Nothing but Fascists
By Ali Al-Sarraf
03/26/07 "ICH
" -- -- The war on Iraq was not carried out
on the basis of mere strategic interests. No strategies or
interests could explain the level of death and destruction that
Iraq had undergone ever since the Gulf War in 1991. If one were
to assume that the US led invasion in 2003 is a continuation of
that war, then Iraq could be said to have suffered more horrors
than any country had, including the countries that were involved
the WWII.
We are talking about at least two and a half million Iraqi
civilians who had met their fate, where 750,000 of them were
killed during the last four years. That figure represents 10% of
Iraq’s population. In addition, you have over three and a half
million Iraqis displaced (two million of them fled outside the
country while the other1.5 million lost their homes and became
displaced inside their own country). That is 14% of the
population.
Even when the Nazis brought destruction to Europe during WWII,
no country alone suffered such human losses. Although the Soviet
Union at the time, who suffered the biggest number of victims,
had lost 20 million lives (military and civilian), that figure
represents only 10% of the population which was 197 million in
1941.
The tight sanctions that Iraq had faced for over 12 years were
also unprecedented in modern history, affecting such basic needs
as food and medicine. The aim of those sanctions was not only to
strangle the country’s economy but also to pressure Iraqi
society, too. The sanctions, which reduced many segments of the
population into poverty, were meant to make the country easier
to invade, after creating a public desperation for change. But
it has also created internal resentments and divisions between
the ‘Haves’ and ‘Have-nots’, which naturally led to organised
crime and armed gang formations.
It was like some sort of a ‘social nuclear bomb’. If you accept
the findings of Johns Hopkins University team which estimated
that 650,000 Iraqi civilians had died during the first three
years of the US-led invasion, and compare that figure to the
number of victims who have died by the Hiroshima bomb, then you
could say that Iraq has suffered the effect of four nuclear
bombs. Combining all the losses that Iraq has endured ever since
1991 as a direct result of US involvement, one could conclude
that Iraqis would have witnessed more mercy had they been
besieged and invaded by the Nazis.
Causing such genocide cannot be attributed to perusing interests
only. The mass killings in Iraq, like the genocide in Rwanda in
1994, had been met with great indifference from citizens from
around the globe (and not just their involved governments).
Inaccurate media coverage has helped creating a sense of hatred
in some societies against ‘the other’.
The Nazis had their own ideology of superiority when they were
committing genocide and ethnic cleansing, but the people of Iraq
are facing destruction in the name of ‘democracy’. After 12
years of sanctions that tore apart Iraq’s society, tight
sanctions that even banned pencils from entering the country,
causing the death of over one million children due to shortage
of food and medicine, the US-led coalition started its war
campaign.
But how could the peoples of the invading countries support such
immoral bombardments? If you were fighting a ‘dictator’ in the
name of ‘democracy’ then somehow it was made acceptable to
endure the needless loss of so many innocent civilians. The
cheapness of the blood of ‘others’ is nothing new; just remember
the millions of Germans calling out Hitler’s name as his forces
commit crimes against humanity.
Instead of democracy, the US-lead has only built mountains of
dead Iraqi bodies. Bodies that have become too many to even
count accurately. Even the ‘Iraq Body Count’ organisation, which
gives the lowest estimates, has failed to keep up the count. As
for the US military, they don’t have a figure for civilian
deaths. In the words of General Tommy Franks, “We don’t do body
counts.”
Such indifference to the deaths caused as a direct result of the
US-led invasion is not exclusive to the governments of the
invading countries. Unfortunately, it is shared by many of the
peoples of those governments. However, seeking self interest
alone cannot explain the level of inhumanity involved,
especially when many of those interests could have been served
without shedding blood. Only in a system of fascism would such
actions be tolerated, where hatred of the other holds priority.
During the 12 years of sanctions, Iraq’s oil production had been
reduced to less than 1.5 million barrels a day (as opposed to
its pre-sanctions 3.5 million) in the so called ‘oil for food’
programme, causing a loss of about 262 billion dollars from the
country’s oil revenues.
Under that inappropriately named programme, Iraq witnessed the
death of half a million of its children. “We think the price is
worth it”, said the former US Secretary of State, Madeline
Albright, when asked by the media if the lives of 500,000 Iraqi
children dying because of the effects of sanctions is worth it.
Never in modern history has a country, who is also one of the
founding members of the United Nations, faced such aggression
under so many false pretexts. Even as one excuse after another
for the war becomes exposed as a lie, the pubic insists on
believing the next lie. We know now that there were no weapons
of mass destruction, there were no links whatsoever between
Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda, and the whole idea of regime change
was not to bring about democracy. Even the human rights
propaganda by the US has become a joke after the Abu Ghraib
scandal (among many), and the rise of death squads and sectarian
bloodshed under the nose of US forces.
After reducing Iraq’s infrastructure to 'ground zero', a state
of lawlessness was encouraged. The result is a state of civil
war where people are facing death, rape, or kidnapping for no
other reason sometimes than having a certain name.
Never in modern history has country been forced to pay for its
death, torture, and destruction with its own money - its own oil
revenues. A country where thieves are entrusted with its
richness and where murderous gangs are entrusted with its
security.
Not even Iraq’s heritage has been spared. Instead of protecting
the country’s museums, which is a legal obligation of occupying
powers according to international law, former US Defence
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said, “Stuff happens” when asked about
the chaos that has befallen the country’s institutions.
Ever since the US-led invasion, Iraq’s academics have been
mysteriously targeted. Key figures in the county’s science and
research fields, as well as other fields, have been assassinated
with no claim of responsibility.
In whose interest must a country’s past, present and future be
threatened in such violent manner? In whose interest were the
Jews led to their death in Nazi camps? No one; because it is
simply not about interests. The neo-fascism of our age goes far
beyond some of the West’s leaders or their governments. It goes
beyond the hidden biases of some of our so called ‘free’ media.
Neo-fascist sentiments have reached deep into the collective
subconscious of Western societies. It is a new sense of ‘social
imperialism’ in which almost everyone, knowingly or not, is an
accomplice and beneficiary.
During the times of Hitler, you would see Germans gathered in
perfect cohesion, chanting slogans in fervour. Today, those who
support fascist leaders do not make such an effort. They can
simply show their support by going to the ballot and voting for
them once every four years instead. What happens later, which
could include genocide or torture, they would watch calmly on
TV.
Ali Al-Sarraf is the Editor of Al-Arab Weekly and a former
dissident of Saddam Hussein's regime. He can be reached at:
alialsarraf@hotmail.com
This article was first posted at
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