[Peace-discuss] The Gates of Hell Are Open in Iraq

[Marianne Brun]

The Guardian (UK)
April 1, 2005

The Gates of Hell Are Open in Iraq

The occupation and new US threats could spark
neighboring uprisings

By Jawad al-Khalisi


...The occupying powers are now following a policy
of divide and rule, encouraging sectarian and ethnic
divisions and imposing them on all the institutions
they have created.

Incidents such as the recent kidnapping of an Italian
journalist, released only to be received by a hail of
bullets from the US liberators, have fueled widespread
suspicions in Iraq as to who is in fact responsible for
many of the terrorist acts - kidnappings,
assassinations, and indiscriminate bombing and killing
-that are engulfing the whole of Iraq. These have
coincided with a cover-up of significant military
operations being conducted against the occupation
forces across the country.

Not one of the terrorist crimes has been solved and not
a single perpetrator put on trial. After each major
terrorist crime, the arrest of perpetrators is
proclaimed, using names and personalities spread by the
US-controlled media. This media effort - which also
seeks to bury the news of the destruction of entire
towns, brutal night raids, kidnappings, curfews, and
the detention and torture of thousands of prisoners -
is overseen by the information department of the US
forces, who earned the US defense secretary's special
thanks during his visit to Iraq.

These crimes are a taste of the hell created by the US
project in the Middle East. And now this hell is
beginning to be visited on Lebanon, opening the
prospect of endless wars of unimaginable consequences.

Syria is now withdrawing its forces from Lebanon and
laying the responsibility of what happens next squarely
on the other side. But what will happen next? Will the
Lebanese resistance (led by Hizbullah) be disarmed? And
if it refuses to surrender its weapons, how will it be
disarmed? Will it be by landing new occupation forces
in the country?

This was tried in the early 80s and led to the defeat
of the US and the Israeli occupation of Lebanon. This
could occur again, but on a wider scale across the
whole region, which can no longer tolerate this endless
US pressure, regarded by the peoples of the area as the
implementation of Israeli demands.

Efforts must be directed at resolving the problems of
the Palestinian people, who Israel refuses to allow to
return to their lands, despite UN resolutions and all
precepts of right and justice. The Palestinian problem
cannot be resolved with exhibitionist gatherings such
as Tony Blair's recent London conference. The big
powers - particularly Britain, which helped create the
problem in the first place - have a moral
responsibility to resolve it.

In the same way, the Iraq crisis cannot be resolved by
patching up a detested occupation with fraudulent
elections and sectarian and ethnic caucuses supported
by the occupiers. The only solution is the immediate
withdrawal of occupation forces - or as a minimum, a
strict internationally guaranteed timetable for
withdrawal. Talk about freedom and democracy is seen as
an endlessly repeated sham by our peoples because these
words are being uttered by the very powers that have
stood behind the corrupt dictatorial regimes. The US
today is still the ally and backer of many such
tyrannical regimes in our region and elsewhere.

We do not believe that the aggressive US stance towards
Syria and Iran is intended to uphold freedom and
democracy either, but to get rid of states that are
refusing to go along with US and Israeli plans for the
region. Today, Syria is being held to account in
Lebanon because it is refusing to back the occupation
of Iraq, and Iran is facing threats over its nuclear
program because the US is worried about its role in
relation to Iraq and its rejection of the status quo in
Palestine.

Public opinion in the occupying countries, such as the
US and Britain, needs to understand that the
continuation of this unjust and dangerous situation
will create the conditions for a new and more general
uprising which threatens truly to open the gates of
hell in the region and beyond.
____

Ayatollah Jawad al-Khalisi is secretary general of the
Iraqi National Foundation Congress, an alliance of
secular and religious organizations covering all
religious and ethnic groups in Iraq.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1449864,00.html

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