[Peace-discuss] Where we've been and where we stand…

[Brussel Morton K.]

Stephen Lendman wrote this,  part of a comprehensive evaluation of  
the Bush years. The article is amazingly encyclopedic. It could use  
some editing and checking, but worth looking at. It is not a joy to  
ponder in this season of hoped for peace and joy.


…Afghanistan came first - a nation John Pilger calls more abused,  
long-suffering, and less helped than any other in living memory.  
Today, its agony continues. The country is occupied. Some estimates  
cite over three million deaths since 2001. War continues to rage.  
Little of it makes headlines, but Afghans are victimized by America's  
"war on terrorism."

So are Iraqis from nearly three decades of war. First against Iran in  
the 1980s. Then against America from August 2, 1990 to the present -  
the savage Gulf War causing about 200,000 deaths; 12.5 years of  
genocidal sanctions; an unimaginable toll of at least 1.5 million  
deaths; two-thirds of them children; and unmeasurable amounts of  
illnesses and human misery through March 2003. Then George Bush's  
Iraq War. At least another million deaths. Some estimates as high as  
two million. Around four million internally and externally displaced.  
Mass unemployment and poverty. A near-total absence of essential  
services - fresh drinking water, sanitation, electricity, medical  
care, education, security and for many enough food.

Emergency needs are unmet. It's an overall humanitarian disaster of  
epic proportions unreported in the mainstream. The "cradle of  
civilization" was erased for plunder. A nation was transformed into a  
"free trade" paradise. The message for others is it's coming - "shock  
and awe," invasion, occupation, lost sovereignty, mass deaths,  
illness and disease, incarcerations, torture, and utter deprivation.  
A testimony to "democracy," liberation, and "free market" majesty. A  
ghoulish dystopia; a living hell heading everywhere unless stopped.

It afflicted Haiti for over 500 years. Most recently beginning on  
February 29, 2004, in the middle of the night, from a Bush-ordered  
coup d'etat, when US Marines abducted President Jean-Bertrand  
Aristide and forcibly flew him to the Central African Republic. Today  
he's exiled in South Africa. He vows to return, and Haitians want him  
back in any capacity.

Haiti is now occupied. UN Blue Helmet paramilitaries control it. So  
do other repressive internal security forces. The people are deeply  
impoverished. They're the poorest in the Hemisphere. Unemployment is  
rampant. A tiny 5% of elites control everything - the economy, media,  
universities, professions, and what passes for Haiti's polity.  
Washington holds an iron grip. Six powerful families and US corporate  
interests profit. Another "free market" paradise. Human deprivation  
is unimaginable and now much worse with Haitians unable to afford  
high food prices. Most are undernourished. Many are starving and  
forced to eat "mud cookies" from edible clay. They lack nutrition,  
contain dangerous bacteria,  and are just stomach-filler.

They protest for relief. Washington-directed UN "Peacekeepers"  
respond violently. They patrol streets and neighborhoods, crush  
dissent, shoot to kill, arrest the innocent, incarcerate them under  
horrific conditions, and hold them indefinitely with little hope for  
judicial relief. Today's Haiti. More of Bush's legacy.

Venezuela might have been the same…

For the rest see:  http://www.zcommunications.org/znet/viewArticle/19981

--mkb
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