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George Bush's Hate Of Saddam, Transfers Directly To The Women And Children Of Iraq
by James Glaser
You can not declare war on just one person in a country or even on just the government and the military of that country. In every war the destruction and killing always spills over on to the innocent civilians. Smart bombs and precision guided missiles are neither smart, nor are they precise. Last time America took on Iraq we did some things that any country that wanted to claim some sort of moral high ground, would never do. We repeatedly bombed, smashing the civilian infrastructure for flood control, municipal and industrial water storage, irrigation and hydroelectric power. We bombed 31 municipal water and sewage facilities. The water supply of Iraq really had nothing to do with their troops in Kuwait that we were trying to remove. What we did do, was unleash the water borne diseases of typhoid, hepatitis, cholera, dysentery, and even polio, which had been eradicated. Our bombing of these facilities would be a War Crime in any ones book, except if you are the most powerful country on the globe. Then you can set up what ever rules you want. In a large city like Baghdad, with all the sewage treatment plants and water systems bombed out of existence, the only place for this huge population to get drinking water was the Tigris river that had all the raw sewage flowing into it. Article 54 of the Geneva Convention states " It is prohibited to attack, destroy or render useless objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population" and includes foodstuffs, livestock, and "drinking water supplies and irrigation works" There is a report prepared before we bombed, by the Defense Intelligence Agency that points out the vulnerability of the water system in Iraq. Its dependence on imported equipment and chemicals and what would happen if we destroyed that water system. Sick as it is, we knew going in that we would kill thousands of children with this bombing and we did it any way. A nation can justify bombing bridges, air fields, and TV stations, but how do you justify city sewage systems and water supplies? Professor Thomas J. Nagy of George Washington University, a doctor of Public Health said "Those who knew about this plan and have remained silent for 10 years would seem to be in violation of Federal Statute and perhaps have even conspired to commit genocide." Just the fact that Washington knew before the bombing took place, what the effects on civilians would be makes those responsible, war criminals. This could be the crux of George Bush's fixation on getting rid of Saddam and putting our own government in place. Any person would want to hide the facts that their own father was the Commander in Chief when a plan was conceived to kill tens of thousands with disease. What a sick feeling that would leave in the pit of your stomach. Therefore you do everything that you can to make the world believe that the leader of that country you attacked is such a monster your countries "war crime" was necessary. The whole world knows that America did this terrible act and just maybe only Americans have been kept from finding out about this. Iraq has tried to repair their water and sewage systems, but that report was correct and foreign materials and chemicals are needed. Of the eighteen contracts that Iraq has made to get equipment and materials for repair, all but one have had a United States hold put on them. These are contracts for purification chemicals, chemical dosing pumps, water tankers, Clorinators, and other water industry related items. America can put a hold on any thing that might be used for military use, but that is just about every product made by man. We have to remember that thousands and thousands of innocent lives are being lost every month by the lack of these basic clean water systems. It takes a lot of hate by the government of the United States of America to keep the whole nation of Iraq from having that most basic right. Clean drinking water. www.sunday herald.com/news/newsi.hts.hts-news&story-id-11209
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