Sunday, May 18, 2003
-The Daughter I Can’t Hear From (Rachel Corrie’s Mother)
By Carrie Corrie
May 15, 2003
Editor’s Note: Remarks delivered at Sylvester Park, Olympia, Washington, May 11, 2003.
To all moms here, happy Mothers’ Day. This is a day some of us wait for in order to have a little reward for all the time we have spent in our lives reminding and making sure that all of the family birthdays, Fathers’ Day, and important days in our families’ lives are properly acknowledged. We deserve this day! We have earned it!
I have had lovely Mothers’ Days in my life. When my children were younger, I had to remain in bed until they could serve me breakfast there – French toast (sometimes a little crispier than usual) and orange juice – always lovingly, sometimes messily, most often safely prepared. There were gifts – handmade cards, poems, drawings, and coupon books. The latter promised hours of house cleanings, meals to be prepared on one of my busier days, and sometimes an unlimited number of hugs. I think I always collected on the hugs. I probably didn’t redeem all of the other coupons offered; but I knew on those mothers’ days that my children’s hearts and minds were filled with finding creative, tangible (and inexpensive) ways to say “I love you, Mom.” I am not sure that even now they completely, consciously understand that their greatest gift to me has always been simply in their being.
This Mothers’ Day, of course, is a unique one for me. As my kids grew into adulthood and as we spread out across the country, on Mothers’ Day I could count on a phone call from each of them – three kid calls in one day. (For AT&T and Sprint, Mothers’ Day is winning the lottery.) This year, I hear from Chris and Sarah by phone and in person. Not from Rachel, who on March 16 was killed by a bulldozer in the Gaza Strip, while trying to protect a Palestinian home from demolition. Rachel is, though, powerfully with me – in the same way, I am sure, that other mothers have their lost children powerfully with them on this day.
The possibility of Mothers’ Day 2003 having more than the usual significance was sparked for me before Rachel died – a week before, when I was in Washington DC with other women gathered to challenge the pending war with Iraq. I spent a day in workshops and came across mothers planning to take Mothers Day back to its roots in this country, to Julia Ward Howe and her Declaration calling for a Mothers Day of Peace, and her model of challenging injustice and violence wherever it might be.
There have been, since Rachel’s death, others who have urged me to consider the power of mothers. On a radio call-in show out of Washington DC – the only call-in we have done – I was nervous but quickly heartened when two of the first calls came from mothers of Evergreen students who had learned of Rachel through their children. Then came one from a kind man who told me that I was talking to the wrong people in Washington DC. That instead of trying to communicate with the President, I needed to get in touch with Laura and Barbara Bush – with the mothers of the world. I told the gentleman that I have a great deal of confidence in mothers. And I do. I am bonded to mothers. I feel something deep in our core, something that happens when a child comes into our lives, that keeps us grounded in our awareness of the sanctity of that being and by transference keeps us grounded in our awareness of the sanctity of all human beings. I believe that the policies of this country, and the money that follows them in the world, should reflect values that most mothers here hold – the sanctity of each life, the equal value of each human being, and a commitment to justice applied equally through adherence to law.
My attention, of course, has been drawn to injustices in the U.S./Israeli/Palestinian conflict. I meant today to talk with you about other mothers – brave Palestinian and Israeli mothers – but I have just learned of things that concern me greatly and that I must share with you. The International Solidarity Movement, the group with which Rachel worked, “was founded to provide the Palestinian people with a resource, international protection and a voice with which to resist nonviolently, an overwhelming military occupation force. In the last couple days the Israeli military has increased pressure on foreigners in the West Bank and particularly in the Gaza Strip and appears to be specifically targeting the ISM. Two British members, Nick and Alice, were held at a checkpoint for twenty-eight hours, with no arrest and no charges and are now being held at a settlement apparently for deportation. I believe Alice is the woman who comforted Rachel as she was dying. Alice is Jewish and has cousins in Israel whom she fears for when she hears of a suicide bombing.
Friday, approximately twenty military vehicles surrounded the ISM media office, seized ISM computers and video equipment, pillaged files and photos, broke equipment and damaged office space. Three females in the office (one from Human Rights Watch, a Palestinian volunteer, and an American volunteer) were taken away. The Palestinian has been released. The internationals are apparently still being held – most likely for deportation. It is reported that these incidents are part of an overall plan to remove ISM from the West Bank and Gaza. The Associated Press states, “Under Israel’s new rules, foreigners entering Gaza must sign a document in which they agree not to enter military areas along the Israeli-Egyptian border and ‘other areas of combat’ and in which they absolve Israel of all responsibility in the case of their injury or death.” While the new regulations appear aimed at the ISM, the Associated Press states, “the regulations appear also to give the military considerable discretion in keeping away other foreign nationals – journalists, aid workers, and those trying to monitor the fighting between the Israelis and Palestinians.” Amnesty International has issued a statement saying it is concerned that “one aim of these new and drastic restrictions is to prevent outside monitoring and scrutiny of the conduct of the Israeli army.” Our family does not know what reason the Israeli military is using for its actions against ISM. We do know that they said our daughter was in the Occupied Territories illegally. When we questioned our own State Department about this, they said they knew of absolutely no law that Rachel broke.
I want to point out that the “the areas of combat” that the Israeli military speaks of are the residential streets of Gaza and the West Bank – land that belongs to the Palestinian people.
I want to point out that it is to these densely populated neighborhoods that the tanks and bulldozers come to carry out their military operations – operations that include destroying homes, greenhouses, olive tree orchards, and wells. These are the neighborhoods over which American made and financed Apache helicopters fly and where the snipers in the Israeli watchtowers that surround the area direct their ammunition.
I want to point out that this past week, 19 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed by the Israeli military. The dead include five children, an old man, and a handicapped male. Thirteen of these deaths occurred in Gaza City’s al-Shojaeya neighborhood where additionally forty Palestinians were wounded. Access to ambulances and medical staff was obstructed. Walls of some homes were destroyed. One thirty-six year old and his family were forced out of their house, ordered to take off their clothes and were then used as human shields to protect the Israeli soldiers from Palestinian resistance men confronting the forces. This use of civilians as human shields is illegal under international law.
This week, in other Palestinian areas, other children were killed and injured when Israeli forces opened fire damaging houses and hitting a hospital and school. One child was killed when forces opened fire on stone throwers.
A British journalist, James Miller, making an HBO documentary on the lives of Palestinian children in Rafah, was killed by Israeli forces though he and others had come out of a house waving a white flag and wearing vests marked “TV.”
Eighteen houses were destroyed in Rafah this week, leaving more than 100 more Palestinian civilians homeless. According to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, since the beginning of the current strife in 2000, 12,737 Palestinians have seen their homes demolished. A great many demolitions have occurred near Gaza’s border with Egypt where Israel is building what they call a security fence.
On May 2 Israeli military with heavy vehicles and bulldozers moved into a Gazan village and razed fifteen pieces of Palestinian land planted with wheat, onions, wild figs, and olives. Iron-roofed rooms and irrigation networks were also destroyed.
These occurrences of the past week are not unique. They happen day after day in Palestine.
I do not need to point out, because you all know, that there are suicide bombings in Israel. These are horrible, indiscriminate, illegal acts of violence. Though there is no balance of power between the Israeli and Palestinian people, the fear is very real on both sides. The violence, however, inside Israel is a direct result of the 36 year occupation of Palestine and of the ongoing abuse of Palestinian human rights. There are no home demolitions in Israel, no gardens and orchards destroyed there, no wells and cisterns damaged and water taken away, no land taken away to create settlements, roads, and apartheid walls.
We in America see the horror of the suicide bombings. We seem to see much less of the ongoing violence against the Palestinian people. Our blindness is an enormous contributing factor to this problem. We need to remember that as we have watched the deaths of some of the 773 Israelis who have died since September 2000, that there have also been 2,298 Palestinian deaths. In this booklet now dedicated to Rachel – are the names and some of faces of the children who have died since September 2000 – Israeli, Palestinian. We need to remember them all.
The news of the past couple days has left me no choice but to come to you with the hope that some of you will be moved to action this Mothers’ Day. I urge you to take your voices to members of Congress, to the White House, to the State Department, to the Israeli Embassy. Tell them that the International Solidarity Movement and other international human rights activists in Palestine need their support. Tell them that, of course, the Israeli military does not want these activists watching and interfering as it commits one human rights violation after another. Tell them that the United States, which funds the out-of-control military activity in Palestine, should insist that international human rights observers be in the area but that until they do, it is imperative to support the non-violent activists who are there now. Tell them that the timid response from the U.S. and British governments to Rachel’s death and that of journalist James Miller, and to the shootings of Brian Avery and Tom Hurndall gives Israel the green light to establish these new, harsh tactics to further intimidate the non-violent activists. It has been pointed out to me that the response to date by the U.S. and British governments to these incidents is sending a chilling message to human rights activists round the world. Our government must take a much stronger stand.
There have been times when I have been quiet because I felt there were others who knew more. There are some who would like to quiet me now and who would like to quiet the power of Rachel’s message, too. I am no longer intimidated by experts and critics and certainly not by the name-callers. After all, my daughter stood in front of a bulldozer in order to protect the Palestinian home of a family with three young children. I believe that I can speak out and that I have a responsibility as a mother to speak out and to demand that the experts, the policymakers, Congress, and the White House reflect our values, our beliefs in the sanctity of each life, in the equality of each human being, and in justice and the rule of law.
I want to close with a few short excerpts from a few of the letters we have received from around the world:
From the Director Emeritus of a Jewish Studies Program at a major U.S. University where these words were spoken at a Memorium for Rachel: “Our Jewish Scripture says in Deuteronomy, Chapter 16, verse 20) “Justice, justice you shall pursue.” The obverse of this biblical injunction is “Injustice, injustice you shall oppose!” And Rachel Corrie opposed injustice. For that we will honor her. For that we will remember her. But more importantly, for her sacrifice, for her premature death to have the greatest meaning, we must, as best we can, continue the struggle she so ardently undertook. May her example and her life be a blessing to us all and may her dream of a better world come about speedily and in our time.”
From a woman in Israel who wrote to her friend here in Olympia, “We need all our young people, ours and theirs.”
From a woman in New York State: “My grandparents fled the pogroms of Russia a hundred years ago and spent decades working for the creation of a Jewish homeland. I’m certain that if they were alive, they would weep for all that is happening there now, as I do.”
From a group of thirty-five in North Carolina: “We mourn Rachel’s death, as we mourn the death of every Palestinian and Israeli man, woman, and child. We are a group of Jews who believe that the Occupation of the West Bank and Gaza is unjust, immoral, and completely contradictory to the best interests not only of the Palestinian people but of Israel and the Jewish people. We work to help people, both Jewish and non-Jewish, to find their voice, to speak up and speak out, to understand that criticism of the Israeli government and its inhumane policies is not only important, but absolutely critical to our future.”
And from a Muslim in the Middle East: “I write to you as a parent myself and also as a Muslim who believes passionately in the freedom and dignity of every individual on our earth. It seems to me that we too carelessly forget or disbelieve our shared identity across all times and cultures, when in fact we are one human family desperately in need of peacemakers.”
From AlterNet
-Taking Action: Bhopal Survivors Confront Dow
WHAT’S NEW ON CORPWATCH
Holding Corporations Accountable
<< http://www.corpwatch.org >>
May 15, 2003
HUMAN RIGHTS
Bhopal Survivors Confront Dow
http://www.corpwatch.org/issues/PID.jsp?articleid=6748
Almost 19 years after the Bhopal gas disaster in India, survivors still seek Justice. Recently they confronted the CEO of Dow Chemical at a shareholders’ meeting.
Rashida Bee and Champi Devi Shukla, have come a long way from their home in Bhopal, India to attend Dow Chemical Corporation’s annual shareholder meeting. But that’s nothing compared to their ordeal over the last 19 years. Survivors of the 1984 Union Carbide disaster, the two women are in the US to confront Carbide’s new owner, Dow Chemical, and demand justice. Eight days into an indefinite hunger strike Bee and Shukla showed up at Dow’s May 8th Annual General Meeting in Midland, Michigan. But, instead of offers for relief and rehabilitation, they say that Dow executives openly lied to shareholders about the company’s legal liabilities in Bhopal.
TAKE ACTION
Prevent further media conglomeration!
http://www.corpwatch.org/action/PAA.jsp?articleid=6809
On June 2, the Federal Communications Commission intends to lift restrictions on media ownership that could allow your local newspaper, cable provider, radio stations, and TV channels all to be owned by one company. CorpWatch joins MoveOn and invites you to fax a letter to your representative to stop media conglomeration.
IN THE NEWS
http://www.corpwatch.org/news/PNR.jsp
*USA: Interior Department Investigates Official’s Role as Oil Lobbyist
*USA: FCC Close to Easing Media Caps
*India: Holding Corporate Terrorists Accountable
*Venezuela: Chavez Acts to Head Off Food Shortages*Latin America: Churches Call for Alternative to Free Market
*Latin America: Churches Call for Alternative to Free Market
BULLETIN BOARD
http://www.corpwatch.org/bulletins/PBR.jsp
USA:2003 Empowering Democracy Conference: Challenging Corporate Power and Demanding Accountability
USA: Ashcroft Attacks Human Rights Law
USA: Pesticide Drift a Hazard for Californians
CorpWatch has a new office!
2288 Fulton St. Suite 103, Berkeley, CA 94704 USA Tel/Fax: 510-849-2423
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
CorpWatch—Holding Corporations Accountable
2288 Fulton Street, Suite 103
Berkeley, CA 94704 USA
Tel/Fax: 510-8492423
-Support Nuke and War resisters
Below is a list of individuals who are in jail as a result of nonviolent resistance to war and injustice. The list is compiled by the folks at The Nuclear Resister magazine, an excellent prisoner solidarity tool which has existed since 1980, providing information on and jail support info. for people imprisoned, updates on ongoing campaigns, and reflections on life
behind bars.
The Resister is an ongoing chronicle of hope, and its recent issue documents over 7,500 arrests which have occurred since last fall in relation to the ongoing war against the people of Iraq, the details of people who continue to go to jail resisting the U.S. terrorist training School in Georgia, the story of three nuns facing five to eight years behind bars for an act of disarmament, and more.
Homes not Bombs urges you to write to these prisoners, and to support the Nuclear Resister with a subscription (get it now while the Canadian dollar is above 72 cents!!!!!). (More details on this below).
Peace
Matthew Behrens
for Homes not Bombs
THE WOMEN AND MEN LISTED HERE ARE IN PRISON
FOR ACTS OF RESISTANCE TO NUCLEAR WEAPONS AND WAR.
The Nuclear Resister is a bi-monthly newsletter published since 1980 that provides information about imprisoned anti-nuclear and anti-war activists. Subscription cost: $15/yr U.S., $20/yr Canada and $25 Overseas. Write: The Nuclear Resister, PO Box 43383, Tucson, AZ 85733. Or call: 520-323-8697, email:
update 5/11/03
Here is an online version of some new and some old stuff
http://www.nonviolence.org/nukeresister/
key:
Name ID# (sentence - in date or out date if known)
prison or support address
(action or charge & date)
NUCLEAR RESISTERS
John LaForge (60 days - in 4/25/03)
Jane Hosking (60 days - in 4/25/03)
Dane County Jail, 115 W. Doty St., Madison, WI 53703.
(Trespass at Project ELF nuclear submarine antenna, 5/10/03)
William Streit #03809-052 (six months)
FDC, POB 560, Philadelphia, PA 19105. (in transit to FCI Fort Dix,
POB 7000, Fort Dix, NJ 08640)
Steve Woolford (six months)
Steve Baggarly (six months)
Northern Neck Regional Jail, POB 1090, 3908 Richmond Rd., Warsaw, VA 22572.
(Marking the Pentagon with blood, 12/30/02 - in 3/11/03)
Helen Woodson #03231-045 (18 years)
FMC Carswell, Max Unit, POB 27137, Ft. Worth, TX 76127.
(Silo Pruning Hooks direct disarmament action, 11/13/84)
Leonard Peltier #89637-132 (life)
POB 1000, Leavenworth, KS 66048.
(Native American political prisoner)
OVERSEAS, THESE NUCLEAR RESISTERS
ARE KNOWN TO BE IN PRISON:
Dr. Erika Drees (6-10 weeks - in 5/7/03)
Am Kirchtor 20, 06108 Halle, Germany.
Dr. Wolfgang Sternstein (6-10 weeks - in 5/7/03)
Schloss 1, 72101 Rottenburg, Germany.
(Fence-cutting at Buechel air base to conduct citizen weapons’ inspection)
Ulla Roder
HMP Corton Vale, Stirling, FK9 5NY, Scotland UK.
(Damaging British Tornado warplane, RAF Leuchars, 3/12/03 - awaiting trial)
Philip Pritchard JT 5131 (denied bail)
Toby Olditch JT 5132 (denied bail)
HMP Gloucester, Barracks Square, Gloucester GL1 2JN, UK.
(Trespass w/ intent to damage B-52s, Fairford AFB 3/18/03 - trial May 30)
Mordechai Vanunu (18 years - out 4/04)
Ashkelon Prison, Ashkelon, Israel.
(Nuclear whistleblower convicted of espionage and treason - kidnapped
by Israeli agents, 9/30/86)
Yuri I. Bandazhevsky (8 years - in 6/01)
Prison Minsk, ul Kavarijskaya 36, POB 36 K, Minsk, 220600, Belarus.
(Chernobyl researcher and whistleblower fraudulently convicted of
corruption, 6/01)
THE FOLLOWING PEOPLE ARE NOW IN PRISON FOR ANTI-WAR RELATED ACTIVITIES
Robert Jefferson Dietrich #81196-012
MDC-LA, POB 1500, Los Angeles, CA 90053-1500.
(Attempted exorcism inside Los Angeles Federal Building, 3/12/03 -
refused bail conditions, awaiting trial)
David Gardner #766-7967 (45 days - in 4/23/03)
Jim Parkhurst #766-7966 (45 days - in 4/23/03)
POB 86164, Terminal Annex, Los Angeles, CA 90086-0164.
Catherine Morris (45 days - in 5/1/03)
Joyce Parkhurst (45 days - in 5/1/03)
Martha Scarborough (45 days - in 5/1/03)
c/o Los Angeles Catholic Worker, 632 N. Brittania St., Los Angeles, CA
90033.
(Ash Wednesday blockade of intersection at downtown Los Angeles
federal building, 3/5/03)
Joel Kilgour (30 days - in 5/12/03)
St. Louis County Jail, 4334 Haines Road, Duluth, MN 55811.
("Littering" recruiting center with war memorial blockade, 12/20/02)
Laro Nicol #80430008 (awaiting trial)
CADC, POB 6300, Florence, AZ 85232.
(Firearms and exposives charges against anti-war and human rights
activist - self-surrender 3/5/03)
SCHOOL OF THE AMERICAS
Edith Balot #91320-020 (3 months - out 7/4/03)
FCI Marianna, 3625 FCI Road, Marianna, FL 32446.
Katherine Bjorkman #91386-020 (3 months - out 7/4/03)
Sr. Kathy Long #91388-020 (3 months - out 7/4/03)
FCI Pekin, POB 7000, Pekin, IL 61555-7000.
Katherine Brown #91343-020 (3 months - out 7/4/03)
Joyce Elwanger #91382-020 (6 months - out 10/5/03)
Michelle (Mimi) Lavalley #91371-020 (3 months - out ??)
FPC Danbury, Pembroke Station Rt. 37, Danbury, CT 06811-0379.
William (Bud) Combs #91402-020 (3 months - out 7/4/03)
FPC Eglin, POB 600, Eglin, FL 32542-7606.
Philip d’Onofrio #91241-020 (3 months - out 7/4/03)
P.O. Box 13900, Seattle, WA 98198-1090.
Dan Fortson #91393-020 (3 months - out 7/3/03)
MDC Los Angeles, 535 N. Alameda St., Los Angeles, CA 90012.
Jessica Carr #91389-020 (3 months - out 7/4/03)
Sr. Caryl Hartjes CSA #91376-020 (3 months - out 7/4/03)
FPC Danbury, 33 1/2 Pembroke Rd., Danbury, CT 06811-3099.
Don Haselfeld #91381-020 (6 months - out 10/5/03)
Beta Quarters, FPC, 3705 W. Farm Rd., Lompoc, CA 93436.
Corbin Streett #91350-020 (3 months - out ??)
Lisa Hughes #91340-020 (6 months - out 10/5/03)
FPC Greenville, POB 6000, Greenville, IL 62246.
Maureen Newman #91398-020 (3 months - out ??)
Rachel Montgomery #913677-020 (6 months - out 10/5/03)
Ann Huntwork #91391-020 (6 months - out 10/5/03)
FPC Dublin, 5775 8th St., Camp Parks, Dublin, CA 94568.
Fr. Jim Hynes #91396-020 (6 months - out 10/5/03)
FCI Three Rivers, POB 4000, Three Rivers, TX 78071.
Carey L. Martin #91401-020 (3 months - out ??)
Federal Medical Center Satellite Camp/FPC, POB 14525, Lexington, KY
40512-4525.
Sr. Moira Kenny #91369-020 (6 months - out 10/5/03)
Marilyn White #91329-020 (6 months - out 10/4/03)
FPC Bryan, POB 2149, Bryan, TX 77805-2149.
Sonja Andreas #91328-020 (3 months - out 8/6/03)
Pamela McBride #91359-020 (6 months - out 10/4/03)
FMC Carswell, J Street Building 3000, POB 27066
Fort Worth, TX 76124.
Evalee Mickey #91399-020 (one month - out ??)
Dorothy Pagosa #91387-020 (3 months - out 7/4/03)
FPC Pekin, POB 5000, Pekin, IL 61554-5000.
Judith Kelly #91372-020 (3 months - out ??)
Marie Salupo #91330-020 (3 months - out 7/1/03)
FPC Alderson, POB A, Alderson, WV 24910.
Marvin Warren #93190-020 (3 months - out 7/3/03)
FCI Otisville, POB 1000, Otisville, NY 10963.
William Slattery #91355-020 (6 months - out 8/8/03)
FCI Oxford, POB 1000, Oxford, WI 53952.
Laura Slattery #91364-020 (6 months - out ??)
FPC Dublin, 5775 8th St., Camp Parks, Dublin CA, 94568.
Jason Lydon #91378-020 (6 months - out 8/8/03)
FMC Devons, 42 Patton Rd., Ayer, MA 01432.
Byron Plumley #91377-020 (3 months - out 7/4/03)
FPC Englewood, 9595 West Quincy, Littleton, CO 80123.
J.C. Orton #91331-020 (3 months - out ??)
USP Atwater, POB 019000, Atwater, CA 95301.
Mike Wisniewski #91383-020 (3 months - out 8/8/03)
USP Taft, POB 7001, Taft, CA 93268.
(Trespass at the School of the Americas, Ft. Benning, Georgia -11/02
and 11/01.)
VIEQUES
Ismael Guadalupe Torres #21644-069 (140 days - out 6/10/03)
MDC Guaynabo, POB 2147, San Juan, Puerto Rico 00922-2147.
(Occupying the Navy bombing range on Vieques Island, Puerto Rico, 1/03)
PREVIOUSLY LISTED, RECENTLY RELEASED:
Ardeth Platte OP, Carol Gilbert OP, Jackie Hudson OP, Fr. Chris
Ponnet, Dave Tarbell, Douglas Kasper, Eloy Garcia, Scott
Schaeffer-Duffy, Macy Morse, Israel Medina Colуn
Echoes of the World[Drum Festival]
Hello everyone in Japan, my name is Mitch Yamamoto. I just returned from a protest in Kenora and a blockade in Grassy Narrows, ON.
I met two sisters from the Sault Ste Marie, ON who want to host a Festival known as Echoes Of The World. You can access their webpage by:
[url=http://www.traditionaldrumfestival.com]http://www.traditionaldrumfestival.com[/url]
or
E-Mail them directly for information:
, ,
Phone/Fax: {705}942 3057/3069
Take Care,
Mitch.
From the other side’s POV
Iraqi families know the best place for seriously ill children is Saddam Pediatric Hospital. When they dream of travel, they think of “Saddam International Airport” (which they still call the airport despite the USA’s insistence that name is “Baghdad International Airport"). When they’re hungry, they cannot buy so much as a kebab without looking at a picture of President Saddam Hussein. The whole of Iraq is called Saddam, said Tharwat Muttar, 26, a surgical nurse who waited for a taxi at the gates of the pediatric hospital. I live in Hai Saddam. In every place, there is something called Saddam. The huge wads of 250 dinar notes that Iraqis carry bear his image. The bills sometimes are called saddams when Iraqis deal with Chechen pilgrims, Russian traders, and other foreigners find it easier to value goods at, say, 20 saddams rather than 5,000 dinars. The fact that no one knows where Hussein is makes some Iraqis reluctant to go too far or too fast with de-Saddamization. Many people believe he will attempt a comeback. Those who remember him fondly and preserve his image are not hard to find. Why did you do this to Saddam? Nurman Mohammed Nawar, 37, owner of Zarzoor Famous Kebab Restaurant in the upscale Mansur neighborhood of western Baghdad, said to an American visitor. I love this man. I like his tough attitude, I like his courage. He admired Hussein’s iron fist, saying, ‘’It wasn’t Saddam, it was those dogs who worked for him who executed innocent people.’’ In Nawar’s popular kebaberie, a vase decorated with a full-color image of a grinning Hussein remains next to the owner’s chair at the cash register. Sometimes, Nawar gives it a kiss. In the 1950s and 1960s, when Hussein lived in Souk Hammada, the neighborhood was a crowded, poverty-stricken slum. In 1991, after the foundations of its tumbledown old houses were damaged in what residents call the war of Bush the father, Hussein had it evacuated and completely rebuilt. Now the area is known as Saddamia al-Kerkh, an attractive lower middle-class neighborhood of broad, straight streets and modern homes in a prime location on the banks of the Tigris River in central Baghdad. Unlike most other communities, where the mandatory tiled portrait of Hussein at the entrance has been hacked to bits or shot and hammered beyond repair by American soldiers, here it has been covered with a single neat coat of gray paint so that the foreign invaders won’t see it and try to destroy it. The majority in this neighborhood loves Saddam Hussein, said Abbas Ibrahim, 21, a student of Hebrew at Baghdad University. ‘’They wish he would come back. He didn’t commit any injustice.’’ A group of 30 residents of all ages who gathered to listen to Ibrahim enthusiastically agreed. The only Islamic national leader who publicly and financially supported the Palestinian people against Israel’s illegal and ruthless occupation of their lands was Saddam Hussein, and that made us love him more. Among the people of Iraq, Saddam Hussein has certainly not been forgotten. Even if the only ones shown on the US media are those who are against the old regime, they would certainly prefer Saddam Hussein to any foreign-imposed regime and will fight to prove this. Is is any wonder then, that the Coalition troops are continuing to combat fierce resistance everynight in Baghdad and all the other Iraqi cities. Of course, far more than a few hundred Coalition soldiers have been killed by hostile fire in this ongoing war. A war that the US and British governments are trying claim (falsely) that they have already won. Not true according the grunts on the ground of the US and British Military, “News to us”, said one American soldier, “We’re dying here and all want to go home. It’s one big FUBAR, and the iraqis hate us!”. Foreign intelligence analysis based on data gleaned from monitoring radio-intercepts and photo-reconnaissance estimates the Coalition casualties as well over 9,000 by now, and over 2,000 Coalition soldiers killed in action. There were 700 dead US soldier’s bodies sitting in a morgue in Kuwait according to one doctor who worked there; and that was in mid-April. What are the US and British casualties now?
Saturday, May 10, 2003
My perspective of Present America
The Zeitgeists of Present America
by Wakana Yokota
http://tokyoprogressive.org/news/wakana.html
“Please be careful.” I have heard this hundreds of times since I decided to come to the US. My friends, my family and relatives have told me that I should be really careful in America. Some even told me that I should not go. I have realized that the word “careful,” when used in relation to going America, especially after 9-11, has different meaning than it did before that event. Before 9-11, America, in general, and especially its big cities like New York, was still seen by Japanese people as a dangerous place because of the high percentage of crimes. The words “please be careful” used to refer to that danger, of being a crime victim. But now when people say this word, it is more than just a warning about crime; now it is connected to the fear of being a target of a “terrorist attack.”
I am not sure I understand exactly what my friends, family and relatives mean when they use the word even though I understand why they night be careful. I actually feel little fear living here; in fact, what I have experienced and learned here has actually given me greater courage. What really makes me scared though is that my friends, family and relatives talk about the danger of me being in America so easily and vaguely. What are they really afraid of? Their fear about America is from what they know about it which is mostly from TV news or newspapers. Their fear is from what they have heard based on other people’s impression or experiences visiting America. Their fear of America seems to be influenced by the general climate of fear that is present in American society at the present time.
The 9-11"terrorist attack” is certainly the most recent and biggest event, which has created a fear of other countries attacking America. I remember how TV programs repeatedly showed the picture of the planes that crashed into the World trade Center buildings and the picture of Osama bin Laden. George Bush claimed that the terrorist attacked the United States because of their opposition to its freedom and democracy (Zinn 12). There was not enough investigation by the government into the reason America was the target of such terrorism. Whether the government’s reason for the resulting retaliation was believable or not for the people, it seemed to succeed in making most people feel fear that there was going to be another attack unless they destroyed the “terrorists” in Afghanistan right away.
US retaliation against Afghanistan actually created another tragedy. According to material about the American attack in Afghanistan researched by Professor Marc. W. Herold, at least about 4000 ordinary people were victimized, and if number of deaths of Taliban solders were added to this, the number would be about 12,000-16,000 (Japanese Organization Opposing Expanding American War and Japanese Emergency Contingency Bills). In this attack, the US army used new weapons of massdestruction, BLU-118 bombs, and AGM-142 missiles, which were developed with Israel, in effect conducting experiments on Afghanistan (Japanese Organization Opposing Expanding American War and Japanese Emergency Contingency Bills). This so-called “War on Terrorism” ended up destroying cities, killing many innocent people, and leaving many people as refugees in poverty and starvation.
Likewise, in the case of the present war on Iraq, the government claims that they must get rid of Saddam Hussein for peace. They make Saddam Hussein a threat to the world by making connection to previous terrorism and claming that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction. There is no evidence linking Hussein and al Qaeda that has been found so far; moreover, the fanatic British government dossier which is cited as evidence, itself reveals no evidence of such connections (Shalom, Albert 4).
According to Guardian on September 25, 2002, the former UN humanitarian coordinator for Iraq, Hans Von Sponeck, and British reporters visited some of the locales where the British government and the CIA reported that weapons sites once destroyed have been rebuilt by the Iraqis as arsenal. However, both the former UN humanitarian coordinator for Iraq and British reporters have found no nuclear weapons, and these cites were still destroyed (Shalom, Albert 4). At the time the war was launched, there was still the possibility of UN inspections making Hussein destroy any weapons which might be found.
Since 9/11, and the US retaliation started, the US government seems to accelerate its power to feel it can freely invade. In a sense, 9/11 tragedy was used to justify starting the invasion Afghanistan, then after that, the US government started invading Iraq at the present war. Who is the target after Iraq? It could be North Korea, as George Bush claimed in early 2002 that North Korea is a part of so called “Axis of Evil” and needs to destroy its weapons of mass destruction (Ewins 8), or it could be Syria, for the same reasons that chemical weapons are held in Damascus (Russell).
In all these cases, the America government has targeted its citizens to make them feel fear of their “peace and freedom” being destroyed. This fear makes people react emotionally, and keeps them away from thinking about the problems and reasons related to terrorism logically. Moreover, what makes this fear more effective is the so-called “mainstream media.”
How effective is media in targeting people’s fear? This is described in the movie by Michel Moore, Bowling for Columbine. The movie depicts how people’s fear spreads between them over the issue of guns. The media always shows a lot of crimes and violence, without enough peaceful images to make people feel safe. As a result, many turn to guns to protect their families, which means violence only can be prevented by violence.
Moore’s film also shows that, in most of the police dramas, black people tend to be portrayed as criminals. There are still people who think that black people or communities are dangerous. It may be true that crime rate is high in black communities. However, what people need to discuss is not how dangerous black communities are, but why they are pushed in that situation in a society. Nevertheless, the media does not often give people debatable point of view on the issue, and just gives people impression of danger in black people and communities.
Michel Moore suggests making a TV program in which the police arrest white people for committing corporate crime. In other words, he is suggesting that information from TV is always limited, and there are so many things that the media does not portray. For example, CNN broadcasts about the war on Iraq everyday, and describes how US troops attack and bomb in Iraq; however, they do not often show any of the Iraqi victims. They also did give peace demonstration, so people protested against CNN criticizing “Half the News, All the Time” in Atlanta (Djembemon). But then coverage of the protests was only brief reaction to protests and generalization of these events.
Most mainstream media show the government side. The major news programs, such as CNN, Fox, 7, etc., show the same content, which is predominantly information from the government’s side. But if the media shows us more crimes of corporations and their victims, perhaps more people would realize the structure of poverty. If media showed us more victims among Iraqi people, perhaps more people would question whether the present war on Iraq can ever bring peace to the world. If media showed us more pictures of people who protest against the war, perhaps more people would join this movement.
This failure to show different perspectives keeps people away from realizing the real problems behind events like terrorism. The government tells people that Saddam Hussein and Osama bin laden are evil and a threat to them, and CNN and Fox make people feel fear by showing how the world is dangerous and threatened by crimes and bombings. However, what people really have to be afraid of is being puffed up defensively like blowfish by the fear that comes from a lack of knowledge, information, or different perspectives.
Refusing to accept fearful scenario from the government or media, many ordinary people have started seeking the real peace, going in a different direction from the US government. 9/11 forced people to see what is happening to the other side of the world. As author Howard Zinn describes:
The horror of the terrorist attacks we experienced on September 11 is something that people in other parts of the world-Southeast Asia, Iraq, Yugoslavia- have experienced as a result of our bombings, of terrorism carried out by people we have backed and armed (Zinn, 10)
I feel that many people, even if small numbers, realize what Zinn says, and are seeking their own way to understand what is really happening in the world. One example is the family members of the victims of 9/11, who visited Afghanistan to see families there who also lost loved one in the US retaliation (Bridging). Four family members of victims, Derril Bodley, Rita Lasar, Kelly Campbell, Eva Rupp, were the first people who visited Afghan family member in January, 2002, while the US retaliation was still going on (Bridging). Derril Bodley, who lost his daughter, stated “I’m going on this journey to show my concern for those innocent Afghans who have died or are suffering now. By embracing our common humanity and sharing our sorrow perhaps we will be able to avoid other loss in the future” (Bridging).
In the case of the present war on Iraq, thousands of people around the world have been protesting against it. I have been to Boston and NY protests since last November, and at everyone I go to, I notice that people’s opposition to war is increasing. There have been so many big and small demonstrations that have been happening all over the place, that I ended up going to four or five protests in a week when the war started. Like family members of 9/11 victims who try to see beyond their own grief and share it with Afghan victims, those protestors’ attempts to see not just their own side as the victim have the power to overcome fear or threats that the government wants to make people feel.
What helps support such new perspectives is the so-called alternative media. A journalist, Amy Goodman, said in speech that I attended in NY, that media should be something to connect people to each other. The alternative media exists to give people wider perspective for the problems, and the government knows how much this people’s media can have a strong influence in society. Amy talked about what the police asked people who were arrested at a protest. People were asked for general information such as name and address, then which media they usually watch, which radio stations they usually listen to, and how they get information about a protest.
At the same event, another alternative media journalist, Jeremy Scahill, who recently returned from Iraq, spending seven months there, talked about the current situation affecting Iraqi people. What he talked was mostly about who are injured and who suffered under the US attack. He said that it was really hard for him to leave Iraq since he got to know a lot of people there in seven months. He also talked about the conversation that he had with an Iraqi businessman who decided to leave Iraq to be with his family who are currently in America. Jeremy insisted that each person has his own personal story, and nothing is just about “war.” He informed the audience about people who have their own personal stories in their life, and through his talk, the audience was able to know what is really happening in Iraq, not just strategies for attacking, or a map of military bases.
Howard Zinn talks about this point about humanizing people who do not get enough world attention, using the case of Afghanistan in his book Terrorism and War. “`The victims of our bombing in Afghanistan have not been humanized in the same ways the New York Times has humanized the victims of September 11 in the daily “portraits in Grief” section pages” (Zinn 33). The Times printed pictures of the people who died in the attacks of September 11 with names photographs, and personalities (Sinn 33). People are, of course, moved by this. But how about Afghan people who died without being noticed by anybody from the outside world, or Iraqi people who are currently being bombing? Their suffering is not really portrayed to the American people.
People might be moved and get angry, if they see Iraqi people dying from bombing every morning on TV. That is why the government does not want the public to focus on the Iraqi people, in the way the Times connected each World Trade Center victim with each person who saw the picture. It is the alternative media, then, which has the possibility and the power to connect people, because it gives another perspective of the word “casualty” than the one which government and mainstream media use. Alternative media can encourage people to take action, when they come to realize what is really happening underneath the virtual map and planes show on CNN news program, or the description of the US troops going to Baghdad like it is a game.
Before I came America, one of my friends once told me that he disagreed with me going to America because the American government has been doing terrible things. Yes, it is true, but on the other hand, now I can say that I have seen so many people who tried to stop the government doing terrible things, and that encourages me. My mother said to me that she could not believe that I went to the February 15 NY demonstrations. She told me that I should not go to such a dangerous place. It is true that I should be careful, yet it is also true that that was one of the most beautiful times that I had in my life. I was really not afraid of anything because I felt I was connected with the thousands of other people there.
I do not have the vague fear that I had before I came to America now. I have fear, but the difference is that it is something that I recognize consciously and I know what the fear that I have is about. What I am afraid of is the government and media’s attitudes to control information and people, people who then do not have a wider perspective, and who feel danger as a result. But I also feel safe sometimes because I feel I am somehow connected to Howard Zinn, Amy Goodman, Jeremy Scahill, the Afghan people, Iraqi people, all the people I saw at demonstration in NY, and even a young girl I met who was affected during civil disobedience in Boston. What overcame my fear is discovering each individual person’s power and knowledge.
References
Bowling for Columbine. Dir Michael Moore. 2003.
Bridging Sorrow: September 11 Victims’ Families Will Travel to Afghanistan to Meet with Afghans Who Lost Loved Ones During the Recent Conflict
Historic Meeting Promises to Build New, Human Ties Between Americans and Afghans
CNN NEWS STORY April 2003
Djembemon. Saturday protest rally downtown,22 March. 2003/Online posting.
Atlanta Indymedia. 15 March 2003
Ewins, Tristan. Bush Preparing for War on Two Fronts?, Zmagazine. 2003: 8
Goodman, Amy. Public Address. Speech at NY Catholic Worker anti-war event. 28 March 2003.
Japanese Organization Opposing Expanding American War and Japanese Emergency Contingency Bills. Reference Material About American Attack on Afghanistan. 2002
Rusell, Ben. Syria? US warns Syria not to provide haven for wanted Iraqis, Znet.
14 April 2003. Online. Interent. 15 April 2003.
Shalom, Stephen, and Michael Albert. Resisting the War?EZmagazine. 2002: 4
Zinn, Howard, and Anthony Arnove, eds. Terrorism and War.. Canada: A Seven Stories Press, 2002.
Thursday, May 08, 2003
-Save our Schools from Budget Disaster
Across the nation, schools are suffering. Tens of thousands of teachers have received pink slips and looming budget deficits only promise worse to come. Yet in Washington, Congress seems unaware of the problems at home. They’re talking about cutting taxes and cutting budgets—not about how to keep the schools and essential services going. We believe that:
“Congress must insure that basic services like our nation’s schools are funded before approving more tax and budget cuts.”
Please join us by adding your name and comment below. We’ll compile these comments and deliver them to key Congressional leaders who are well positioned to stand against budget cuts, and support education and other basic services. And we’ll keep you posted about the progress of this campaign.
PLEASE SIGN THE STATEMENT (U.S. Residents)
http://www.moveon.org/saveschools/
-Do We Really Have Free Speech? (Charlotte Aldebron, age 13)
The following is a transcript of a speech given in Augusta, Maine on April 19, 2003:
from http://www.wiretapmag.org/story.html?StoryID=15741
The invasion of Afghanistan, and now Iraq, has given me a big lesson in freedom of speech—or, should I say, the difference between the idea of free speech and the reality of free speech. Yes, I can speak. But what does it matter if I have no place to speak? Or if I am ostracized? Or no one listens?
In early March, my social studies teacher switched the class topic to Iraq. He said Saddam Hussein’s time to disarm was up. We had to get rid of him—he was a brutal dictator who gassed his own people. I raised my hand. I said that the U.S. gave Saddam Hussein chemical weapons, and the CIA helped him find the targets to use them on. My teacher snapped back, “Actually, Charlotte, you’re wrong.” Then he turned away and refused to call on me again.
After the invasion, our class focused on combat. It was like a game: we got a hand-out on the Persian Gulf countries, called “The Players,” we were given photos with short bios of top Iraqis, the team we had to beat. We got a map of the Gulf region with the size and location of all the armies, and the weapons each possessed; we read an article about the threat of Iraq using chemical weapons against our troops.
My mother complained to the principal and the Commissioner of Education that we were being taught to glorify war, admire military strategy, and objectify the killing and maiming of human beings. The Commissioner responded that each school’s curriculum was its own business. The principal answered that he thought the social studies lesson plan was “balanced and comprehensive.” Yes, my mom was free to speak—in fact, she could scream her head off for all they cared. It wouldn’t change a thing.
Meanwhile, in science, we had to answer questions like, “what are the advantages of biological weapons?” I said there weren’t any advantages because biological weapons kill people. How can death be an advantage? I was asked to give two examples of biological weapons. I said one was the smallpox on blankets we gave to Native Americans to kill them. The other was E coli bacteria that have been found in McDonald’s hamburgers. I said we could close the gap between the threat and the capability of biological weapons by signing the U.N. Chemical Weapons Convention, and by hiring more meat inspectors. Somehow, our assignments never got corrected.
I should tell you that I am famous in some countries. My anti-war speeches have been translated into French, Spanish, Norwegian, Danish, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Urdu, Bengali, and who knows what else. I have been featured in newspapers and on television and radio. A popular singer in Bombay read my speech at his sold-out concert. I’ve received over 3,000 emails.
But in my own community, I am invisible. The principal won’t let me read my speeches in school. The local papers won’t print them. When a Japanese TV crew came to do a story on me, the principal barred them from the school. When they interviewed my classmates on the street after school, the principal came running and angrily demanded that they not use the footage. Of course, they were filming when he did this and, of course, they used the footage. The Japanese know what a bad idea war is because they have suffered the horrible consequences of our nuclear bombs.
I get encouraging emails from around the world telling me not to despair even if my own town and teachers and friends ignore me. Many say that I am very brave to speak out “in a country like the United States!” One such email was from a Japanese man who, at age 9, saw the two friends he was walking with in Honshu, on July 20, 1945, buried beneath the rubble of a building bombed by a P-51 Mustang fighter. He and his mother were miraculously spared. And there was the email from the Jordanian mother duct taping her windows with plastic sheeting to protect her children from possible chemical attack. And the Greek man whose parents were scarred for life by the Nazi occupation. And the Canadian who cannot understand calling human beings “collateral damage.” And the man from Calcutta who hopes the warriors will come to their senses and put away their weapons. And the South Korean student who thinks it is wrong to sit at his desk and study when there are terrible crimes taking place. And the Iranian who cannot sanction the harming of innocents, even if they are the people of an “enemy” nation.
Because I am free to speak, these people have heard my voice and we have been able to share our desire for peace. Some of them live in countries where protesting is against the law. In the U.S., we are more subtle, we are more sophisticated. In the U.S., we can allow people to talk freely. We don’t need to stifle speech to stifle dissent. We just have to block our ears.
Also:
http://www.teachingforchange.org/statments/statments.html
http://www.afsc.org/youthmil/news/charlotte-iraq.htm
See this site
http://www.wiretapmag.org/youth_network.html
for:
ACTIVISM RESOURCES
Time to get moving! Discover organizations and groups of youth organizing around the issues they care about: everything from animal rights to curfews to sweatshop labor.
YOUTH MEDIA
These are our partners in crime. See what other youth media sources from around the country have up their sleeves.
YOUTH ORGANIZATIONS
Youth and adult-led organizations all over are involving youth and working to make their lives better, These font the gamut, from the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) to the Campus Greens, and everything in between.
YOUTH CULTURE
This is the fun stuff. Here are some sites that focus on music, art and other aspects of youth culture. If you’ve got other suggestions, send them to us.
WireTap Home
-GMO OPPONENTS GATHER TO BLOCK CONTROL OF GLOBAL FOOD SUPPLY
Gateway Green Alliance P.O. Box 8094, St. Louis MO 63156 314-727-8554 [url=http://www.gatewaygreens.org]http://www.gatewaygreens.org[/url]
For immediate release: May 6, 2003 Contacts: Daniel Romano, 314-771-8576; Michael Allen, 314-353-8176
Monsanto Climbing a Financial Limb?
May 6, 2003. St. Louis, Missouri. Monsanto and other biotechnology giants are using genetic engineering in an attempt to grab control of the world’s food supply, charge critics who will speak at the 7th International Gathering on Biodevastation, in St. Louis May 16 - 18. Biodevastation 7 will begin immediately before the World Agricultural Forum (WAF). According to Biodevastation representative Brian Tokar, “Monsanto has been the most aggressive of the corporations promoting biotech crops and wantonly contaminating food growing regions of the world.”
Other Biodevastation speakers will demonstrate that genetically modified (GM) crops cannot “feed the world” as Monsanto promises because GM crops result in lower agricultural yield. They also believe that GM crops interfere with many traditional farm practices. This could be one reason that the St. Louis based company has fared so poorly financially. At its annual meeting on April 24, Monsanto admitted to stockholders that its sales had fallen 15% from 2001 to 2002.
Many observers see Monsanto facing an uncertain future from having put too many of its financial eggs in the GM basket. The company holds 91% of the world’s market in GM seed at the same time global resistance to the technology is growing.
Though Monsanto seems oblivious to its critics, opposition to GM technology is spreading from Europe to Africa. Despite a drought in southern Africa in summer 2002, many African nations said they would rather have no corn from the US than the GM corn the US offered. They feared it could contaminate their own corn and render their harvest worthless on the European market.
Biodevastation 7 is subtitled “A Forum on Environmental Racism, Biowarfare and Environmental Racism.” It is hosted by the Gateway Green Alliance, which is affiliated with the Green Party USA. Event organizer Daniel Romano charges that “Efforts to force GMOs upon an unwilling world are racist attacks on the culture and economies of Africa, Asia and Latin America.”
A major panel at Biodevastation 7,"Globalization, Food Imperialism & War,” will include:
* Dr. Vandana Shiva, director of the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology in New Delhi, is one of the world’s leading critics of “free trade,” biotechnology, and the ways biotech-based transnationals are threatening the survival of traditional growers of food throughout the world.
* Dr. Mwananyanda Mbikusita Lewanika, of the National Institute for Scientific and Industrial Research in Zambia, was a key figure in the Zambian government’s effort to investigate the implications of GM food aid. He was part of the Zambian scientific mission that came to the US in summer 2002 and ultimately urged its government to continue refusing genetically engineered corn.
* Brian Tokar, of the Institute for Social Ecology’s Biotechnology Project in Vermont, is a widely published author, grassroots activist, and winner of a 1999 Project Censored Award for his investigative history of Monsanto.
* John Kinsman, a Wisconsin dairy farmer, is president of Family Farm Defenders.
Other Biodevastation panels will cover “Environmental Racism,” “Biowarfare,” “The International Threat to Farms & Farmers” and “Crop Contamination & the Future of Indigenous Agriculture.”
See Zmag.org for other articles by Brian Tokar or Vandana Shiva, or use a search engine.
Wednesday, May 07, 2003
-Howard Zinn: My Country--The World
Our government has declared a military victory in Iraq. As a patriot, I will not celebrate. I will mourn the dead—the American GIs, and also the Iraqi dead, of which there have been many, many more.
I will mourn the Iraqi children, not just those who are dead, but those who have been be blinded, crippled, disfigured, or traumatized, like the bombed children of Afghanistan who, as reported by American visitors, lost their power of speech. The American media has not given us a full picture of the human suffering caused by our bombing; for that, we need to read the foreign press.
We will get precise figures for the American dead, but not for the Iraqis. Recall Colin Powell after the first Gulf War, when he reported the “small” number of U.S. dead, and when asked about the Iraqi dead, Powell replied: “That is really not a matter I am terribly interested in.”
As a patriot, contemplating the dead GIs, should I comfort myself (as, understandably, their families do) with the thought: “They died for their country.” If so, I would be lying to myself. Those who die in this war will not die for their country. They will die for their government. They will die for Bush and Cheney and Rumsfeld. And yes, they will die for the greed of the oil cartels, for the expansion of the American empire, for the political ambitions of the President. They will die to cover up the theft of the nation’s wealth to pay for the machines of death.
The distinction between dying for our country and dying for your government is crucial in understanding what I believe to be the definition of patriotism in a democracy.
According to the Declaration of Independence—the fundamental document of democracy—governments are artificial creations, established by the people, “deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed”, and charged by the people to ensure the equal right of all to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”. Furthermore, as the Declaration says, “whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it.”
When a government recklessly expends the lives of its young for crass motives of profit and power (always claiming that its motives are pure and moral ("Operation Just Cause” was the invasion of Panama and “Operation Iraqi Freedom” in the present instance) it is violating its promise to the country. It is the country that is primary—the people, the ideals of the sanctity of human life and the promotion of liberty. War is almost always a breaking of those promises (although one might find rare instances of true self defense). It does not enable the pursuit of happiness, but brings despair and grief.
With the war in Iraq won, shall we revel in American military power and, against the history of modern empires, insist that the American empire will be beneficent?
The American record does not justify confidence in its boast that it will bring democracy to Iraq. Should Americans welcome the expansion of the nation’s power, with the anger this has generated among so many people in the world? Should we welcome the huge growth of the military budget at the expense of health, education, the needs of children, one fifth of whom grow up in poverty?
I suggest that a patriotic American who cares for his country might act on behalf of a different vision. Instead of being feared for our military prowess, we should want to be respected for our dedication to human rights.
Should we not begin to redefine patriotism? We need to expand it beyond that narrow nationalism which has caused so much death and suffering. If national boundaries should not be obstacles to trade—we call it globalization—should they also not be obstacles to compassion and generosity?
Should we not begin to consider all children, everywhere, as our own? In that case, war, which in our time is always an assault on children, would be unacceptable as a solution to the problems of the world. Human ingenuity would have to search for other ways.
Tom Paine used the word “patriot” to describe the rebels resisting imperial rule. He also enlarged the idea of patriotism when he said: “My country is the world. My countrymen are mankind.”
Howard Zinn is an historian and author of A People’s History of the United States.
-ACTION ALERT: U.S. Media Not Concerned About U.S. WMD
FAIR-L
Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting Media analysis, critiques and activism
ACTION ALERT: TV Not Concerned by Cluster Bombs, DU: “That’s just the way life is in Iraq”
May 6, 2003
Media have been quick to declare the U.S. war against Iraq a success, but in-depth investigative reporting about the war’s likely health and environmental consequences has been scarce. Two important issues getting shortchanged in the press are the U.S.’s controversial use of cluster bombs and depleted uranium weapons.
According to a May 5 search of the Nexis database, there have been no in-depth reports about cluster bombs on ABC, CBS or NBC’s nightly news programs since the start of the war. There have been, however, a few passing mentions of cluster bombs-- enough so that viewers may be aware of their existence. Not so with depleted uranium. Since the beginning of the year, the words “depleted uranium” have not been uttered once on ABC World News Tonight, CBS Evening News or NBC Nightly News, according to Nexis.
Depleted uranium is a dense metal used in various U.S. and British munitions as ballast and to cut through tank armor. The U.S. military insists it is not a major health threat, but many link it to Gulf War Syndrome and to increased cancers and birth defects in Iraq. As explained in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer (11/12/02)-- one of the few mainstream outlets to seriously investigate the issue-- DU is radioactive and remains so for billions of years. What’s more, when a DU weapon hits its target, “an extremely fine ceramic uranium dust” is created “that can be spread by the wind, inhaled and absorbed into the human body and absorbed by plants and animals, becoming part of the food chain.” According to the London newspaper the Guardian (4/25/03), it’s unclear exactly how much DU was used in the most recent Iraq war, but some experts estimate 1,000 to 2,000 tons-- roughly three to six times the amount of DU dropped in the 1991 Gulf War.
Cluster bombs are another widely criticized weapon favored by the U.S. As a recent Time magazine article (5/12/03) explained, cluster bombs “split in midair and rain as many as hundreds of grenade-like bomblets,” some of which “remain, like leftover land mines, as a deadly postwar risk to civilians.” According to Human Rights Watch (3/03), a minimum of 14 to 16 percent of cluster bomblets become “de facto antipersonnel landmines”; the group has called for “a global moratorium” on their use. Amnesty International has called the U.S.’s use of cluster bombs in civilian areas of Iraq “a grave violation of international humanitarian law” (4/2/03).
When cluster bombs have come up on the major network newscasts, little background information has been provided. ABC’s World News Tonight reported (4/1/03) Iraqi officials’ claim that nine children had been killed by cluster bombs, but did not elaborate. In another report (World News Tonight Saturday, 4/19/03), anchor Terry Moran introduced a segment by saying, “Four soldiers were hurt today when a little Iraqi girl handed them part of a cluster bomb,” adding, bizarrely, “That’s just the way life is in Iraq right now.” Later, Moran noted that the little girl was injured, too.
The report Moran was introducing examined the dangers posed to civilians by the large amounts of military ordnance around the country, including both weapons stockpiles left behind by Saddam Hussein’s regime and cluster bombs dropped by the U.S. and British. ABC focused on the efforts U.S. Marines were making to dispose of the weaponry, and concluded that “the Marines did not create this problem, but Iraqis are sure now looking to them for answers.” True, U.S. Marines and soldiers did not create the problem of Iraqi ammunition stockpiles, but they-- or, more to the point, their commanders-- did create the problem of cluster bombs.
Apart from one passing mention (3/21/03), NBC Nightly News’ only substantive reference to cluster bombs was when Pentagon correspondent Jim Miklaszewski reported (4/2/03) the use of “a new, more deadly cluster bomb, designed to take out entire columns of enemy armor and troops.” But the report included no discussion of whether the bombs were being used near civilians, or what their long-term impact might be.
As for CBS’s Evening News, it mentioned cluster bombs only once, almost inadvertently (4/16/03). The main source for the story was the Army’s Gen. Buford Blount, who Dan Rather interviewed about the “enormous job” the U.S. military “has taken on in trying to get Iraq up and running again.” At one point, apparently to illustrate the difficult requests the Army receives very day, the report featured a clip of an Iraqi doctor asking that the U.S. clean up cluster bombs. Rather let the substance of the comment pass without remark, ending the report by saying that the Blount “remains convinced that his soldiers have made good progress.”
Interestingly, CBS aired what seemed to be an expanded version of Rather’s report later that night, on the newsmagazine 60 Minutes II. Even in the longer story, the focus was on Blount and his struggles to “bring order out of chaos” in Baghdad, but Rather did pursue the question the doctor raised: “What about the cluster bomb problem?” Blount answered that “we didn’t use that many of them, but there are evidently some areas where they-- you know, they’ve got some-- some areas,” and claimed that though the Air Force may have dropped more, he, as an Army officer, didn’t know where those would be.
The report then showed footage from Rather’s visit to a hospital where he met children gruesomely injured by cluster bombs, including one boy who lost both eyes and sustained a potentially fatal head wound. “All his mother can do is weep and try to ease his pain,” said Rather. Clearly, Rather was trying to convey the horrific damage inflicted by cluster bombs-- something too few mainstream reporters have done-- but his report stopped short of providing specifics about the extent of “the cluster bomb problem”: Was Blount telling the truth when he said “we didn’t use that many”? How many remain unexploded? Does their use violate international law?
Contrast TV’s lack of curiosity to the noteworthy May 12 Time magazine story cited above, in which reporter Michael Weisskopf highlighted the discrepancy between Pentagon claims-- that “only 26 cluster bombs had landed in civilian areas, resulting in one casualty"--with the reality on the ground, where in Karbala alone, local clean-up crews “are harvesting about 1,000 cluster bombs a day.”
Human Rights Watch-- which warned for months of the danger and possible illegality of using cluster bombs near populated areas-- has likewise argued (4/25/03) that “U.S. claims that cluster munitions have not caused significant damage to civilians in Iraq are highly misleading.” The group has criticized the U.S. and Britain for failing to “come clean” about how many cluster bombs were dropped and where, so that civilians can be protected (4/29/03).
The repercussions of the U.S. and British use of cluster bombs and depleted uranium weapons will be felt in Iraq for a long time to come. It is essential that U.S. media push for a full accounting on these issues from the Pentagon.
ACTION: Please ask ABC World News Tonight, CBS Evening News and NBC Nightly news to seriously investigate the U.S.’s use of cluster bombs and depleted uranium in Iraq.
ABC’s World News Tonight
Phone: 212-456-4040
mailto:PeterJennings@abcnews.com
CBS Evening News
Phone: 212-975-3691
mailto:evening@cbsnews.com
NBC Nightly News
Phone: 212-664-4971
mailto:nightly@nbc.com
As always, please remember that your comments are taken more seriously if
you maintain a polite tone. Please cc with your
correspondence.
For more information, see:
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, “ Iraqi cancers, birth defects blamed on
U.S. depleted uranium”:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/95178_du12.shtml
Human Rights Watch’s resources about cluster bombs:
http://www.hrw.org/arms/clusterbombs.php
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