The war waged by the Bush administration against the population of Iraq is clearly illegal.

Its pretext of wanting to establish democratic rule by outside interference while supposedly targeting no longer existent weapons of mass-destruction, claimed to be in the possession of the Iraqi army, is ridiculous. And this especially in view of the many dictatorships supported in the past and at present by the United States, including Pakistan's military regime which has just been granted relief of sanctions.
The US claims made very recently against Iraq and accompanied by shady and forged 'proofs,' are only the more  ridiculous in view of the extensive arsenal of weapons of mass destruction owned by the United States, even more so if we remember that the U.S. government is furthering the development of ever more deadly new varieties of such weapons, including weapons destined for internationally outlawed biological warfare.

It is the United States government which we must ask to sign a protocol together with other countries that will quickly lead to effective abolition of such weapons: to reasonable disarmament.

An illegal war, waged in contravention of the UN, an attack on a small country by the biggest of today's world powers, for dubious reasons, with deadly consequences for the civilian population but also for the young men that overwhelmingly make up the armies of both countries, constitutes a war crime. Each raid that now results in civilian casualties, as in Baghdad, Basra, Tilkrit, and other locations, constitutes a war crime. Bush, Blair, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Powell, Wolfovitz, White as well as the commanding generals of the US are guilty of war crimes. Send them to today's "Nuremberg."  Send them to The Hague!
 
 

In opposition to the US neocolonist plans for the Middle East that aim at full-fledged Western control of Arab (plus, we suspect, Iranian and Central Asian) oil and, more especially,  at the elimination of regional powers which show an inkling of independence, we propose discussion of a solution that would entail the creation of a peaceful and cooperative federation of independent states in West Asia, with full guarantees of civil rights, creative interchange, open borders, free communication of citizens, the right for everyone to settle down where (s)he pleases.

This could well include the Islamic Republic of Iran, the former central Asian 'Soviet republics,' Turkey, Iraq, Azerbeidzhan, Georgia, Armenia, Syria, Lebanon, Israel and Palestine, as well as (perhaps) neighboring Egypt.

We suggest that by way of plebiscite the populations of these countries seek to achieve a friendly solution entailing the formation of an independent Kurdish political entity, as a member of the envisioned union or confederation.

Each member state of this union might well stick to a constitution formulated in accordance with the will of the majority of the population, whether "Islamic and Republican," in Iran or "secular," in the Kurdish unit and elsewhere.

It is the "grass roots" movements which should determine whether a neoliberal union is sought, similar to the prototype of the present European Union, or a new solution is aimed at that would disempower big business and challenge 'consumerist' ideologies.

Today such a project may seem totally unrealistic to many politicians and even normal citizens in the area. But in 1945, friendship and union between the former adversaries, France and Germany, seemed also out of the question in Western Europe. Here, in a significant part of Europe, it was not only big business which worked for a customs union; the population of many countries had a deep desire for peace and greatly enhanced mutual understanding.

In West Asia, today, as in the rest of the so-called Third World, small and mid-sized states have no chance to withstand the military, diplomatic and commercial pressures of the US or the EU. They need to join hands. They have to form political unions that will make the risks of attack unforeseeable for any aggressor. They have to attempt to reap the mutual benefit of enhanced cooperation - cooperation on an equal footing.  Down with the so-called 'elites' that sell the interests of native populations to the highest bidder, to bribing and arm-twisting hegemonial forces! Let us seek creative solutions, in the interest of the populace of all our countries. Let us stem, once and for all, the renewed neo-colonialist tide of US-led 'globalization,' of domination in the interest of Haliburton, Exxon, Shell, Total, Fina, of Boeing and Airbus and Northrop, of Mc Donnell Douglas and McDonald, of Pfizer and Nestle, Bayer and Coca Cola, International Harvester and Aldi or Walmart.

This is not a plea for a world of hostile blocs in the 21st century.
Many ordinary folks, many religious, secular, humanistic, and progressive groups in the West, as well as those in the Third World who are increasingly sceptical of US and West European corporate dominance today, hope in fact for intercontinental rank-and-file cooperation, for a NEW globalization no longer under the control of the arrogant and the powerful.
 
 
 

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www.democracyinnovations.org

Portland Labor for Peace and Justice

Guild Law Center for Economic and Social Justice