December 2003
January 2004

Views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of the AFSC.

Occupation of Iraq: Deadly Profitable

US Killed Thousands of Iraqis

A new report from the Project on Defense Alternatives concludes that the US military killed between 11,000 and 15,000 Iraqis during the initial phases of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, including between 3200 and 4300 civilians (see www.comw.org/pda/0310rm8.html).

Analyzing body counts is a grotesque endeavor, too often obscuring the individual tragic reality of each death. Yet failing to count Iraqi deaths, while spotlighting US and British casualties, serves to dehumanize Iraqis into non-existence.

This estimate is a conservative one based on hospital records and eyewitness testimony for battlefield death estimates. For an alternative methodology leading to the conclusion that the US-military-led forces have killed even more Iraqis, see www.iraqbodycount.net/background.htm#methods.

The sidelining of the issue by the mainstream US media, and even many liberal commentators, is remarkable. The number of US soldiers killed since the invasion began is reported in almost every US media story on Iraq. While Iraqi casualties from a particular clash might be noted, the larger picture of Iraqi suffering is largely obscured.

The Pentagon's strategy of refusing to answer questions about Iraqi casualty numbers seems to have been allowed to work for them. See www.fair.org/activism/iraq-casualties-networks.htmlfor more information and action ideas about this issue.

The lack of sustained questions by mainstream reporters regarding Iraqi casualties and other fundamental issues is also illustrated, and compounded, by the lack of anti-war spokespeople allowed access to major news outlets. During the spring of 2003, pro-war US commentators outnumbered anti-war US spokespeople by at least 25 to one on major US broadcast channels, according to another study by Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting (www.fair.org/extra/0305/warstudy.html).

US Illegally Privatizes Iraq's Assets

This information was drawn from the work of Aaron Maté at www.nologo.org.

International laws, specifically the Hague Regulations and the Geneva Conventions, prohibit occupying powers from changing fundamental laws, stealing, or profiting from the assets of countries and lands so occupied. Yet the US is rapidly, and illegally, privatizing Iraq's assets.

Coalition Provisional Authority director Paul Bremer issued Order 39 on September 20, 2003. The order abolished and reversed Iraq's constitutional ban on foreign investment, allowing 100% of over 200 state-owned enterprises to fall into foreign hands. Iraq's highest tax bracket was slashed from 45% to a flat rate tax system set at 15%. Although foreign ownership of land remains illegal, companies or individuals will be allowed to lease properties for up to 40 years.

Egypt Detains, Beats, Tortures Anti-war Protesters

According to a report by Human Rights Watch, (www.hrw.org/press/2003/11/egypt110703.htm), Egyptian security forces attacked protesters demonstrating against the US war in Iraq and Egyptian complicity with the US on March 21, 2003. Approximately 800 people were arrested, and 61 still face charges.

The security forces beat the demonstrators with pipes and clubs. On the same day, plainclothes officers beat and arrested participants in a nonviolent sit-in at the headquarters of the Egyptian Bar Association, including two members of parliament and several defense lawyers. Some of those arrested were tortured in jail.

To protest and to express your support for the right of free assembly, please contact the Egyptian Embassy to the US at:

3521 International Court NW, Washington DC 20008; 202/895-5400, embassy@egyptembdc.org.

Masters of War: Documenting the Contracts

A report by the Center for Public Integrity, Windfalls of War: US Contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan, documents the 70 US companies and individuals that have won up to $8 billion in contracts over the course of the last two years to operate in the two countries. Over one-third of these contracts ($3.359 billion) went to just two companies: Kellogg, Brown, & Root/Halliburton, and Bechtel.

KBR/Halliburton is infamous as the company formerly led by Vice President Dick Cheney. Bechtel's Republican ties run deep: both Reagan's Secretary of State (George Schulz), and his Secretary of Defense (Caspar Weinberger) were Bechtel executives. In fact, during current Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld's infamous trip to Baghdad in December of 1983 as a Middle East special envoy, Rumsfeld advocated for Bechtel's proposal to build an Iraqi oil pipeline in discussions with Saddam Hussein (see www.seen.org/pages/media/20030414_crude_nytimes.shtml).

The report, resulting from over 73 Freedom of Information Act requests and numerous appeals, includes contracts granted by the Department of Defense and the US Agency for International Development, but not those by the US State Department, which has so far refused to disclose this public information.

In addition to detailing the scope of each company's contracts, the report analyzes its campaign contributions (which are skewed towards George W. Bush), and notes the cities in which the companies are based. This last information might be invaluable for local activists working to expose and confront war profiteering.

For additional information, see www.publicintegrity.org/wow/default.aspx.

Open Letter re Hussein's Trial

From Ian E. Harrington, Co-clerk, Peace and Social Concerns Committee, Friends Meeting at Cambridge

Dear Mr. Bush:

We are writing from Friends (Quaker) Meeting at Cambridge to express our concern about the treatment and prosecution of Saddam Hussein. The world will be paying close attention to how he and his case are handled, and the US government must be sure to provide an example of treatment and justice that it would want others to follow, regardless of who is in captivity or on trial.

We believe that there is that of God in every one, and that reality is recognized only if the prisoner is treated humanely and according to international law and custom.

Since there is no internationally recognized government in Iraq, and the United States can not be viewed as impartial in this matter, we strongly urge the trial of Mr. Hussein be carried out by a tribunal under United Nations authority staffed by Iraqi and international judges and prosecutors. This seems to be the only path that presents a possibility for world-wide acceptance of the outcome of the trial.

Such a trial would present an opportunity to break the cycle of revenge, hatred, and violence that has plagued the world. We believe strongly that this tribunal should not impose a death penalty. The people of Iraq have suffered tragically. One more death will not heal any wounds. A fair and public trial for Mr. Hussein might open the way for the treatment of other Iraqis implicated in the crimes of Saddam Hussein's regime through a process modeled on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa, rather than a process based on revenge.

We pray that the United States government will support this course of action in the coming weeks and months. We can not expect to be treated better than we ourselves treat others.

Sincerely,

Ian Harrington

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