Beyond Orwell and Kafka

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Former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet died this week. He won’t be missed.

Now imagine Augusto Pinochet visiting the United States while he was carrying out torture and mass murdering in Chile. Imagine the “largest coalition of peace and justice organizations in the U.S.” welcoming the ruthless murderer, “it is our pleasure to welcome you in the United States”.

This is what indeed happened this past summer when United for Peace and Justice’s National Coordinator Leslie Cagan wrote an open letter to puppet Iraqi Prime Minister Al-Maliki. (full text of letter in annex)

Dear Prime Minister Al-Maliki,

On behalf of United for Peace and Justice, the largest coalition of peace and justice organizations in the U.S., which includes more than 1,400 national and local groups united in opposition to the U.S. war in Iraq, it is our pleasure to welcome you in the United States.

Of course it would be wrong and ungenerous the comparison; next to Al-Maliki and his sectarian death squads government, Pinochet would seem a boy scout.

Intellectuals and activists of the Imperial anti-war movement started immediately after the invasion to legitimize the “supreme international crime” by supporting the so-called “political process”, a Trojan horse studied to destroy Iraq and force its people into a civil war. Those notorious sectarian Iraqi elections, based on religion and ethnicity, far from being forced on the US by the non-violent resistance of some clerics, were part of the plan to install a quisling government, getting the approval of the vultures and hyenas of the international community and preparing the bases for the eventual partition of the country.

Finally democracy has landed on Iraq; too bad for those 655,000 deaths who didn’t wait to enjoy the apocalypse. The slaughtering is going on with hundreds of people killed every day, ethnic cleansing, tortures, collective punishment, millions of Iraqis displaced and a country waiting to be wiped off the map. God bless America.

The Imperial Democrats got back the Imperial Congress. On Wednesday, November 8th, 2006 Michael Moore published on his website LANDSLIDE! …a big thanks from Michael Moore

Friends,

You did it! We did it! The impossible has happened: A majority of Americans have soundly and forcefully removed Bush’s party from control of the House of Representatives and the Republicans have also, miraculously, been tossed out of running our United States Senate. This was done because the American people wanted to make two things crystal clear: End this war, and stop Mr. Bush from doing any more damage to this country we love. That is what this election was about. Nothing else. Just that. And it’s a message that has sent shock waves throughout Washington — and a note of hope around this troubled world. (…)

The Washington Post clearly illustrated the “note of hope” a few days later. Democratic Senator Harry M. Reid, who was just elected Senate majority leader, “said, one of the first acts of the new Democratic Congress will be a $75 billion boost to the military budget to try to get the Army’s diminished units back into combat shape.”

Michael Moore goes on:

“But let’s take a day to rejoice and revel in a rare victory for our side — the side that doesn’t believe in unprovoked invasions of other countries. This is your day, my friends. You have worked hard for it. I can’t tell you how proud I am to count all of you as part of the greater American mainstream we now occupy.”

The “side that doesn’t believe in unprovoked invasions of other countries” would be the Democratic Party? History, from Vietnam to Yugoslavia and Iraq, really didn’t teach anything to the United States of Amnesia. “A woman, for the first time in our history, will be Speaker of the House”, the hero of the Imperial anti-war movement continues. One wonders if that should be read as good news. The woman is Nancy Pelosi, a liberal Democrat from the liberal San Francisco. Back in 2005 Joshua Frank gave a fair portrait of the “Granite Lady”, as her website describes Pelosi

“There are those who contend that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is all about Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza,” Pelosi said as she rallied AIPAC loyalists. “This is absolute nonsense. In truth, the history of the conflict is not over occupation, and never has been: it is over the fundamental right of Israel to exist.” (…) “One thing, however is unchanged,” Pelosi added. “America’s commitment to the safety and security of the state of Israel is unwavering. America and Israel share an unbreakable bond: in peace and war; and in prosperity and in hardship.”

In spite of an Imperial anti-war movement in denial (at best, when not actively cooperating or even part of the Jewish Lobby) on the reasons that brought the American troops to invade and occupy Iraq, the winners of this shameful scandal have always been before our eyes, only could we look at the Middle East geopolitical panorama with an honest open mind. Remember what happened on 7 June 1981?

On November 20, 2006, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported:

On his way home from Los Angeles, the prime minister [Israeli PM Ehud Olmert] “calmed” the reporters – and perhaps even himself – by saying there is no danger of U.S. President George W. Bush accepting the expected recommendations of the Baker-Hamilton panel, and attempting to move Syria out of the axis of evil and into a coalition to extricate America from Iraq. The prime minister hopes the Jewish lobby can rally a Democratic majority in the new Congress to counter any diversion from the status quo on the Palestinians.

“No blood for oil” doesn’t tell the whole story; how much more blood for the old Zionist project of Greater Israel?

While its two neighbors have been invaded and occupied by the Empire, Iran’s regime is holding an international conference questioning the Holocaust of Jews during WWII.

Using an unspeakable tragedy like the genocide of Jews (when will we also remember the others? Roma People, homosexuals, etc?) by the Nazi and their collaborators for political ends is always abominable, both when it comes from Israel and the Jewish lobby around the world and when it comes – like in this case – from Iran, a country that claims to fight the Israeli influence in the Middle East.

The Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been using inflammatory language against Israel and the United States to win over the Arab public opinion and the international left. In reality, Iran – a non-Arab country – has been spreading its influence in the Middle East for years. But both the Arab public opinion and the international left should take a closer look at Iran’s regime, both at home and its role in the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq.

While its propaganda has given ammunitions to Israel and the United States, Iran has been having a central role in the apocalypse inflicted to Iraq, supporting the American installed sectarian, quisling Iraqi government and its militias responsible for mass murdering and ethnic cleansing. And don’t let fool yourself on the “support” of the Palestinian cause by the Iranian regime. The Iranian supported sectarian militias operating in Iraq have been persecuting and killing many members of the Palestinian community in Iraq since the occupation started in 2003.

As I wrote somewhere else, four hyenas, the United States, the United Kingdom, Israel and Iran have destroyed a country that could have been a power in the region and a model for the Arab world. The vultures of the international community have been cooperating and watching the bloodbath waiting to share the rich carcass. The control of the energy resources is just part of the whole picture; Iraq had to be destroyed to allow the so-called reshaping of the Middle East. The notorious “political process” has been a formidable Trojan horse that forced the Iraqi People into a civil war. Far from being a failure, the main mission of this bloody project has been accomplished. Iraq as we knew it has gone, probably forever.

The supreme international crime, the invasion and occupation of Iraq, a defenseless country that had never attacked the United States, that did not have any weapons of mass destruction, that did not have any ties to al-Qaida, that had no connection to the September 11 attacks, is the major scandal of our times, a scandal that would need an epic poet to be told. But since we live beyond Orwell and Kafka’s times, let’s read what Philip Martin, a 21-year-old US marine who spent 7 months in the al-Anbar province of Iraq has to tell us:

Saddam was convicted and sentenced to death for killing 143 Shiites who conspired to assassinate him. (I know all you “patriotic” Americans would be calling for the heads of anyone who conspired to assassinate supreme leader Bush). And yet we spend upwards of 1 trillion dollars and nearing 3,000 lives to help these Iraqis when they don’t even want us there. Not to mention we don’t have the legal justification to be there. I guess we should wait around for the omnipotent W Bush to decide who we should use our superpowerdom to help next. It’s about time to throw him and the rest of the fascists out. Moreover it’s about time to start educating Americans about their past and history, and letting them know that imperialistic leaders are not what the founders of this great country wanted

Annex: Letter of US based United for and Justice to the Puppet Prime Minister of Iraq 

OPEN LETTER TO PRIME MINISTER AL-MALIKI

Dear Prime Minister Al-Maliki,

On behalf of United for Peace and Justice, the largest coalition of peace and justice organizations in the U.S., which includes more than 1,400 national and local groups united in opposition to the U.S. war in Iraq, it is our pleasure to welcome you in the United States.

We are writing to request a meeting with you during your visit in New York City on Thursday, July 27, 2006, in order to brief you about the U.S. peace movement’s efforts to end the military occupation of Iraq and to discuss how to work together to bring about a troop withdrawal, promote reconciliation, and begin the process of reconstruction and development.

We have been heartened by the Iraqi reconciliation plan put forth by numerous Iraqi leaders to end both the occupation and sectarian tension within Iraq. We are dismayed, however, that due in part to U.S. pressure, the plan does not include a demand for a timetable for withdrawing the troops — a point that is essential for any true reconciliation plan.

A poll earlier this year showed that 87% of Iraqis support a timeline for the withdrawal of U.S. troops. A solid majority of people in the United States agree: a June poll by CNN showed that 53% supported a timetable for withdrawal, and other major polls have found similar results.

We oppose the interference of the Bush administration in your country’s domestic policies. We support your recent independent and courageous stand criticizing the aggressive Israeli attacks on Lebanon, and we hope you will continue to take independent stands that prioritize the desires of the Iraqi people over foreign interests.

There is a strong movement in the United States to end the continuing military occupation of your country, and we hope that you will have time to meet us during your visit to the United States. We would, of course, be prepared to meet at whatever time or location is best for you.

Sincerely,

Leslie Cagan
National Coordinator
United for Peace and Justice


Articles by: Gabriele Zamparini

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