Peace
• Voices for Creative Nonviolence
• Voters for Peace
• War Is a Crime

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/08/19-10

Collateral Murder Continued...

Former GIs Describe US Policy of Firing on Civilians

Global Research reports (August 16^th): Three former U.S. soldiers involved in the infamous “Collateral Murder” helicopter gunship attack on Baghdad civilians in July 2007, say that attack was nothing out of the ordinary. The massacre---that killed more than a dozen Iraqis, two of them employed by Reuters---ignited a wave of international revulsion against the U.S. military in Iraq when a video of the massacre was released by WikiLeaks last April.

“What the world did not see is the months of training that led up to the incident, in which soldiers were taught to respond to threats with a barrage of fire---a “wall of steel,” in Army parlance---even if it put civilians at risk,” report Sarah Lazare and Ryan Harvey in the August 16th issue of The Nation magazine.

Former Army Specialist Josh Stieber said that newly arrived soldiers in Baghdad were asked if they would fire back at an attacker if they knew unarmed civilians might get hurt in the process. Those who did not respond affirmatively, or who hesitated, were “knocked around” until they realized what was expected of them, added former Army Specialist Ray Corcoles, who deployed with Stieber.

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=20605

The US isn't leaving Iraq, it's rebranding the occupation

Seumas Milne writes in The Guardian (August 4^th): The US isn't withdrawing from Iraq at all – it's rebranding the occupation. Just as George Bush's war on terror was retitled "overseas contingency operations" when Obama became president, US "combat operations" will be rebadged from next month as "stability operations".

But as Major General Stephen Lanza, the US military spokesman in Iraq, told the New York Times: "In practical terms, nothing will change". After this month's withdrawal, there will still be 50,000 US troops in 94 military bases, "advising" and training the Iraqi army, "providing security" and carrying out "counter-terrorism" missions. In US military speak, that covers pretty well everything they might want to do.

The US government isn't just rebranding the occupation, it's also privatising it. There are around 100,000 private contractors working for the occupying forces, of whom more than 11,000 are armed mercenaries, mostly "third country nationals", typically from the developing world.

Read more at:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/aug/04/us-iraq-rebranding-occupation

Ex-militia chief blames U.S. for Iraq govt delays

Reuters report (July 31^st): Washington is holding up the formation of a new Iraqi government by insisting the two main election winners form a coalition, allowing Iraq's neighbours to meddle in its affairs, a top Shi'ite politician told Reuters.

Hadi al-Amiri, a parliamentarian who heads the Badr Organisation, the former armed wing of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council's (ISCI), said the United States was pressuring Iraqi leaders to form a government of the two main electoral blocs led by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and former Premier Iyad Allawi.

He said Washington wanted to exclude others, including the Badr group, which won 11 seats in parliament.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LDE66T1RS.htm

Withdrawal

News items suggest that The US Government is seeking ways around the State of Forces Agreement:

State Dept. planning to field a small army in Iraq

McClatchy reports (July 21^st): Can diplomats field their own army? The State Department is laying plans to do precisely that in Iraq, in an unprecedented experiment that U.S. officials and some nervous lawmakers say could be risky.

In little more than a year, State Department contractors in Iraq could be driving armored vehicles, flying aircraft, operating surveillance systems, even retrieving casualties if there are violent incidents and disposing of unexploded ordnance.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/07/21/97915/state-dept-planning-to-field-a.html#storylink=omni_popular#ixzz0ue0Qz7RR

Iraq Withdrawal? Obama and Clinton Expanding US Paramilitary Force in Iraq

Jeremy Scahill writes for The Nation (July 22^nd): Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is presiding up to be a radical expansion of a private, US-funded paramilitary force that will operate in Iraq for the foreseeable future--the very type of force Clinton once claimed she opposed.

The State Department is asking Congress to approve funds to more than double the number of private security contractors in Iraq. The Department also has asked the Pentagon for twenty-four Blackhawk helicopters, fifty Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected (MRAP) vehicles and other military equipment. "After the departure of U.S. Forces [from Iraq], we will continue to have a critical need for logistical and life support of a magnitude and scale of complexity that is unprecedented in the history of the Department of State," wrote Patrick Kennedy, under secretary of state for management, in an April letter to the Pentagon. "And to keep our people secure, Diplomatic Security requires certain items of equipment that are only available from the military."

What is unfolding is the face of President Obama's scaled-down, rebranded mini-occupation of Iraq.

http://www.thenation.com/blog/37877/iraq-withdrawal-obama-and-clinton-expanding-us-paramilitary-force-iraq

From an Iraqi blog

http://arabwomanblues.blogspot.com/2010/07/falluja-worse-than-hiroshima.html

"Falluja Worse Than Hiroshima "

Layla Anwar

July 2, 2010 The information is too important not to jot down...this is a rushed post. I just finished watching a re-run of Ahmad Mansour's Al-Jazeera Arabic - interview with Prof.Chris Busby. Prof Busby is a Scientist and Director of Green Audit, and scientific secretary of the European Committee on Radiation Risks. To find out more on Prof Chris Busby and his work -- Google -- Chris Busby Uranium. Prof Busby has published many articles on radiation, uranium and contamination in countries such as Lebanon, Kosovo, Gaza and of course Iraq. His latest findings - which were the subject of the program aired on Al-Jazeera are what I will focus on here. As some of you know, Falluja is a forbidden city. It was subjected to intense bombardments in 2004, with DU bombs and White phosphorus, and since it has become a no go zone - meaning that both the Iraqi puppet authorities and the U.S invading/occupying forces do not allow anyone to conduct any real study in Falluja. Falluja is basically under siege. Obviously both the Americans and the Iraqis know something and are hiding it from the public. And this is where Prof. C.Busby comes in the picture. He was/is adamant to get to the bottom of what took place in Falluja in 2004. Being a top scientist in his field, he set out to conduct a survey/research in Falluja whose preliminary results will be published in 2 weeks - hopefully. Prof Busby found many obstacles while undertaking this project. Neither he nor any member of his team were allowed access to Falluja to conduct interviews. He said when the main door closes, one has to find other doors to open. And this is what he did. He managed to gather a team of Iraqis from Falluja to conduct the surveys for him. The research project was based on 721 families from Falluja with 4'500 participants - living in both high level and lower level radiation zones. Results were compared to a control group - a sample of the same number of families living in a non radioactive zone in another Arab country. For the purpose of the study he chose three other countries for comparison - Kuwait, Egypt and Jordan. Before getting into the preliminary results I must note the following : - the Iraqi authorities threatened all the participants of this survey with arrest and detention should they cooperate with the "terrorists" who were interviewing them. In other words, they were threatened under the anti-terrorism act. - The U.S forces prohibited Dr.Busby for gathering any data, arguing that Falluja is an insurgency zone. - The doctors from Falluja turned down the request to be aired live on the Ahmad Mansour program because they had received several death threats and feared for their lives. In other words, the study was conducted under very difficult and life threatening conditions. But it was conducting nonetheless. As the program has not been uploaded on youtube, I can't give a word for word transcription. I took short hand notes and memorized the rest. But I will do my best to present all the facts I heard today. So what is it that the US and its Iraqi puppets do not want the public to learn ? And why are they are not allowing any measurements of the levels of radiation in Falluja, and why did they even forbid the IAEA to enter Falluja ? What exactly happened in Falluja ? What were the kinds of bombs used ? Was it just DU or more ? 1) One thing that is very peculiar to Falluja is that the rates of cancer have risen dramatically in a very short space of time i.e since 2004. Examples given by Dr.Busby : - rate of Child Leukemia is 40 X (times) higher since 2004 than during previous years. And compared to Jordan for instance it is 38 X times higher. - rate of breast cancer is 10 X higher since 2004 - rate of lymphatic cancer is also 10 x higher since 2004. 2) Another peculiarity to Falluja is the dramatic rise in infant mortality rates. Compared to 2 other Arab countries like Kuwait and Egypt who are not contaminated by radiation these are the figures : - infant mortality rates for Falluja is 80 infants out of 1'000 births in comparison to Kuwait with 9 infants out of 1'000, and to Egypt with 19 infants out of 1'000. (so Iraqi infant mortality rate is 4 times higher than Egypt and 9 times higher than Kuwait) 3) the third peculiarity to Falluja is the number of genetic deformities that has suddenly exploded since 2004. This is a subject I've already covered in the past. But this is not the whole story, today I learned something else. The radiation of whatever agent that was used by the "liberating forces", not only causes massive genetic deformities but also and this is very important : - it causes structural changes at the cellular level. - which in turns means due to the genetic make up of male infants (lack of X chromosome), male infants are more likely to die at birth, and female infants are more likely to survive birth with strong deformities. And here another example is given by Dr.Busby : prior to 2003 the birth rates in Falluja were as follows : 1050 male infants to 1000 female infants. In 2005, there has been only 350 male infants born - meaning that male infants do not survive. - as for the female infants and this is where the tragedy lies...radiation causes change at the DNA level, which means that these same female if they do survive, and if they do reproduce will give birth to genetically disfigured females and dead male infants. - the above findings are backed by other studies conducted on the children and grandchildren of Hiroshima survivors (in 2007) and which show that even the third generation exhibits genetic malformations including disease(cancer, heart, etc...)by a rate of 50 X times. In Chernobyl on the other hand, studies on animals in the same area have shown that the effects of radiation have genetically modified 22 generations. In sum radiation is transmitted from gene to gene and has a cumulative effect with time. (won't go into how - with cells accumulation/ memory and the working of the immune system - here. You can read more details about that once Prof Busby's paper is published) - Some of the infant deformities are so grotesque that both Al-Jazeera and the BBC who produced a documentary on the same subject - refused to air pictures to their viewers. Examples of deformities which Ahmad Mansour has pictures of are : * children born without eyes * children with two and three heads * children born with no orifices * children born with brain and eye/retina malignant tumors * children born with vital organs lacking * children born with missing limbs or extra ones * children born with no genitals * children born with severe cardiac malformation and more... - on that same point, doctors in Falluja were asked for the purpose of the study to note the rates of birth defects in the space of one month and compare to a previous month and this is the result : in the space of one month alone births with defects rose from 1 x day (previous month) to 3 x day (current month designated for the study which was February 2010) - Uranium is fed into the blood stream through ingestion and inhalation. The massive levels of Uranium the people of Falluja were subjected to also accounts for the vertiginous rise in lung, lymph nodes and breast cancers in adults. Already with these preliminary findings, Prof. Busby and his team concluded that in comparison to Hiroshima and Nagazaki - Falluja was worse. And I quote from Dr.Busby : " The situation in Falluja is scary and horrendous, it is more dangerous and worse than Hiroshima..." On a side but very related note : I mentioned these are preliminary results - why so ? Because Prof. Busby has been harassed and has had his research funds slashed, doors closed in his face, threatened, (alongside other scientists who tried conducting similar studies in the 90's in Iraq), abandoned by the scientific community, mobbed --because of the nature of his work on Iraq. The political implications are enormous and dangerous for the US and its cronies. It means that the scientific evidence for War Crimes is right here at our fingertips... Hence Prof. Busby's life has been made very difficult. The research paper that he took great pains in conducting and producing was sent to the Lancet for reviewing at the Scientific committee level, the Lancet turned it down saying it did not have the time to review it. Labs who cooperated in the past to test samples - turned him down when they found out that the samples were from Iraq. Only 2 labs are willing to test the samples for the EXACT MATERIAL/AGENT USED IN FALLUJA - and they are willing to do so only at a very exorbitant price - again due to the sensitive nature of the study. Also due to lack of funds, Prof Busby has about 20 samples from Falluja for testing -- that he is carefully safeguarding -- is awaiting the necessary funds to do so. When asked by Ahmad Mansour what makes him persevere seeing all the formidable obstacles that he has been facing - his reply was : " All my life, I sought the Truth, I am a hunter of the Truth in a jungle of lies. I also have children. Children are not only our future, they are the carriers of future generations. For 50 years we have been contaminating the planet (with radiation) and we pass this legacy onto our children and grandchildren. We owe it to the people of Falluja to find out the Truth " When asked how he manages with no funds and doors closing in his face - his reply was : " I rely on the goodwill of people who send little amounts here and there, and am also a firm believer if the main door closes, open other ones. When there's a will, there's a way." Hats off to you Prof. Busby. I urge all the people reading this post, all people of conscience, I urge all the Iraqis (get a move on for God's sake!) and all Arabs to contact Prof. Busby and to donate so the samples from Falluja can be tested and the Truth can be uncovered. And I shall end this post with a final quote from this great dedicated man " The Truth has wings that can't be clipped " I have to end here. It's early morning, I have not slept yet. I wanted to get this out to the world...the question I shall take with me to bed -- if I can ever close my eyes -- is the same question I have been asking since 2003 - Why ? What have the Iraqi people, what have the Iraqi children done to you to deserve all that ? The implications are harrowing....

Interesting piece in LA Times

Anti-war news

Journalist who hurled shoes at President Bush says stunt had been carefully planned

LA Times reports (June 20^th): When Iraqi journalist Muntather Zaidi stood up from his seat and hurled his shoes at then-U.S. President George W. Bush during a December 2008 news conference in Baghdad, shouting "dog" at him, he was hailed as a hero by many in the Arab world and left many others stunned by what appeared to be a spontaneous act of anger.

But in an exclusive interview, Zaidi said the stunt was something he had carefully planned for years. He said.: "I was just waiting for the right opportunity. I was checking every visit that he [Bush] made so I could bring the Iraqi people's justice upon him. I left my will at my brother's house and told him to open it if I die. I recorded a five-minute long tape four years ago in which I say that I will hit George Bush with a shoe as soon as I get the opportunity. I left it with my brother telling him that, 'If I die, you bring it up and expose it to the world.'"

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2010/06/president-bush-shoe-thrower-planned-stunt-for-years-he-says.html