[Peace-discuss] un letter/report from Iraq human shield

[Lisa Chason]

Subject: un letter/report from Iraq human shield


> Tom Cahill's Report from Iraq
>
>
>   Dear Tom:  Anna Marie gave out the email addresses of the U.N. Security
Council, whose members will
>   receive this email.  You are the vanguard of the possibity of a future.
With unbounded love, Louis
>   ________________________________________________
>
>   Dear Members of the United Nations Security Council:
>
>   I am a disabled WW 2 era veteran and native born citizen of the USA.
>
>   My government contends that Iraq must be disarmed because it possesses
weapons of mass destruction,
>   has used them against its neighbors and its own people, that Iraq is a
potential threat to world peace, and
>   that Saddam Hussein is in league with Al Qaeda which demolished New
York's twin towers, killing
>   3,000+ people, giving U.S. the right to defend itself whether U.N. joins
our retaliation or not.
>
>   But Iraq's arsenal compared to the U.S.'s is microscopic. The U.S. is
the only nation to have used the
>   world's most massively destructive weapon - nuclear ("nuculer," Bush
says) - against Japan when it was
>   already suing for peace, and depleted uranium in the first Gulf War,
genetic weapons against present and
>   future generations. We have invaded our neighbors: Mexico, Panama,
Dominican Republic, (many more)
>   and have used weapons against our own people (our civil war). Iraq,
Iran, and North Korea are our present
>   Axis of Evil. And any nation seeking military parity with the U.S. is
forewarned it will be peremptorily
>   stricken. How can you pretend that Iraq, which the U.S. and Great
Britain have been bombing regularly for
>   the past dozen years, whose ruined infrastructure contaminates drinking
water with sewage causing
>   widespread debilitating and deadly diseases, where the weapon of
economic sanctions so severely limits
>   importation of food and medicines that more than a million Iraqis, most
of them children, have died of
>   extreme malnutrition and diseases since the first Gulf War, how can you
pretend to believe that this
>   destroyed country, and not the nation that destroyed it, threatens world
peace?
>
>   My President asserts that Saddam Hussein gives safe haven to Al Qaeda,
the terrorists responsible for
>   attacking the U.S., justifying our invading that country with or without
U.N. support. But secular
>   President Saddam is perceived by fundamentalist Al Qaeda as Infidel,
Enemy to be destroyed. A more
>   improbable justification would be hard to find. The obvious
justification is Iraq's oil, which our country
>   will thoroughly exploit before it seriously develops safe alternatives,
when it may be too late to prevent
>   catastrophic global warming.
>
>   My fraudulently elected president heads a government endangering
virtually all forms of life. "Whom the
>   gods destroy, they first make mad." Do not allow my government, that is
mad with invincible power, to
>   stampede you. Hold fast to reality. A United Nations declaration that
invading Iraq has no moral
>   justification could encourage the millions who have been demonstrating
for peace and much of the rest of
>   the world to unite to stop this deadly insanity.
>
>    saadoon <saadoon at uruklink.net> wrote:
>
>          The second wave of Human Shields arrived yesterday, Feb. 21, in
Bagdad.  Together with
>          members of Voice in the Wilderness and other peace groups, there
may be as many as 500
>          of us or even more unarmed, NGO civilian peacekeepers in Iraq now
with many more on the
>          way.  The London office of Human Shields is swamped with upwards
of 10,000 applications
>          to process.
>
>          We learned on arrival that U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald
Rumsfeld has said we human
>          shields are acting against the Geneva Convention.  According to
other U.S. government
>          sources.  if we Americans survive and return home, we could face
up to 12 years in prison
>          and thousands of dollars in fines.  My response to this is
unprintable.
>
>          "Shock and Awe" is the name given to the very first strikes of a
massive amount of missles
>          expected to be launched at Bagdad in early March.  Like the
"blitzkrieg" of the Nazis early in
>          WW II, it was designed to stun survivors, some of whom will be
tramatized for life.  The horror
>          of such an attack described by U.S. military authorities in
awesome detail make it seem to me
>          more humane for the Unites States to just nuke Bagdad.  Surely
civilian casualties must be
>          high either way.  And all this to remove from office just one man
since the U.S. plans to leave
>          intact the rest of the Iraqi government, that is, those who
survive.
>
>          Most of the American shields I've spoken to agree we would rather
die in Bagdad under a
>          rain of missiles than live another day under the corporatist
(read fascist) regime that has
>          ruled the U.S.A. since the right wing coup d'etat  of Nov. 22,
1963.
>
>          This morning we visited a hospital filled mostly with children
dying of starvation, malnutrtion,
>          and disease--the result of U.S. sanctions in the ongoing 12-year
war against Iraq.  Many
>          children were suffering from lukemia from the so-called "depleted
uranium" weapons used by
>          Allied forces in 1991 that will contaminate much of Iraq for
centuries. Many of us broke down
>          many times while visiting the youngsters, some with tiny oxygen
masks on their faces and IVs
>          attached to scrawny limbs.  Pitiful doesn't describe the scene.
Shame and rage don't
>          express my emotions.  How dare my governnent spin  such
rational-sounding motivations for
>          attempting to destroy a nation in order to save it.  Before
visiting the hospital we wanted only
>          to impeach Bush out of office.  Now we Americans and others want
him and his father and
>          Bill Clinton tried for war crimes.
>
>          Around my neck I wear a small, bright blue teddy bear on a cord.
If I survive the missle
>          attack and meet a U.S. Marine infantryman and still have my wits
about me, I'll tell him to aim
>          for the little bear.  My heart is right behind it.
>
>          We Human Shields stand with our Iraqi sisters and brothers and
cry out to the world--save us
>          from the American liberators and the compassionate conservatives.
>
>          ###
>
>          I am a former resident of Fort Bragg and Napa, California, now a
resident of Bagdad as in
>          "Ich bein ein Berliner."  I am a member of Veterans for Peace,
Peace Navy, IWW, and Earth
>          First and am president of Stop Prisoner Rape.  All these
organizations have web sites.  If
>          you pass this information on, please correct my spelling and
grammar.  If you wish to be
>          removed from this list (or want to communicate with me(,  let me
know at my new e-mail
>          address in Iraq.
>