IMPUNITY at the GLOBAL LEVEL: Bombing Iraq & Saying 'We Have No Choice'

-- By Grahame Russell
Feb. 2001

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It has become something of a rite of passage, that an incoming US President orders the bombing of another country, though President Bush Jr. might have broken the record in how soon after his inauguration he gave the command.

For the last three presidents, Iraq has been the country of choice. It has also become predictable that once the bombs have fallen, most politicians in the United States and Canada, let alone elsewhere, will say something to the effect that 'This was a hard decision, but the President had no choice.' They will say the bombings were in self-defense, justified and legal.

Very regrettably, most of the media accepts and repeats these self-serving assertions. Yet the bombings are not only immoral, they are illegal.

The recent bombings of February 16th -- that left at least one person dead and 11 people, including children, wounded -- were said to be "in self-defense" because US and British war planes were shot at by Iraqi forces in the so-called "no-fly" zones that cover two-thirds of Iraq's territory.

The "no-fly" zones are illegal. They are not ceasefire conditions, as explained by many. They are an invention of the US and British governments and unfortunately they are not questioned by most politicians and media agencies. Some, including the government of Canada, openly justify the US and British controlling the "no-fly" regions and regularly bombing Iraq.

The existence of "no-fly" zones has been repeated, and not questioned, so many times that they are now presented as legal and correct. It merits restating -- this is wrong.

Firstly, I find them incorrect. The US and Britain 'should not' be sending warplanes to regularly fly and sometimes drop bombs over two-thirds of Iraq, let alone sometimes over all of Iraq. But just as importantly, the over-flights are illegal. There is no mandate from the United Nations or justification in international law for what we are doing.

Bombing Iraq has become a grotesque charade. It is a joke on late night TV shows. Citizens across North America receive the news in a blasé or disinterested fashion. This contrasts with the fact that the bombings keep on killing Iraqi civilians, without entering here into a discussion of the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis who have been killed by malnutrition and disease caused to a significant degree by the commercial and financial sanctions imposed on Iraq.

Yes, there are serious political problems in the Middle East, as there are across the globe. Yet we in the West are choosing the most deadly and immoral way to deal with Iraq. Also, our means are illegal. None of the problems are being solved, Iraqi civilians keep on dying, and we violate and undermine the very possibility of the rule of law at the global level.

APRIL 26-28, 2001 NATIONAL DAYS OF EDUCATION AND ADVOCACY DENVER

Representatives of more than 60 peace-and-justice groups from around the United States have formed a new group to resist US policy on Iraq -- the National Network to End the War against Iraq. The 150 participants in the 2nd National Conference on Iraq gathered Feb. 17-18 in Denver to coordinate grassroots efforts to resist not only the bombings but also the 10 years of economic sanctions that have killed at least 1 million Iraqis, according to United Nations studies.

"There are activists all around the country who have been resisting US aggression against Iraq for years, and this network signals a new level of effort and commitment," said Paul George, a member of the network's newly elected Coordinating Committee. "The latest bombings by the Bush administration only hint at the enormity of the ongoing political and humanitarian disaster."

The network voted unanimously to sponsor "National Days of Outrage" on April 26-28, during which groups around the country will coordinate actions to highlight the suffering of the Iraqi people at the hands of US policy. "US policy toward Iraq is illegal, immoral and ineffective," said George. "The Hussein regime is stronger than ever, and the only people suffering are ordinary Iraqis, especially the children and the sick." Along with the public actions, other committees set up at the conference will work on public education, outreach and lobbying.

Opposition to the crippling sanctions on Iraq has grown around the world in the past year, as the evidence of the effects of the embargo on the civilian population has moved governments and activist groups to resist US policy. Even traditional allies, such as Egypt and Turkey, condemned the Feb. 16 bombing, signaling an increasing isolation of the United States. "The no-fly zones are not authorized by any international body, which makes the US attack blatantly illegal, and several former high-ranking UN officials have stated the sanctions violate the letter and the spirit of the UN Charter," said George. "For the sake of the Iraqi people, it is time for the American people to act."

FOR MORE INFORMATION and TO GET INVOLVED

Voices In The Wilderness
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T: 773-784-8065
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National Network to End the War against Iraq

Bob Jensen
t: 512-471-1990
e: rjensen@uts.cc.utexas.edu

Paul George
t: 650-326-8837
e: paul@peacecenter.com