IRAQ-ALERT – December 24, 2003

Summary of Contents:

Editorial: Somalia, Lebanon or Palestine? Which Model for Iraq?
Global Vigil for Peace! Sunday, February 15th, 2004
Onedance: The People's Summit - Santa Cruz, January 12-14, 2004
Join/Support the American Peace March 2003-2004!
Week 34 of the Occupation: A Week in the News

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Editorial: Somalia, Lebanon or Palestine? Which Model for Iraq?

Looking ahead to 2004, future issues of Iraq-Alert will focus more and more on national coordinated actions of the Network, as well as the work of our members. Currently, Network members are working on a call for a Global Vigil for Peace on February 15th, 2004 (see below). Other Network activities are in the planning stages. Plans are moving forward for an annual conference—the FIFTH National Grassroots Organizing Conference on Iraq—are moving forward, and a projected date for the conference is late April or early May. We’ve also been working on a year-end fund-drive. Each member group in the Network is asked for annual dues of $50 or more. If your group has not paid for 2003, or if you as an individual would like to may a tax-deductible contribution, please see the footer of this message for details on how to contribute.

In this week’s news summary (see below), the article titled “Civilian Violence in Iraq up Sharply since Hussein’s Capture” stands out. According to reporter Tom Lasseter of Knight-Ritter, there has been a spate of murders against suspected Ba’athists by Shi’ites or other enemies of Saddam Hussein’s regime. In the lawless environment of Iraq’s cities today, it is hard to imagine that U.S. forces are successfully tracking down the perpetrators and punishing them. Indeed, reading this story you get the sense that U.S. forces are welcoming such attacks. Another report from the Washington Post tells us that among Sunni Muslims in Iraq, a sense of despair is setting in among Iraq’s Sunnis who fear they have no political future. Some Iraqis believe the Western press intentionally plays up the ethnicity of the Kurds and the religious divide between Sunnis and Shi’ites to downplay sources of Iraqi unity, such as Islam and (south of Kurdistan): Arabism. When !
the U.S. invaded Somalia the State Department made pronouncements about how Somalia’s clans had been “fighting each other for thousands of years… This will never change.” It is a longstanding tradition of Anglo-European invaders to construct the identity of the conquered population as war-like and loyal to tribe over country; it served the divide and rule policies of the British well.

To the extent that there is any clear U.S. strategy in Iraq, this emphasis on Kurds, Sunnis and Shi’ites and not Iraqis, Arabs and Muslims suggests a divide-and-conquer approach to exiting the ‘quagmire’ the U.S. has gotten into in Iraq. If a civil war breaks out in Iraq under U.S. occupation, U.S. forces could leave and blame the mess on the warring factions. That’s the Somalia model, though first there would have to be a round of mostly non-white U.N. peacekeepers replacing U.S. troops. The Lebanon model is what former weapons inspector Scott Ritter has repeatedly prophesied: the eventual driving out of U.S. forces from Iraq by an Iraqi resistance force. Ritter predicted several months ago that the Shi’ite clergy were on the verge of declaring a fatwa, a holy war, to drive out the invader. Recently, Sheikh Ali Sistani, a leading Shi’ite cleric and arguably the most influential Iraqi inside Iraq today, called for the U.N. to send a delegation to investigate !
whether or not conditions were suitable for a rapid, open election in Iraq. For the time being, it seems, Sistani is exerting his influence in an exemplary manner that is not only peaceful, but democratic, as the U.S. stonewalls on Iraqi calls (and even some demonstrations) for a democratic transition. With the weekly or daily (reported and unreported) incidents of Iraqi deaths at the hands of U.S. forces, and the line increasing blurred on who is and who is not a civilian, Iraq is looking more and more like a giant Palestine. And the reason that the one occupation so resembles the other is that we know from pre-9-11planning documents that Rumsfeld and the neoconservatives have no intention of leaving, since securing Iraq’s military bases and oil were the key objectives of the invasion. With many estimates ranging well into the thousands, the figure of ‘only’ 400 U.S. military deaths in Iraq may be entirely “worth the price” for Washington. Now that Bush has !
Saddam Hussein, how much longer will the American public tolerate this
--Michael Zmolek, Editor and Outreach Coordinator

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Global Vigil for Peace! Sunday, February 15th, 2004

The National Network to End the War Against Iraq – The National Grassroots Peace Network – is putting out a call for Global Vigils for Peace to be held everywhere at dusk, on Sunday, February 15, 2004. Many cities are already signed up, and more are signing up every day! All organizations and individuals who promote or believe in peace and justice and an end to war are encouraged to participate. We plan to have a dedicated page up on our site: http://www.endthewar.org soon, to allow anyone, anywhere to post information about their local vigil event. Here is an excerpt of our working draft for the announcement:

Imagine! People will come together in their town’s courthouse square, or on a busy downtown intersection, or in front of a church building, or in front of the local Army recruiting office, or in front of the White House in Washington, D.C. Many of these people will be children, many will be high school and university students. Many will be elderly citizens on Social Security and many will be unemployed. Some will worship in mosques, some in churches, some in synagogues, some in temples, some in the forest. They may be as different from each other as yellow is from red, as different as black is from white. Yet, they will all have one thing in common: THEY ALL WANT PEACE!
→ Read the full text of this EARLY draft at: http://www.endthewar.org/feb15draft.htm
→ [Updates coming in future newsletters.]

Onedance: The People's Summit - Santa Cruz, January 12-14, 2004
(Updated information since Iraq-Alert Vol. 2 No. 8 (November 17th, 2003)

Activists, educators, filmmakers, librarians and the general public worldwide will gather at the First Congregational Church and other locations in Santa Cruz, California on January 12-14, 2004, Noon to Midnight, to educate and network regarding the pressing economic, environmental, social and political issues of our times. No one with inability to pay will be turned away. Internationally known lecturer and author Michael Parenti, ex-Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, former Attorney General Ramsey Clark, retired Special Forces Ranger Stan Goff of Bring Them Home Now!, India's Devinder Sharma, and many other well-respected individuals and organizations will either be speaking at, or contributing in significant ways to, this historic event. An annotated/updated list of all participants is available on http://www.onedancesummit.org. Photos are available upon request.

Organizers Sylvie and Richard Oxman have worked with virtually no budget, but -- with strong ties to the upcoming World Social Forum in Mumbai, India and Washington D.C.'s National Conference on Organized Resistance -- this summit is poised to be one of the most influential events in U.S. history. At its People's Occupation, beginning April 15th, they say a new paradigm for citizen action will emerge. There is a general call for VOLUNTEERS in many capacities. Visual artists to document, PR people to make contacts, those with lodging to offer, and many more are needed.
→Contact: Sylvie or Richard Oxman at 831-427-5353 or mail [at] onedancesummit.org

Join/Support the American Peace March 2003-2004!

This project was initiated by a sacred prayer ceremony conducted by an indigenous American spiritual practitioner offering the prayer of The Sacred Pipe of Peace at/for the Washington Monument Symbol of The Spirit of America on October 24, 2003, the 58th anniversary of the ratification of the United Nations Charter in respect of the UN's 1995-2004 International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples and the 2000-2009 Decade of Creating a Culture of Peace for the 21st Century. The primary purpose of this project is to bring together like minded people whose collaborations may then better further the development of a sustainable global community of peace and harmony among all life while solving global and local social and environmental problems.

To this end, this site and related e-mail group lists are offering schedules for public consideration and action towards local and regional promotional "Peace Relay Walks" from November 15, 2003, starting at in Washington DC with "Four Routes to The Four Directions" converging on San Francisco for End Walk Ceremony in United Nations Plaza on Feb 29, 2004.
→ For schedules and other information visit: http://www.angelfire.com/on/GEAR2000/APM-DC-SF.html

Week 34 of the Occupation: A Week in the News
Visit the full archive of day-by-day stories about the invasion at: http://www.endthewar.org/features/archive/2003occupation.htm

Day 237: December 23, 2003
U.S. OFFICIALS IN IRAQ LEARN TO ADAPT TO LOCAL RULES
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A22767-2003Dec22.html

Day 236: December 22, 2003
THE TWO TROUBLEMAKERS
http://electroniciraq.net/news/1278.shtml

OCCUPATION FORCES DETAIN IRAQI SCIENTISTS
http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/031222/2003122216.html

KURDS DEMAND KIRKUK AND PAYBACK FOR HELPING OUST SADDAM HUSSEIN
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/146C13BE-A17B-492F-B234-E89C9914EFE2.htm

BAGHDAD ATTACK KILLS TWO US SOLDIERS
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/508806E2-71E2-4E84-91F3-B49E6AA7925D.htm

CIVILIAN VIOLENCE IN IRAQ UP SHARPLY SINCE HUSSEIN'S CAPTURE
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/1222-01.htm

IN NEW IRAQ, SUNNIS FEAR A GRIM FUTURE
Once Dominant, Minority Feels Besieged
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A20116-2003Dec21.html

IRAQI FUEL FACILITIES ATTACKED
Civilians are struggling to obtain fuel and cooking gas
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/99701C38-4D31-42DB-AFD4-D302B350A507.htm

Day 235: December 21, 2003
IRAQI DIALOGUE DESCENDS TO MURDER
http://www.news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=1397292003

Day 234: December 20, 2003
POWER OUTAGES GENERATING ANGER IN IRAQ
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/1220-06.htm

US TROOPS KILL PRO-SADDAM PROTESTORS
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/95ED81B1-8514-4B24-9C0F-5CF20E006BA0.htm

Day 233: December 19, 2003
IS THE SEARCH FOR WEAPONS OVER?
After eight months with no discoveries, mission chief quits; Fewer than 40 of the 1,400 inspectors still in the field; As attacks on US military grow, WMD hunt no longer a priority
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=474598
BAGHDAD BLAST HITS MAIN SHIA GROUP
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/2030F223-DA03-4C39-8350-10D29090D5D6.htm

Day 232: December 18, 2003
US SOLDIER DIES IN BAGHDAD, 199TH SINCE 'END OF COMBAT'
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/C03620D9-F511-4187-9851-7815675E8C84.htm

Day 231: December 17, 2003
IRAQ RESISTANCE ATTACKS CONTINUE
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/C2CC8AFB-E4CB-4901-96C1-927E9E7C4A52.htm