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The 9-11 bombings Are Not Acts of War

The 9-11 bombings Are Crimes Against Humanity


the focus is:
U.S. is the Threat to Peace
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"Politically, this country's leaders could not even conceivably propose turning America into a nation permanently at war, let alone one capable of such monstrosity. Unless, under the leadership of both major parties, we had not spent decades being inured to American militarism, and, in the last few years, to bombings, invasions, and civilian deaths in faraway lands. Granted, most of the least desirable aspects of American militarism have been carefully excised from U.S. media, but even so, what we do get to see and hear should horrify anybody. It doesn't, and so, an apocalyptic vision like Shock and Awe becomes just another abstract headline, part of the arcana of military planning, completely divorced from the daily reality of our extremely comfortable lives. No wonder news editors don't think we'd care.
        "But, of course, as February 15 literally demonstrated, many of us do care. And hopefully, many of us will keep caring long after Bush either backs down or incinerates the cradle of civilization. (Ashes to ashes, indeed . . .) The problem, ultimately, isn't Saddam Hussein, or Iraq, or even George Bush. The problem is militarism, and a purported democracy in which its leaders think themselves above accountability for their actions. Or crimes.




"Before we rush to war with Iraq again, Americans must know what happened in the last war. In 1991, we bombed Iraq's civilian infrastructure to "accelerate the effect of sanctions" knowing it would shut down their water and sewage systems.[1] The UN reported there would soon be "epidemic and famine" and "time was short" to prevent it. We said that "by making life uncomfortable for the Iraqi people we would encourage them to remove President Saddam Hussein."[2] And we waited for this to happen.
        "We used epidemic and famine as tools of our foreign policy. We did it to cause suffering -- and death -- to get regime change at low cost. We tried to force the Iraqis to do it. But it was not low cost. We learned from the New England Journal of Medicine in 1992 what happened: "These results provide strong evidence that the Gulf war and trade sanctions caused a threefold increase in mortality among Iraqi children under five years of age. We estimate that an excess of more that 46,900 children died between January and August 1991."[3]
        "That report was virtually ignored in this country, so that by 1999 UNICEF had to report on 500,000 excess Iraqi children's deaths.[4]
        "A World-Trade-Center's worth of Iraqi children continue to die every month. Diarrhea is "the prime killer."[5] Meanwhile we live in a fantasy world of surgical bombing, with few civilian casualties, and the untrue belief that the oil-for-food program could possibly meet Iraq's needs.[6]

--Citizens Concerned for the People of Iraq & Interfaith Network of Concern for the People of Iraq, Sanctions and War on Iraq: In 300 words, 17 August 2002




Crimes Against Humanity contents:
Subject Index
Quotations
Further Reading On the Web



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