by Imad Khadduri, February 5, 2005

This short writing is more of an introspection rather than a political discourse.

People:

When I first “came out” in August 2002, six months before the invasion and occupation of Iraq, I claimed, in my first published article “Iraq’s nuclear non-capability”, the following conclusion: “President Bush and Prime Minister Blair are pulling their public by the nose, covering their hollow patriotic egging on with shoddy intelligence. But the two parading emperors have no clothes”. After the reports of David Kay and Charles Duelfer on the non-existence of WMD in Iraq after 1991, the CIA is now gingerly rectifying its ‘slam dunk’ assurances of their existence after propelling the occupation of Iraq and with a medal to its former director, George Tenet. The new CIA’s “report is not considered a high-level document for review by President Bush”.

During the three months before the invasion, I predicted on several radio and television interviews that ‘rivers of blood’ will flow in Iraq as a result of the occupation, to the consternation of a couple of American radio stations who curtailed the interview claiming that I was threatening the American listeners. Back in August of 2002 Vice President Dick Cheney cited the Middle East expert Professor Fouad Ajami (who is not Iraqi) predicting that after ‘liberation’, the streets in Basra and Baghdad are sure to erupt in joy in the same way the throngs in Kabul greeted the Americans. When an American soldier was shown on television raising the American flag, just a few days after the invasion, on a building in Um Qasr port south of Basra, I turned to my friends and mentioned that that gesture itself will cost hundreds of dead American soldiers.

Unlike Ajami and Cheney, I am more attuned with the dignity, and the indignities, of my people.

Immediately after the occupation of Baghdad, I was contacted by several radio stations challenging my prediction that ‘rivers of blood’ would flow as a result of the invasion. I related that the Iraqi people were going through a state of shock from the sudden disappearance of the Iraqi army and the Ba’athist militias as well as from the anarchy, looting and destruction that was taking place. I predicted that they will soon awaken to the tragedy of their being occupied, and to the predictable savagery of the American soldiers and the start of the Resistance. I asked the radio stations to call me back in two months time, in June of 2003. They did not call back. On April 28 and 30, 2003 American soldiers cold-bloodedly killed 20 unarmed civilians in Fallujah who were demonstrating against the confiscation of their school by the American soldiers. By mid-June, Falluja had become a major center of resistance to the U.S. occupation. The first oil pipeline was blown on June 12, 2003.

Sadly, painfully and tragically what I had predicted has flowed.

When it was becoming clear, by July-August 2003, that the Resistance was spreading, several radio stations again called to ask for an opinion on what course of action is best for the Americans. My response was that when wounded, the saliva applied by licking and cleaning the wound is the best medicine, meaning that the Iraqi people can best take care of their tragedy by themselves, if the American occupation is ended and they are left to tend to their affairs. The recent determination and dignity of the election turnout, whether participating in or boycotting it, is a vindication of that. My faith in the Iraqi people and their core capability to surmount our present predicament, according to our own traditions, culture and history, is deep and wide.

Resistance:

The Iraqi Resistance, and I here exclude the Salafis and the Phantom Al-Zarqawi, is born out the brutal and degrading occupation. Many of us, unlike Ajami, Chalabi, Allawi and such, predicted its emergence and veracity. How will the occupiers, aside from escalating the tempo of violence and the destruction of more Iraqi cities, quell down their mounting anger and determination, aside from leaving?

Perhaps I should outline here a letter calling for minimal demands that I recently signed, and was augmented by a friend:
(1) Setting a strict timetable for speedy withdrawal of all occupation forces,
(2) Ceasing all attacks, and confining all occupation forces to barracks until full withdrawal,
(3) Ending martial law and releasing all political prisoners,
(4) Establishing an independent election commission, led by Iraq's senior serving and retired judges, and including all Iraq's political forces. The commission can be assisted by anti-occupation figures, e.g. Nelson Mandela, and the UN General Assembly.
(5) Call on the Iraqi Resistance to shoulder the responsibilities of protecting civilian Iraqis against threats, kidnappings, and attacks by Occupation forces or criminal elements,
(6) Recognize that all Iraqis irrespective or sex, ethnic, sectarian, and age are equal before the law and that there shall be no law promulgated that infringes on the these equal rights in all spheres
(7) Clear and unequivocal rejection of human rights abuses, torture, and demeaning to human dignity in the work place, prison, streets, and political governing bodies.

Oil:

The neoconservative agenda of defending the security of Israel coincided comfortably with the lucrative control of Iraqi oil fields, through occupation, for the benefit of America’s 'global Pax Americana'. Bush had in mind Iraq’s ‘regime change’ even before becoming President, and nowhere were ‘freedom’ and ‘democracy’ stated then, and are now only flaunted for lack of any WMDs and alleged Al-Qaida connections. "Think of Iraq as a military base with a very large oil reserve underneath; you can't ask for better than that."

It is now known that more than 9 billion dollars are unaccounted for under Bremer’s reign, which included income from Iraq’s oil sales. I would welcome any information on where has Iraq’s oil money being going to since Bremer’s stealth departure.

I repeat my strong reservations on Adil Abdul Mahdi’s generous offer during a speech to the National Press Club in that the current [Iraqi] leadership is looking at privatising the Iraqi National Oil Company and that the government, which is supposed to be replaced after elections scheduled for January, will also pass a new law that will further open Iraq's huge oil reserves to foreign companies. U.S. firms are expected to gain the lion's share of access in a process estimated to be worth billions of dollars. "So I think this is very promising to the American investors and to American enterprises, certainly to oil companies," Abdel Mahdi said.

Neither the outgoing ‘transition government’ nor do the next ‘transition government’, that is tasked with preparing Iraq’s constitution, have any legitimate right to make the above promises as they are not legitimate, except according to Bremer’s and Feldman dictums.

In the words of the oil expert Issam Al-Chalabi to MEES recently, Iraq must focus on domestic priorities, not exports.

US military bases:

Reports indicate that the US occupation is building 12 to 14 military bases all over Iraq.
In a recent article in the International Herald Tribune, it was proposed that military “planners might consider three factors that help explain why bases are welcomed (or at least tolerated) in some countries but not others…First is the economic impact…. Second is the question of whether the host country is part of a firm U.S. alliance with a shared purpose or simply being used to launch military operations elsewhere…. Third is the perceived impact on local prospects for democratization and political freedom.
It argued in the article that these three conditions do not hold in Iraq.
The article concluded that “considering all these factors, a continuing U.S. base presence in Iraq is unlikely to be politically tenable.”

There is one added unique reason in the case of Iraq. The behavior of the American military in Iraq over the past two years, including the torture, rape and humiliation at Abu Ghuraib prison, the destruction of Fallujah, the random shooting of civilians to count a few glaring follies among other atrocities, do not endear the presence of American forces in Iraq, not even behind fortified walls as the Iraqi Resistance will not accept their presence.

Finally, one slowly realizes a conviction: what is the use of words against blatantly aggressive actions while at the same time, the occupier dispenses with and refuses to adhere to the jurisdiction of International World Court, and interprets to his own liking the Geneva Conventions on the treatment of prisoners of war and the legality and limits of their occupation?

Israel occupies Palestine, builds an apartheid wall, kills civilians, uproots trees, and destroys homes and villages while at the same time they demand a ‘reasonable’ Palestinian leadership to negotiate with, while Sharon imposes armed violence with impunity and support from the US.

The US (with the UK tagging along) occupies Iraq illegally and under false pretences, destroys its fragile infrastructure, drives the alien civil strife wedge deep into Iraqi society and yet demands to have ‘reasonable’ representatives of the Iraqi people (with the blessings of Negroponti and his 3000 embassy staff members) to negotiate with on its own (US) terms, laws and conditions that were illegally put in place by Bremer and Feldman, as it hugs the Iraqi oil and economy.

They will only listen to and recognize our demands when we are no longer under their thumb, after forcing it off. Otherwise, they will tell us what to do, with their gun forced down our throat, and we would have to accept only their crumbs.

By the way, I just recieved this excellent article touching upon what is postulated above:
What did the Palestinians and Iraqis Vote for? February 4, 2005

The last sentence of my book is:

We (the Iraqi people) shall, however, resurrect, to their (the American neoconservatives) detriment.

… Thy kingdom (shall not) come, thy will be (un)done
(referring to the attached drawing)

 
Imad Khadduri