Michael Ratner, Jennie Green, Barbara Olshansky
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Subjects -> History -> Americas -> United States -> 20th Century -> General
Subjects -> History -> Middle East -> Iraq
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 9
Average rating: 4.0 of 5
The truth is out there!! 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 11 people found this review helpful.
If you've ordered this book and read it, then you've taken the first step to freeing your mind from all the garbage the media suffocates us with. And if you swallow these eye-opening books like I do then I earnestly recommed anything by Noam Chomsky, as well as these two books, which will no doubt enlighten you about the Bush administration and the war in Iraq: (1) War Plan Iraq: Ten Reasons Against War with Iraq (Milan Rai); and (2) STUPID WHITE MEN (Michale Moore). And if you love a good laugh, here's a satire on Bush and the media: The little samba boy (Jay Singh). The truth is out there.
Good summary of why this war is aggression 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 8 people found this review helpful.
Written before the current jihad began, but no less useful, this book outlines why the U.S. has no authority to unilalaterally bomb a sovereign country. Resolution 1441 stated merely a listed of extremely heavy conditions for Iraq to comply or else it would be declared in "material breach." It called for the convening of the security council to hear the inspector's report. There was nothing explicitly granting the United states to bomb if Iraq was declared in "material breach." Article 51 of the UN charter declares that no state can act militarily against another without security council approval or if they country is under immediate and sustained attack. The UN charter does not endorse the doctrine now explicity endorsed by the extreme reactionaries currently at the helm of power in Washington that the U.S. has the right to "pre-emptively" attack any country it feels to be threatened by, even if that threat is not imminent. They note that the U.S. has obtained security council votes in an extremely compromsing way. E.G. cutting off aid to Yemen after it voted against a U.S. draft resolution back in 1990. They note that congressman Henry Gonzales drafted a bill of impeachment against Bush Sr. for the many "bribes and threats" used to get UN approval. In current times, it seems some backroom deals have been made with the French and the Russians to secure their existing oil contracts with Saddam post-war which is what the latter are really concerned about. American oil companies will probably have first pick of the oil resources. The Americans will install a pro-American government that will do America's bidding in the oil rivalries with OPEC, they write.
And indeed the authors point out that Iraq is not an imminent threat, that U.S. intelligence deny this. They note that Richard Butler reported to the security council in January 1999 that the inspection process had made Saddam "substantially disarm." They quote the conservative anaylst Anthony Cordesman that it is likely that stocks of biological and chemical weapons retained by Iraq after the gulf war have lost their viability. They quote Scott Ritter that the 800 or so mustard gas shells that Iraq is reportedly to have, does not represent any sort of option for them on the battlefield. Nor do the dozen or so blastic missles. And they do not have the technology to produce any significant amount of VX nerve gas, and the equipment they did have was found and destroyed by the inspectors in 96' and found never to have been used. They note that the International Atomic energy agency certified in October 1997 that Iraq was in "full, final and complete" compliance with its nuclear weapons program. They note in an endnote that the evidence about Iraq trying to gain enriched uranium from Africa is very tenuous, it simply does not have the infrastructure (this book was published before it came out from the IAEA that U.S. documents purporting to show Iraq's aquisition of uranuim from Niger were forgeries).
They point out, of course, Saddam's regime is unbelievabably bestial but that did not bother United States and its British lietenant when he was "gassing his own people" back in the 80's. They gave him substantial support to build up his arsenal of WMD. The link to Bin Laden is unlikely for the supposed meeting in the Czech republic seemed not to have taken place and Saddam would not want to give weapons to independent-minded fundamentalists who have a goal of overthrowing his secular dictatorship.
Most importantly they note that people seem not to care much about the humanitarian impact on Iraqis. U.S. bombing has and will continue to destroy much of Iraq's vital civilian infrastructure. Estimates vary about total casualties: from like 48,000 to 200,000. If Saddam does have any substantial WMD and is backed into a corner, there is no doubt he will use them. Various nations with bad human rights records like Russia, China, India, Israel have a green light to conduct terrorism in the name of fighting terrorism. Wahabi terrorism increased in late 2002 and will surely do so as a result of what happens in Iraq.
They note in an endnote that the dim-witted disciple of Jesus currently in the white house was not telling the truth when he said that Iraq was diverting oil for food money for weapons. Such money is placed in an escrow account in New York with purchases made by it directed by the United nations. They note that it is rather unlikely the president's claim that Iraq has possessions of drones that are capable of flying undetected accross other countries and U.S. military bases to bomb the United States.
Editorial Review:
Three legal scholars oppose the Administration's justifications for war on Iraq. This pamphlet contains the core facts and analysis needed to understand the issues and become an effective advocate against hawkish U.S. policy.
