Friday, August 20, 2004

Iraq vs. Sudan FEATURED ARTICLES - Retiring GOP Rep.: Iraq War Unjustified, AP - Former Iraq Arms Inspector Faults Prewar Intelligence, NY Times - Fables of Reconstruction, By Christian Parenti, The Nation - Into the Valley: The Occupation Faces a Major Challenge in Najaf,         by Colonel Daniel Smith, Foreign Policy In Focus - Never Again: Act Now to Stop Genocide in Sudan, Africa Action QUOTE OF THE DAY "I've reached the conclusion, retrospectively, now that the inadequate intelligence and faulty conclusions are being revealed, that all things being considered, it was a mistake to launch that military action. Left unresolved for now is whether intelligence was intentionally misconstrued to justify military action." - - Congressman Doug Bereuter (R- Nebraska) KNOW YOUR HISTORY - August 20th 1974 -- US House of Representatives votes 412-3 to recommend three articles of impeachment against Tricky Dick Nixon. The first charges him with taking part in a criminal conspiracy to obstruct justice in the Watergate cover-up; the second charges he "repeatedly" failed to carry out his constitutional oath in a series of alleged abuses of power; & the third accuses him of unconstitutional defiance of committee subpoenas. 1988 -- Cease fire ends the Iraq-Iran war. US arms $ales plummet, but not for long. Within months, the US government was once again leading the world in promoting the $ales of killing equipment & US corporations continued to lead in $ales. The US Government also continued funding biological & chemical weapons. RHINO HERE: As the Quote of the Day reveals, Republican Congressman Doug Bereuter of Nebraska has come out voicing his objections to how the war was instigated & his doubts about whether the so called "flawed intelligence" was really flawed, or rather intentionally twisted. Retiring GOP Rep: Iraq War Unjustified Associated Press, Aug 18, 2004 A top Republican congressman has broken from his party in the final days of his House career, saying he believes the U.S. military assault on Iraq was unjustified and the situation there has deteriorated into "a dangerous, costly mess."... Unjustified Supporting the congressman's objections & doubts this week was Weapons Inspector, David Kay, who singled out Condoleezza Rice (the lady with the oil tanker named after her) as "the dog that did not bark" over Iraq's weapons program. Former Iraq Arms Inspector Faults Prewar Intelligence NY Times, 8/19/04 A former Bush administration official who led the fruitless postwar effort to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq told Congress on Wednesday that the National Security Council led by Condoleezza Rice had botched intelligence information before the war... http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/19/politics/19panel.html With the 1 thousandth U.S. military death about to occur in the shrub & company Iraq War, (not to mention the 11 thousand plus Iraqi civilian deaths) it seems to Rhino a good time to re-evaluate WHY our youth were supposedly sent to kill & die & WHAT has been accomplished. Milestone of 1,000th U.S. Death in Iraq Looms for Bush Reuters, 12 August 2004 The United States faces a painful moment probably next month when its military deaths in Iraq are expected to surpass 1,000. It will also be a crucial moment for President Bush, who faces a presidential campaign in which Iraq is a central issue... MORE: http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/081304Y.shtml Iraqi Body Count - Civilians Reported Killed By Military Intervention In Iraq 11,619 (As of 8/20/04) AT: http://www.iraqbodycount.net On the issue of WHY, in The Rhino's opinion, there's a huge question being begged these days by shrub loyalists' claim that the purpose of the Iraq quagmire has been to relieve the suffering of oppressed people being ravaged & killed by murderous villains. If that's really the reason, why is the U.S. doing nothing to stop the  inhumane human slaughter going on right now in The Sudan? Why are the voices of the right wing humanitarians so silent on The Sudan,  yet so willing to spend billions of US Taxpayer dollars & sacrifice thousands of human lives on Iraq? Today's RHINO'S BOTTOM LINE  provides latest info on the terrible events in The Sudan & suggests action by each one of us to urge our lawmakers to get off their duffs & do something to stop the killing. Please join me in contacting our Senators & Congressmembers. But first, as to WHAT has been, & is likely to be accomplished in Iraq, here are 2 important pieces; the 1st on the reconstruction, the 2nd on the current siege in Najaf. "SEND THESE 2 ARTICLES TO A REPUBLICAN!" Fables of Reconstruction By Christian Parenti, The Nation. Posted August 18, 2004. ...Throughout the country, vital systems, from water and power to healthcare and education, are in woeful disrepair. The World Bank estimates that bringing Iraq back to its 1991 level of development will cost $55 billion and take at least four years. In the past seventeen months, US taxpayers have set aside a total of $24 billion to rebuild Iraq. Most of that sum has not been spent, though billions of dollars of poorly accounted for Iraqi oil revenues have been expended, or at least allocated to foreign (mostly American) contractors. Humanitarians see reconstruction as a moral obligation: a form of reparations for two US-led wars and thirteen years of brutal sanctions. From a military standpoint, reconstruction is central to the US counterinsurgency effort. The occupation's star officers, like Maj. Gen. David Petraeus, readily acknowledge that a broken economy means more violence. But seen up close, reconstruction in Iraq looks less like a mission of mercy or a sophisticated pacification program and more like a criminal racket... MORE AT: http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/19589 Into the Valley: The Occupation Faces a Major Challenge in Najaf by Colonel Daniel Smith, Foreign Policy In Focus, August 19, 2004 It is called the Valley of Peace, that vast cemetery adjacent to the Imam Ali Mosque in the Shi'ite holy city of Najaf. For more than a thousand years, the faithful have been buried here to be close to the Imam. This August, it is a Valley of Death for hundreds of innocent Iraqis as well as Iraqis fighting U.S. Marines, army, Special Forces, and Iraqi National Guard and police units. The most recent carnage was foreshadowed by events last April, when the U.S.-dominated Coalition Provisional Authority was formally in charge but "consulting" with the U.S.-appointed Iraqi governing council. Members of the Madhi Army, a militia loyal to the popular anti-U.S. Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, turned the cemetery into a weapons "warehouse" and firebase for attacks against foreign military forces. Wary of inciting a major uprising should the mosque suffer war damage, U.S. forces agreed to pull back and let the Iraqi governing council and moderate Shi'ite leaders negotiate a ceasefire and subsequent withdrawal and demobilization of Madhi Army members, leaving control of the city to reconstituted Iraqi security personnel. As August began and the outside temperature flared, so too did tempers and, eventually, combat. ... READ IT ALL AT: http://www.fpif.org/commentary/2004/0408valley.html 7:41:14 AM    comment

RHINO'S BOTTOM LINE - Never Again: Act Now to Stop Genocide in Sudan Tell U.S. Government to take decisive action Never Again: Act Now to Stop Genocide in Sudan Tell U.S. Government to take decisive action Africa Action, 8/19/04 Ten years ago, the international community stood by as the Rwandan Genocide claimed 800,000 lives. Today, as world leaders remember that unprecedented human catastrophe with empty expressions of "Never Again", the people of Sudan face a similar fate. Add your name to the petition calling on Colin Powell to immediately recognize the genocide occurring in the Darfur region of Sudan and move aggressively to bring it to an end - an action that could save more than 1,000,000 lives. In Darfur, the Sudanese government is destroying African Muslim communities who have challenged the authoritarian rule of the government. Government forces and Arab militias known as the janjaweed have burned and pillaged thousands of villages, poisoned water systems, and subjected the population to large-scale rape and other atrocities.  With 30,000 people already killed, Darfur now faces the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. Even if relief arrives now, 350,000 people may still die. If relief does not arrive, the toll will surely be many times higher. At present, Secretary of State Colin Powell is deciding whether the US should officially recognize the atrocities in Sudan as constituting genocide. The 1948 Genocide Convention requires the 130 countries that are parties to it, including the US, to prevent and punish these crimes against humanity.  Please send a strong message to Colin Powell about the need to act quickly and decisively to put and end to the atrocities in Darfur. For more & TO TAKE ACTION, Go To: http://www.africaaction.org/index.php "RHINO'S BLOG" is the responsibility of Gary Rhine. (rhino@kifaru.com) Feedback, and requests to be added or deleted from the list are encouraged. SEARCH BLOG ARCHIVES / SURF RHINO'S LINKS, AT: http://www.rhinosblog.info RHINO'S OTHER WEB SITES: http://www.dreamcatchers.org (INDIGENOUS ASSISTANCE & INTERCULTURAL DIALOG) http://www.kifaru.com (NATIVE AMERICAN RELATIONS VIDEO DOCUMENTARIES) Articles are reprinted under Fair Use Doctrine of international copyright law. http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html All copyrights belong to original publisher. Tell a friend about Rhino's Blog 6:45:52 AM    comment

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