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Drop Food Not Bombs in Iraq!
By mickielynn on 2014-08-14 08:15:51
[caption id="attachment_6132" align="aligncenter" width="600"]
ISIS? Not that simple
ISIS? Not that simple! Photo
from Dr. Dahlia Wasfi's talk about US intervention in Iraq, July 24, 2014[/caption] Our President and our military are
currently painting the renewed bombing of parts of Mosul and northern Iraq as a humanitarian mission, but US intervention
in Iraq has now been going on for more than 5 decades. Much of this article opposing US military intervention in Iraq is
based on an outstanding talk given by Dr. Dahlia Wasfi (an Iraqi American physician who is currently at work on a book
about this topic) I'm illustrating this article with few of the 80 + slides used to illustrate her points (and many of mine). If
you want to watch a video of her well researched presentation here in Albany on July 24, 2014 or read her article that
covers more of the historic and current context there are links at the end of my article. Most wars have started out as claims
of helping oppressed minorities or women but they have escalated and led to great death and destruction. Very often our
strategic interests have been revealed in the course of where and how we actually intervene. In Iraq, since 1955, there is a
long history of US covert and overt intervention. Here is just the bare bones of the recent timeline:
Iran/ Iraq War Gulf War/ Sanctions Shock and Awe Occupation (“Counterinsurgency’’)
To discover whether or not current US policy of dropping of bombs and missiles helps the people of Iraq [whom we're
supposedly saving from the clutches of ISIS or IS], we'll look at how the most recent situation came about and how we can
help the Iraqi people without re-occupying Iraq. Dahlia's Zombie like image of ISIS might also stand in for the image of an
Should the US go
back into Iraq?
Iraq War that never dies! [caption id="attachment_6141"
No!!!
* The suffering in Iraq today is a direct result
of US-led destruction of Iraqi society and
US installation of a sectarian government
* Today, countless militias, death squads
operating in Iraq
— Shia death squads from US admin (cause)
— Sunni extremists (effect)
align="aligncenter" width="480" Countless
militias and death squads operating in Iraq as a result of the US interventions, Dr. Dahlia Wasfi[/caption] Much of the
situation in Iraq in 2014 stems from actions that the US took between 2003 and 2011. Particularly our installation of
beholden and sectarian leaders culminating in 2005 with Nouri al Maliki the current [although soon to be replaced] Prime
Minister. Let's review just the past couple of years during which his behavior catalyzed an uprising [caption
id="attachment_6135" align="aligncenter" width="600"]
December 2012
1 -the immediate release of detained protesters and dissident prisoners.
2-a stop to the death penalty,
3-the approval of an amnesty law for innocent detainees,
4-the abolition of antiterrorism laws (especially Clause 4 used to target them).
5 - the repeal of unfair rulings against dissidents
6 - fair opportunities for work based on professionalism.
7 -the end of the use of all military command based on geographic areas
8-the provision of essential services to all areas in lraq neglected by the state.
9-the holding of all members of governmental official, army or security units who have
committed crimes against dissidents accountable, especially those who have violated the
honour of women in prisons.
10-a UN sponsored population count.
11-an end to marginalization, and a stop to agitating divisions between ethnic and religious
groups, and a stop the house raids without legal warrant based on the information of secret
informers.
12- a stop to financial, administrative and legal corruption.
13-the combating of sectarianism in all its forms by returning Religious buildings and all
religious properties to their rightful owners
Demands of protesters in
December 2012, power point presentation by Dr.Dahlia Wasfi[/caption] [caption id="attachment_6137" align="aligncenter"
March 2013
“We demand an end to checkpoints surrounding
Fallujah. We demand they allow in the press [to cover
the situation]. We demand they end their unlawful
home raids and detentions. We demand an end to
federalism and gangsters and secret pnsons.”
Sheikh Khaled Hamoud Al-Jumaili, a leader of the
demonstrations
- ISIS/ ISIL present
* Dahr Jamail (http:/truth-out.org/news/item/24979-a-nation-on-
the-brink-how-us-policies-sealed-irags-fate) July 17, 2014
width="600"] March 2013,
Demands of protesters after violent government response to 12/12 protests, Dr. Dahlia Wasfi[/caption] [caption
id="attachment_6134" align="alignleft" width="540"]
April 2013
¢ Massacre in Hawija
¢ 4000 surrounded for 4 days
¢ Live ammunition, tanks, helicopters
— Atleast 50 demonstrators killed
— 150 injured
— > 400 arrested
Massacre in Hawija, April
2013[/caption] [caption id="attachment_6140" align="alignright" width="480"]
April 2013
¢ *Plans began for armed uprising*
¢ General Military Council for lragi
Revolutionaries (GMCIR) established
— Mainly former Iraqi Army officers
— Inside and outside Iraq
¢ Demonstrations continue
Plan for armed uprising in Iraq, April 2013,
Dr.Dahlia Wasfi[/caption] [caption id="attachment 6138" align="aligncenter" width="600"]
June 2014
¢ Multiple opposition groups involved
* Sociopolitical
— Association of Muslim Scholars
¢ Military
— GMCIR umbrella
— Sahwa (“Awakening”) militias
— Jaysh Rajaal al-Tariga al-Nagshabandia (JRTN)
— Military Council of lraqi Tribal Revolutionaries
* Multiple Sunni tribal militias
* Sahwa (“Awakening”) militias
— ISIS/ISIL
June 2014, Multiple
opposition groups involved, Dr. Dahlia Wasfi[/caption] [caption id="attachment_6136" align="aligncenter" width="480"]
NO US Interference in Iraq
* ISIS only one group
* Controlling neighborhoods and seeking
greater control
¢ Targeting minorities
—|ragi Christians
ISIS is only one group opposing the Iraqi
government. Powerpoint presentation by Dr.Dahlia Wasfi[/caption] Here are a couple of other articles about doing no further
harm in Iraq while still providing humanitarian aid. Iraq: Do No Harm: Responding to the Crisis in Iraq -- Without
Bombs Aug 13, 2014
We agree with President Obama that the U.S. and the international community must act to prevent the mass
killing of civilians. When we respond to the threat of violence with more violence, however, we strengthen
rather than undermine the extremist groups that are perpetuating the crisis. The United States and others in the
international community must support non-military, civilian-led approaches so that Iraqis can live in peace and
stability. [...]
If you follow this link you can read about Friends Committee on National Legislation’s recommendations for dealing with
the current crises in Iraq and Syria in the short term, medium term and long term. Concluding with some guiding principles
to reach a peaceful settlement while protecting minorities and civilians. This is a wise and creative article written by David
2. It's going to make things worse, again. This bombing will aggravate the Sunni-Shia divide, increase
support for ISIS, and create a lasting legacy of hostility and violence. President Obama says there is no military
solution, only reconciliation. But bombs don't reconcile. They harden hearts and breed murderers. Numerous
top U.S. officials admit that much of what the U.S. military does generates more enemies than it kills. When
you continue down a path that is counterproductive on its own terms, the honesty of those terms has to be
doubted. If this war is not for peace, is it perhaps -- like every other war we've seen the U.S. wage in the area --
for resources, profits, domination, and sadism? The leader of ISIS learned his hatred in a U.S. prison in Iraq.
U.S. media report that fact as if it is just part of the standard portrait of a new Enemy #1, but the irony is not
mere coincidence. Violence is created. It doesn't arise out of irrational and inscrutable foreignness. It is planted
by those great gardeners in the sky: planes, drones, and helicopters. A bombing campaign justified as protecting
people actually endangers them, and those around them, and many others, including those of us living in the
imperial Homeland.
An important reminder that special forces returning to Iraq and heavy bombing of what the US military considers territory
occupied by the "bad guys" is going to lead to the deaths of thousands or tens of thousands of innocent civilians - and more
destruction of the [still not rebuilt] infrastructure of Iraq. Dahlia Wasfi's slide illustrates the different neighborhoods of
Mosul. The black areas indicate ISIS control. It's impossible to flee Mosul. [caption id="attachment_6156"
align="aligncenter" width="600"]
These are neighborhoods... filled with neighbors. Families. People.
Close knit neighborhoods
within the city of Mosul, filled with innocent civilians and other living beings. Slide by Dr. Dahlia Wasfi, July
2014[/caption] If you want to watch and listen to Dr. Wasfi's talk you can follow these links to the first 2 of 3 videos. The
third is a Q&A video. [caption id="attachment_6139" align="aligncenter" width="540"]
NO US Interference in Iraq
No advisers
No military
No arms
No funding
No US Interference in Iraq, Dr.Dahlia
Wasfi[/caption] Dahlia Wasfi's most recent article, The Truth About Operation Iraqi Liberation (Take IJ) was published on
Tuesday, 8/12/14.
US airdrops of food and water are a generous effort to alleviate a
humanitarian crisis. US airstrikes are a criminal scheme to safeguard
Western control of Iraqi oil [...]
[caption id="attachment_6161" align="aligncenter" width="600"]
Yazidi refugees in Northern
iraq, Photo Credit: Thousands of Yezidis trapped in the Sinjar mountains as they tried to escape from Islamic State (IS)
forces (AA)[/caption]
