Letter from Baghdad
Every morning for the past five weeks I've watched the children walk to school from the balcony of my hotel across the street.
Today [March 17], I was asked to leave this hotel for my own safety. To the right is a phone exchange which was bombed in the last war.
I'll miss the sights and sounds of those children in bright light of the spring the mornings and worry for their future.
Almost everyday the death toll rises as the US and British bombings increase to the north and south of Baghdad.
Having produced a documentary during the 10-year Bougainville War, I'm well versed in the realities of war. War's major product is death, destruction and suffering. The ones that usually suffer the most are the women, children, weak and the poor.
Having traveled freely while filming in Iraq, I can assure you that the people of Iraq don't want suffering of another war. They wish to continue with lives without the daily threat of death and destruction.
The people that I meet are confused by our governments actions towards their country and are truly grateful for those that express the desire for peace.
Wayne Coles-Janess
Ipso-facto Productions
Baghdad
Let's keep on protesting
Since Washington must find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, they will. The invading troops will be coming from the country with the most enormous stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction of every variety in the world. It is much easier to find things, I have found, if you remember where you put them, and even easier if you bring them with you. The same is true of weapons of mass destruction.
There will be no specialists involved in this process who will not be entirely under the control of the US military — no one to check on the real origins, viability and so forth of any weapons that are "found". Even the very minimal critical and politically biased standards that the UN inspectors utilised will be thrown to the wind. An essentially disarmed and defenceless Iraq will be transformed by the magic of hype and lies into a secret military superpower that was ready, willing, and able to destroy the world any minute now, and was stopped not a moment too soon.
The next week or two may well belong to the warmongers and to the hallucinations of the American triumphalists. Although nothing is inevitable, Washington's overwhelming military power and Iraq's relatively poor level of readiness for genuine popular self-defence are facts. These make the initial appearance of victory a high probability. But even if the probable happens, the key word is appearance.
The unprecedented political and moral isolation and weakness that US imperialism demonstrated in the run-up to the war — where the situation got worse for them with every delay — was not a fluke. The decline of US moral and political power in the months before the war reflects the fact that its raw access to military force is wildly disproportionate to its overall strength. Without a degree of moral and political credibility, which US imperialism does not have in the world today, military power cannot build or maintain a world empire today.
So let's keep on protesting and keep on telling the truth. There are a lot of people on our side. The horrible crimes about to be committed will not accomplish the goals of the criminals. The wall of triumphalist noise is fated to crumble, and the bloated image of absolute power is going to deflate in devastating and unpredictable ways.
Fred Feldman
United States
National shame
An open letter to John Howard:
Once again, Australia is being shamed as a nation which no longer believes in international law, human dignity and peace. The UN Weapons Inspectors have said that Iraq was compliant. There has never been a convincing argument for military intervention.
I have come to Iraq as a human shield in deep despair and frustration that alternative non-violent resolutions were never ever considered by you.
The question I am constantly asked here in Baghdad is, "We thought Australia was our friend — so why are they doing this?" There is no possible answer that I can give.
I believe now that the big question for Australians at home is: How can we change our constitution so that we have a prime minister who must listen to the:
- legal profession who say that this war is "illegal" in international law;
- medical profession, church leaders and humanitarian groups who say this will be a humanitarian disaster on a massive scale; and
- Anzac "heroes" and Vietnam veterans who say that the trauma of war lasts a lifetime;
- the people of Australia who say this war and any future war is unacceptable behaviour for a civilised society to engage in.
I am a mother who has come here to be a human shield protecting a UN-classified humanitarian site, the Taji Food Silo in North Bagdad, where much of the Australian wheat is stored and distributed to feed 5 million people.
If I am killed, then this will highlight the killing of innocent civilians. My children will lose their mother as will thousands of other Iraqi families lose their fathers, husbands, mothers and children. We refuse to be called "collateral damage". This is the ultimate insult and what this new type of militarism means that the people of the world are so opposed to.
As Australians we know that school-yard bullying, domestic violence and murder in our community is illegal and totally unacceptable. How can it be acceptable then for Australians to kill strangers in a foreign land?
I feel very sorry for the Australian servicepeople and their families as they are placed in a very unenviable position and being asked to do something which is dishonourable.
Not in my name will such an act of extreme violence be done.
Ruth Russell
Iraq Peace Team
Baghdad Iraq
War legality
One of the more extraordinary claims around is that a US-initiated attack on Iraq would be justified by the UN charter or UN resolutions.
The Charter only authorises international military action in self-defence, or when deemed necessary by the Security Council to maintain or restore international peace and security. And the Gulf War cease-fire declared in UN resolution 687 (1991) ended the right to use force which the UN temporarily granted Kuwait and its allies after the 1990 invasion.
A 1950 General Assembly resolution (377) states that if a veto in the Security Council means the Council fails to ensure peace and security the Assembly can vote for military action if two-thirds support it. But there has been no Assembly vote.
Why is it that some conservatives who demand that less-well-off people respect the law and be punished heavily if they don't — and who normally rail against "legal activism" — are so keen for national leaders to breach international law and get off unpenalised, or to pretend that UN documents don't say what they do?
Brent Howard
Rydalmere NSW
Minister replies
Your correspondent Alex Bainbridge, in her article on student anti-war protests (GLW March 12) has completely misrepresented my position. Her claim of a backflip is an utter invention. My expressed view was clear and consistent: while sympathetic to the rallies, and supportive of student engagement in the debate, I could not encourage students to join a day-long strike at the cost of a vital day's learning. My statements on the issue never altered and remain consistent.
Paula Wriedt
Education minister
Tasmania.
Khaki poll
Bugger it. Let's have a federal election, quick and lively. John Howard has always dreamt of a khaki poll, so let's do it.
OK, Simon Crean has the misfortune, on the telly, to look like he just had his first bite out of shit sandwich (he looks nearly as crook as John Curtin, a wrung-out alcoholic copper's son who, lucky for him, didn't ever get on the box until after he became a saint).
So after the poor bastard comes last in the 6pm beauty contest, the pollsters tell us, surprise, surprise, that a lot of people don't like him. Then a lot of other people say they don't like him. Then the commentators go mad. Our leaders must look good on telly, we are told. And they must lie like champions.
But at least Mr Crean hasn't got his head stuck up George W Bush's arse. And he isn't John W Howard. He isn't crazy to go to war and seems a decent bloke. Just like any politician, or anybody in any position of trust, he would want watching. So what?
If Mr Crean is the Drover's Dog's Pup we had to have, we should know that we could do (and are doing) a lot worse.
Peter Woodforde
Melba ACT
Boycott US goods
I refer to Sanford M. Russel's letter (GLW #529, March 12). Russel's suggestion [that we boycott US-made goods] is well worth considering by all those opposing the invasion of Iraq. We should make a political decision about how we spend our disposable incomes.
Even the most powerful corporations depend upon people's compliance and passivity. They are helpless If people decide not to buy their products. The money will of course, go to other imperialist corporations, but will in the short term single out the master among them.
The boycott should be extended to US automobiles and oil corporations as well. I agree with Russel's suggestion and will boycott both US and Israeli products.
Narendra Mohan Kommalapati
Spence ACT
NSW CFMEU
In response to your article on the 36-hour week campaign by the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), it was good to hear of what comrades in Victoria have achieved since 2000: a 12.2% pay increase, a 36-hour week and a cap on working more than 56 hours, which would give all workers a fair go in finding work. Also Queensland's campaign started on February 26 with a 10-day stoppage.
Okay, what about NSW? I as a member have not been notified of what's happening here. The current secretary in NSW has really lost the plot, and has really distanced himself from the rank-and-file members in this state. Some people have suggested to me that our proposal is to take our rostered day off on Saturdays. As a family man providing for five children, I find this a loss of income rather than a step forward. And if there is a benefit for me in giving up a Saturday each month, then please would somebody explain the gain to me.
I would personally like to let [Andrew] Ferguson know I have no confidence in your leadership and I call on you to resign as secretary of the CFMEU in this state. It's time for a change. The rank-and-file members need to have a say in our union. And you need to step down now and let's elect someone who will deliver our message.
I think the current condition needs to be addressed now. I don't think there will be much left to fight for in 20 months or so, under the current leadership. I believe you, Mr Ferguson, are in "total dereliction of duty". The rank and file have no say. And I'd like to remind you who you work for: us, the rank and file; not the boss, not the federal police, not the tax man. You have been elected to the position by your members. Maybe you should get out onto the sites and you will see what the current members think of you.
Wayne Gardiner
Wilton NSW
[More letters at <http://www.greenleft.org.au>.]
The media and the war
With the war starting, it's now clear more than ever that Australia is no longer a sovereign country but a part of the US empire. When the war officially started, I tuned into the TV and radio to hear the public reaction to this. I thought for sure that, with the polls showing most people opposing a war without the UN, the mainstream media would at least cover a little of the public outrage and the anti-war movement.
I tuned into three or four different FM stations to hear George Dubya's crusader "address to the nation" speech being broadcasted live on all of them — since when does that include Australia? Or are we a US dominion now? There weren't even any statements from any of the Australian politicians. The only Australian voice was that of the radio announcers saying, "the war has begun", in a rather rejoicing tone (since war to them means more coverage = more business = more money!).
The mainstream TV was even worse. Tune into ABC you have the usual spin-doctors talking about the "benefits" of this war with CNN-style scrolling propaganda message at the bottom of the screen. Tune into Channel 7, and even SBS, and you have 3D animations of what a Tomahawk cruise missile can do and mainly broadcasting US news programs (aren't there any journalists and newsreaders left in Australia?).
Tune into the rest, they're showing infrared images of bombs being dropped on Iraq and of course all of the channels are broadcasting our emperor Dubya's moronic and fanatical war-speech every 15 minutes. There's Australian crusaders like Jackie Kelly stating that "both the political left and right" here are united in this "just war" and goes on to praise Howard's mad rush to war, calling him a "great military leader".
Before we liberate Iraq we need to liberate Australia too from the fascist media and the politicians.
Shafin Rashid
Ashfield NSW
Biggest bully on the block
So is it regime change or disarmament? UN Security Council Resolution 1441 calls for the elimination of all weapons of mass destruction held by Iraq.
It appears that President Bush wants more. But at least he's honest and upfront, unlike his predecessors who in 1973 helped topple a democratically elected government in Chile thus ushering in an era of torture and disappearances.
Now, we all agree that Saddam Hussein is a despicable dictator, but what gives the US the right to march in and depose him? Isn't the US bound by the rule of law? UN Resolution 1441 calls for the elimination of weapons of mass destruction, but not the elimination of Saddam Hussein.
Hopefully, Bush will realise that just because the US is the biggest kid on the block that doesn't give him the right march into any country he doesn't like.
David Finnis
Summerland British Columbia
Canada
Hello from England
Many thanks for the use of your web site.
I've been searching through the many NSW newspapers for a news item which would have appeared in 1995/1996.
I was quite bemused to find that the larger state papers and certainly the national papers actually charge for old news! Didn't they make enough millions selling those editions, in those years, without ripping off the Australian public even more? Surely old and archived news is in the public domain?
Your site was quite refreshing to read, quite freely, although I didn't find the article I was searching for! I didn't think I would in a "green" paper!
I supported my local Green Party here in the north of England in the last general elections. Your site made interesting reading in contrast to our own "green issues" up here.
Chris Flanagan
Cleveland England
Bomb Kirribilli
The final blow has finally come for those still buried in anti-war sentimentalism: Howard John's recent praise of equally despotic Pakistani leader General Musharraf, whose regime has for some years been trading nuclear-missile technology with the North Koreans.
Seen in combination with John's advocacy of a multi-billion-dollar defence shield against these same North Korean missile weapons, his stance is so self-contradictory that we can be sure that this evil dictator is also insane.
Precision bombing of Kirribili house and the 4 million misguided "human shields" that surround it will have its costs, but the risks of inaction are greater. Australia manufactures and exports uranium, and has a nuclear reactor cunningly placed next to its largest urban centre in a cynical tactic that is all-too-familiar from this corrupt and illegitimate regime.
Just ask the desert and coastal peoples that Howard has disenfranchised without apology, or the hundreds of families tortured and starving in his "detention centres". For them, it is not a question of if, but when, the more developed nations will intervene to build a legitimate government in place of this cruelly archaic political system, in which the formal head of state and the constitution are both kept twelve thousand miles away.
Ben Hingley
Annandale NSW
War illegal
Out of the volumes of words on the Iraq issue it is necessary to distil the essence in order to understand the situation. Of the fifteen members of the Security Council one member sees itself as under threat from Iraq and has been successful in convincing only three other members that it is necessary to attack that country as a precaution.
It is not unreasonable to believe that in a democratic system UN member nations would be under some obligation to abide by the rules of the "club". Despite the rigorous campaign of persuasion and inducement by the US and UK, eleven nations remain unconvinced, a democratic majority by any measure.
The two protagonists accuse the non compliant nations of rendering the UN irrelevant, though its very purpose is to prevent wars, and that they are dividing Europe and NATO, when clearly it is those favouring war that arrogantly ignore the judgement of the majority.
Moreover, if the UN General Assembly is taken into account a case for war can not be sustained. Members of the UN who are also members of other organisations such as the Non-Aligned group of 114 countries or the Arab League, constitute well over half of the world's population and two thirds of UN membership. These groups are against war.
Self-interest rather than altruism may well be what counts at a diplomatic level but world public opinion remains unimpressed by the fear campaign and is overwhelmingly against war, especially if not approved by the UN. As to the legality of a war without further UCSC authority, the case is unambiguous: only two of the fifteen voting on Resolution 1441 did not expressly state that they did so on the basis of no automatic resort to force or that the matter be returned to the Security council before further action be taken.
Peter Baker
Lindisfarne Tas
From Green Left Weekly, March 26, 2003.
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