From: anwar+@cs.cmu.edu (Anwar Mohammed)
Newsgroups: alt.desert-storm,alt.activism,talk.politics.mideast
Subject: "KILL SADDAM HUSSEIN!"
Date: 18 Aug 92 13:14:00 GMT
Organization: School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon



Once again we have the blame for Saddam Hussein's murder of hundreds of thousands
of his own citizens shifted to the UN coalition.  Yet hidden away in a deep 
recess of this diatribe is the following *FACT*:

    In the name of democracy, and the fight against the dictator 
    Saddam Hussein, over 200,000 Iraqis were directly annihilated. 

Let's spell this out for everyone:   Children are dying in Iraq because the 
Ba'athists have blockaded medicines and food from the vast majority of its 
population, the Shi'a and Kurds.  The reason why the "working people and the poor 
have borne the brunt of economic sanctions" is that Iraq's bloody regime finds it 
useful.

This post is full of hilarious distortions.  I expect we'll hear next that
establishing a security zone protecting Iraqi civilians in the South against 
bombing, gassing, and poisoning of their own government is forcing the Ba'athists
to kill more Iraqis.  It would be comical if one didn't realize that it works 
to the advantage of one of the most disgustingly murderous regimes in the 20th 
century.

In article <9208180015.AA05510@poly.math.cornell.edu> harelb@MATH.CORNELL.EDU (Harel Barzilai) writes:
>[From PeaceNet's labor.newsline via misc.activism.progresive]
>[To email to "pns" (PeaceNet Sweden): akosha@pns.apc.org --Harel]
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
>Topic 248       LIFT THE ECONOMIC SANCTIONS AGAINS 
>pns:akosha      Labor News & Notes      12:01 pm  Aug  2, 1992 
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
>    "it is the intransigence and political opportunism of [Washington
>    et al] which has kept Saddam and other regional rulers in power
>    over the years in a delicate, but cruelly cynical balancing act.
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
>    Continuing United Nations sanctions on Iraq, including the
>    freezing of its foreign assets so that Iraq cannot buy food and
>    medicines, has caused the deaths of an estimated 80,000 Iraqi
>    children under the age of 5.
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
>    "Working people and the poor have borne the brunt of economic
>    sanctions and war against Iraq, not the Iraqi elite. Demands by
>    President Bush and Prime Minister Major that Iraq must scrap its
>    nuclear, chemical and ballistic arms, and pay reparations to the
>    Kuwaiti emirate, OR ELSE, is a transparent pretext for war. It
>    also demonstrates an incredible double standard, given that no
>    such de-mands are made of more heavily armed, and potentially more
>    dangerous regimes, like South Africa, Pakistan and Israel, to name
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
>    "In the name of democracy, and the fight against the dictator 
>    Saddam Hussein, over 200,000 Iraqis were directly annihilated. 
>    However, tyranny and oppression continue to rule the region.
>    Statehood for the Palestinians is not even on the agenda in the
>    showcase peace talks [...] 
>
>				   
>	      ==========================================
>	      LIFT THE ECONOMIC SANCTIONS AGAINST IRAQ!
>	      ==========================================
>	     Call by Canadian and Iraqi labour activists
>		     Worker Today No.26, June 92
>
>WT News Service:  In a recent report on the impact of the UN 
>sanctions against Iraq, which is claiming more and more lives each 
>day particularly of the children, the International Affairs 
>Committee of the Labour Council of Metro Toronto and York region 
>called on the Canadian trade unions to demand an immediate lifting 
>of the sanctions and a reversal of the Canadian government's 
>policy on Iraq. 
>
>Also Serenji Kerikar (WorkerNotice), a worker paper published in Iraqi
>Kurdistan, in a communique called on labour organisations and
>activists worldwide to join Iraqi workers in opposing the economic
>blockade which "has driven our fellow workers in Iraq and Kurdistan to
>the brink of death and disaster".
>
>Below we reprint both these statements. 
>				   
>	   ===============================================
>	 REPORT OF THE INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS COMMITTEE TO THE
>	   LABOUR COUNCIL OF METRO TORONTO AND YORK REGION
>	   ===============================================
>
>ALTHOUGH Iraq, one year after the Gulf War, remains devastated by the
>effects of military bombardment and continuing economic sanctions, a
>rising drumbeat for renewal of war can be heard coming out of
>Washington and London.
>
>Whether this is being done to divert attention from the prolonged
>world capitalist recession/depression, to further tighten the West's
>stranglehold over Gulf oil, or merely to aid U.S. President George
>Bush's faltering re-election campaign, it is urgent that working
>people everywhere denounce and seek to reverse this tide of
>belligerence.
>
>The human suffering that is a daily reality in Iraq demands world
>attention. The people of Iraq are in need of urgent medical, food and
>technical assistance, not more bombardment, blockade and embargo.
>
>During the U.S.-led war in 1991, over 88,500 tons of bombs were
>dropped on Iraq and Kuwait, destroying electrical power, water
>treatment, transportation and health care infrastructures. Rampant
>disease and malnutrition is the ongoing result. Continuing United
>Nations sanctions on Iraq, including the freezing of its foreign
>assets so that Iraq cannot buy food and medicines, has caused the
>deaths of an estimated 80,000 Iraqi children under the age of 5.
>
>In the name of democracy, and the fight against the dictator 
>Saddam Hussein, over 200,000 Iraqis were directly annihilated. 
>However, tyranny and oppression continue to rule the region. 
>Statehood for the Palestinians is not even on the agenda in the 
>showcase peace talks between Israel, its Arab neighbours, the U.S. 
>and Russia. Iraqi Kurds are worse off. And Saddam Hussein remains 
>in power, politically fortified by the manifest suffering imposed 
>on his country by "outsiders" - that is, by the imperialist 
>powers, under the cloak of the United Nations. 
>
>Working people and the poor have borne the brunt of economic 
>sanctions and war against Iraq, not the Iraqi elite. Demands by 
>President Bush and Prime Minister Major that Iraq must scrap its 
>nuclear, chemical and ballistic arms, and pay reparations to the 
>Kuwaiti emirate, OR ELSE, is a transparent pretext for war. It 
>also demonstrates an incredible double standard, given that no 
>such de-mands are made of more heavily armed, and potentially more 
>dangerous regimes, like South Africa, Pakistan and Israel, to name 
>but a few.
>
>Canada's Prime Minister, Brian Mulroney, said on March 10, on the
>occasion of the visit to Ottawa of Jordan's King Hussein, "I lament
>the sad fate of the Iraqi people but their suffering is the result of
>the intransigent attitude of Saddam Hussein."  Mulroney knows full
>well that it is the intransigence and political opportunism of his
>allies which has kept Saddam and other regional rulers in power over
>the years in a delicate, but cruelly cynical balancing act.
>
>As the New York Times revealed in January, not only did the Reagan
>administration arm both sides in the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, "American
>arms, technology and intelligence helped Iraq avert defeat by Iran and
>eventually grow - with much help from the Soviet Union later - into
>the regional power that invaded Kuwait in August 1990."
>
>Today, the question is, will we allow history to repeat itself so
>soon? Will economic sanctions, supported by military threats - and
>resumption of war -be permitted to further punish innocent people,
>purely to advance a western military/corporate New World Order? The
>answer must be a resounding NO!  The International Affairs Committee
>calls on Labour Council to
>
>1. Demand that the Canadian Government reverse its policy on Iraq,
>denounce the threats of bombardment and war coming out of Washington,
>London and New York, and urge an immediate lifting of all United
>Nations' imposed sanctions on Iraq and the removal of the
>embargo/blockade on trade with that country.
>
>2. Further demand the unfreezing of Iraqi assets, and the provision of
>medical, food and technical aid to Iraq by Canada, the U.N., and other
>countries to assist Iraq in rebuilding its civilian infrastructure,
>and in feeding, clothing and housing its destitute people.
>
>3. Urge affiliates, the OFL, and CLC, to pursue the above demands with
>the urgency that the present situation in Iraq clearly requires. This
>should include letters and petitions to MPs and government, public
>statements and protest demonstrations.
>
>Respectfully submitted by the International Affairs Committee: 
>
>Lucille Kerr, Holly Kirkconnell, Ken Luckhardt,
>Barry Weisleder, Jay Nair 
>
>##################################################################
>NOTE: The "Comrades!" rhetoric tends to strike Joe American as
>indicative of "rabid extremism" ; in fact, however, for those long
>suffering from Washignton's policies and its local "Our S.O.B."
>representatives like George's ex-pal Saddam Hussein for so long, this
>does not represent so fringe a group, but a far more common, and
>understandable reaction, and spirit of survival (and maintaining one's
>sanity in the face of brutal conditions year after year that, unlike
>us sitting in front of our neat computer screens, these workers face
>every day and are far more powerless in their ability to put an end
>to). --Harel
>##################################################################
>
>To:  Trade unions and labour organisations!  Labour leaders and 
>activists!  Worker papers and groups!  Labour solidarity 
>committees in Europe and North America! 
>
>The economic blockade [of Iraq] is an inhuman policy of the
>imperialists, part of the assault that capitalism has today launched
>against the world working class in the name of the New World Order.
>Having driven our fellow workers in Iraq and Kurdistan to the brink of
>death and disaster, this economic boycott has provided a pretext for
>the old and new rulers of the bourgeoisie - the Iraqi government and
>the Kurdistan Front* - through which to pursue their interests against
>us workers and working masses.
>
>Comrades!  We believe that not only will your militant support and
>solidarity ensure that this policy is brushed aside, to our advantage,
>but that our united and organised world rank can smash the capitalist
>system and build socialism on its ruins. We therefore call for your
>solidarity and unity in struggle.
>
>Long live the international working-class movement against the
>economic boycott and world capitalism's anti-labour onslaught!
>
>*The Kurdistan Front includes the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, led by
>Jalal Talebani, and the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iraq, led by
>Masoud Barzani
> -WT 
>##################################################################


-- 
Anwar Mohammed                           Graduate Student
anwar+@cs.cmu.edu  (NeXTmail welcome)    School of Computer Science
Voice: +1 412 268 3043                   Carnegie-Mellon University
Fax:   +1 412 681 5739                   Pittsburgh, PA  15213-3890
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