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America is stronger than ever. We will forever remember those we lost on September 11, 2001. In honoring their memory, we will remain true to our commitment to freedom and democracy.
-- Evan Bayh, U.S. Senator
War is hell. But it's also true that war is an easier route to follow than peace -- throughout history, war has been the path more frequently taken. Attacking someone you don't agree with is a fairly straightforward affair; sitting down with your adversary and working out your disagreements is much more difficult. At the end of the day, it takes more courage to negotiate than to fight.
-- George Johnson, US Navy Vietnam Veteran
Nothing in the present Charter shall impair the inherent right of individual or collective self defence if an armed attack occurs against a Member of the United Nations, until the Security Council has taken measures necessary to maintain international peace and security. Measures taken by Members in the exercise of this right of self-defence shall be immediately reported to the Security Council and shall not in any way affect the authority and responsibility of the Security Council under the present Charter to take at any time such action as it deems necessary in order to maintain or restore international peace and security.
-- Article 51, United Nations Charter
Iraq continues to flaunt its hostility toward America and to support terror. The Iraqi regime has plotted to develop anthrax, and nerve gas, and nuclear weapons for over a decade. This is a regime that has already used poison gas to murder thousands of its own citizens -- leaving the bodies of mothers huddled over their dead children. This is a regime that agreed to international inspections -- then kicked out the inspectors. This is a regime that has something to hide from the civilized world.
States like these, and their terrorist allies, constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world...
-- George W. Bush, 2002 State of the Union Address
The great intangible of America's wars beyond logistics, beyond strategy, beyond wonder weapons and Generals, is the spiritual force of its fighting men and women - and that is the force that the USO so magnificently serves
-- USO Web site
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- Colin Powell on 'Empire Building' [Excerpts of remarks of Colin Powell, US Secretary of State at World Economic Forum]
- I received excerpts of Powell's speech and the following question and answer session in a forwarded email. I checked its veracity at the Urban Legends Reference Pages.
- Project for the New American Century (PNAC)
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- Letter to President Clinton on Iraq - PNAC is often described as the group of neo-conservatives that agitated for a war with Iraq. This is their 1998 letter to President Clinton. The letter calls for regime change, not disarmament. There is a list of those who signed at the bottom, and many received important positions in the Bush administration.
- The Iraq War & the War on Terror - an April 2004 response to an article from a fellow conservative at the American Enterprise think tank discussing the issue of whether the war on Iraq has been a distraction or benefit to the war in terror.
- Timeline of Approaching War with Iraq
- The Tom Friedman disease consumes Establishment Washington
- This blog article by Glenn Greenwald reviews the reasoning by the New York Times columnist and similar pundits. Greenwald is a litigator and author of "How Would a Patriot Act?", described as "one man's story of being galvanized into action to defend America's founding principles, and a reasoned argument for what must be done."
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- 6-Point Plan to Avoid War Recognized as Moral, Realistic "Third Way"
- A world coalition of church leaders published a 6-point plan as an alternative to war with Iraq that began to gain momentum before the invasion. Like everyone else, I remember watching the news a couple of times a day as war approached. I thought once the troops began to move it was inevitable as armies rarely turn back, which would look cowardly. I seem to remember later reading that the weather played an important role. i.e., invading in March would be far superior than invading in June. I missed seeing the details of this 6-point plan when it was released, but I do remember hearing about it and hoping against hope. It was really frustrating watching the developments.
- Uncovering the Rationales for the War on Iraq: The Words of the Bush Administration, Congress, and the Media from September 12, 2001 to October 11, 2002
- A senior thesis at the University of Illinois finds 27 different reasons given for the war in Iraq. The abstract, executive summary, and thesis are in PDF form. Here is an excerpt from the paper's abstract:
The results showed that twenty-seven rationales for the war on Iraq were used at one time or another, twenty-three of which can be attributed to the administration. Five rationales were prominent in all three phases: the war on terror, the desire to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, the lack of inspections, the desire to remove the Hussein regime, and the fact that Saddam Hussein was an evil dictator. One rationale surfaced initially and gained favor over time: the interest in liberating the people of Iraq. One other rationale emerged later and became very important to official sources and the media: the imminent threat that Iraq posed, though the words “imminent threat” did not appear in official statements of the administration but became the catch-phrase in the media and the public.
- Hijacking Catastrophe: 9/11, Fear & Selling the American Empire
- This documentary examines the strategy to implement neo-conservative ideology after the attacks of 9/11. Far more believable and thoughtful than the popular Michael Moore documentary. Why are we in Iraq? This film presents news coverage clips and many interviews with experienced government, military officials and veterans, a weapons inspector, and academic experts. [Roger Ebert's review of "Hijacking Catastrophe"]
- Is Preemption Necessary? A Work in Progress: The Bush Doctrine and Its Consequences
- An article from the Washington Quarterly posted on the GlobalSecurity.Org Web site.
- Was It About Oil?
- The Deep Politics of Regime Removal in Iraq - I wanted to include at least one writer arguing for a particular analysis and this article is written by Larry Chin and published on OnlineJournal.Com, a progressive news analysis site. While sources are mentioned in the article, there are no references at the end. It does have value in identifying all the players and groups in the Iraqi opposition to Saddam and the history of conflict and cooperation, and the involvement of the CIA before the Iraq war in 2003. A number of assertions and statements of fact I remember from things I read. The article date is October 31, 2002.
- Is It All About The Oil? - An article from a conservative point of view, posted on the Reason Public Policy institute Web site. Also posted just before the 2003 Iraq invasion. Includes links to references in the article body describing business relationships with Iraq of countries opposing the war.
- Discussion About Chicken Hawks
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The term "chicken hawk" is defined as one who agitates for war, but has never seen battle, or possibly even military service. I first heard the term in reference to the Vietnam War. The U.S. Constitution defined the process where military leaders were responsible to civilian leaders who were responsible to the voting citizens. Here are articles from what might be considered the left, center, and right positions of the political spectrum.
dulce bellum inexpertis [War is sweet to the inexperienced.]
-- Desiderius Erasmus, Dutch humanist, ca. 1466 - 1536 (referring to Aristotle's caution to youth. See PDF.)
A time will come when a politician who has wilfully made war and promoted international dissension will be as sure of the dock and much surer of the noose than a private homicide. It is not reasonable that those who gamble with men's lives should not
stake their own.
-- H. G. Wells, The Salvaging of Civilization (1921)
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I'm including these articles on strategies and results. All existed before the 2003 Iraq War.
- Shock & Awe: Achieving Rapid Dominance
- Book available for review online at the National Defense University describes how and why to apply the tactics of "Shock and Awe". Here is an excerpt from the introduction:
"Dominance" means the ability to affect and dominate an adversary's will both physically and psychologically. Physical dominance includes the ability to destroy, disarm, disrupt, neutralize, and to render impotent. Psychological dominance means the ability to destroy, defeat, and neuter the will of an adversary to resist; or convince the adversary to accept our terms and aims short of using force. The target is the adversary's will, perception, and understanding. The principal mechanism for achieving this dominance is through imposing sufficient conditions of "Shock and Awe" on the adversary to convince or compel it to accept our strategic aims and military objectives. Clearly, deception, confusion, misinformation, and disinformation, perhaps in massive amounts, must be employed.
- Overwhelming Force
- In the 1991 Iraq war, the "Powell doctrine" was described as "the use of overwhelming force at the outset of a war in order to minimize casualties and avoid the incremental buildup that had cost so dearly in Vietnam." This article by Seymour Hersh of the New Yorker magazine examines the management style of Gen. Barry McCaffrey and events surrounding The Battle of Rumaila at the end of the 1991 Iraq War and the final cease fire. It also includes accounts of enemy preparedness and fighting ability. Basically, "Interviews for this article, and the 24th Division's daily log for March 2nd, fail to support many aspects of the official account." [This is a link to a reposting of the Hersh article.]
- Wake Up Call
- This September 2002 article in the Guardian (UK) about the "Millennium Challenge" war games prior to the Iraq invasion highlights significant problems in the military strategy for fighting a war in Iraq. A retired general played the part of the Middle East dictator and initially won before the rules changed. Read this brief account of an amazing story and cautionary tale. It is also covered in a chapter of the book "blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking". (There is a fictionalized JAG episode with a similar story, "Ready or Not", in its 8th TV season.)
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- What Do the American People Know and When Did They Know It?
- An Information Clearinghouse re-posting of a personal blog entry of Zeynep Toufe. She describes the confusion and disbelief of others toward Americans on the Iraq war. She notes the problem for Americans and explains how the American system allows dissent and how people work vigorously for justice. Defense of a Guantanamo detainee by military lawyers is a shining example. This is essential reading.
- A Little Learning: What Doug Feith Knew and When He Knew It
- A New Yorker magazine article of an interview with Douglas Feith, former Undersecretary of Defense in the Bush Administration. The article covers his research on the Middle East, policy development, interactions with other officials, results of the Iraq conflict so far and more.
- Naked in Baghdad: The Iraq War and the Aftermath as Seen by NPR's Correspondent
- by Anne Garrels
- Diary of amazing on-the-ground coverage of Baghdad and its citizens before, during and after "Operation Iraqi Freedom." (Read 12/2004)
- War Cost Brings Democrat Anger
- A New York Times article from July 11, 2003 re-posted on the RaceMatters.Org Web site.
- $8.8 Billion Transferred and Lost
- I have to admit that while I vaguely remember an accounting report article I completely missed the magnitude of the money involved in this story. Now that the Iraq elections are over, it appears that $8.8 billion dollars are unaccounted for in Iraq through poor accounting procedures, etc. In the past, I remember politicians complaining about throwing money at problems. In any case, here are a couple links:
- Battle Lessons: What the Generals Don't Know
- This New Yorker article from the January 17, 2005 issue is about an informal network of front-line military leaders encouraged to think creatively and pro-actively in dealing with, Iraqi culture, the civilian population and their military duties. It's a fascinating article. Here's an excerpt:
...a positive development for the Army, because the exigencies of the Iraq war are forcing the decision-making downward; tank captains tell of being handed authority, mid-battle, for tasks that used to be reserved for colonels, such as directing helicopter close-air support.
The younger officers have another advantage over their superiors: they grew up with the Internet, and have created for themselves, in their spare time, a means of sharing with one another, online, information that the Army does not control.
- American Hostage
- Subtitle is "A memoir of a journalist kidnapped in Iraq and the remarkable battle to win his release." A documentary filmmaker and his translator were kidnapped while completing filming as they covered the looting of archaeological sites in southern Iraq. Extremely gripping account of the ordeal and the activation of a huge network of contacts across the globe in addition to US resources. [Read 1/2006]
- USAID Accomplishments in Iraq
- Fact sheet on power production, water and sanitation, telephone communications and more. Lists of accomplishments in rebuilding the infrastructure of Iraq.
- Waging Peace: A Special Operations Team's Battle to Rebuild Iraq
- In addition to the dedicated soldiers securing Iraq, the highly trained, elite Army Civil Affairs Teams have as their primary objective rebuilding war-torn regions without the support of the other US forces. Veteran war correspondent Rob Schultheis follows one team in this effort. Here's a quote from the Publisher's Weekly review on Amazon:
As they go about rebuilding schools, repairing sewers and setting up mobile walk-in medical clinics, they also must dodge roadside bombs, snipers and mortars. Schultheis quickly bonds with Team A-13 and celebrates their small victories against difficult odds in a surreal environment, delivering warm character studies and tense highway encounters. And he ends up making a terrific case for a full update of the Marshall Plan.
- Iraq Project and Contracting Office
- "The mission of the Project and Contracting Office is to serve the people of the United States and Iraq by contracting for and delivering services, supplies, and infrastructure identified within the Iraqi Relief and Reconstruction Fund."
- Major Contracting Firms Working in Iraq
- Kellogg, Brown and Root (KBR), Halliburton subsidiary that provides support services to coalition forces and the rebuilding effort.
- USAID's Infrastructure Reconstruction Program - Web site for the Iraq effort of Bechtel Group, a worldwide engineering and construction firm.
- President Bush Discusses Freedom in Iraq and Middle East
- Remarks by the President at the 20th Anniversary of the National Endowment for Democracy at the United States Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C. discussing the roots of our democracy, commitments abroad, soviet tyranny, free nations and lessons in our own time.
- Get Out the Vote
- An interesting article in the New Yorker magazine by Seymour Hersh describing the ups and downs, manipulations and countermanipulations, flow of money and possible fraud leading up to Iraq's first democratic election in January 2005. Important reading as the approach the drafting of a new Iraq constitution in August 2005. Here is a quick statistic: Iraq is 60% Shiite, 20% Sunni and 15% Kurd with Turkmeni and Arab citizens comprising the remainder of the population.
- Fallen Heroes Memorial
- An online memorial for all of the fallen service members of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom, includes photos and visitor-submitted messages.
- Iraq Coalition Casualties
- Lists ongoing statistics in spreadsheet format, including averages, etc. and news abstracts linked to articles on international news sites.
- Faces of the Fallen
- Faces of the Fallen - The Washington Post has a collection of information about each U.S. service member who died in Iraq. It is being updated regularly.
- Faces of the Fallen - This was an exhibit at Arlington National Cemetary that featured artist renderings of those that died in Iraq. It covers those lost up to November 11, 2004. There is now an online memorial exhibit (Warning - music will begin playing.)
- Iraq Body Count
- A site run by volunteers through donations "to establish an independent and comprehensive public database of media-reported civilian deaths in Iraq resulting directly from military action by the USA and its allies." You can review a recent BBC News article that uses the Iraq Body Count figures with analysis and an illustration.
See also the Democracy, Electoral Politics, Accountability page.
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- Defend America: News About the Troops on the Frontlines in the Global War on Terrorism
- DefendAmerica.mil is the United States Department of Defense Official Website on the War on Terrorism.
- Advice to WWII Soldiers in Iraq Relevant Today
- This arictle describes the re-release of a WWII-era Army manual. When my nephew went to Iraq, I gave him a Berlitz book on Arabic. This would be a better choice for those in service heading to Iraq.
Here are the two paperback books related to the manual project
- Instructions for American Servicemen in Iraq during World War II - perhaps a bit dated, but handy to get a basic grounding for personal interactions and cultural awareness.
- The U.S. Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual - Described as "The result of unprecedented collaboration among top U.S. military experts, scholars, and practitioners in the field, the manual espouses an approach to combat that emphasizes constant adaptation and learning, the importance of decentralized decision-making, the need to understand local politics and customs, and the key role of intelligence in winning the support of the population."
- USO
- Around since before WWII, in addition to the well-known performances for the troops, the USO currently operates 123 centers around the world, including six mobile canteens, with 73 located in the continental United States and 50 overseas. Site has a number of related links to sponsors, supporters, and many links of interest to the various services, veterans organizations, etc.
- Operation Dear Abby
- Send or read a message to any branch of the service. Dear Abby, the U.S. Department of Defense, and the U.S. Department of the Navy's LifeLines Services Network are providing this private and secure online resource that will allow you to send a Sailor, Marine, Soldier, Airman, or Coast Guardsman a holiday greeting or message of support.
- AnySoldier.Com
- "Want to send your support to any soldier in harm's way, but have no idea of what to send, who to send it to, or how to send it?" This would be the site.
- BringThemHomeNow.Org
- Describes itself as "a campaign of military families, veterans, active duty personnel, reservists and others opposed to the ongoing war in Iraq and galvanized to action..." Has a page of links to sponsoring organizations, other veterans groups, resources for troops and info on the war.
- USFlag.Org: United States Code
- History and U.S. Code for patriotic customs, proper display and disposal of the United States flag.
- 365 and A Wake Up
- There are a number of blogs maintained by those serving in Iraq. This is very well-written. While the blog has stopped as the author returned to civilian life, there are a number of links to other, current, military blog sites in the "what I'm reading" column section.
- The Blog of War: Front-Line Dispatches from Soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan
- Vietnam has been called the first rock-and-roll war and the first television war as it came, live, into our living rooms. The current conflicts can be called the first Internet war as soldiers post their experiences and feeling in blogs. One commenter notes "military blogs were ideal for filling in the gaps that both the media and the military left out."
- Jarhead: A Marine's Chronicle of the Gulf War and Other Battles
- Describes life on the ground and camaraderie of the folks that do the fighting and the dying in brutally honest terms. From the Audiofile description: "Swofford was a Marine sniper during the Gulf War of 1991. However, that conflict takes up only a small part of this memoir. Most of this stream-of-consciousness recollection is the author telling us of his life as a military brat, his youth, and his experiences in the Corps before the events of 1991." The comments on the Amazon page here will give you a flavor for the contents.
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The first casualty when war comes is truth.
-- Attributed to Senator Hiram Johnson, remarks in the Senate, 1918
Reasons and opinions concerning acts are not history. Acts themselves alone are history... Tell me the Acts, O historian, and leave me to reason upon them as I please; away with your reasoning and your rubbish! All that is not action is not worth reading. Tell me the What; I do not want you to tell me the Why, and the How; I can find that out myself, as well as you can, and I will not be fooled by you into opinions, that you please to impose, to disbelieve what you think is improbable or impossible.
-- William Blake (1757 - 1827), poet, painter, printmaker, pious man.
A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), U.S. essayist, poet, philosopher.
Any fool can tell the truth, but it requires a man of some sense to know how to lie well.
-- Samuel Butler (1835-1902), British author
Our loyalty is due entirely to the United States. It is due to the President only and exactly to the degree in which he efficiently serves the United States. It is our duty to support him when he serves the United States well. It is our duty to oppose him when he serves it badly. This is true about Mr. Wilson now and it has been true about all our Presidents in the past. It is our duty at all times to tell the truth about the President and about every one else, save in the cases where to tell the truth at the moment would benefit the public enemy.
-- Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), U.S. President, writing on foreign policy. (He ran as an independent candidate for President against Taft and Wilson in 1912.)
Q: Why are you speaking out like this?
A: Because there is no English word to describe our outrage.
-- member of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity in a March 2004 magazine interview discussing intelligence manipulation by the Bush administration
I often experience disbelief when I watch excerpts of press conferences of the administration concerning progress and strategy in Iraq. I personally feel we burned through a great amount of international goodwill after September 11, 2001 with our invasion of Iraq. Here are a couple related resources.
- The Information War
- Mission Al Jazeera: Build a Bridge, Seek the Truth, Change the World - this book by former Marine Josh Rushing covers a creative, effective approach to engaging the Arab world through good information. Many descriptions of missteps made and possible strategies for better results. It is a great read. Here is an excerpt that illustrates the good engagement can do:
An Army colonel who had spent some time in the Middle East told me he had been in Kuwait, at the home of that nations's defense minister, when the U.S. Congress was conducting its hearings into the Abu Ghraib scandal. "The Kuwaiti official had this huge TV," he recalled, "and he was glued to the screen. It turned out Al Jazeera was showing the hearings in their entirety, as if they were C-SPAN, and this guy couldn't believe what he was seeing."
"I don't understand," the defense minister asked the colonel. "Why are these government officials asking questions of other government officials? Don't they all work for the same government?"
"Yes," the colonel explained, "but these elected officials are trying to hold these military officials accountable. Otherwise it looks like the entire government is condoning what happened at Abu Ghraib."
The Kuwaiti defense minister couldn't quite wrap his mind around the paradigm: a government holding itself accountable. If a silver lining to the Abu Ghraib scandal can be found, perhaps it's that in addition to Al Jazeera showing the pictures of abused prisoners, this time rebroadcast from a U.S. media exclusive, the network also showed the ensuing investigative hearings—and covered them a lot more thoroughly than American news networks did. Viewers in the Arab world took away a civics lesson: that, whatever its faults, the U.S. system struggles to keep itself in check. Without trying to shape the story, but by showing it all, Al Jazeera allowed its viewers a more complex picture of the Abu Ghraib story and, ultimately of the United States.
If the defense minister took pause at the hearings, imagine the reaction of the ordinary citizens who were watching: "That's what a government is supposed to do?"
Josh was the media liaison at CentCom in the early stage of the war. He was featured in the documentary Control Room. He is now the features correspondent covering the U.S. for Al Jazeera English, based in Washington, D.C. (By the way, Josh notes the Emir of Kuwait and the Saudi's don't get along. The Saudi's created a web site, AlJazeera.Com with outrageous "news" to discredit the Al Jazeera brand and reputation.)
- Pentagon Channel - I found this channel on my satellite line-up but you can visit the web site and view an embedded video and supplemental information on the effort. Site includes links to archived shows.
- Bush Rewrites History
- An article by David Corn, editor of The Nation and author of The Lies of George W. Bush. I'm including this article because it takes a Veteran's Day address by the President and reviews its content line-by-line, which I find absolutely essential and missing from much opinion masquerading as news analysis.
- The Price of Loyalty: George W. Bush, the White House, and the Education of Paul O'Neill
- Former Bush Administration Secretary of the Treasury (2001-2003) Paul O'Neill was the first to state that the Bush Administration was looking to invade Iraq from the beginning. The book was dismissed as "sour grapes", etc. but now its conclusion is strengthened. From page 86 of this book by Ron Suskind:
"There was never any rigorous talk about this sweeping idea that seemed to be driving all the specific actions," O'Neill said, echoing the comments of several other participants in NSC discussions. "From the start, we were building the case against Hussein and looking at how we could take him out and change Iraq into a new country. And, if we did that, it would solve everything. It was all about finding a way to do it. That was the tone of it. The President saying, 'Fine. Go find me a way to do this.'"
- The Skeptical Spy
- An interview with a member of the Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) in Mother Jones magazine. It is a brief description of intelligence manipulation to support the decision to invade Iraq and the structural conflicts of the CIA mission. You can also read the VIPS memorandum and an opposing blog discussion of the VIPS group.
- Confessions of a Repentant War Supporter
- Obviously, an opinion piece by someone with a change of heart. The article is on AntiWar.Com and it includes a number of external links to some interesting material that expands on or supports the author's reflections.
- Downing Street Memos
- From the introduction of this Wikipedia entry:
The "Downing Street memo" (occasionally DSM), sometimes described by critics of the 2003 Iraq War as the "smoking gun memo", contains the minutes of a secret meeting, on July 23, 2002, among United Kingdom government, defence and intelligence figures, discussing the build-up to the war.
There were a series of memos. A related article in the Times of London is RAF bombing raids tried to goad Saddam into war. You can search Google for more discussion and coverage. There is a web site urging action that includes comparison with public statements, etc. also.
- World Tribunal on Iraq
- For two years, peace and opposition groups met in forums to discuss and give testimony on the Iraq war. This effort culminated in a world-wide meeting over three days in Istanbul Turkey in June 2005. This is the Web site for that meeting. One attendee and correspondent covered the event through a personal Web log ("blog".) The event got no coverage in mainstream media. It did get coverage at Democracy Now! the left-wing TV show and Web site.
- Court Ruled That Media Can Legally Lie
- This article is reposted on the Project Censored Web site as one of its top 25 for 2005: "In February 2003, a Florida Court of Appeals unanimously agreed with an assertion by FOX News that there is no [FCC] rule against distorting or falsifying the news in the United States." Simply amazing. The case concerned an environmental report series but the court decision covered any news. Since Fox News was the defendant, I'll mention there is a documentary out there, Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism, on how Fox News assembles their cable programs.
- Media Bias in Iraq
- From the abstract: Claims that reporters ignore positive news "do not carry much weight," says Reuters' Baghdad bureau chief Andrew Marshall, after two years in the war zone. Yes, there has been some progress, but the civilian carnage continues. And he predicts: more reporters will die as well.
- What's in a Name or Slogan?
- In Summer 2005, the administration changed its catch phrase from "Global War On Terror" to "Global Struggle Against Extremism." Here are two articles.
- Project Censored Articles on Iraq
- Here are a couple of articles with the word "Iraq" in the title from the Top 25 censored stories—very limited or nonexistent coverage in major media—from 2003, 2004, and 2005:
- Hiroshima Film cover-Up Exposed
- A recent article about post WWII suppression of photographs, film, and newsreel footage about the destructive effects of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
See also the News About the News section of the Media, News, and Advocacy page. There are organizations that review press releases, news reports and speeches for accuracy.
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The estimates made before the invasion of Iraq on how long our troops would remain were wildly optimistic. Estimates given now are murky at best. Here are some related articles.
- We Will Stay in the Fight Until the Fight Is Won
- The President's June 2005 prime-time address in on the National Review Web site.
- How Do We Respond to The Statement...
- Many agree with the president and say we have to finish the job of bringing stability and full democracy to Iraq. This aggressively opinionated article answers the premises involved:
- Premise 1: The "United States" invaded Iraq.
- Premise 2: "We" are the United States who did it.
- Premise 3: The invasion was a "mistake."
- Premise 4: "We" are better suited to "clean up" Iraq than the Iraqis by themselves.
- Premise 5: The violence in Iraq is a reflection of divisions existing inside Iraq.
- Premise 6: Iraqis cannot be trusted to guide the reconstruction of Iraq without US supervision about HOW to do reconstruction.
- Permanent Presence
- An article from The Nation reviewing whether the support structures in Iraq indicate a permanent presence or not, reposted on the progressive Common Dreams news site.
- A Historical Comparison
- Here is a quote from NBC consultant retired General Barry McCaffrey, U.S. Army from the Countdown with Keith Olbermann show on MSNBC:
We stayed in Germany for 50 years and created peace and ended the cold war. We went to Korea with a modest force, 50,000 troops, created this giant democratic capitalistic miracle of South Korea.
What's wrong with that? I wouldn't mind seeing us stay in Iraq for 10 years with a modest force and end up with a democratic Iraq and one that doesn't represent a threat to its own people and its neighbors and our national security interests.
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Documents and witness accounts from both detainees and soldiers starkly portray how an initially disciplined interrogation effort deteriorated, in a climate of lawlessness and pressure to produce intelligence, to the point where officers and soldiers first bent the rules, and finally broke them.
-- "From Bagram to Abu Ghraib", Mother Jones, Mar/Apr 2005
If one mistreats citizens of foreign countries, one infringes upon one's duty toward one's own subjects; for thus one exposes them to the law of retribution.
-- Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749-1832)
The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons.
-- Attributed to Fyodor Dostoevsky (Unverified)
Our country is at war, and our government has the obligation to protect the American people. The executive branch has the obligation to protect the American people; the legislative branch has the obligation to protect the American people. And we are aggressively doing that. We are finding terrorists and bringing them to justice. We are gathering information about where the terrorists may be hiding. We are trying to disrupt their plots and plans. Anything we do to that effort, to that end, in this effort, any activity we conduct, is within the law. We do not torture.
-- U.S. President George W. Bush in a press appearance with Panamanian president.
An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth
-- Wikipedia entry on the phrase, covering the Old Testament, Babylonian law, Jesus admonition to "turn the other cheek", and more.
Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all... Do not be
overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
-- Romans 12:17, 21
In reading news coverage, articles and books on Abu Ghraib, it seems that those above the soldiers gave the impression they wanted results and kept the pressure on to do so. I remember reading a quote saying something to the effect that if there isn't an established procedure for action, people will get creative and problems occur. Here are a couple additional resources that illuminate why we had the results we did.
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- Abu Ghraib Torture Prisoner Abuse
- This entry in the Wikipedia online encyclopedia includes information on the scandal, with links to background information on former use and current use of the prison, officials involved, reports on the scandal and more. This version includes photographs. There is a link at page top for a version without photographs.
- Chain of Command: The Road from 9/11 to Abu Ghraib
- by Seymour Hersh
- From the Amazon.Com description:
Part of Hersh's skill lies in uncovering official reports that have been buried because government or military leaders find them too revealing or embarrassing. Chain of Command is filled with such stories, particularly regarding the manner in which sensitive intelligence was gathered and disseminated within the Bush administration. Hersh details how serious decisions were made in secret by a small handful of people, often based on selective information. Part of the problem was, and remains, a lack of human intelligence in critical parts of the Middle East, but it also has much to do with the considerable infighting within the administration by those trying to make intelligence fit preconceived conclusions.
- This book by a New Yorker reporter describes events in Iraq, Afghanistan, and missed opportunities. I found it to be essential reading. (Read 11/2004) There is another book that I have not read, The Torture Papers: The Road to Abu Ghraib, that also covers this material.
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- Torture
- This entry on the Wikipedia free encyclopedia covers legal aspects, history, implementation, devices and practice including a listing of the appropriate Geneva Conventions. Many links to other information.
- McCain Detainee Amendment
- This is a proposed amendment to the United States Senate 2005 Department of Defense Authorization bill. Lots of information and many links. Valuable reading for becoming knowledgeable on the debate. This Wikipedia entry also mentions the Department of Defense adoption of similar language and the Bush administration's effort to exempt the CIA from the amendment. From a linked New York Times article of Nov. 5, 2005:
The debate has delayed the publication of a second major Pentagon directive on interrogations, along with a new Army interrogations manual that was largely completed months ago, military officials said. It also underscores a broader struggle among senior officials over whether to scale back detention policies that have drawn strong opposition even from close American allies.
...Pentagon officials were revising four major documents - including the two high-level directives on detention operations and interrogations and the Army interrogations manual - as part of its response to the 12 major investigations and policy reviews that followed the Abu Ghraib abuse scandal.
You might also want to read an open letter to Senator John McCain, published in the Washington Post, called "A Matter of Honor."
- Who Would Jesus Torture?
- Following the example of "What Would Jesus Drive?", I entered the phrase "Who Would Jesus Torture" into Google and got two results. "Who Would Be Tortured by Jesus" is an editorial article by a pastor that discusses the debate surrounding the McCain amendment. (The other result was a columnist quoting an email he received.) A couple hours after my search, I received my weekly Sojourners email newsletter with an article called "What's at Stake? Who Would Jesus Torture?"
- Annals of Justice - Outsourcing Torture: The secret history of America's "extraordinary rendition" program
- by Jane Mayer
- This New Yorker Magazine (Issue of February 14, 2005) article describes how US policy on torture and interrogation developed and is currently implemented. Quotes several sources inside and outside the current administration. (I'm not sure how long the link will remain.) The article author continues to cover the subject. Her article, The Experiment, in the July 11, 2005 issue of the New Yorker covers the use of behavioral consultants, interrogation resistance training and interviews with military and non-military personnel. The online version of the magazine has a short interview with the article's author. [Follow-up: The Washington Post published a story on November 2, 2005 covered by Reuters in an article called CIA Runs Secret Terrorism Prisons Abroad.]
New Yorker writer Jane Mayer has another article, The Memo, about the unsuccessful attempt by the general counsel for the Navy to work inside the administration to keep to the standards of the Geneva Convention in dealing with detainees and the aggressive intervention by proteges of the Vice President to thwart the effort in order to keep information gathering "flexible".
- School of Americas Watch
- This organization "is an independent organization that seeks to close the US Army School of the Americas, under whatever name it is called, through vigils and fasts, demonstrations and nonviolent protest, as well as media and legislative work." The U.S. Army School of the Americas (SOA) at Ft. Benning, Georgia is now called the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation. Its mission is to train South American military. SOA Watch and other critics note that human rights abuses often trace back to this program.
- Reference Guide to the Geneva Conventions
- An archive on the Society of Professional Journalists Web site. Includes some history, an alphabetical index, the full text of the conventions and more. Here are the short descriptions from the full text index page:
- Convention I: For the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field. Sets forth the protections for members of the armed forces who become wounded or sick.
- Convention II: For the Amelioration of the Condition of Wounded, Sick and Shipwrecked Members of Armed Forces at Sea. Extends protections to wounded, sick and shipwrecked members of naval forces.
- Convention III: Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War. Lists the rights of prisoners of war.
- Convention IV: Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War. Deals with the protection of the civilian population in times of war.
- Protocol I: Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts. Extends protections to victims of wars against racist regimes and wars of self determination.
- Protocol II: Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of Non-International Armed Conflicts. Extends protections to victims of internal conflicts in which an armed opposition controls enough territory to enable them to carry out sustained military operations.
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- Stanford Prison Experiment
- A psychology experiment done in 1971, asked what happens when you put good people in an evil place? Does humanity win over evil, or does evil triumph? Basically, this is an experiment testing obedience and compliance, similar to the experiments of Stanley Milgram. The psychologist, Philip Zimbardo, recently authored a book The Lucifer Effect that covers the experiment and his research and testimony for the defense in a trial of one soldier posted at Abu Ghraib.
- Das Experiment
- The Stanford Prison Experiment inspired the book Black Box a fictional account of a similar experiment with more disastrous results. This movie (in German with subtitles) is based on that book. (Roger Ebert's review of "Das Experiment".)
- Strip Search
- "Acclaimed film director Sidney Lumet joins forces with Emmy-winning Oz creator Tom Fontana to explore the precarious status of individual liberties post-9/11 through two parallel stories - each containing identical dialogues - taking place on two continents half a world away." A 120-minute film 'edited' to 55 minutes before single broadcast (27-Apr-2004) by HBO and now unavailable everywhere. While conservatives decried this as another example of Hollywood's liberal outlook, it certainly would have stimulated discussion if it was more widely viewed and not gutted by censors. [Internet Movie Database link.]
Censorship is telling a man he can't have a steak just because a baby can't chew it.
-- Mark Twain
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In Iraq under Sadaam, the country's leadership was mostly from the Sunni minority while the majority of the population was Shia. In the past week or so (February 2006), I saw news reports about the dome of a Shia mosque being bombed by Sunni insurgents, there are reports of hit squads operating within the Iraqi government. Men in police uniforms retaliating against former Baathist/Sunni leaders, and other incidents that indicate a growing civil war. News analysts on the interview shows state that all parties need to have a stake in the future of Iraq. i.e., some way of sharing power. I'm wondering if another way, peace through reconciliation, might work. Wikipedia has a list of truth and reconciliation commissions world-wide. Here are some examples of reconciliation commission work:
- Truth and Reconciliation Commission: Truth the Road to Reconciliation
- This is the archive web site of the South African post-apartheid commission. The commission included several subcommittees like the Human Rights Violations (HRV) Committee, Reparation and Rehabilitation (R&R) Committee , and the Amnesty Committee. The final report was issued 21 March 2003.
- Morocco's Justice and Reconciliation Commission
- This article from Middle East Report Online begins 'From independence in 1956 through the 1990s, the Moroccan state sent thousands of dissidents and political opponents to prison. During these decades, known to Moroccans as the "black years," the act of expressing an "unauthorized opinion" could earn years of arbitrary detention. Political opponents of King Hassan II's regime, many of them leftists or Islamists, were often "disappeared" in the manner of dictatorships in Chile and Argentina and tortured or killed while in state custody.'
- From Fear to Truth
- From the article: 'On Nov. 3, 1979, men, women, and children gathered in Greensboro [North Carolina, US] to attend a "Death to the Klan" rally. They were publicly demonstrating their opposition to the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan in their community...Eighty-eight seconds and 39 shots later, five CWP [Communist Workers Party, event] organizers...were dead. Ten other demonstrators were wounded. A few of the protesters shot back in self-defense. None of the Klansmen or Nazis were injured...'
- International Center for Transitional Justice
- From the site: "The International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) assists countries pursuing accountability for past mass atrocity or human rights abuse. The Center works in societies emerging from repressive rule or armed conflict, as well as in established democracies where historical injustices or systemic abuse remain unresolved."
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As a military man, I know you can never fight and win against someone who can shoot at you once and the run off and hide while you have to remain eternally on guard. You have to attack the source of your enemy's strength. In America's case, that's not Osama or Saddam or anyone else. The enemy is ignorance. The only way to defeat it is to build relationships with these people, to draw them into the modern world with education and business. Otherwise the fight will go on forever.
-- Pakistan's Brigadier General Bashiir Baz, quoted in Three Cups of Tea
- Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace... One School at a Time
- Greg Mortenson lost his way returning to camp from his attempt to climb Pakistan's K2 mountain. This is the remarkable story of how his life changed after making a promise to build a school after stumbling into the remote village of Korphe. Can one person make a difference? Read the book.
There are a number of related articles and links connected to this story and effort. Several are linked from the web site. Wikipedia has an entry on Greg with a number of links. Here is another.
Greg and the Central Asia Institute's effort addresses the need for education, community gathering places, and local, small business in Pakistan' northern region and Afghanistan. But, the story is both uplifting and cautionary. It is also valuable to read about the details of a culture we don't know.
- Edhi Foundation
- I read about this organization, started by one Pakistani man, in the National Geographic magazine's September 2007 issue feature article "Struggle for the Soul of Pakistan"
His one-man charity [started after the founding of Pakistan] is now an acclaimed international foundation. His single, beat-up old station wagon has grown into a fleet of 1,380 little white ambulances positioned across Pakistan, tended by thousands of volunteers. They are usually first to arrive on the scene of any tragedy.
The article describes the influence of a violent, fanatical minority in Pakistan and the majority of moderate Muslims caught in the middle.
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Last Modified: 10-Sep-07
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