December 2: From the Gulf War to 9-11 & current war

Read: The New Crusade, entire  Please examine carefully at least 9 of the 19 myths, then be sure that you have read enough to know the key argument and 3 points of pertinent evidence regarding the White Man’s burden section; Finally, read sections 30-34 of part iii. Skim sections 27-29.

 

Key brief links on the drive to war in Iraq

My best recommendations for a brief introduction to 9/11 background and present Iraq War

 

For background to 9/11 see my “historical briefing” , which is a country-by-country approach, this can be used as a basic reference source to keep countries and policy straight  and “terrorism page”

 

For Iraq see:

·        “The President’s Real Goal”—article from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The roots of the National Security Strategy against Iraq—short synopsis, and how a small group wielded power over policy

·       Where War Comes From: Sprawling report in Milwaukee Journal Sentinel makes clearthat Bradley Foundation is epicenter of Neocon warmongering

·       Empire vs. Republic

·       The Reason Why by George McGovern

·       Don't look for a reason  All the explanations for this war are bogus - Bush only invaded Iraq to prove that he could; Heartbreaking—from the London Guardian

·       Iraqi War Victims—warning, not for the squeamish, but we should force ourselves to look, as this is what we are “protected” from by mainstream

·       Iraq Body Count  Civilian deaths in the Iraq war – in the early 20th century, 20% of casualties were civilians. Now, thanks to bombs, it’s 80%. But leaders simply want us to think civilian casualties are a natural cost of war. The U.S.’s bombing strategy makes civilian casualties a certainty, but the media here also goes along with the Pentagon’s plans to suppress footage of bombing’s consequences. How can we win Iraqis hearts and minds when our bombs kill them? First Gulf War, Bombing and sanctions have killed 1 million Iraqis already. Is there a clue to why some don’t trust our expressed concern for them in this fact?

 

 

History

·       ·       A short chronology of Iraq’s history  (in relationship to West/U.S.) – how the U.S. helped create the problem

·       ·       A brief narrative background –oil, CIA and Saddam, intrigue – oversimplified, but basic facts are there

·       ·       Saddam Key in CIA plot United Press International report based on interviews with CIA officers

·       ·       Interview with Said Aburish

--a former insider of the Hussein regime, the go-between for Western Arms dealers and Hussein’s regime, the low-down on Hussein and the problem of western intervention, including significant discussion of the CIA’s role in bringing Hussein to power; his discussion of how Hussein controls enemies suggests the problems of U.S. attempt to use force

·       ·       CIA in Iraq

·       ·       Excerpt from Warrior Dreams—the First “terrorist” scare of the 1980s; paramilitarism in the Reagan admin.

·       ·       Document summaries from National security archives (Iran-Iraq) (20 years after the hostages)

·       ·       The Arming of Iraq—lots of government documents exposing Kissinger Associates, Scowcroft, etc in building up Hussein

·       ·       Ron Paul’s website information on Iraqgate  --Ron Paul is the iconoclastic Republican representative from Texas; his site has very good information about “Iraqgate”; Iraqgate refers to the scandal, little remembered in the U.S., in which U.S. banks and arms dealers bankrolled Iraq’s war against Iran. Of course, Iran-Contra (sale of arms to Iran, using proceeds to bankroll Nicaraguan contras in their terrorist war) was simultaneously arming the Iranian side. Some current insiders who helped advise to go to war were involved in Iraqgate

·       ·       U.S Was Key Supplier to Saddam 

·       ·       The Ghost of Rumsfeld Past – the Reagan administration aided Saddam in the 1980s (current Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld even gave Saddam cowboy spurs as a present from Ronald Reagan!)

·       ·       U.S. Sent chemical Weapons to Iraq—“we have met the enemy?”—

·       ·       Naming Names—which agencies sent the chemical and biological weapons to Saddam Hussein?

–see Arming of Iraq above for the funding. U.S. companies sold Iraq more than $1 billion worth of components for nuclear weapons and diverse missiles, including the infamous Scud.

·       ·       New York Times story on supplying aid –August 2002—“old news” but the New York Times catches up; The Pentagon "wasn't so horrified by Iraq's use of gas," said one veteran of the program. "It was just another way of killing people -- whether with a bullet or phosgene, it didn't make any difference," he said.

·       ·       8 myths of the Desert Storm

·       ·       William Kellner, The Persian Gulf TV War (Westview Press, 1992)–entire book is now on-line; has essential background as well as critical media analysis, context of U.S. society and the war; if you think you are getting good information from the Pentagon now, history shows that they calculated ways to make the media a tool of propaganda, including the infamous lies about the degree to which smart bombs hit their targets –they claimed 80-90% success rates, but they knew it was false, and it turns out to be no better than 30%.

·       ·       Bill Blum’s material on the CIA in Iraq (1990-1991)

·       ·       Operation Desert Storm-10 years after  -what happened in the aftermath. The evidence that the U.S. has been at war since 1991, bombing for last 4 years. If you want to alienate a population…..

·       ·       Operation Desert Storm-National Security Archives files—link to research file

·       ·       Shaking Hands with Saddam Hussein 1980-1984 NSA documents that implicate Rumsfeld, Cheney, Reagan and their Bechtel connection (see Oil and Iraq section below) – U.S. Goals Were Access to Oil, Projection of Power, and Protection of Allies

·       ·       Allies Deliberately poisoned Iraq’s water supply in Desert Storm –   incredible document, showing war crimes by U.S. military. This Defense Intelligence Agency document reveals planned atrocity against the civilian population during Operation Desert Storm , resulted in the deaths of 10s of thousands of civilians, and the document shows this was calculated in exquisite detail. This is illegal under Geneva convention. Actual Document This is the story that only 2 papers, the Scotland Herald and St. Petersberg Times, have covered  Professor Nagy, who discovered the document, summarizes the findings

·       ·       Why the U.S. did not overthrow Saddam Hussein in Desert Storm  - also showing why the people there wouldn’t trust the U.S. to install a democratic government.

·       ·       Depleted Uranium Education Project  Is Gulf War Syndrome the result of exposure to depleted uranium in U.S weapons?

·       ·       Discounted Casualties: the human cost of Depleted Uranium Weaponry – links to much information, horrifying but well-evidenced. Depleted uranium weaponry, which makes the U.S. so powerful, should be outlawed, as its shelf-life is billions of years, and it is damaging our own troops and makes cities like Basra unliveable.

·       ·       Senator Byrd’s comments on the dangers of a blank check Why hasn’t there been attention to the fact that this war is illegal under Article I Section 8 of the Constitution? Doesn’t anybody care?

·       ·       Gulf of Tonkin II?

·       ·       Lies about Al-Qaeda Connection Leaked British intelligence report exposes the truth

·       ·       Culture War With B-2s=Maureen Dowd

·       ·       Mark Twain, Victory of the Loud Little Handful

·       ·       A Political and Military Biography of Colin Powell  startling history

 

Iraq and Sanctions

·       ·       Iraq Sanctions: Humanitarian Implications and Options for the Future  -extensive discussion, in depth

·       ·       Talking Points on Iraq sanctions

·       ·       Background Information on the Iraq Sanctions

·       ·       Iraq Sanctions: A Brief History

·       ·       Other UN Security Resolutions currently being violated by countries other than Iraq

 

Oil and Iraq

·       ·       Behind the Invasion of Iraq – terrific summary of available information about the oil grab, this is well-documented - reveals that the US intends to use the invasion of Iraq as a launching pad for a drastic reshaping of the Middle East, to be followed

by an unprecedented expansion of US power worldwide. The strategic trend of US foreign policy now points unmistakably towards global empire. (see the materials in the U.S. National Security Strategy below, they aren’t hiding much); this also connects the dots to the U.S. capitalist crisis of overproduction….

·       ·       Crude History Lesson  Excellent, well-documented report on the Bechtel/Rumsfeld-Cheney connection to Iraq, using National Archives and National Security Archive evidence to demonstrate the quest for an oil pipeline was the main motivation for courting Saddam Hussein in the 1980s PDF file

·       ·       On Oil and War—from SEEN website PDF file – brief links to the connection

·       ·       War in Iraq-the Oil Factor

·       ·       Asia Times on Oil & War  Part I

·       ·       Asia Times on OPEC in the line of fire –Russia

 

 

U.S. National Security Strategy

·       ·       How much the U.S. spends per second on military (see bottom of page) will not include the 100-150 billion suggested for conquering Iraq (some estimate the war and occupation will take a trillion dollars)

·       ·       Carnegie endowment for International Peace study of the origins of the Policy –with links to documents –this is the best summary of the current evidence on the cabal that is ruling U.S. foreign policy

·       ·       National Security Strategy of the United States ; from the Horse’s mouth -- read about the plans for world dominance through troops stationed across the globe, the hegemony of market capitalism as U.S. national security strategy

·       ·       U.S. military Space Command’s plans for controlling space (pdf file) U.S. empire of the space – militarizing space for investment purposes; this document is surreal, a must-see view into the minds of military-industrial complex; try to read this as though you were a European or lived in the Middle East, and see if you think it is benign…

·       ·       Operation Endless Deployment

·       ·       Military/World Supremacy at Heart of U.S. policy –criticism of U.S. policy from the Times of U.K.

·       ·       Hegemony to Imperium – “frontier again” in U.S. foreign policy

·       ·       “The President’s Real Goal”—article from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution  The roots of the National Security Strategy and Iraq crisis

·       ·       The cabal at the center of U.S. foreign policy

·       ·       War on Iraq-Conceived in Israel

·       ·       More on the cabal  -tieing it all together  --the policy against Iraq originates with the end of the Cold War and a plan by a right wing think tank (whose leaders are now in policy making roles) for U.S. global dominance in a “unipolar” world order

·       ·       “Chicken Hawks” As Policy Leaders Chicken Hawks are the nickname for officials who have avoided military service, but take us to war

·       ·       The Defense Budget and Profiteering

·       ·       War Resisters’ League PieChart of the Military Budget and other items to ponder

 

More on the War

·       ·       The toppling of Saddam’s statue—media manipulation at its best 

 U.S. flag incident pre-planned, flag was from Pentagon

·       ·       War is Designed to Test weapons—military industrial complex and this war  Interesting analysis, I don’t agree with all of it, but great details on the “boys and their toys”

·       ·       US Forces' Use of Depleted Uranium Weapons is 'Illegal'

·       ·       The Coming War With Iraq: Deciphering the  Bush Administration's Motives

·       ·       Bloodstained Path by Dennis Kucinich

·       ·       The Plundering of Iraq’s archaeological heritage

·       ·       "Cakewalk"    Bush administration officials and their hawkish supporters now say they never promised an

     easy war -- but the record shows otherwise.

 

Links to other site’s information on Iraq

·       ·       NCFPJ website see their Iraq page, and see information about meetings, actions, etc

·       ·       Third World Traveler page on Iraq

·       ·       Nowar Collective webpage on Iraq  analysis, action

·       ·       Foreign Policy in Focus Opening page has links to Iraq and other regions

·       ·       John Pilger’s website – journalist – hard questions and thorough answers; see film excerpts from his work. Best reporting on the sanctions. You will get the details through links

·       ·       Understanding Iraq in Context—Foreign Policy in Focus- think tank that really thinks; links to many articles about Iraq

·       ·       Common Dreams  alternative news. See links  to global press sources, wire services, etc. Fantastic source

·       ·       Alternet  Analysis that you won’t get in the mainstream press. 

·       ·       Z Magazine  source for alternative information, carries all of Robert Fisk and John Pilger’s articles

·       ·       Tom Paine  in-depth reports about Iraq, terrorism, foreign policy