One of the best journalists in the U.S. Amy Goodman recently interviewed the so-called “intellectual rock star” Slavoj Zizek on Iraq, Bush, and the War on Terror. You can watch, listen, or read the transcript of Part I and Part II.
I hope the ambassador is wrong on this…
US, Vatican share goals in Iraq, American ambassador says
Rome, Mar. 26, 2008 (CWNews.com) – The new US ambassador to the Holy See says that Pope Benedict XVI and President George W. Bush will explore their common goals– including the pursuit of religious freedom, human rights, and a stable democracy in Iraq– when they meet during the Pontiff’s visit to Washington in April.
In an interview with Vatican Radio, Ambassador Mary Ann Glendon said that the Pope and the President had found ample common ground in previous discussions. “They hit it off, so to speak,” she reported.
Questioned about the war in Iraq, and the Vatican calls for further efforts to safeguard the Christian minority there, the US envoy observed that after the death of Archbishop Paul Faraj Raho, the US and the Vatican issued statements that were “very much in the same vein– condemning the violence, condemning terrorism, and especially condemning religion as a pretext for terrorism.” The situation in Iraq is difficult, however, she said, because “there are elements in society that are determined to defeat the common aim of the United States and the Holy See.”
Acknowledging that there was “some initial disagreement” between the Vatican and the US regarding the war in Iraq, Glendon said that today the two parties share a common goal there: “to promote the building of a free and democratic and stable society where persons of all religious faiths will be protected.”
Article from Catholic World News
All lyrics by Bruce Cockburn and images from AfterDowningStreet.org
Tell the universe what you’ve done
Out in the desert with your smoking gun
Looks like you’ve been having too much fun
Tell the universe what you’ve done
Tell the universe what you took
While the heavens trembled and the mountains shook
All those lives not worth a second look
Tell the universe what you took
You’ve been projecting your shit at the world
Self-hatred tarted up as payback time
You can self destruct-that’s your right
But keep it to yourself if you don’t mind
Tell the universe where you’ve been
With your bloodstained shoes and your dunce’s grin
Got to identify next of kin
Tell the universe where you’ve been
Everything’s broken in the birthplace of law
As Generation Two tries on his tragic flaw
America’s might under desert sun
I saw her frightened eyes behind the muzzle of her gun
Uranium dust and the smell of decay
Sewage in the street where the kids run and play
Not enough morphine and not enough gauze
Firefight in darkness like snapping of jaws
This is Baghdad
This is Baghdad
This is Baghdad
This is Baghdad
This is Baghdad
This is Baghdad
This is Baghdad
You couldn’t see the blast-the morning was bright-
But some radiant energy flared up into the light
Like the sky throwing its hands up in a horrified dismay
Or the souls of the dead as they sped on their way
Carbombed and carjacked and kidnapped and shot
How do you like it, this freedom we brought
We packed all the ordnance but the thing we forgot
Was a plan in case it didn’t turn out quite like we thought
This is Baghdad
This is Baghdad
This is Baghdad
This is Baghdad
This is Baghdad
This is Baghdad
This is Baghdad
L ron N ron every kind of ron con
Neocon old con got to put the brakes on
Slow down fast
Lights out veins plugged zap it with another drug
Genejacker pharma thug say hello to superbug
Slow down fast
Shills and hawkers and rockers with walkers
Bombs in the lockers and brain dead mockers
Slow down fast
One-eyed sun leering through the haze
Hordes of loveless marching while the little drummer plays
Nail in the coffin rats in the maze
Dancing arm in arm towards the looming end of days
Got to slow down
Oil wars water wars tv propaganda whores
Fire alarm met with snores no one gets what’ gone before
Slow down fast
Flagwave hammer slave gonna be a close shave
Stay brave jump the grave got to save what we can save
Slow down fast
Got to slow down fast
Slow down fast
CSIS won’t you tell me what you’ve got on me?
As I stare into the flames
filled up with feelings I can’t name
Images of life appear –
regret and anger, love and fear
Dark things drift across the screen
of mine behind whose veil are seen
love’s ferocious eyes, and clear
the words come flying to my ear
Go on — put it in your heart –
Put it in your heart
Terrible deeds done in the name
of tunnel vision and fear of change
surely are expressions of
a soul that’s turned its back on love
All the sirens all the tongues
The song of air in every lung
Heaven’s perfect alchemy
put me with you and you with me
Come on — put that in your heart
Come on, put it in your heart
All the sirens all the tongues
The song of air in every lung
Heaven’s perfect alchemy
Put me with you and you with me
Come on, put it in your heart
Come on, put it in your heart
It is a little vulgar (okay it is really vulgar), but this comic strip is hilarious.
In the latest edition of Commonweal Andrew Bacevich and Matthew Shadle discuss whether or not the United States should withdraw from Iraq.
Bacevich is professor of international relations at Brown University. His latest book is The New American Militarism: How Americans are Seduced by War. Shadle is instructor of religious studies at Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa. In their debate, Bacevich responds to Shadle’s argument that the United States must keep fighting in Iraq. He states,
“There’s no doubt about it: A nation that embarks on a morally problematic war incurs stiff obligations. The war begun in March 2003 when the United States needlessly and recklessly chose to invade Iraq offers a case in point. On that score Matthew Shadle and I are in full agreement. But to suggest that the only way to acquit those obligations is to go on fighting constitutes a failure of moral imagination.”
For at least the past year the same debate has gone on in the U.S. and it is so sickening. It usually goes something like this: “Well we messed up Iraq, but we can’t just leave” or my favorite, “cut and run.” Somehow the administration (and the Democrats) have convinced the American people that the only choice we have is to stay in this war.
Bacevich responds to this:
There may be realms of human endeavor where sheer persistence transforms a dumb idea into a good one. War, however, is not among them. Bad wars don’t become good wars simply by hanging in there. In fact, persevering in a misguided war almost always makes things worse, both politically and morally. Iraq is one such war.
Bacevich lays out three alternatives that the U.S. could be doing instead of funneling more money into military surges. I found his thoughts very helpful. So I will quote him at length, but if you have a moment check out the article, No Exit From Iraq?
One possibility is to provide the wherewithal to care for the estimated 2 million Iraqi refugees who have fled that country since the U.S. invasion. Most of these Iraqis now reside in Jordan, Syria, and Egypt, nations ill equipped to provide food and shelter, clean water and adequate medical care, jobs and education. For affluent America to foot the bill for the refugees would make for a nice down payment on our moral debt.
A second possibility is to provide sanctuary in the United States for those refugees and for those Iraqis who have supported U.S. forces or worked for U.S. government agencies in Iraq. Permanent residence in the United States will mean safety and the opportunity for a new life, a wonderful way to meet our moral obligations and fully consistent with American tradition. We should open our doors and our communities to Iraq’s huddled masses.
A third option is to take the money the Bush administration is currently spending on the war and use it instead to make Iraq whole, if and when the violence there eventually subsides. Currently, the war costs American taxpayers $4 billion per week. Let’s earmark three years’ worth of war spending-that’s roughly $600 billion-for the reconstruction and repair of Iraq’s infrastructure. By rebuilding schools and hospitals, road and bridges, towns and villages, such a “Marshall Plan” for Iraq would go far toward making amends to those who have suffered as a consequence of the war.
Along the way, the U.S. government might want to issue a public apology for having collaborated with Saddam Hussein in the 1980s and for having abandoned the Kurds and Shiites who rose up against him in 1991 at our behest. We should offer affected Shiites monetary compensation-there are ample precedents for such action. To compensate the Kurds, we might support their ambitions to create a fully independent Kurdistan, offering security guarantees to ensure that these oft-abused and frequently betrayed people will be allowed to live in peace.
So what do you think? What is the United States’ obligation to the Iraqi people? We are nearly 5 years into this war without an end in sight. Can we use our imagination?
A close family friend of mine, Barbara Lea, just completed a captivating art project in honor of United States women killed while on duty in Iraq. I encourage you to visit her site to see the display she calls “Born to War.”
In November’s mid-term elections Democrats gained control of the US House and Senate. Democrats were voted in because people want our troops to withdraw from Iraq. As the latest Gallop poll reports, 72% of the country does not approve of the way George W. Bush is handling the situation in Iraq. 90% of people believe it is very-extremely important for the Democrats to deal with the problems in Iraq in the next year, while only 25% are confident that Democrats have a plan. 61% of the public oppose a significant increase in the number of U.S. troops in Iraq to help stabilize the situation there.
President Bush is expected to announce his plan to send over 20,000 more troops to Iraq (a significant increase). Most Democrats in Congress have said they will actively oppose the plan to increase troop levels. However, they have also made clear that they will not stop funding for a troop increase. If the Democrats vote against troop increase but decide to vote to fund it, then their actions, though symbolic, are void of meaning.
The only way to end a war is stop funding it. Dennis Kucinich is absolutely right in his recent statement, “You can’t say you’re opposed to the war and keep funding it.” In reality Democrats will not be opposing a troop increase if they vote to fund the effort.
Since 1972 Iraq’s oil has been state owned, which means no private corporations could invest in the oil for profit. It looks like that is all about to change. And who will be investing? I’ll give you one guess? Corporate executives of the U.S. and British foreign oil companies, namely,BP and Shell in Britain and Exxon and Chevron in the US, have already entered Iraq to lobby on behalf of a new law in the Iraqi parliament that would allow foreign companies to invest in Iraq’s oil. The companies will be able to sign contracts to take oil from Iraq for the next 30 years.
According to Gregg Mottitt of Platform a human rights and environmental organization, “The draft went to the US government and major oil companies in July, and to the International Monetary Fund in September. Last month I met a group of 20 Iraqi MPs in Jordan, and I asked them how many had seen the legislation. Only one had.”
The following is from an article in today’s UK The Independent:
———-
A 40-page document leaked to the ‘IoS’ sets out the legal framework for the Iraqi government to sign production- sharing agreement contracts with foreign companies to develop its vast oil reserves.
The paper lays the groundwork for profit-sharing partnerships between the Iraqi government and international oil companies. It also lays out the basis for co-operation between Iraq’s federal government and its regional authorities to develop oil fields.
The document adds that oil companies will enjoy contracts to extract Iraqi oil for up to 30 years, and stresses that Iraq needs foreign investment for the “quick and substantial funding of reconstruction and modernisation projects”.
It concludes that the proposed hydrocarbon law is of “great importance to the whole nation as well as to all investors in the sector” and that the proceeds from foreign investment in Iraq’s oilfields would, in the long term, decrease dependence on oil and gas revenues.
——-
Before the US-led invasion of Iraq oil accounted for 70 percent of Iraq’s economy. It is no doubt their most important resource and their only hope for an economic rebuilding post-war. Many US and UK politicians have long denied that this invasion had anything to do with oil.
“Oil revenues, which people falsely claim that we want to seize, should be put in a trust fund for the Iraqi people”
Tony Blair; Moving motion for war with Iraq, 18 March 2003
“Oil belongs to the Iraqi people; the government has… to be good stewards of that valuable asset “
George Bush; Press conference, 14 June 2006
“The oil of the Iraqi people… is their wealth. We did not [invade Iraq] for oil “
Colin Powell; Press briefing, 10 July 2003
“Oil revenues of Iraq could bring between $50bn and $100bn in two or three years… [Iraq] can finance its reconstruction”
Paul Wolfowitz; Deputy Defense Secretary, March 2003
“By 2010 we will need [a further] 50 million barrels a day. The Middle East, with two-thirds of the oil and the lowest cost, is still where the prize lies”
Dick Cheney; US Vice-President, 1999
According to a recent Associated Press report, a senior official from the Iraqi Red Crescent (Iraq’s Red Cross) revealed that the US is a bigger threat to their organization than the Iraqi insurgency. The Red Crescent official describes a recent event in which US troops detained Red Crescent workers in Fallujah for two hours and then burned their car. “The main problem we are facing is the American forces more than the other forces,” Dr. Jamal Al-Karbouli, vice-president of the Iraqi Red Crescent, told reporters in Geneva.
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