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A CALL FOR GREATER VIGILANCE IN THE JUNE 30 U.S. HANDOVER OF SOVEREIGNTY TO
IRAQ
by People's Forum on Peace for Life
Friday, Jun. 11, 2004 at 8:37 AM
Where there is Violence, Let Us Sow Peace
A year ago U.S. President George W. Bush, under the "Mission Accomplished"
banner, declared victory over Iraq, and the United States took total control
over the governance of that country. Today it is increasingly evident that
the pretexts for the "pre-emptive" war against Iraq-possession of weapons of
mass destruction and the Saddam regime's links with the Al Qaeda-are all
lies. Every justification for the rush to war-to disarm Iraq and prevent
attacks on U.S. territories and interests, to liberate Iraq and bring greater
freedom to the Middle East-are no more than carefully crafted alibis
deliberately promoted to conceal America's real agenda in the Middle East.
Bush was confident that coalition invaders would be welcomed as "liberators"
by a people who had suffered long and hard under the tyrannical rule of Saddam
Hussein. But the fall of Baghdad did not usher in a new and free Iraq. Far
from it .. Today, the people are in a turmoil so pervasive that the promise
of sovereignty handover by the end of the month seems more and more a public-
relations act to gain respectability for the U.S. occupation that has lost all
credibility and to draw in a multinational force to do the dirty job of
fighting the insurgency in Iraq.
The "transfer of sovereignty" issue has become the subject of the new
discourse. The focus of the Media-and that of the U.N. Security Council-will
be on the details of the transfer along with internal bickering that usually
accompany changes in governing bodies. The shift in the area of interest will
likely result in the diminution of concern over the still unanswered questions
regarding the invasion itself along with the issues of human-rights violation
and breaches on the Geneva Convention.
The new discourse will also likely redefine the concept of sovereignty, going
the same way of debasement as "peace," "democracy," "freedom," and many other
noble concepts. For what is going to take place on June 30 does not in any way
conform to existing definitions of "sovereignty." On June 30th, Iraq will not
become a sovereign state but remain a colony or a puppet state, subservient to
Washington and protective of American interests. As such, despite the "Iraqi
face" of the new government, the insurgency is bound to continue with a
likelihood of developing into a civil war.
There is much to demand regarding the issue of the "transfer of sovereignty,"
but the accountabilities of the occupying forces that predate the transfer of
government must remain areas of focus and concern for all peace-loving people.
Among them:
The wanton disregard for life and human dignity shown by recent revelations of
death, torture, sexual abuse and humiliation suffered by Iraqi prisoners in
the hands of their American jailers
Based on previous reports by organisations such as Amnesty International and
the Red Cross of widespread torture and ill-treatment of prisoners by
Coalition Forces since the fall of Baghdad, it is apparent that the reports of
prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib-especially noting the little known but confirmed
reports of rape and torture of Iraqi women prisoners-are not isolated
incidents and that culpability ultimately leads to the doorstep of the Bush
Administration. With similar reports emanating from U.S.-run prisons in
Afghanistan, it is telling that, far from being individual roguish acts, the
practice of breaking down prisoner morale and using excessive force during
arrest and detention-even to the point of death, as has been reported in a
number of cases-is systemic in the policy of occupation. This is further
evidenced by the U.S. government's moves to seek another year's extension of
immunity from criminal prosecution for U.S. forces. We lament the fact that
Iraqi citizens do not have a form of legal redress for crimes and abuses
committed by U.S. forces.
Abu Ghraib underscores the importance of an international court to prosecute
war crimes. But the refusal of the U.S. and Iraq to ratify the Rome Statute
in 1998 now prevents the International Criminal Court from exercising
jurisdiction over recent events in Iraq. U.S. occupation troops in Iraq will
continue to act with impunity as it seeks to extend the application of Order
17-an agreement signed with the Coalition Provisional Authority granting
immunity from prosecution for U.S.-UK forces-to the U.S.-led multinational
force that is expected to remain in Iraq after the June 30 handover.
The rising death toll among Iraqi civilians, especially women and children,
foreign workers, Iraqi insurgents, and Coalition Forces Thousands of senseless
deaths have occurred in Iraq more than a year after the declared end of combat
operations on May 1, 2003. In April alone, during the height of the crisis in
Fallujah and Najaf, 1,200 Iraqis, including hundreds of civilians, and 120
U.S. soldiers were killed. There is also a patent rise in kidnapping and
targeting of foreigners, presumably by foreign extremist groups.
The mutilation of U.S. mercenaries, which ignited the Fallujah siege by U.S.
forces, and the widely publicised beheading of Nicholas Berg, a young American
communications entrepreneur, attests to the vicious cycle of violence that has
engulfed Iraq as a result of deep hatred over the presence and dominance of
Coalition invaders. The only way is to find a lasting solution to the root
causes of Islamic terrorism, which must be a priority focus of any agenda to
fight terrorism.
The millions of dollars in war profits made by U.S. corporations from military
contracts and the ongoing reconstruction of Iraq amidst staggering poverty and
unemployment among the Iraqi population
The Bush Administration has publicly framed its invasion of Iraq as falling
within the agenda of the international crusade against terror. But the
imposition of neoliberal policies on Iraq's economy by the Coalition
Provisional Authority (CPA), as well as widespread reports of corruption,
profiteering and fraud by U.S. corporations and members of the U.S.-appointed
Interim Governing Council (IGC), lay bare the fact that the Iraq War has been
pursued by the Bush administration to advance its economic globalisation
project.
Iraq's markets have been opened up to foreign contractors while 70 percent of
Iraq's workforce is unemployed. The CPA has suspended tariffs and imposed a
15 percent ceiling on all future taxes. It has abrogated an Iraqi law
restricting foreign investment and property ownership in Iraq and now plans to
privatise state-controlled enterprises. Moreover, a special investigation by
the National Public Radio's Marketplace and the Center for Investigative
Reporting in the U.S. estimated that 20% of Iraq reconstruction funds-
U.S.$18.6 billion, most of which are controlled by the Pentagon-are being lost
to corruption: awarding of contracts without bidding to well-connected
corporations, financial fraud, cost overruns, and poor performance. We
believe that moves to rearrange Iraq's economy to favour the interests of
foreign corporations has put billions of dollars to waste and derailed the
economic and political rebuilding of Iraq.
The Bush Administration has set June 30 of this year as the deadline for the
transfer of sovereignty to the people of Iraq. Yielding to an overwhelming
clamour for direct elections, both from the Iraqi people and the international
community, the U.S. has sought the help of the United Nations to facilitate
the transition process. The June 30 sovereignty transfer as specified in the
plan submitted to the Security Council leaves a lot of questions as to the
real motives of the June 30th "transfer". It is dubbed to be part of President
Bush's election-year plan.
We believe Iraq's transition to self-rule must be pursued with vigilance and
within the framework of the following principles:
1. Relinquishment of all political, military and economic control of Iraq by
the U.S. and its allies, and the immediate, complete and unconditional
withdrawal of all foreign forces and facilities from Iraq.
2. Immediate and unconditional end to all military offensives by the U.S.-led
coalition against the people of Fallujah and Najaf and other areas of Iraqi
resistance.
3. Full ownership of the political process by the Iraqi people. The task of
rebuilding Iraq-including the management of reconstruction funds, control of
the country's human and natural resources, and major decisions regarding
economic, political and social policy-must be founded within the framework of
human rights and on the principle of self-determination, and thus restored in
the hands of those who have most at stake in the country's future-the Iraqi
people.
4. Independent and wider role of the United Nations as the representative of
the international community in the process of Iraq's transition to self-rule.
The United Nations must issue an unequivocal statement that the occupation has
ended, and it must be given an independent mandate to work directly with all
sectors and groups of the Iraqi population in facilitating a political process
that meets internationally-recognised standards and guarantees broad
participation and transparency, as well as a constitutional framework that all
Iraqis can agree upon and participate in.
The Iraq War continues to be a focus in our efforts to contribute our share in
the global resistance against globalisation and militarism. Indeed, the nexus
between militarisation and corporate globalisation has never been more
apparent than in Iraq. The foreign meddlers of Iraqi affairs now find
themselves in a quagmire that has claimed thousands of lives and put to waste
billions of dollars in war profiteering. The violence and widespread
resistance now raging in Iraq are not merely offshoots of poor strategy on the
part of the coalition invaders. These are deeply rooted and indeed are
natural outcomes of the unjust and self-serving ends of U.S. military
aggression that seeks not to liberate people from terror but to impose the
U.S. government's imperial agenda upon the world. An end to the senseless
violence gripping this country and the genuine liberation of its people are
urgent tasks for the peace movement of which we are part. The peace agenda is
always urgent for as long as threats to life and the integrity of creation
persist.
The Secretariat
PEOPLE'S FORUM ON PEACE FOR LIFE
June 7, 2004
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