End the War on the Poor

Autonomous Affinity Group’s Direct Action Campaign: “End the War on the Poor”

What If?
What if I told you that an empire had under the guise of “stability” killed over one million children over a dispute with a lord in a remote but resource rich region in the kingdom. That in the process of doing so they forced their own children to be under fed, educated and some to be homeless. What if I told you that a small band of ministers to the rulers of the empire had conspired to cause all this mischief for their own financial gain. Would you believe me. What if the empire were the United States and the rulers and ministers powerful oil and weapons manufacturers and the remote lord Saddam Hussein? What if I told you that this war is going on today ten years after America celebrated it’s victory? Fairy Tale or Reality?


Thoughts:
1. U.S. Foreign Policy will kill over 100,000 Iraqi children this year…U.S. Domestic Policy will starve 12 Million American children this year…

2. We are killing their children at the expense of our children.

3. War Policy: where all streams converge—corporate globalization, state power and exploitation.

Iraq Stats:
1. At least 4500 children under the age of five are dying per month as a direct consequence of U.S. war plans against Iraq. (this number is believed to be much higher, for instance in Feb. 2001, over 7000 children died.) (http://www.igc.org/trac/corner/worldnews/other/271.html)
2. More than one million Iraqis have died, 567,000 of them children as a direct consequence of U.S. War policy on Iraq. (http://www.igc.org/trac/corner/worldnews/other/271.html)
3. There are more than 1.5 million orphans in Iraq. Up to 95% of mothers suffer from anemia giving birth to malnourished infants. (http://www.igc.org/trac/corner/worldnews/other/271.html)
4. More than 500 tons of highly toxic and radioactive depleted uranium (DU) were fired into the environment. Is it a coincidence that the Leukemia rate in southern Iraq has skyrocketed? (http://www.igc.org/trac/corner/worldnews/other/271.html)
5. Over $220,000,000 worth of medical supplies are being blocked from entrance into Iraq under the Oil-for-Food program. The World Health Organization has previously had to lobby it’s sister U.N. organizations to release other medical supplies blocked by the politicized Sanctions committee. (http://www.who.int/repo/eha/ftp/17873.doc)

The US war plan was to destroy Iraq’s infrastructure, including it’s basic health system, for example the water supply. (http://commondreams.org/headlines/091700-01.htm)
In the Department of Defenses’ own words:
“IRAQ'S OVERALL WATER TREATMENT CAPABILITY WILL SUFFER A
SLOW DECLINE, RATHER THAN A PRECIPITOUS HALT, AS DWINDLING
SUPPLIES AND CANNIBALIZED PARTS ARE CONCENTRATED AT HIGHER
PRIORITY LOCATIONS. ALTHOUGH IRAQ IS ALREADY EXPERIENCING A LOSS
OF WATERTREATMENT CAPABILITY, IT PROBABLY WILL TAKE AT LEAST SIX
MONTHS (TO JUNE 1991) BEFORE THE SYSTEM IS FULLY DEGRADED.
UNLESS WATER TREATMENT SUPPLIES ARE EXEMPTED FROM THE
UNSANCTIONS FOR HUMANITARIAN REASONS, NO ADEQUATE SOLUTION
EXISTS FOR IRAQ'S WATER PURIFICATION DILEMMA, SINCE NO SUITABLE
ALTERNATIVES,INCLUDING LOOTING SUPPLIES FROM KUWAIT,
SUFFICIENTLY MEET IRAQI NEEDS.)” http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/declassdocs/dia/19950901/950901_511rept_91.html





Balance Sheets (facts and figures to list for informational purposes, which corroborates how war policy hurts Americans):

1. Dick Cheney’s TRW Corporation and Mrs. Cheney’s Lockheed Martin Corporation spent over $35 Million dollars on lobbying since 1997. Resulting in over 14 Billion dollars in Weapons Contracts. (http://www.warresisters.org/piechart.htm). Cheney is also a member of several anti-environmental and pro-starwars groups such as the George C. Marshall Institute. (http://marhsall.org)

While we spend billions on weapons the servicemen themselves are increasingly forced to put their families on public assistance and welfare. Senator McCain notes: “So why do we still have these serious and growing deficiencies in readiness, pay and modernization? Because the practice of Congress has tragically been to misuse billions of these scarce defense dollars to add un-requested programs and building projects in the defense budget.” (http://webcom.com/peaceact/military_quotes.html) Approximately 1/3 of all homeless people nationwide are veterans. About half of these are from the Vietnam era. (http://sf-homeless-coalition.org/who.html)

Coincidence that the largest lobby and campaign contributors are military contractors?

2. Dick Cheney, is an former head of an Oil services firm, Halliburton which has extensive deals with Chevron Oil company. NSC Advisor and Bush Team member Condoleeza Rice worked for Chevron. Chevron competes with ‘Iraq for the position of the worlds fifth largest exporter of oil to the United States through it’s subsidiaries in Indonesia, Nigeria, Angola, et. Al., it also competes with ‘Iraq for oil pipeline revenue. Former board member Condoleeza Rice now decides policy for bombing Iraq and blockading it’s ability to freely trade on the world market. Dick Cheney was on the advisory panel which advised Kazakhstan on forming a deal with Chevron (http://www.public-i.org/story_16_022800.htm#foreign). Additionally, Rice is a member of the J.P. Morgan International Council headed by former Sec. of State, George Schultz. . It is an all private group headed by CEO’s of multinational corporations. (http://www.jpmorgan.com/CorpInfo/PressReleases/1999/112499_JAZobeldeAyala.htm). Chevron and Kazakhstan’s chief partner in the oil deal, which was underwritten by Dick Cheney by lobbying for Ex-Im loans is a company controlled by the Russian mafia, Tyumen Oil. He also sits on the board of EDS which along with weapons contractor Raytheon has just made a partnership with Chevron to develop an Business-to-Business internet company and manages Chevrons IT sector. (http://www.chevron.com/newsvs/pressrel/2000/2000-05-15_1.shtml). Of course it has no bearing on foreign policy that George Bush, Jr. has investments in several energy companies, notably Enron, a heavy Republican party funder (http://www.moles.org/ProjectUnderground/motherlode/enron.html). There is a history of the Bush family using public policy to generate good business deals on their behalf (http://mediafilter.org/caq/BushFamilyPreys.html). Ironically, now all the former warriors of George Sr. are now heavily invested in protecting the Kazakh oil reserves which compete with Iraq for revenue. (http://www.moles.org/ProjectUnderground/drillbits/981007/98100704.html) Also, we should note that Kazakhstan is not a member of OPEC. Which sets up an openly competitive environment to be exploited and gained from by rich elites in government. Meanwhile, the Iraqis and Syrians rehabilitated their pipeline to pump 1.3million barrels per day. This was opposed by the United States. (http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/990810/1999081017.html)



note: Chevron is now under investigation for mass human rights violations in Indonesia and Nigeria. (http://public-i.org/story_o1_022801.htm)

In the last two years profits of the largest oil companies have risen 146% while Americans spend more at the pump and Iraqi oil is contained and controlled. (http://www.igc.org/trac/bulletin/2001/0035.html)

Coincidence that Americans are paying more, Iraqis are suffering more and the oil companies are making more off of their suffering and our paying?

3. 12 out of 15 of the largest financial contributors to federal elections are either an oil company or a weapons manufacturer. (http://www.public-i.org/Latam_Wash_tables.htm)

4. Thirty-one million Americans – 12 million of them children – still suffer from hunger or live on the edge of hunger. Soup kitchen clientele demand increased by 1/3 last year over the previous year. While the gap between children living in poverty and those able to receive food stamps increased. (http://www.frac.org/html/news/fsp/01mar.html) In San Francisco, over 100 homeless people will die on our streets this year. (estimate based on, http://www.sf-homeless-coaliton.org/basics.html)



5. Since the beginning of the war against Iraq in 1990 the hourly wages paid to the bottom 60% of workers in America has fallen after inflation while the gap between rich and poor increased with the rich getting richer. (http://www.frac.org/html/hunger_in_the_us/federal.html) In San Francisco, over 11,000 people are homeless each day. (http://sf-homeless-coalition.org/basics.html)


6. Balances among industrialized nations, our peers:
America is:
1st in military technology = Last in protecting kids from gun violence
1st in exporting arms = 22nd in Infant mortality
1st in weapons spending = 11th in children living in poverty

Additionally, American children are 12 times more likely to die from gunfire, 16 times more likely to be murdered by a gun, 11 times more likely to commit suicide then their peers in the other 25 industrialized countries. Only the United States and Somalia have not ratified the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child. (http://www.chidrensdefense.org/ factsfigures_America.htm) In San Francisco, members of intact families comprise an estimated 25% of all people who are homeless. Single women comprise 30%, single men 40%. 20% of homeless people are seniors, while 10% are under 18. (http://sf-homeless-coalition.org/who.html)

Coincidence that we kill their children while hurting our own?


7. 12.1 million U.S. children live in poverty. That is one out of every six. Three out of four of them live with a working parent. A Hispanic or African American child is three times more likely to live in poverty then an European American child. (http://www.childrensdefense.org/fairstart-faqs.htm)

8. The cost of each sortie in the no fly zone is over $100,000 dollars per flight. Each time we strike an target, civilian or military, with a Tomahawk cruise missile it costs us $1,000,000. The cost of the four day operation, “Desert Fox” cost $502,525,616 dollars. (http://www.cdi.org/issues/iraq/costs_Dec1998.html)


9. The House of Representatives has agreed to increase military spending $18.5 billion above last year’s level while proposing to cut an equal amount from the budgets of Head Start, health and education programs, housing, community development, job training and environmental programs. (http://webcom.com/peaceact/hunger_v_military.html) In San Francisco, as a result of the federal repeal of welfare, more than 15,000 San Franciscan families, disabled individuals, seniors, and immigrants lost their benefits in the upcoming year. Under the new Welfare Reform bill, thousands of families have been cut off of public benefits. There is now a two year consecutive and five year lifetime limit for TANF. Also, anyone convicted of a drug felony after January 1, 1998 will permanently lose their benefits, and families with children suspended from school for truancy will lose their benefits. Families have an even harder time finding affordable housing. As of January 1, 1997, a San Francisco family of three on AFDC will receive $565 per month, almost a 5% decrease from the previous year. The fair market rent for a two bedroom apartment is more than $1,000. (http://sf-homeless-coalition.org/why.html)

10. The U.S. will spend three times more on weapons and military than the combined military spending of China, Iraq, Iran, Libya, N. Korea and Cuba. (http://www.webcom.com/peaceact/social_vs_defense.html)

"This Call is being made autonomously but in solidarity with the Voices in the Wilderness "Breaking Ranks: A Fast to End the Siege of `Iraq" , August 6th to September 14th. We encourage autonomous affinity groups to stage actions in solidarity with this fast. We encourage Anti-Authoritarians to step up and battle back against this state oppression."

OOOPS, looks like your Taliban friends interrupted your grand little "fast" with a betrayal of Arab solidarity in the form of their commitment to destroy civilization.

Syndicalism is dead, anarchism is dead, and soon Islam as you know it will be dead, it is of course Allah's will

Sala malekun::malekun sala

Kongo Man