[Peace-discuss] Five years of occupation

[C. G. Estabrook]

[I'm astonished (yeah, you'd think I'd learn) at the right-wing tone of the 
coverage of the beginning of the sixth year of the US attack on Iraq.  The NYT, 
e.g., assembles a group of experts to assess the matter, with no anti-war voice 
at all; almost worse was the wretched PBS evening news tonight, which devoted a 
long time to a focus group of shockingly uninformed "ordinary citizens" who 
produced ever more specious arguments for continuing the war.  Here, to cleanse 
this offal from the mental palate, is an accurate comment -- not, naturally, 
from the US media but from UK Channel 4. --CGE]


"I would like to remind myself and others in the United States and Britain that 
aggressors have no rights, they have only responsibilities.

"The first responsibility is to pay massive reparations for the crimes they have 
carried out. That extends in the case of Iraq to include support for Saddam 
through his worst atrocities after the war with Iran.

"After the savage first Gulf War when George Bush authorised the crushing of the 
rebellions that might have overthrown him, the murderous sanctions and of course 
the war and its aftermath.

"And their second responsibility is to hold the perpetrators accountable.

"And finally, and crucially, to attend to the voices of the victims, which are 
not a secret. The Pentagon has just released its latest study of opinions in 
Iraq. It was optimistic, it said. Iraqis have shared beliefs, so there's hope 
for reconciliation.

"The shared beliefs turn out to be that the United States and Britain are 
responsible for the sectarian warfare and all of its horrors and they should 
leave Iraq to Iraqis."

"And we should finally resolve to ensure that we are never again responsible for 
such terrible crimes."

--Noam Chomsky