People Before Profit blog

Profiting from a liberated Iraq

Fri, 28 Mar 2003 05:33:00 +0000

While U.S. war aims are couched in terms of “liberating” Iraq, the Bush administration is already divvying up the spoils of war. Long before troops moved into Iraq – even before Bush put forward his 48-hour ultimatum – corporations were lining up to feed from the Iraq trough. Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR), a subsidiary of Halliburton (formerly headed by Vice President Dick Cheney), was the first to be served.

The company won a 10-year contract to “mitigate and prevent” oil fires in Iraq. Just to prove the Department of Defense was being on the level about the bidding process for this job, they set up a toll-free number that companies could call. A friendly woman’s voice instructs you to leave your name, your company’s name and assures you that the DOD will get back to you.

What the recording doesn’t mention is the Bush administration’s diktat that only U.S. companies will get the contracts – and will be required to subcontract with “friendly” companies.

The next contract up for bid was for a $900 million job rebuilding Iraq’s infrastructure: government buildings, schools, mosques, roads, water systems, and hospitals; printing new textbooks, and, of course, rebuilding the country’s oil infrastructure.

For such an important job, no toll-free number was set up. Instead, the U.S. Agency for International Development contacted five large companies – KBR, Fluor, Bechtel, Louis Berger, and Parsons – each with a history of being large donors to Republican Party causes.

The $900 million is a drop in the bucket of the total cost of rebuilding and occupying a post-war Iraq. A panel led by former CIA director James Schlesinger, has called on Bush to ask Congress for an initial commitment of $3 billion. The Center for Strategic and International Studies estimates the total cost to U.S. taxpayers at about $20 billion a year.

There’s also a contract to rebuild Iraq’s ports, one that is expected to provide the winner with almost certain control over Iraq’s future trade.

The prize to be won with these contracts is not the initial contract itself. The company that wins the contract will get in on the ground floor of the Bush administration’s occupation of Iraq – and with it, first dibs on Iraq’s oil.

U.S. oil companies have been banished from direct involvement in Iraq for more than a decade, while the Iraqi government has recently awarded drilling concessions to French, Russian and Chinese oil companies for land that contains an estimated 44 billion barrels of oil. U.S. oil companies, who have 41 members at different levels of the Bush administration, would surely like nothing better than control over this oil, and a successful “regime change” could accomplish just that.

According to most estimates, somewhere between $5 billion and $7 billion would have to be invested in Iraq’s oil production and distribution infrastructure if production is to be boosted beyond present levels and generate money to rebuild the country. It should not come as any surprise if one of the next contracts to be awarded will be for such a rebuilding job.

The Bush administration claims it is preparing for a post-war Iraq, something that was – and still is – missing after the war in Afghanistan. However, the preparation falls short falls short in improving on making sure the Iraqi people have democracy and focuses, instead, on making sure that U.S. corporations have the first opportunity at taking over Iraq’s oil. As Michael McKinley, a professor of political science at the Australian National University in Canberra, has said, “The U.S. has no interest in Afghanistan apart from putting a pipeline through it.”

The author can be reached at ismith@politicalaffairs.net

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In Iraq, casualties mount on both sides

Fri, 28 Mar 2003 03:06:00 +0000

“It’s all for nothing; that war could have been prevented,” Michelle Waters, sister of Staff Sgt. Kendall Waters-Bey, one of the first U.S. casualties of the Iraq war, said, tears running down her cheeks.

“Now, we’re out of a brother. [President] Bush is not out of a brother. We are.”

Kendall Waters-Bey, a 29-year-old African American Marine and father of a 10-year-old boy, was among 12 servicemen – eight British commandos and four U.S. Marines – who died March 20 when their helicopter crashed and burned about nine miles south of Umm Qasr, near the Kuwait border.

“Man, I’m devastated,” said Michael Waters-Bey, the Marine’s father, who received the news every parent of a serviceman at war dreads about 3 a.m. March 21. “He was my only son, my oldest child.”

The father said his son had joined the Marines because “he wanted to get away from being on the streets. He wanted to do something positive to take care of his son.”

As Bush’s war neared the one-week mark, it was clear that the attack was not going according to Washington’s script: a quick “clean” takeover, opposition rapidly caving in, invading troops welcomed as liberators. At press time, the Pentagon had acknowledged 20 U.S. troops killed and 14 captured or missing in the first six days of war. The dead Americans ranged in age from 19 to 36, from cities and towns across the nation.

“These kids didn’t enlist because they wanted to further Bush’s grandiose schemes or Cheney’s oil-Halliburton interests,” Vietnam veteran Barry Romo told the World. “They wanted a chance to do some good, and to get some education and a job.”

Romo, a national coordinator of Vietnam Veterans Against the War, served 10 and a half months in Vietnam, a lieutenant commanding an infantry platoon. Romo’s nephew was killed during the Tet offensive. “I brought him home in a body bag,” he said softly. “Supporting our troops means bringing them home alive.”

The Pentagon claimed hundreds of Iraqi soldiers had been killed, with reports starting to sound like the notorious Vietnam War body counts, when numbers of “enemy” killed were used by U.S. military brass to measure progress in that war.

At the same time, the number of Iraqi civilian casualties is rising.

A U.S. cruise missile attack in Baghdad, March 26, killed 15 Iraqi civilians and injured 30 in a crowded working-class neighborhood, as President Bush praised the “lethal precision” of American bombs and cruise missiles. Associated Press television showed a large crater in the middle of a street, a child with a head bandage, and bodies wrapped in plastic sheeting in a pickup truck. Reuters counted 15 scorched corpses lying amid blackened cars and rubble from broken buildings. Residents pulled a man with a bloody head from rubble and said a pregnant woman was among the dead.

U.S. Iraq Peace Team members who visited Baghdad hospital trauma centers said hundreds of wounded and maimed patients had been treated over the previous five days.

Fatima, 10, suffered multiple fractures when a wall collapsed. Her father, a farm laborer, said, “We are like brothers and sisters to people in the United States. We don’t attack American people. Please give this message to American people. This is an invasion, it has nothing to do with democracy.”

Hosam Khaf, 13, fled his apartment with his family when huge bombs exploded nearby, miles from any military facilities. He was hit in the abdomen by shells and now has a colostomy bag. His father said, “Most of the casualties are children, elderly people and civilians. What do they have to do with fighting and war?”

The U.S.-led assault has run into numerous setbacks. These include the failed initial attempt to kill Saddam Hussein and other top Iraqi leaders, and resistance from Iraqi fighters in the south, using guerrilla tactics and ordinary rifles to shoot down helicopters and damage tanks. U.S. and British generals have been forced to switch much of their efforts to street-fighting in southern Iraqi cities. Also, sandstorms are slowing their advance on Baghdad and making air operations difficult if not impossible.

Although Iraq’s alleged possession of chemical or biological weapons has been one of Bush’s key justifications for war, so far no such weapons have been found by U.S.-British forces or used against them by Iraq. U.S. officials are lowering expectations that banned weapons will be found quickly.

Despite these difficulties, the U.S., with its overwhelming might, is widely expected to end up winning a military victory in Iraq. The question right now is: at what cost? Other questions follow: Who benefits? And what happens after such a “victory”?

The author can be reached at suewebb@pww.org

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U.S. intensifies hostilities toward Cuba

Thu, 27 Mar 2003 10:53:00 +0000

The Cuban government warned of increased hostile activity by the Bush administration aimed at “destabilizing and subverting the constitutional order, infringing the law, conspiring against social development, boycotting economic relations, threatening the security and destroying the independence” of Cuba.

The March 18 statement said, “Our people have reacted with deep outrage to the public denunciation of the shameless and repeated acts of provocation by the Chief of the United States Interests Section in Cuba, acts that have clearly been conceived and carried out as part of the current U.S. administration’s hostile and aggressive policy towards Cuba, with the close cooperation and support of the Miami terrorist mob and the extreme right wing in the United States.

“The people’s outrage has grown even greater in the face of the cowardly and cruel measures of revenge adopted against the five Cubans who have been arbitrarily and spuriously sentenced to unjust, lengthy and in some cases lifelong prison terms, far from their homeland and their families.”

The Cuban government firmly stated that “No country, no matter how powerful it may be, has any right to turn its diplomatic representation into the organizer, financier, director and headquarters of activities” that undermine the sovereign right of a nation.

“The Cuban government strictly complies with the norms and principles that govern diplomatic relations between states. It has tried and will continue to try to act with extreme calm as it provides and will always provide, as it does with all others, full guarantees for the security of the U.S. diplomatic personnel who work in our country. Nevertheless, Cuba finds itself obliged to limit the movements of U.S. diplomatic personnel within Cuban territory, in reciprocity with the measures recently adopted by the United States against our own diplomatic personnel in Washington,” the statement said.

“For these reasons, several dozen people directly linked with the conspiratorial activities carried out by Mr. James Cason have been arrested by the corresponding authorities and will stand trial in the courts of justice,” the statement explained.

In a March 20 statement the Cuban government announced that a passenger plane was hijacked and flown to the U.S. on March 19. The passengers included 25 Cuban adults, an Italian citizen and five children.

The Cuban government called on the U.S. authorities “to return the hijacked civil aircraft immediately, together with its passengers and the perpetrators of this despicable act, which is specifically classified as an act of terrorism in three current international conventions that are binding on both the Cuban and U.S. governments.”

Despite its efforts, “the Cuban authorities still lack current information on these events,” the statement said.

To read the Cuban Governments statement on the Hijacking click here.

To read the statement 'Cuba reacts in outrage' click here.

Humanitarian crisis deepens in Iraq

Thu, 27 Mar 2003 10:47:00 +0000

With the threat of a humanitarian crisis growing daily, international aid agencies have called upon U.S. armed forces to take urgent measures to help the Iraqi people obtain water and other aid necessary for survival.

The situation is especially grim in Basra where, the United Nations warns, fewer than half the city, home to 1.5 million people, is receiving clean water and there is no power. The UN says 100,000 children are at risk of disease because fighting in southern Iraq has disrupted supplies of drinking water.

On March 24, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said “urgent measures should be taken to restore electricity and water to that population. A city of that size cannot afford to go without electricity or water for long. Apart from the water aspect, you can imagine what it does for sanitation.”

Nada Doumani, a spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross, echoed Annan, calling the situation an “emergency.” Adequate drinking water is vital for the local population because daytime temperatures can exceed 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

“If we do not manage to re-establish the water system in Basra very rapidly, we will have a major humanitarian crisis,” said Balthasar Staehelin, the International Red Cross director general for the Middle East and North Africa.

One of the greatest killers of people thrown into chaos and flight is the lack of clean water and sanitation. Children, expectant mothers, and old people are especially vulnerable to diarrhea and water-borne diseases.

In a statement released from UN headquarters on March 25, Carol Bellamy, executive director of UNICEF, said her agency was working to get vital water tankers into Basra. “Electricity has been knocked out, interrupting the water supply, and that puts people at risk of disease from unsafe water,” Bellamy warned.

Bellamy emphasized that this is exactly the scenario UNICEF had warned of prior to the war. She added that in the weeks prior to the conflict, UNICEF made sure that backup generators were working at 73 facilities in Baghdad so that water would still be available even if electricity were lost.

“We’re very concerned about reports of deaths and injuries among children and women,” Bellamy said. “But the truth is the world does not have a very clear picture of the humanitarian impact of the fighting. There is a disturbing lack of focus on the civilian population.”

Before the U.S. invasion Umm Qasr, Iraq’s only port on the Persian Gulf, received 60 percent of the supplies distributed in Iraq under the oil-for-food program. Since United Nations-imposed sanctions were put in place after the first Persian Gulf war, about 16 million people in Iraq rely almost solely on the rations they receive from the program.

Oxfam International, a confederation of 12 organizations working together in more than 100 countries to find lasting solutions to poverty, suffering and injustice, has been working with UN agencies in anticipation of large numbers of Iraqi refugees – already estimated to exceed 450,000 people – as the war goes on.

A refugee camp for 10,000 in Jordan built with Oxfam help is up and running. Work in Syria has been stepped up with one camp in al-Hol prepared with Oxfam involvement. The Syrian government has also agreed with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) to a further three camps.

The United Nations is planning for influxes of up to 100,000 Iraqi refugees in Syria, up to 1 million in Iran and up to 50,000 in Jordan.

The author can be reached at fgab708@aol.com

Chicagoans to hear about Venezuela

Fri, 21 Mar 2003 04:06:00 +0000

The Venezuelan ambassador to the United States, Dr. Bernardo Alvarez, will visit Chicago for a public presentation, March 28. The following is a recent letter Alvarez wrote to the U.S. press.

The United States was founded upon two premises: that all men are created equal, and that everyone will have the opportunity to pursue life, liberty and happiness. As a beacon of hope throughout the rest of the Americas, it should come as no surprise that the same premises form the basis of other constitutions across the Western Hemisphere – including Venezuela’s.

The United States ratified its Constitution 214 years ago. Venezuela ratified hers 37 months ago.

The drafting and passage of Venezuela’s constitution marked a profound and historic breakthrough for the rights and the preservation of the dignities of our people, particularly our poor, women and elderly. Passed in December 1999, our constitution banned discrimination, guaranteed rights to – and recognized the historic heritage of – our indigenous population, created the government’s obligation to make a quality education available to every citizen, improved the social security pension system for senior citizens and guaranteed everyone the right to housing and health care.

Our constitution also guaranteed the direct political participation of citizens who had been left out of the process of choosing their leaders. It also created the ultimate check-and-balance system: the direct-recall referendum of all elected politicians. I believe America’s Founding Fathers would be proud of our constitution.

Needless to say, such broad and sweeping reform has not come without dissension. Unsurprisingly, and again borrowing from the writings of some of America’s Founding Fathers, the Venezuelan constitution protects the free speech rights of every citizen – including those calling for the president to stand down. (By the way, one of the principle “framers” of our constitution, and the one most credited with bringing it to a vote, is President Hugo Chavez.)

In a nation that has been ruled and used by a handful of political and economic groups that have become fabulously wealthy, the passage of the constitution in Venezuela was only possible by the agreement of the overwhelming majority of Venezuela’s population.

The people of Venezuela made these choices as they are made in the United States – at the ballot box, in free and open elections. Similar reforms have been and are about to be made across South and Central America.

Some critics … might not approve of the short-term results of some of these choices, but they cannot honestly state that what has occurred in Venezuela was unwelcome, unfair or undemocratic.

Mr. Chavez and the overwhelming majority of Venezuelans take the premise and the promise made by our constitution very seriously. We believe in free speech, democracy, the rule of law and an open, market-based economy developed in the context of social justice. We believe in the value and dignity of all of our citizens. And, despite being distracted by a coup last April – as well as the attempt of a small group of industrialists, supported by each of the four private broadcast TV stations, to cause the partial paralysis of some sectors of our economy – Venezuela and all constitutionally based democracies should be proud of the progress we have made in such a short period of time.

The U.S. media, standing tall upon the shoulders of great Americans who have fought for freedom, must be prepared to accept what the newly enfranchised choose to do with their freedom ... At a time in history when the values of peace, freedom and democracy are especially dear, the recent choices made by the people of Venezuela should be respected and encouraged.

The forum will be at:

The Chicago Temple

77 W. Washington St.

Chicago, IL 60602

Friday, March 28, 7 pm

Civil rights lawyer: Patriot Act must go

Thu, 20 Mar 2003 09:29:00 +0000

MILWAUKEE – Bruce Finerty, a Chicago attorney and head of the Chicago chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, spoke here to an overflow audience of about 100 people recently on the need for the public to respond to the USA Patriot Act, and related acts like the recently leaked Patriot Act II.

Finerty described the USA Patriot Act, passed shortly after Sept. 11, as a “power grab by the Executive Branch. ... Most of this stuff was proposed during Ronald Reagan’s day. It was sitting in some right-wing think tank drawer waiting for something to happen.”

The 346-page bill was passed in the early morning hours of Sept. 12 without having even been read by members of Congress. The Patriot Act II was drafted apparently to be rushed through Congress during a crisis in the same manner, and contains such unprecedented provisions as the stripping of citizenship from Americans, effectively eliminating most of their rights.

Finerty also described the original Patriot Act in detail, noting its authorization of undisclosed “sneak and peek” searches, indefinite detention of immigrants, and broadening the definition of terrorism to include peaceful political activity.

“The whole thing has to be repealed,” said Finerty. But he was also quick to emphasize that the legal tools provided by the Act are only part of the problem. Just as important are the prospects that law enforcement will make more intrusive use of past acts, like the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, dating to the Carter administration, or simply abuse their powers, for example by leaving incriminating “evidence” behind during a secret search.

Finerty’s practice has included representing Arab and Muslim Americans deprived of their Constitutional rights, and Finerty peppered his presentation with stories from personal experience. Late last year, he said, he represented a man whose only seeming offense was driving near a protest in his car with “a bumper sticker that said, ‘I love Islam.’” Finerty said that that evening, “about nine o’clock at night, the secret service, the FBI, and about forty Chicago policemen are at their door.”

They had no warrant, but according to Finerty, “you don’t have any rights unless we give them to you.” While waiting for the warrant, they were supposed to remain outside, said Finerty, yet for the next six hours, “they came in, they had three secret service people positioned in the house and walking around. ... All night they were going in and out, in and out.” Finerty said he called the media and got a local television cameraman to the scene. “All of the sudden, he’s surrounded by the FBI and secret service, and he’s told to get the hell out of there... They didn’t want any press there. They didn’t want anybody to see what’s going on.” When they left, the police left a copy of the warrant, but not the affidavit on which it was based, because, Finerty said, the search was based on secret “sealed” evidence.

Despite his experience, Finerty does not cite cases he has handled as the basis of his expertise. He told the audience, “When the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel asked me, ‘what makes you an expert, I told them, ‘Well, I’m self-appointed.’

“Most people don’t even know these acts exist and what they mean,” Finerty said. At the end of his talk, he deputized the entire audience to begin “speaking about what’s happening in this country.”

The author can be reached a ggrass@justice.com

International notes

Fri, 14 Mar 2003 04:49:00 +0000

Turkey: Torches for peace

Students, professors and workers lit torches symbolizing the light of life and peace at universities around the country on March 3, in an action organized by the Communist Party of Turkey. The torches were lit as symbolic protests against the Bush administration’s war ambitions, just two days after the Turkish parliament had rejected a measure for Turkey’s participation in a war against Iraq.

At Istanbul’s Bogazici University and at the Middle East Technical University in Ankara, communist students guarded the torch throughout the night, symbolizing the guarding of the “continuous and undying” struggle for peace. Among other universities participating were the 19th of May University in Samsun, Ankara University and Hacettepe University. The students declared that the torches will burn until it is declared that Turkey will not go to war, and that U.S. troops will not be stationed on Turkish territory.

Australia: 30,000 students strike vs. war

Early estimates show over 30,000 students from around the country participated in anti-war actions on March 5. In Sydney 10,000, in Adelaide and Melbourne 7,000 each, and even in remote northern Darwin, 40 came out to protest the threat of war against Iraq.

In Sydney, Reuters said, high school students brought lunchtime traffic to a halt in the central business district. Last month some 200,000 Australians rallied in Sydney – the biggest protest in the country since the Vietnam War.

The student march, involving youth from about 10 to 17, brought protesters from both private and government-funded schools. Muslim girls with peace symbols drawn on their hijab headscarves rallied with girls in black plastic Gothic outfits, Britney Spears look alikes and boys on skateboards.

One of the wittiest banners read: “I jigged (skipped) history because it was repeating itself” and was accompanied by a picture of an atomic bomb mushroom cloud.

Bangladesh: Thousands march vs. war

Thousands demonstrated in the streets of the capital city, Dhaka, March 5 to protest against the drive for war against Iraq and other countries under the leadership of the Bush administration.

People from all sections of society and many different political orientations gathered at the Shahid Minar – the foot of the national monument dedicated to the martyrs of the language movement of 1952, which ultimately led to the 1971 independence struggle.

Workers, peasants, students and other youth, intellectuals, cultural workers, women’s and children’s organizations, and residents of the city’s poorest sections joined with trade unions, political parties including the Communist Party and the 11 Party Left Democratic Front and others brought colorful flags and banners.

“We want just peace for all peoples of the world including our own people,” said the Declaration read at the demonstration.

Greece: 112 MPs demand their country stay out

One hundred twelve of the Greek Parliament’s 300 members have signed an appeal for peace to be presented to the United Nations. The legislators, coming from all political parties, declared that Greece should not participate directly or indirectly, with personnel or any means, in a war against Iraq. The war can and must be averted, they said, because “a drop of a child’s blood cannot be counterweighted even by a thousand barrels of oil.” Besides the UN, the appeal will be presented to the European Parliament and the parliaments of the other European countries.

Meanwhile, the Greek Committee for Peace and Detente is calling for mobilizations under the slogans, “We can stop them” and “Greece out of the war,” throughout Greece on March 15, when the defense ministers of the European Union are meeting.

Unions affiliated with federations and labor centers all over Greece will strike for 24 hours on March 21. Unions in the oil industry have called on their national federation to mobilize against supplying oil to U.S. and NATO war forces.

International notes are compiled by Marilyn Bechtel, Communist Party USA international secretary. She can bereached at cpusainternat@mindspring.com

Labor leaders to Bush: Stop bullying Mexico

Fri, 14 Mar 2003 04:29:00 +0000

Leaders of the nation’s main farm labor organizations sent a letter on March 10 to President George Bush expressing their “outrage over the heavy-handed tactics” employed by his administration against the government of Mexico.

Dolores Huerta, co-founder – along with Cesar Chavez – of the United Farm Workers of America; Arturo Rodriguez, president of the UFW; and Baldemar Velasquez, president of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee, wrote, “As Latino leaders of farm labor organizations representing immigrant workers from Mexico, their families and retirees, we write to say that we are outraged by the heavy-handed tactics that your administration is employing against the government of Mexico in an attempt to secure its agreement with your plan for waging war on Iraq.”

Mexico and four other countries in the UN Security Council have not expressed any indication as to how they will vote. In recent weeks, President Fox of Mexico has stated his government’s strong opposition to any resolution that would legitimize a U.S.-led war on Iraq. But Mexico is under intense pressure from the Bush administration to go along with the U.S.-British-Spanish resolution – pressure that includes bullying tactics and threats towards Mexican immigrants in the U.S. Popular sentiment across Mexico is strongly opposed to war on Iraq, with up to 80 percent opposing a U.S.-led military assault.

The farm labor leaders chastise the Bush administration for “acting like a bully against another sovereign nation.” Their letter quotes a high-level Mexican diplomat who told the media, “U.S. State Department officials actually told us that any country that doesn’t go along with the United States ‘will be paying a very heavy price.’”

The labor leaders said, “Our government cannot claim to be fighting for democracy in Iraq while at the same time demanding that the government of Mexico support a war without the consent and against the will of its own citizens.”

Huerta, Velasquez and Rodriguez concluded the letter by stating their opposition to the war. “We oppose this war because you have not made your case to the citizens of the U.S. or of the world that it is necessary. We oppose this war in the name of democracy and we ask you to respect democracy and national sovereignty not only in our country but in all other countries, including Mexico.”

Shock and awe would destroy Baghdad

Fri, 14 Mar 2003 03:45:00 +0000

WASHINGTON – Humanitarian groups warn of “catastrophic” civilian casualties if George W. Bush forges ahead with his “Shock and Awe” attack on Iraq in which cities will be struck with 3,000 missiles in the first 48 hours of war.

The Pentagon admits that the Iraqi army will deploy in Baghdad and other cities. To avoid heavy U.S. casualties in house-to-house combat, the Pentagon plans to hit Iraqi troops in their urban strongholds with a devastating aerial bombardment including the 21,500 pound Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb. Use of nuclear warheads is not excluded.

Martin Butcher, director of Security Programs at Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR), told the World, “It could mean multi-thousands of U.S. casualties and multi-tens of thousands of Iraqi civilian casualties.” That’s why PSR is struggling to avoid war, he added. “If the UN inspectors need months to complete the disarmament of Iraq, give them the time they need. All nations, including the U.S., should give up their weapons of mass destruction.” PSR sent a delegation to Baghdad in January and has issued a report warning of heavy civilian casualties if the U.S. attacks.

When first leaked to the media, the Pentagon’s “Shock and Awe” plan called for striking Baghdad with 800 cruise missiles in 48 hours, more than in the combined 43 days of Operation Desert Storm. But Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Pentagon Joint Chiefs, now says four times as many missiles will be needed to bring Iraq to its knees. Harlan Ullman, author of the “Shock and Awe” scheme, likens it to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima forcing Japan to surrender “in minutes.” Myers cautioned that the war this time will be “much, much, much different” from Desert Storm, predicting an “American attack would result in Iraqi civilian casualties” despite the military’s best efforts to prevent them.

A panel of former Reagan-Bush officials, headed by former CIA Director James Schlesinger and set up by the Council on Foreign Relations, announced Mar. 11 that a prolonged U.S. military occupation of Iraq by as many as 200,000 U.S. troops could cost $120 billion or more. They urged Bush to “fully describe to Congress and the American people the magnitude of the resources that will be required to meet the post-conflict needs.” Pentagon officials vowed to “put Iraqi soldiers to work and to pay the salaries of more than two million Iraqi civil servants” in rebuilding Iraq, The New York Times reported.

Meanwhile, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) and Refugees International released a joint statement Feb. 21 warning of “potentially catastrophic consequences” from war. They cited UN estimates of 1.5 million war refugees and 4.9 million in need of emergency food assistance on top of the 16 million already dependent on the UN’s “oil-for-food” program, likely to be wrecked by the war. A UNICEF survey says the lack of food and clean water from Desert Storm caused 500,000 “excess” Iraqi child deaths during the past decade due to typhoid, diarrhea, and other preventable diseases. A similar disaster looms as missiles once again target Iraq’s physical infrastructure, the relief groups predicted. “Yet very little money has been spent to pre-position supplies and relief workers to meet these humanitarian needs,” they charged. “The contrast between the military and humanitarian preparations is stark. The U.S. has already spent more than $2.1 billion to position troops in the Gulf. Yet last month, the UN High Commissioner was not able to raise $60 million to pre-position essential supplies for 600,000 refugees.” The Bush administration, according to many private aid groups quoted in a Baltimore Sun report Mar. 10, “has hindered preparations for assistance through its limited funding, delayed information about its aid plans, and its failure to grant licenses allowing them to enter Iraq to position supplies.” Asked about these charges, Melissa Winkler, a spokesperson for IRC in New York told the World, “That’s true. There’s been little progress.”

The author can be reached at greenerpastures21212@yahoo.com

PDF version of 'Shock and awe would destroy Baghdad'

International notes

Fri, 07 Mar 2003 06:35:00 +0000

ICFTU: Give peace a chance

“There is still time for peace, but it is running out,” the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) said last week. In a statement issued in Brussels, Belgium, the umbrella union body said there is no clear evidence that Iraq is developing mass destruction weapons and poses a threat to world peace. In these circumstances, it said, “it is incumbent on the international community to persist with and to intensify political and diplomatic efforts to preserve peace.”

The ICFTU called on Iraq to fully implement all relevant UN decisions and declared its support for the diplomatic initiatives and inspection processes now underway.

“We must never forget that in Iraq as well as elsewhere, lasting and real peace depends on social justice, democracy and human rights,” the statement said. “Military action must only be a last recourse once peaceful means have been exhausted.”

India: Left Front wins in Tripura

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) this week congratulated the people of Tripura state for re-electing the party and the Left Front for a third term in office. The massive popular endorsement of the Left Front government’s record led to the Front retaining its two-thirds majority.

The Left Front government, headed by CPI(M) leader Manik Sarkar, has stood firm for preserving the unity of tribal and non-tribal peoples of the area in the face of continuous attacks by separatist and extremist forces. In its statement, the CPI(M) paid tribute to the 32 party and Left Front members and supporters who were killed for their beliefs during the election campaign.

Chile: Pinochet officers charged in car bomb killing

Five senior officers in Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet’s secret police have been indicted in the 1974 car bomb murder of General Carlos Prats, Pinochet’s predecessor as army chief, the Guardian reported last week. The explosion, which also killed Prats’ wife, Sofia, was allegedly the first assassination carried out by the dictatorship outside Chile.

Indicted were retired General Manuel Contreras, then-head of the secret police, his second in command and three other high-ranking officers. Lawyers said all have denied the charges. Contreras has already served a seven year sentence in the 1976 car bomb murder of Chilean diplomat Orlando Letelier in Washington.

Activists said the move represented a major advance in trying Pinochet’s agents for human rights crimes. “This is absolutely historic. This is about as high up as you can get without touching Pinochet himself,” said Sebastian Brett, a senior researcher with Human Rights Watch in Chile.

Afghanistan: Latest U.S. bombing kills many civilians

The BBC Radio Pashto service reported last month that as many as 100 civilians were killed and more than a dozen injured during a U.S. bombing raid on the village of Wilja in Helmand Province. U.S. sources claimed they suspected that Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar was hiding in the area, but the province’s governor and other officials disagreed. The provincial government put the death toll at 12, but local witnesses said hundreds of residents were killed and many homes destroyed. They also said U.S. troops had blocked the area following the raid, making it difficult to transport the injured.

Bangladesh: General strike called for March 10

An 11-party alliance has called for a nationwide general strike on March 10 to put forward a series of 12 demands, and to protest increases in transportation fares and the prices of gas, oil and cooking oil. The action also opposes the closing of the Adamjee Jute Mill, job losses and exploitation, government corruption, and conspiracy to plunder the country’s resources and sell them to transnational corporations. The parties called for upholding the democratic gains won through popular uprising in 1990, and protested the drive to war against Iraq.

Among the 11 parties are the Communist Party of Bangladesh, the Workers Party, Democratic Party, Socialist Party and the Democratic Majdoor Party.

Algeria: Gov’t workers strike vs privatization

Striking government workers shut down much of Algeria Feb. 25 to protest government privatization plans and demand better living standards. The stoppage by the 3-million member General Union of Algerian Workers completely halted public transportation and forced cancellation of most of state owned Air Algeria’s flights. Public offices and enterprises were closed. Union leaders said the strike was over 95 percent effective.

However, the strike did not include the oil and gas industry, whose exports provide almost all of the country’s foreign currency receipts, in the action. It also did not interrupt flights bringing Muslim pilgrims home from Mecca.

The union said it called the strike to pressure the government into making public more details about its plans to privatize state-run enterprises and to protest declining living standards.

International Notes are compiled by Communist Party USA International Secretary Marilyn Bechtel. She can be reached at cpusainternat@mindspring.com