[Peace-discuss] Fwd: [GushShalom] Avnery about Iraq - a year after
Al Kagan
akagan at uiuc.edu
Sun Apr 11 20:17:29 CDT 2004
>From: "Gush Shalom (Israeli Peace Bloc)" <info at gush-shalom.org>
>Subject: [GushShalom] Avnery about Iraq - a year after
>Reply-To: info at gush-shalom.org
>Priority: normal
>X-Virus-Scanned: by amavisd-new at sweethome.co.il
>Sender: gush-shalom-intl-admin at mailman.gush-shalom.org
>To: gush-shalom-intl at mailman.gush-shalom.org
>X-SMTP-RCPT-TO: gush-shalom-intl at mailman.gush-shalom.org
>X-Original-To: gush-shalom-intl at mailman.gush-shalom.org
>Delivered-to: gush-shalom-intl at mailman.gush-shalom.org
>X-BeenThere: gush-shalom-intl at mailman.gush-shalom.org
>X-Mailman-Version: 2.0.13
>List-Unsubscribe:
><https://mailman.gush-shalom.org/mailman/listinfo/gush-shalom-intl>,
>
> <mailto:gush-shalom-intl-request at mailman.gush-shalom.org?subject=unsubscribe>
>List-Id: Gush Shalom's international supporter
>mailing list
><gush-shalom-intl.mailman.gush-shalom.org>
>List-Post: <mailto:gush-shalom-intl at mailman.gush-shalom.org>
>List-Help:
><mailto:gush-shalom-intl-request at mailman.gush-shalom.org?subject=help>
>List-Subscribe:
><https://mailman.gush-shalom.org/mailman/listinfo/gush-shalom-intl>,
>
> <mailto:gush-shalom-intl-request at mailman.gush-shalom.org?subject=subscribe>
>List-Archive: <https://mailman.gush-shalom.org/pipermail/gush-shalom-intl/>
>Date: Mon, 12 Apr 2004 01:24:22 +0200
>
>GUSH SHALOM - pob 3322, Tel-Aviv 61033 - www.gush-shalom.org/
>
>[Uri Avnery about Iraq - a year after. "Thank you for freeing us from our
>oppressor but go", Avnery has seen it before.]
>
> Bitter Rice (2)
> Or: The March of Folly
>
>Uri Avnery
>10.4.04
>
>Ú·¯È™ ·ý™¯ / Hebrew on the website
>http://www.gush-shalom.org/archives/article298_heb.html
>
> The following passage may look familiar:
> "On the fourth day of the 1982 Israeli attack on Lebanon, I crossed
>the border at a lonely spot near Metulla and looked for the front, which
>had already reached the outskirts of Sidon. I was driving my private
>car, accompanied by a woman photographer. We passed a dozen
>Shiite villages and were received everywhere with great joy. We
>extracted ourselves only with difficulty from hundreds of villagers, each
>one insisting that we have coffee at their home. On the previous days,
>they had showered the Israeli soldiers with rice.
> "A few months later I joined an army convoy going in the opposite
>direction, from Sidon to Metulla. The soldiers were now wearing
>bulletproof vests and helmets, many were on the verge of panic.
> "What had happened? The Shiites had received the Israeli soldiers
>as liberators. When they realized that they had come to stay as
>occupiers, they started to kill them.
> "When the Israeli troops entered Lebanon the Shiites were a down-
>trodden, powerless community, held in contempt by all the others.
>After a year of fighting the occupiers, they became a political and
>military power. The Shiite Hizbullah is the only military force in the
>Arab world that has beaten the mighty Israeli army."
> End of passage. I wrote it in an article called "Bitter Rice", which
>appeared on March 22, 2003, on the eve of the invasion of Iraq, and
>which started with the words: "Beware of the Shiites. The troubles of
>the occupation will start after the fighting is overÖ"
> Barbara Tuchman died too soon. Otherwise she could add a
>chapter about this war to her book "The March of Folly".
> It should be remembered that Tuchman was very strict in the
>choice of her examples. It was not enough that a government acted
>foolishly. In order to gain a place in her book, two additional conditions
>had to be met: that the results of the folly could be foreseen, and that
>there was indeed someone who warned in advance of these results.
> (For example: the British king George III lost America because of a
>number of foolish acts. This could have been foreseen, and, indeed, the
>British politician and author Edmund Burke warned of them at the time.)
> What is happening now in Iraq was completely predictable. It is an
>exact repeat of all that happened to us in Lebanon. Otto von Bismarck
>once remarked: "A fool learns from his experience. A wise person
>learns from the experience of others." If so, how to define President
>George W. Bush, who is not even able to learn from his own
>experience?
> If I have already quoted myself, I may as well do it again. On
>February 8, 2003, in an article entitled "The Smell of War", I wrote:
>"This is not a war about terrorism. This is not a war about weapons of
>mass destruction. This is not a war about democracy in Iraq. This is a
>war about something elseÖThere is a strong smell of oil in the air."
> At the time, this sounded like defamation. Today it is already clear
>beyond doubt that the American invasion had nothing to do with either
>the "war on terrorism", nor with weapons of mass destruction, nor with
>the crimes of Saddam Hussein or with democracy. This has been
>proven and documented beyond all doubt, most recently by the
>testimony of Richard Clarke, who has been Bush's man in charge of
>the "war against terrorism". From the moment Bush entered the White
>House, he and his handlers pursued one aim in the Middle East: to
>occupy Iraq.
> The Bushes are oilmen. Among the big-money people who helped
>to put the two Bushes, Sr. and Jr., into the White House, oilmen
>played a leading role. They have decided that the American Empire
>needs to get its hands on the vast oil reserves of Iraq and to establish
>a permanent military base in the middle of the oil region, between the
>oil of the Caspian Sea and the oil of the Persian/Arabian Gulf.
> The neo-con fanatics, most of whom are right-wing Zionists, added
>to this another objective: to eliminate the Iraqi threat to Israel, before
>freeing Israel of the Syrian and Iranian threats. But this was a
>secondary aim. It would not have succeeded in dominating American
>policy without the decisive impact of Dick Cheney and the other Bush
>handlers, who wanted to establish direct American military control over
>most of the earth's oil.
> This aim has been achieved. Iraq was conquered. 135 thousand US
>soldiers uphold the occupation regime, with the addition of a few troops
>of the satellite countries, such as Poland, the Ukraine, the UK, El-
>Salvador and Italy. A small (and not very intelligent) official named "L.
>Paul Bremer 3rd", no less, has become Governor of the new colony,
>and he intends to "hand over sovereignty" to an Iraqi government he
>himself has appointed.
> That is to say, sovereignty over garbage collection and hospitals,
>but definitely not over the really important functions, which will be firmly
>in the hands of American "advisors". For this purpose, the biggest US
>Embassy in the world is being built in Baghdad: over 3000 officials,
>who will control every aspect of government in the country.
> That reminds one of the Vichy regime of Marshal Petain in France.
>The Iraqis themselves will be reminded of the British colonial power
>structure in their country, which operated through an Arab "king".
> As far as the Americans are concerned, this could last forever. Not
>for a year, not for two years, but for decades, like the Israeli occupation
>of the Palestinian areas. But, unlike the Israelis, they call this "nation
>building" and "establishing the first democracy in the Arab world".
>George Orwell would have enjoyed it.
> A minor factor was overlooked: the Iraqi people. But one really
>cannot think about everything, can one?
> When the armed resistance started, the Americans comforted
>themselves with talk about "remnants of the Saddam regime", or
>"terrorists", perhaps foreign agents of Osama Bin-Laden. More than
>any other colonial regime, the Americans find it difficult to accept the
>most simple fact in the world: that an occupied people will arise
>against its occupier. And really, what have the Iraqis to complain
>about, after the idealistic Americans, out of the kindness of their
>hearts, liberated them from the evil Saddam?
> Now the Americans are considering whether to bring in more
>troops. The politicians ask the generals: how many more soldiers do
>you need in order to control Iraq? And the generals ponder in all
>earnest: 10 thousand more? 20 thousand more? If there had been one
>serious person among them, he would have answered: "Even 500
>thousand will not be enough. When a whole people rises, foreign
>soldiers are helpless."
> The Americans were ready for the Sunnis to be dissatisfied. They
>had been ruling the Iraqi state since it was founded by the British after
>the first World War, and were going to lose their supremacy. But the
>Shiites? After all, in the "democracy" that the Americans were about to
>establish, the Shiites could expect a major share in power. But the
>Shiites do not want to receive "power" in a country that stays
>occupied.
> Even before the war, we warned (don't worry, I am not going to
>quote myself a third time!) that it was well-nigh impossible to maintain
>a state of three mutually hostile peoples: the Sunnis, the Shiites and
>the Kurds. That is still true today. But perhaps a miracle is happening
>now: Shiites and Sunnis are fighting together against the occupation.
>Who knows, the common struggle may just, and for the first time,
>forge a real Iraqi nation and prevent a bloody civil war along the road.
>Let us hope so.
> Now the Americans are caught in a trap of their own making. Even
>if they wanted to leave Iraq (which they certainly do not!), they would
>be unable to do so. As the Hebrew saying goes, they can neither
>swallow it nor spit it out.
> There is really nothing they can do. They will sink ever deeper into
>the quagmire, kill and be killed, destroy and be destroyed, with ever
>growing brutality, in a kind of a new desert Vietnam. In the hourly news
>on Al Jazeera, it is already difficult to distinguish between our soldiers
>in Ramallah and the American soldiers in Falluja. What is happening to
>us will happen to them, only on a larger scale.
> How will this similarity influence Bush and his people? They might
>say: One quagmire is enough. Let's get out of one of them. Let us
>compel Sharon to make, at long last, an agreement with the
>Palestinians, instead of babbling about "unilateral disengagement",
>which will probably never happen anyhow.
> But Bush and the Bushites could also say: If we are so much alike,
>let us embrace Sharon even more closely. Such a reaction would find
>its well-earned place in "March of Folly 2".
> That might be even a good thing, allowing these two gentlemen the
>pleasure of leaving the stage together.
>
>
>--
>Ongoing struggle
>
> #Against the Wall (contact addresses)
> #Refusniks (prisoner addresses & links to constantly updated sites)
> #Vanunu to be released April 21
> [ links to the latest re the Donate Now "Instead of Flowers"
> campaign / worldwide vigils etc.
>especially important for
> those who don't have the Paypal option ]
> New: Contact re activities in Israel <legalese at netvision.net.il >
>
>#Against the Wall
>•ÂÎÁ™ ÈÂÓÈÂÓÈ™ ·ÎÙ¯ÈÌ ÓýÈÓÈÌ Ú"È ”ÁÂÓ” Ï™ýÌ ÚÌ
>ýÈÈ·È 064-604172 isichel at netvision.net.il
>ý¯È— 050-607034 info at rhr.israel.net
>
>Day to day presence at villages threatened by route of wall.
>Contact: Ivy Sichel 064-604172 isichel at netvision.net.il who set's up a
>list for people who can come at short notice, or: Arik Asherman 050-
>607034 info at rhr.israel.net
>
>
>#Refusniks
>
>Constantly-updated list of all presently jailed refusniks:
>
>English - http://www.yesh-gvul.org/english/prison/
>Hebrew / Ú·¯È™ - http://www.yesh-gvul.org/prison/
>
>
>For the latest news about the five:
>
>http://www.refuz.org.il/News.html
>
> NB:
> Letters of support to
> Noam Bahat / Haggai Mattar / Matan Kaminer
> AGAF BET
> Maíasiyaho Prison
> P.O.B 13
> Ramla
> Israel
>
> Adam Maor / Shimri Tzameret:
> Hermon Prison
> P.O.B 4011
> KFAR MíRAR
> Israel
>
>#Vanunu to be released April 21
>
>Instead of sending flowers
>Wordlwide campaign WELCOME VANUNU by donating a few dollars
>(N.B.: online but ALSO otherwise) as a welcome gesture:
><http://www.vanunu.org/>
>
>List of international vigils on day of Vanunu release (April 21):
>http://www.nonviolence.org/vanunu/
>http://www.vanunu.freeserve.co.uk/
>
>Online petition for the unconditional release of Vanunu
>http://www.ipetitions.com/campaigns/freemordechaivanunu/
>
>For details about Free Vanunu vigils and activities in Israel,
>Call: 02-6254530 or 051-368236
>or email: legalese at netvision.net.il
>
>
>--
>http://www.gush-shalom.org/ (Ú·¯È™/Hebrew)
>http://www.gush-shalom.org/english/index.html (English)
>http://www.gush-shalom.org/arabic/index.html (selected articles in
>Arabic)
>
>with
>\\photos of recent actions
>\\the weekly Gush Shalom ad
>\\the columns of Uri Avnery
>\\Gush Shalom's history & action chronicle
>\\position papers & analysis (in "documents")
>\\and a lot more
>
>N.B.:
>On the Gush Shalom website links for
>Articles and documents in German, French and Spanish
>
>In order to receive Gush Shalom's Hebrew-language
>press releases mail to:
>gush-shalom-heb-request at mailman.gush-shalom.org
>+ NB: write the word "subscribe" in the subject line.
>
>If you want to support Gush Shalom's activities you can
>send a cheque or cash, wrapped well in an extra piece
>of paper to:
>
>Gush Shalom
>pob 3322
>Tel-Aviv 61033
>Israel
>
>or ask us for charities in your country which receive
>donations on behalf of Gush Shalom
>
>Please, add your email address where to send our
>confirmation of receipt. More official receipts at
>request only.
>
>_______________________________________________
>If you got this forwarded and you want to subscribe, send mail to
>
>gush-shalom-intl-request at mailman.gush-shalom.org
>
>and write "subscribe" in the subject line.
>
>--
>
>To unsubscribe, send mail to
>
>gush-shalom-intl-request at mailman.gush-shalom.org
>
>and write "unsubscribe" in the subject line.
>
>For assistance: info at gush-shalom.org
--
Al Kagan
African Studies Bibliographer and Professor of Library Administration
Africana Unit, Room 328
University of Illinois Library
1408 W. Gregory Drive
Urbana, IL 61801, USA
tel. 217-333-6519
fax. 217-333-2214
e-mail. akagan at uiuc.edu
More information about the Peace-discuss
mailing list