To the Editor,
Recent letters have commented on the Walpole Peace and Justice Group – pro and con. Reciting again the litany of opposition to the war in Iraq, the suffering and deaths of thousands of innocent civilians, the human rights abuses, and the results that are the present reality in Iraq and the wider Middle East -- well, that is fine and good; however Mr. Lynch’s criticisms of the Group’s members and activities demand a response that is more basic.
The Walpole Peace and Justice Group is certainly an “anti-war group”, however it is not simply that. It promotes peace and justice. I believe it is aptly named, for peace will never exist without justice. In the interest of enlightenment, we have sponsored a speaker and film series, where the public is invited to attend and hear alternative views on current events, ask questions and discuss. We have recently had presentations on the states of affairs in Cambodia, Cuba, Venezuela, and Taiwan – as well as Iraq and Islam. If we wish to learn and consider the views of those who might know best, would we not listen to those with first-hand experience? There is plenty of “party-line” information in our news outlets and mass media. So, if we hear from “America haters”, is there a chance we may understand just why it is that so much of the world does indeed hate America? This is a fact, and it is not going away; and it is at the root of much that threatens the world today. And might not that understanding be helpful? Will our present policies be successful? Have we seen the result? What are the roots of the longstanding unrest in the Middle East, which has spread throughout the expanding Muslim world? It has been said that those that do not understand history are doomed to repeat it. Injustice breeds resentment and contempt, and we are certain to reap what we sow.
Ask yourself this: if the U.S. is munificent and just, and it was these motives that led to our toppling of the repressive regime of Saddam Hussein, as the writer implied, then why have we not been acting with all our force to check the ongoing genocide in Darfur? It continues to kill many, many more helpless people than Saddam Hussein could ever dream of. Could it have something to do with so-called geo-politics (insert your favorite resource here)? There may be a variety of other explanations. Let’s hear them – we are not afraid of ideas. This is what democracy is about.
Yes, the leveling of charges of war crimes is a serious thing. It is not inconceivable that war crimes may be committed in the name of our United States. It has happened before, at My Lai during the war in Vietnam. And -- make no mistake about it -- if the secret and illegal bombing of innocent civilians in Cambodia and Laos during that same war -- on orders directly from the White House -- was NOT a war crime, then surely there is no such thing. I refer to this to draw an obvious parallel to the political instability that resulted from that bombing and the genocide at the hands of the Khmer Rouge, a generation of civil wars and crushing poverty that Cambodia has suffered; and an understanding that our actions have consequences. At this time, a consequence of our actions in Iraq are thousands of dead each month: -- a handful of American servicemen, perhaps scores of insurgents, and the rest innocent people trying to live and make the best of difficult circumstances. And no progress in reducing terrorism. Should we look the other way?
Back to the matter at hand: democracy is a matter of tolerance, open-mindedness and debate. We are blessed to live in a country where our Constitution guarantees our rights to speak and hear, and make up our own minds (that includes the right of an elected local Representative to refer to us as “unpatriotic” -- at Town Meeting, of all places). We write letters to the local newspaper, and if any “waste of ink” is more problematic than a horrendous waste of human life, then I guess you can call our demonstrations and vigils “pathetic”, and I‘ll just have to agree with you – the attendance and participation IS pathetic. I hope that more people will choose to question the status quo, and make up their own minds. Democracy is best served by facts and reason. Increasingly, ours seems to be running on myth and passion. Students of history know the result of thoughtlessness in the name of patriotism, and there is no justice for anyone in that.
David Wildnauer
Monday, July 31, 2006
Monday, July 24, 2006
Response to Ted Lynch in Walpole Times
To the Editor,
This letter is in response to Ted Lynch’s July 13th letter. Mr. Lynch throws up the usual right wing smoke screen spin about Saddam being a bad man and the need to support our troops. To start off, I want to be clear about my point that before the war started the vast majority of Iraqi’s were living a relatively comfortable and secure lifestyle and that the war has turned the vast majority of Iraqi’s lives into a living hell every minute of every day for more than three years now and going on for who knows how many more! If anyone disagrees with this statement then you should have attended Dr. Khudairi’s talk and seen for yourself what his slides depicted.
The gassing of the Kurds was a horrific act. I’d like to ask Mr. Lynch if those that sanctioned this massacre should be held accountable as well as Saddam? Did you know that the Reagan administration provided satellite photos to Iraq which it knew was to be used in “calibrating” Iraqi chemical weapons attacks against Iran and that the U.S. provided dual use helicopters which were used to gas the Kurds? It is a well known fact that the U.S. knew that Saddam was using chemical weapons and continued to support him through the 80’s. You can find this info at www.wikipedia.org and type halabja_poison”. Do you know why the U.S.was at odds with Iran? Because the CIA toppled the democratically elected president of Iran in the early 50’s and installed the brutal Shah who oppressed his people but sold Iran’s oil to us at very good price. When Iranian fundamentalists overthrew the Shah, we lost that secure oil connection. To quote Robert Scheer in an article in The Nation, “Ironically, the U.S. supported Iraq when it possessed and used weapons of mass destruction and invaded it when it didn’t.”
Mr. Lynch’s comment about “The joyous pulling down of Saddam’s statues around Baghdad … was real and spontaneous.”, needs to be addressed. If you Google “saddam statue”, you will find ample evidence that the large statue that most Americans saw toppled was actually staged with no more than 150 to 200 people. What’s particularly interesting about this is the media’s roll in helping the government send misleading impressions back to the American people. This point only helps me to underscore my case for getting info from alternative sources.
Mr. Lynch states that I alleged our soldiers have committed war crimes. Even though there are now a number of instances that indicate a small number of our troops may have committed war crimes, I wasn’t blaming them in my first letter. The examples that I gave were focusing on those higher up the chain of command. This is a perfect example of how the right wing zealots try to distract Americans from the truth! In the case of Iraq, throw in the red herring that Saddam is a bad man and we need to support our troops and everything else becomes irrelevant – even war crimes by top U.S. officials.
In order to state my case as clearly as possible, I want to provide the following info on two of the war crimes I mentioned in my first letter. First, is the war of aggression against Iraq. I’d like to support my view by quoting Benjamin Ferenccz. Mr. Ferenccz should know a war criminal when he sees one. He is a former chief prosecutor of the Nuremberg Trials who successfully convicted 22 Nazi officers after WW II. He has stated that a “prima facie case can be made that the U.S. is guilty of the supreme crime against humanity, that being an illegal war of aggression against a sovereign nation.” This info is available at Truthout.org.
On the question of illegal weapons, I want to quote Prof. Doug Rokke on the use of depleted uranium. Prof. Rokke is the ex-director of the Pentagon’s depleted uranium project who was tasked by the U.S. department of defense with the post – first Gulf war depleted uranium clean up. Prof. Rokke has stated that “There is a moral point to be made here. This war was about Iraq possessing illegal weapons of mass destruction – yet we are using weapons of mass destruction ourselves. Such double standards are repellent.”
In closing, I just want to say to Mr. Lynch, that if you choose to continue this debate, that in addition to addressing the above specific statements that you justify your view of supporting our troops by staying the course as George Bush wants us to do, versus the fact that 72% of the troops in Iraq feel we should leave Iraq by the end of the year.
Paul Peckham
This letter is in response to Ted Lynch’s July 13th letter. Mr. Lynch throws up the usual right wing smoke screen spin about Saddam being a bad man and the need to support our troops. To start off, I want to be clear about my point that before the war started the vast majority of Iraqi’s were living a relatively comfortable and secure lifestyle and that the war has turned the vast majority of Iraqi’s lives into a living hell every minute of every day for more than three years now and going on for who knows how many more! If anyone disagrees with this statement then you should have attended Dr. Khudairi’s talk and seen for yourself what his slides depicted.
The gassing of the Kurds was a horrific act. I’d like to ask Mr. Lynch if those that sanctioned this massacre should be held accountable as well as Saddam? Did you know that the Reagan administration provided satellite photos to Iraq which it knew was to be used in “calibrating” Iraqi chemical weapons attacks against Iran and that the U.S. provided dual use helicopters which were used to gas the Kurds? It is a well known fact that the U.S. knew that Saddam was using chemical weapons and continued to support him through the 80’s. You can find this info at www.wikipedia.org and type halabja_poison”. Do you know why the U.S.was at odds with Iran? Because the CIA toppled the democratically elected president of Iran in the early 50’s and installed the brutal Shah who oppressed his people but sold Iran’s oil to us at very good price. When Iranian fundamentalists overthrew the Shah, we lost that secure oil connection. To quote Robert Scheer in an article in The Nation, “Ironically, the U.S. supported Iraq when it possessed and used weapons of mass destruction and invaded it when it didn’t.”
Mr. Lynch’s comment about “The joyous pulling down of Saddam’s statues around Baghdad … was real and spontaneous.”, needs to be addressed. If you Google “saddam statue”, you will find ample evidence that the large statue that most Americans saw toppled was actually staged with no more than 150 to 200 people. What’s particularly interesting about this is the media’s roll in helping the government send misleading impressions back to the American people. This point only helps me to underscore my case for getting info from alternative sources.
Mr. Lynch states that I alleged our soldiers have committed war crimes. Even though there are now a number of instances that indicate a small number of our troops may have committed war crimes, I wasn’t blaming them in my first letter. The examples that I gave were focusing on those higher up the chain of command. This is a perfect example of how the right wing zealots try to distract Americans from the truth! In the case of Iraq, throw in the red herring that Saddam is a bad man and we need to support our troops and everything else becomes irrelevant – even war crimes by top U.S. officials.
In order to state my case as clearly as possible, I want to provide the following info on two of the war crimes I mentioned in my first letter. First, is the war of aggression against Iraq. I’d like to support my view by quoting Benjamin Ferenccz. Mr. Ferenccz should know a war criminal when he sees one. He is a former chief prosecutor of the Nuremberg Trials who successfully convicted 22 Nazi officers after WW II. He has stated that a “prima facie case can be made that the U.S. is guilty of the supreme crime against humanity, that being an illegal war of aggression against a sovereign nation.” This info is available at Truthout.org.
On the question of illegal weapons, I want to quote Prof. Doug Rokke on the use of depleted uranium. Prof. Rokke is the ex-director of the Pentagon’s depleted uranium project who was tasked by the U.S. department of defense with the post – first Gulf war depleted uranium clean up. Prof. Rokke has stated that “There is a moral point to be made here. This war was about Iraq possessing illegal weapons of mass destruction – yet we are using weapons of mass destruction ourselves. Such double standards are repellent.”
In closing, I just want to say to Mr. Lynch, that if you choose to continue this debate, that in addition to addressing the above specific statements that you justify your view of supporting our troops by staying the course as George Bush wants us to do, versus the fact that 72% of the troops in Iraq feel we should leave Iraq by the end of the year.
Paul Peckham
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Phil Replies to Criticism
July 17, 2006
Dear editor of the Walpole Times,
Recent letter writers to the Walpole Times have sharply criticized the Walpole Peace and Justice Group for protesting the Iraq war and for holding vigils against war and torture. The appalling war policies of the Bush administration and its treatment of detainees compel the Group to protest and hold vigils.
The Bush administration started the war with Iraq under the blatantly false pretenses that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and that he was linked to al-Qaeda. Now as a tragic consequence, over 2,500 of our service men and women have been killed as well as 30,000 to 100,000 Iraqi civilians, and thousands more wounded. The war has resulted in the widespread destruction of the country’s infrastructure and has unleashed terrible sectarian violence. It has intensified anti-American feelings and has made Iraq into a breeding ground for terrorists. While Saddam Hussein was an evil ruler, this war was not the way to change Iraq. It has done more harm than good. Major religions leaders, including Pope Paul II, opposed it on the grounds that it did not meet the just war theory criteria.
The Bush administration continues to deny their accountability. They attribute not finding weapons of mass destruction to “intelligence failures”, while the reality is that they purposely manipulated the facts. Now they claim that the war was necessary to fight the “war on terror.” This claim is nonsense as Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11. Ironically it has now become a hot bed of terrorism.
In regard to torture, ALL TORTURE is morally wrong. The Bush administration continues to use legal technicalities and manipulations to justify policies that most of the world would consider torture. Documents released show that the abusive and degrading interrogation methods used at Abu Ghraib and other detention centers were wide spread. Although the Bush administration would like to blame the abuse problems on a few ‘bad apples,’ they are a result of high level policies from the top levels of government. Those policies include rendition, sending detainees to other countries where we know they will be tortured, and denying that detainees are covered by the Geneva Conventions.
Most of the world has condemned the Guantanamo Detention Center, where we have held detainees for years without charging them of crimes and giving them due process of law. Tragically three detainees have committed suicide out of desperation. The Supreme Court, in the recent Hamdan vs. Rumsfeld ruling, rebuked the Bush administration for its military tribunals and for violating international treaties like Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions that bans cruel and degrading treatment of prisoners. Late last year the U.S. Congress passed the McCain Amendment outlawing the torture of detainees. Appallingly, the Bush administration’s response was to issue a ‘signing statement’ which asserted Bush’s right, as President, to ignore the law if he deemed it necessary to fight the war on terrorism. This assertion undermines the power of the Congress and condones the use of torture which should always be unacceptable.
The purpose of the Walpole Peace and Justice Group’s peace vigils is to bring attention to the Bush Administration policies and their impact. Sadly, our press often abdicates its duty to examine and question these policies. The shameful actions of the Bush administration in regard to the treatment of detainees contradict our country’s most basic values and undermine our moral authority. The Walpole Peace and Justice Group supports our troops in Iraq and their families. The best way to help our troops is to get them out of Iraq as soon as reasonably practical.
Philip Czachorowski
Walpole, MA
Dear editor of the Walpole Times,
Recent letter writers to the Walpole Times have sharply criticized the Walpole Peace and Justice Group for protesting the Iraq war and for holding vigils against war and torture. The appalling war policies of the Bush administration and its treatment of detainees compel the Group to protest and hold vigils.
The Bush administration started the war with Iraq under the blatantly false pretenses that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and that he was linked to al-Qaeda. Now as a tragic consequence, over 2,500 of our service men and women have been killed as well as 30,000 to 100,000 Iraqi civilians, and thousands more wounded. The war has resulted in the widespread destruction of the country’s infrastructure and has unleashed terrible sectarian violence. It has intensified anti-American feelings and has made Iraq into a breeding ground for terrorists. While Saddam Hussein was an evil ruler, this war was not the way to change Iraq. It has done more harm than good. Major religions leaders, including Pope Paul II, opposed it on the grounds that it did not meet the just war theory criteria.
The Bush administration continues to deny their accountability. They attribute not finding weapons of mass destruction to “intelligence failures”, while the reality is that they purposely manipulated the facts. Now they claim that the war was necessary to fight the “war on terror.” This claim is nonsense as Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11. Ironically it has now become a hot bed of terrorism.
In regard to torture, ALL TORTURE is morally wrong. The Bush administration continues to use legal technicalities and manipulations to justify policies that most of the world would consider torture. Documents released show that the abusive and degrading interrogation methods used at Abu Ghraib and other detention centers were wide spread. Although the Bush administration would like to blame the abuse problems on a few ‘bad apples,’ they are a result of high level policies from the top levels of government. Those policies include rendition, sending detainees to other countries where we know they will be tortured, and denying that detainees are covered by the Geneva Conventions.
Most of the world has condemned the Guantanamo Detention Center, where we have held detainees for years without charging them of crimes and giving them due process of law. Tragically three detainees have committed suicide out of desperation. The Supreme Court, in the recent Hamdan vs. Rumsfeld ruling, rebuked the Bush administration for its military tribunals and for violating international treaties like Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions that bans cruel and degrading treatment of prisoners. Late last year the U.S. Congress passed the McCain Amendment outlawing the torture of detainees. Appallingly, the Bush administration’s response was to issue a ‘signing statement’ which asserted Bush’s right, as President, to ignore the law if he deemed it necessary to fight the war on terrorism. This assertion undermines the power of the Congress and condones the use of torture which should always be unacceptable.
The purpose of the Walpole Peace and Justice Group’s peace vigils is to bring attention to the Bush Administration policies and their impact. Sadly, our press often abdicates its duty to examine and question these policies. The shameful actions of the Bush administration in regard to the treatment of detainees contradict our country’s most basic values and undermine our moral authority. The Walpole Peace and Justice Group supports our troops in Iraq and their families. The best way to help our troops is to get them out of Iraq as soon as reasonably practical.
Philip Czachorowski
Walpole, MA
Monday, June 26, 2006
Paul Responds to Times Letter
To the Editor,
Once again I find myself responding to someone’s attack on my letter to the Times. In this case, it was about my letter from June 15 titled “Where’s the Outrage Over Iraq?” The first comment I want to make is that not one of my examples of U.S. war crimes was challenged. My main reason for writing these letters is to inform as many people as possible about important issues that they might not be aware of. I don’t claim to be an expert, but I do try to find out the truth about these issues and then write about them. I view this space in our local paper as a means to share ideas and where necessary have an open debate that will help flesh out what the truth is.
The issue of U.S. war crimes in Iraq is an extremely important one. Most Americans aren’t aware of the fact that prior to the war on Iraq most Iraqi’s were living a relatively comfortable lifestyle. Men and women would go to work, children would go to school and probably play soccer after school and then they would have supper together and pray together and then sleep peacefully at night. Today it is just absolute chaos. There is virtually no electricity, no clean water and no security. Every Iraqi now fears for their life and those that they love. The civilian death toll is said to be over 50,000. The wounded probably over 100,000. (And they don’t have access to adequate medical care.) Hundreds of thousands are now probably homeless due U.S. bombs and missiles.
All of this overwhelming suffering is due to a war of aggression. Iraq didn’t pose any threat to the U.S. The Bush administration manipulated the intelligence on WMD and connections to 911 and al-Qaeda. The main reason we invaded Iraq was to gain control over Iraq’s vast oil reserves. To support this view, I merely have to point to the fact that about the only part of Iraq that was given any security was the oil industry.
There are a number of other serious consequences that the war on Iraq is responsible for. The most important to most Americans should be the impact on our troops. So far 2,520 U.S. troops have been killed. The total wounded is said to be between 20,000 and 48,000. The disruption of tens of thousands of families’ lives is a true hardship. Then there is the damage to our image around the world as countries view us as an aggressive, violent nation. The on going genocide in Darfur is another consequence. Over 400,000 people have been killed over the past few years in Darfur. This is happening in Sudan, where more innocent people are being killed and tortured each week than Saddam was probably responsible for over a number of years time. I wish our marines were standing between these helpless people and the brutal thugs who are terrorizing them. But, there is no oil for us there and we are already stretched too thin in Iraq.
As far as the comment that I denigrated our leaders, I will stand guilty as charged. We have a President and a Vice President who when they were younger both supported the Vietnam war and they both not only lacked the courage to go fight in it, they pulled every string possible to keep from going! These men have sent our troops into an unnecessary war without proper body armor and humvee plating, which has caused many deaths and serious injuries. Both of them have sanctioned the use of torture. They also didn’t have a realistic plan to keep the peace after the war or a realistic exit strategy. To paraphrase Martin Luther King, Jr., we have a foreign policy that is based on guided missiles that is directed by misguided men. Our troops and the Iraqi people are paying dearly for their blunders.
The best way to end this tragedy is to do what 72% of our troops in Iraq have stated in a February 2006 Zogby poll. That is to withdraw from Iraq by the end of this year. The people of Walpole can best support our troops by signing the Declaration of Peace at www.declarationofpeace.org
Peckham, June 26,2006
Once again I find myself responding to someone’s attack on my letter to the Times. In this case, it was about my letter from June 15 titled “Where’s the Outrage Over Iraq?” The first comment I want to make is that not one of my examples of U.S. war crimes was challenged. My main reason for writing these letters is to inform as many people as possible about important issues that they might not be aware of. I don’t claim to be an expert, but I do try to find out the truth about these issues and then write about them. I view this space in our local paper as a means to share ideas and where necessary have an open debate that will help flesh out what the truth is.
The issue of U.S. war crimes in Iraq is an extremely important one. Most Americans aren’t aware of the fact that prior to the war on Iraq most Iraqi’s were living a relatively comfortable lifestyle. Men and women would go to work, children would go to school and probably play soccer after school and then they would have supper together and pray together and then sleep peacefully at night. Today it is just absolute chaos. There is virtually no electricity, no clean water and no security. Every Iraqi now fears for their life and those that they love. The civilian death toll is said to be over 50,000. The wounded probably over 100,000. (And they don’t have access to adequate medical care.) Hundreds of thousands are now probably homeless due U.S. bombs and missiles.
All of this overwhelming suffering is due to a war of aggression. Iraq didn’t pose any threat to the U.S. The Bush administration manipulated the intelligence on WMD and connections to 911 and al-Qaeda. The main reason we invaded Iraq was to gain control over Iraq’s vast oil reserves. To support this view, I merely have to point to the fact that about the only part of Iraq that was given any security was the oil industry.
There are a number of other serious consequences that the war on Iraq is responsible for. The most important to most Americans should be the impact on our troops. So far 2,520 U.S. troops have been killed. The total wounded is said to be between 20,000 and 48,000. The disruption of tens of thousands of families’ lives is a true hardship. Then there is the damage to our image around the world as countries view us as an aggressive, violent nation. The on going genocide in Darfur is another consequence. Over 400,000 people have been killed over the past few years in Darfur. This is happening in Sudan, where more innocent people are being killed and tortured each week than Saddam was probably responsible for over a number of years time. I wish our marines were standing between these helpless people and the brutal thugs who are terrorizing them. But, there is no oil for us there and we are already stretched too thin in Iraq.
As far as the comment that I denigrated our leaders, I will stand guilty as charged. We have a President and a Vice President who when they were younger both supported the Vietnam war and they both not only lacked the courage to go fight in it, they pulled every string possible to keep from going! These men have sent our troops into an unnecessary war without proper body armor and humvee plating, which has caused many deaths and serious injuries. Both of them have sanctioned the use of torture. They also didn’t have a realistic plan to keep the peace after the war or a realistic exit strategy. To paraphrase Martin Luther King, Jr., we have a foreign policy that is based on guided missiles that is directed by misguided men. Our troops and the Iraqi people are paying dearly for their blunders.
The best way to end this tragedy is to do what 72% of our troops in Iraq have stated in a February 2006 Zogby poll. That is to withdraw from Iraq by the end of this year. The people of Walpole can best support our troops by signing the Declaration of Peace at www.declarationofpeace.org
Peckham, June 26,2006
Vigil for Victims of Torture
The Walpole Peace and Justice Group invites townspeople to join us for a vigil commemorating the 7th annual United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. The vigil will be held on Monday, June 26, from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. on the Walpole Common, at the corner of West and Main streets.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has appealed to "all governments and members of civil society to take action to defeat torture and torturers everywhere," calling June 26 a "day on which we pay our respects to those who have endured the unimaginable… an occasion for the world to speak up against the unspeakable."
The importance of this action is clear. Despite long-standing international conventions against torture, and national laws against this crime against humanity within the U.S. and elsewhere, the United States and over 150 other governments continue to perpetrate acts of torture.
Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition International (TASSC) and torture survivors from every continent around the world will be gathering in Washington DC on June 26 for a 24-hour vigil.
We will join this vigil for one hour, here in Walpole, voicing grave concern about the ongoing U.S. abuse of prisoners detained in the "War on Terror" and affirming a position on the abuse of any detainee: "Zero tolerance for torture!"
If you cannot join us for the 5:30-6:30 vigil on Walpole Common, we hope you will light a candle in memory of those who have been tortured.
Lois Czachorowski
Walpole
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has appealed to "all governments and members of civil society to take action to defeat torture and torturers everywhere," calling June 26 a "day on which we pay our respects to those who have endured the unimaginable… an occasion for the world to speak up against the unspeakable."
The importance of this action is clear. Despite long-standing international conventions against torture, and national laws against this crime against humanity within the U.S. and elsewhere, the United States and over 150 other governments continue to perpetrate acts of torture.
Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition International (TASSC) and torture survivors from every continent around the world will be gathering in Washington DC on June 26 for a 24-hour vigil.
We will join this vigil for one hour, here in Walpole, voicing grave concern about the ongoing U.S. abuse of prisoners detained in the "War on Terror" and affirming a position on the abuse of any detainee: "Zero tolerance for torture!"
If you cannot join us for the 5:30-6:30 vigil on Walpole Common, we hope you will light a candle in memory of those who have been tortured.
Lois Czachorowski
Walpole
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
After Last Tuesday
To the editor,
After last Tuesday’s talk at the Walpole Library by Dr. Nabeel Khudairi, my first response to the audience was to ask “Where’s the outrage!?” Dr. Khudairi gave a very informative talk on Iraq that showed it to be a major center of education and culture in the Middle East. Even during Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship, the majority of the people in Iraq were living a relatively comfortable lifestyle in it’s very modern cities.
As the talk started to focus on the impact of the first Gulf War, the 12 years of UN sanctions and the current war, the effect on everyone was truly gut wrenching. We saw images of young children with arms burnt down to the elbow, without legs, severe body burns, infants born with the most grotesque birth defects imaginable. We saw peoples’ homes destroyed by bombs as well as whole blocks of homes just leveled to rubble from U.S. attacks. Dr. Khudairi described how the U.S. basically destroyed Iraq’s entire infrastructure – water treatment plants, bridges, roads, etc., and how this caused 10’s of thousands of civilian deaths, mostly young children and the elderly.
What has been happening in Iraq can only be described as a horrific nightmare that has as it’s source a long list of war crimes that the U.S. is responsible for. The list starts with a war of aggression that the Bush administration started against Iraq by lying to the American public about WMD and al Qaida connections. The Nuremberg Tribunal called the waging of aggressive war “essentially an evil thing… to initiate a war of aggression…is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole.”
Then there is the use of such illegal weapons as cluster bombs, white phosphorus, depleted uranium, etc. (One of the effects of depleted uranium is the aforementioned birth defects.)
Then there is the collective punishment against the civilian population as is evidenced in cities such as Baghdad and Fallujah. The “Shock and Awe” bombing of Baghdad was probably the cause of many of the destroyed homes that we saw pictures of. Eight weeks of bombing Fallujah caused the destruction of 36,000 homes, 60 schools, 65 mosques and untold civilian casualties.
Then there is the widespread use of torture that is in direct violation of of the Geneva Accords. The list goes on and on, but for the sake of brevity I want to make my point that we as U.S. citizens need to take action and vigorously oppose what the Bush administration is doing in Iraq. We need to demand that the U.S. set a goal of getting out of Iraq as soon as possible – hopefully by the end of the year. We also need to demand that those who are responsible for these war crimes are prosecuted to the full extent of the law. And I’m not talking about just a few bad apples at the lower levels of service, but as far up the chain of command as needed.
One of the most outrageous aspects of this war is the silence of the American people. Silence in such important matters as this can only be described as complicity. I feel that the mainstream, corporate media is mainly responsible for this. They didn’t challenge the manipulated intelligence that the Bush administration gave them and they haven’t shown the carnage taking place in Iraq that we saw on Tuesday night. I firmly believe that most Americans will want to take a stand against such injustices if they really know the truth.
So what can people in Walpole do about this? You can start by getting informed. Get your information from alternative news sources, such as The Nation Magazine, Z Magazine, truthout.org, alternet.org, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International (or Amnesty International USA), etc. Make donations to organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. Sign the Declaration of Peace. Take part in our (Walpole Peace and Justice Group) meetings and demonstrations. (It would be great if we had 100’s of people at our demonstrations on the common.) You can contact us at walpole_peace@verizon.net
Paul Peckham 6/12/06
After last Tuesday’s talk at the Walpole Library by Dr. Nabeel Khudairi, my first response to the audience was to ask “Where’s the outrage!?” Dr. Khudairi gave a very informative talk on Iraq that showed it to be a major center of education and culture in the Middle East. Even during Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship, the majority of the people in Iraq were living a relatively comfortable lifestyle in it’s very modern cities.
As the talk started to focus on the impact of the first Gulf War, the 12 years of UN sanctions and the current war, the effect on everyone was truly gut wrenching. We saw images of young children with arms burnt down to the elbow, without legs, severe body burns, infants born with the most grotesque birth defects imaginable. We saw peoples’ homes destroyed by bombs as well as whole blocks of homes just leveled to rubble from U.S. attacks. Dr. Khudairi described how the U.S. basically destroyed Iraq’s entire infrastructure – water treatment plants, bridges, roads, etc., and how this caused 10’s of thousands of civilian deaths, mostly young children and the elderly.
What has been happening in Iraq can only be described as a horrific nightmare that has as it’s source a long list of war crimes that the U.S. is responsible for. The list starts with a war of aggression that the Bush administration started against Iraq by lying to the American public about WMD and al Qaida connections. The Nuremberg Tribunal called the waging of aggressive war “essentially an evil thing… to initiate a war of aggression…is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole.”
Then there is the use of such illegal weapons as cluster bombs, white phosphorus, depleted uranium, etc. (One of the effects of depleted uranium is the aforementioned birth defects.)
Then there is the collective punishment against the civilian population as is evidenced in cities such as Baghdad and Fallujah. The “Shock and Awe” bombing of Baghdad was probably the cause of many of the destroyed homes that we saw pictures of. Eight weeks of bombing Fallujah caused the destruction of 36,000 homes, 60 schools, 65 mosques and untold civilian casualties.
Then there is the widespread use of torture that is in direct violation of of the Geneva Accords. The list goes on and on, but for the sake of brevity I want to make my point that we as U.S. citizens need to take action and vigorously oppose what the Bush administration is doing in Iraq. We need to demand that the U.S. set a goal of getting out of Iraq as soon as possible – hopefully by the end of the year. We also need to demand that those who are responsible for these war crimes are prosecuted to the full extent of the law. And I’m not talking about just a few bad apples at the lower levels of service, but as far up the chain of command as needed.
One of the most outrageous aspects of this war is the silence of the American people. Silence in such important matters as this can only be described as complicity. I feel that the mainstream, corporate media is mainly responsible for this. They didn’t challenge the manipulated intelligence that the Bush administration gave them and they haven’t shown the carnage taking place in Iraq that we saw on Tuesday night. I firmly believe that most Americans will want to take a stand against such injustices if they really know the truth.
So what can people in Walpole do about this? You can start by getting informed. Get your information from alternative news sources, such as The Nation Magazine, Z Magazine, truthout.org, alternet.org, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International (or Amnesty International USA), etc. Make donations to organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. Sign the Declaration of Peace. Take part in our (Walpole Peace and Justice Group) meetings and demonstrations. (It would be great if we had 100’s of people at our demonstrations on the common.) You can contact us at walpole_peace@verizon.net
Paul Peckham 6/12/06
Pauls Letter to Walpole Times
To the Editor,
I just want to say a few words about the Walpole Peace and Justice Group’s Speakers Series. We have had I wide range of speakers so far covering such topics as Cuba, Afghanistan, Cambodia, Taiwan, Venezuela, and Islam. (We might have Mr. Hafiz Muhammad Masool back because we ran out of time before he could answer everyone’s questions. For those of you who couldn’t hear Mr. Masool speak and would like to know more about Islam, he was kind enough to donate the brief and very informative film, Islam: A Closer Look, to the library.)
I am particularly looking forward to our next talk on Iraq by Dr. Nabeel Khudairi. Iraq has become the single, most important issue for most Americans today. What is happening in Iraq will have an impact on all our lives for years to come. I don’t know if Dr. Khudairi supports the war in Iraq or if he is against it. When I talked to him, I merely asked if he would talk about Iraq and he said he would like to.
Dr. Khudairi was born in Baghdad in 1961 and his family moved to Boston in 1966 in order to avoid political harassment by the Ba’ath Party. His family returned to Iraq for a few years in the mid 1970’s but left again when Saddam Hussein seized the presidency. He still has close ties to Iraq since many of his friends and relatives still live there. Dr. Khudairi is an optometrist with private practices in Norwood and Wellesley. He is president of the Norwood Lions Club as well as the Islamic Council of New England. I hope we get our largest turnout yet for what should be a very informative and important talk for everyone.
Paul Peckham
I just want to say a few words about the Walpole Peace and Justice Group’s Speakers Series. We have had I wide range of speakers so far covering such topics as Cuba, Afghanistan, Cambodia, Taiwan, Venezuela, and Islam. (We might have Mr. Hafiz Muhammad Masool back because we ran out of time before he could answer everyone’s questions. For those of you who couldn’t hear Mr. Masool speak and would like to know more about Islam, he was kind enough to donate the brief and very informative film, Islam: A Closer Look, to the library.)
I am particularly looking forward to our next talk on Iraq by Dr. Nabeel Khudairi. Iraq has become the single, most important issue for most Americans today. What is happening in Iraq will have an impact on all our lives for years to come. I don’t know if Dr. Khudairi supports the war in Iraq or if he is against it. When I talked to him, I merely asked if he would talk about Iraq and he said he would like to.
Dr. Khudairi was born in Baghdad in 1961 and his family moved to Boston in 1966 in order to avoid political harassment by the Ba’ath Party. His family returned to Iraq for a few years in the mid 1970’s but left again when Saddam Hussein seized the presidency. He still has close ties to Iraq since many of his friends and relatives still live there. Dr. Khudairi is an optometrist with private practices in Norwood and Wellesley. He is president of the Norwood Lions Club as well as the Islamic Council of New England. I hope we get our largest turnout yet for what should be a very informative and important talk for everyone.
Paul Peckham
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)