MAYDAY:Neo-Cons.
socialist
A policy document entitled 'A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing
the Realm'(1996) prepared by US policy-makers - many now in Bush's
administration - shows that the war against Iraq is driven by Israeli
interests.
Robert Fisk: The case against war: A conflict
driven by the self- interest of America
http://argument.independent.co.uk/commentators/story.jsp?story=378428
The men driving Bush to war are mostly former or still active pro-Israeli
lobbyists. For years, they have advocated destroying the most powerful
Arab nation. Richard Perle, one of Bush's most influential advisers,
Douglas Feith, Paul Wolfowitz, John Bolton and Donald Rumsfeld were
all campaigning for the overthrow of Iraq long before George W Bush was
elected if he was elected US President. And they weren't doing so for
the benefit of Americans or Britons. A 1996 report, A Clean Break: A New
Strategy for Securing the Realm (http:// www.israeleconomy.org/strat1.htm)
called for war on Iraq. It was written not for the US but for the incoming
Israeli Likud prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu and produced by a group
headed by? yes, Richard Perle. The destruction of Iraq will, of course,
protect Israel's monopoly of nuclear weapons and allow it to defeat the
Palestinians and impose whatever colonial settlement Sharon has in store.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/elsewhere/journalist/story/0,7792,785394,00.html
At first glance, there's not much to distinguish the 1996 "Clean Break"
paper from the outpourings of other right-wing and ultra-Zionist
thinktanks ... except for the names of its authors.
The leader of the "prominent opinion makers" who wrote it was Richard
Perle - now chairman of the Defence Policy Board at the Pentagon.
Also among the eight-person team was Douglas Feith, a neo-conservative
lawyer, who now holds one of the top four posts at the Pentagon as
under-secretary of policy.
Mr Feith has objected to most of the peace deals made by Israel over the
years, and views the Middle East in the same good-versus-evil terms that
he previously viewed the cold war. He regarded the Oslo peace process as
nothing more than a unilateral withdrawal which "raises life-and-death
issues for the Jewish state".
Two other opinion-makers in the team were David Wurmser and his wife,
Meyrav (see US thinktanks give lessons in foreign policy, August 19).
Mrs Wurmser was co-founder of Memri, a Washington-based charity that
distributes articles translated from Arabic newspapers portraying Arabs
in a bad light. After working with Mr Perle at the American Enterprise
Institute, David Wurmser is now at the State Department, as a special
assistant to John Bolton, the under-secretary for arms control and
international security.
A fifth member of the team was James Colbert, of the Washington-based
Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (Jinsa) - a bastion of
neo-conservative hawkery whose advisory board was previously graced by
Dick Cheney (now US vice-president), John Bolton and Douglas Feith.
The humanitarian consequences of war in a country already devestated by
12 years of sanctions.
http://www.casi.org.uk/info/undocs/war021210notes.html
This "strictly confidential" UN document, dated 10 December 2002,
examines "Likely Humanitarian Scenarios" in the event of a war in Iraq.
It was written to assist with UN contingency planning for safeguarding
the wellbeing of a population most of whom the document acknowledges are
"highly dependent" upon a Government ration for their basic needs. The
war will hit vulnerable groups particularly - pregnant and breast-feeding
women and children.
The document is available in 3 formats
http://www.casi.org.uk/info/undocs/war021210.html
http://www.casi.org.uk/info/undocs/war021210.pdf
http://www.casi.org.uk/info/undocs/war021210scanned.pdf
Summary of Scenarios
39.Emergency: The immediate humanitarian interventions are likely
to require:
Bridging, material handling and transport. Food and necessities for some
5.4 million people. Health supplies to treat injuries for approximately
100,000. Health supplies to treat the highly vulnerable for up to 1.23
million. Health supplies to cater for the ongoing needs of 5.4 million.
Nutrition supplies for 0.54 million. Water treatment equipment for 5.4
million. Chemicals and consumables for 5.4 million. Sanitation materials
and chemicals. Total range of services for 2 million IDPs, some of whom
may well become refugees. The number that may eventually be in this
category cannot be assessed with any confidence. Emergency shelter
for 1.4 million. Family reunion facilities for unaccompanied minors.
Facilities for 100,000 Iraqi refugees in neighbouring countries.
Mine Action activities, (demining, UXO clearance, mine awareness).
40.Protracted Humanitarian Requirements: Following the immediate
requirements referred to in paragraph 39 above, the humanitarian
interventions are likely to be required for a protracted period of time,
certainly longer than one year, and may include:
Further bridging, material handling, and transport. Milling and
iodizing capacity. Food and necessities for, at a minimum, 23 million.
Health supplies to treat injuries for approximately 0.5 million. Health
supplies to treat up to 23 million. Nutrition items for 3.03 million.
Water treatment equipment for 18.24 million. Chemicals and consumables
for 18.24 million. Sanitation materials and chemicals. Total range of
services for 2 million IDPs, some of whom may well become refugees. The
number that may eventually be in this category cannot be assessed with
any confidence. Emergency shelter for 3.6 million. Family reunion
facilities for unaccompanied minors. Facilities for 1.4 million Iraqi
refugees, 900,000 entering neighbouring countries and 500,000 remaining
along the border but inside Iraq. Initiatives to invigorate the economy.
Livestock and plant production materials. Mine Action activities,
(demining, UXO clearance, mine awareness).
Depleted Uranium poisoning following the first Gulf war. Uranium
effectively remains readioactive for all eternity.
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=380738
Dr Al-Ali is a cancer specialist at Basra's hospital and a member of
Britain's Royal College of Physicians. He has a neat moustache and a
kindly, furrowed face. His starched white coat, like the collar of his
shirt, is frayed.
"Before the Gulf War, we had only three or four deaths in a month
from cancer," he said. "Now it's 30 to 35 patients dying every month,
and that's just in my department. That is a 12-fold increase in cancer
mortality. Our studies indicate that 40 to 48 per cent of the population
in this area will get cancer: in five years' time to begin with, then
long afterwards. That's almost half the population.
"Most of my own family now have cancer, and we have no history of the
disease. We don't know the precise source of the contamination, because
we are not allowed to get the equipment to conduct a proper survey,
or even test the excess level of radiation in our bodies. We strongly
suspect depleted uranium, which was used by the Americans and British in
the Gulf War right across the southern battlefields. Whatever the cause,
it is like Chernobyl here; the genetic effects are new to us.
"The mushrooms grow huge, and the fish in what was once a beautiful
river are inedible. Even the grapes in my garden have mutated and can't
be eaten."
"Shock and Awe" military strategy is an overwhelming assault
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/story.jsp?story=384280
Confirming that the US and Britain envisaged a blitzkrieg-style onslaught
against Saddam Hussein, General Myers told American reporters the goal
was "a short conflict".
That could be achieved by "such a shock to the system that the Iraqi
regime would have to assume early on that the end was inevitable". In
words which seemed to foreshadow a massive air and ground assault on
Baghdad itself, General Myers said a new war would be very different
from Operation Desert Storm in 1991, which began with a 40-day bombing
campaign.
This time, Pentagon officials say, 10 times the quantity of
precision-guided bombs and missiles will be delivered.
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