MGM&USP Document #68
Draft
A Summary of the U. S. Illegal Wars
and Use of Force in the Mideast
(Revised June 20, 2016)
Request comment be provided to the compiler Captain Ron Fisher US Navy (retired)
at DFPA@aol.com or 703-725-7849
This document explains how and why the invasions/occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan and offensive operations in Pakistan are illegal, unconstitutional, immoral, counter-productive and "self defeating".
Introduction
Much of this document which was initially written with only Iraq in mind is pertinent to the invasion/occupation of Afghanistan and the attacks and covert operations against Pakistan and other countries.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. The Reasons the World Trade Center and Pentagon were Attacked
II. The Reasons the U.S. Invaded and Occupied Iraq
V. Iraq Before the First Gulf War
VIII. The Results of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq
Supporting Documents:
• Oil and Oil Profits: The Primary Reason The US is in Mideast
I. The Reasons the World Trade Center and Pentagon were Attacked
According to Michael Scheuer, [A very small number of radical] Muslims attacked the World Trade Center and are retaliating for what we [actually American leaders and corporation executives] do rather than for what we are and what we think. Islamists are not offended by the Western world’s democratic freedoms, civil liberties, intermingling of genders, and separation of church and state as our leaders tell us. The reasons that they are attacking us include:
• U.S. support of Israel and its indifference to the Palestinians,
• presence of U.S. and western troops on the Arabian Peninsula and occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan by the U.S. and its allies,
• the U.S. support of countries that oppress Muslims (such as Russia, India and China),
• U.S. political pressure on Arab states to keep oil prices low,
• U.S. support for tyrannical governments and
• a further litany of real-world grievances. .
II. The Reasons the U.S. Invaded and Occupied Iraq
Certain American leaders have falsely claimed that Iraq and the Taliban in Afghanistan were imminent threats to the U.S. This is simply not true.
Iraq was invaded and occupied:
• Primarily to help U.S. and UK companies gain control of as much of Iraq’s oil industry
and huge oil reserves, possibly 400 billion barrels and to steal trillions of dollars of oil
profits
possibly $20 trillion. It was not to get oil for the U.S. or to reduce the price of
oil in the U.S. As a matter of fact, the turmoil and instability caused by the invasion
and occupation has caused the price of oil to increase. Iraq oil and oil products are
described in detail in Attachment B.
• To use Iraq for permanent military bases and as a stepping off point for the U.S. military in the Mideast
• Provide markets for US & UK multi-national corporations to dump their products and
commodities and to take over/privatize Iraqi industries and businesses
.
• So that U.S. Armed Forces and security contractors (mercenaries) could be kept in Iraq with no real timetable for withdrawal to provide security for U.S. oil corporation until most of the Iraqi’ oil is used up (over 100 years if 4 to 5 million barrels a day are pumped).
The multiple, large permanent bases paid for by Congress and built by the previous and current administration make it obvious there was never any intention to leave Iraq.
Winning in Iraq apparently means that oil companies will be able to steal Iraq’s oil and profits from their oil.
III. The Iraq and Afghanistan Wars/Occupations and the Use of Force in Pakistan are Illegal, Unconstitutional, Immoral and Self-Defeating
1. H.J. Res.114, the Joint Resolution To Authorize the Use of United States Armed Forces against Iraq, approved by the House and Senate in October, 2002, was obtained by fraud and has been used to commit fraud and is unconstitutional, null and void.
2. Without a formal declaration of war, it is illegal for Congress to authorize or appropriate money for the Iraq War or the so called war on terror and it is illegal for the President wage such wars, use force or conduct any military operations in Iraq or any country in the world.
3. Attachment A provides additional proof of the unconstitutionality and illegality of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars/occupations and the use of force in Pakistan.
Vice Admiral James Stockdale served on active duty in the regular Navy for 37 years. Shot down on his third combat tour over North Vietnam, he was the senior Naval prisoner of war in Hanoi for 7 ½ years. He received the medal of honor and 26 other combat decorations plus numerous civilian awards. In a speech and now in a booklet provided to all midshipmen at the Naval Academy, he said : “I am convinced that holding the moral high ground is more important than firepower .. in war ... it is principally the moral forces which decide the outcome.” Speaking of the Tonkin Gulf, Stockdale said: “To take a nation to war on the basis of any provocation that smells of fraud is to risk losing national leadership ... . Moral corners were cut in Washington in our top leaders’ interpretation of the events of August 4th at sea in order to get the Tonkin Gulf Resolution through Congress in a hurry. ... I knew for sure that our moral forces were squandered for short range goals.”
The President and members of his administration invaded Iraq based on lies and fabricated intelligence in order to subjugate and gain control of Iraq’s oil, other resources and their economy. The U.S. is definitely not on the moral high ground in Iraq. The Iraq occupation is worse than the Vietnam war in many ways, in particular because we are attempting to steal Iraq’s natural resources.
V. Iraq Before the First Gulf War
Before the first Gulf War, Iraq had a Constitution that:
1. Resembled the U.S. Constitution in many ways.
2. Provided freedom of religion, expression and association
3. Guaranteed equality before the law for all citizens without discrimination of sex, blood, language, social origin or religion.
4. Guaranteed a free education through the university level and access to maternal, child, and medical care for all. (Not only were these services guaranteed, they were delivered.)
Iraq’s oil industry and reserves had been nationalized so that prior to the first Gulf War, even after 8 years of war with Iran:
1. Iraq was ranked 15th out of 130 countries on the 1990 UN Human Development Index.
2. Iraq had the highest percentage of college-educated citizens in the Middle East and above average overall literacy rates.
3. Ninety Seven percent of Iraq's urban population and 78% of rural residents had health care coverage.
4. Iraq's infant mortality rate was well below average for developing countries.
5. Ninety per cent of Iraq's population had access to an abundant quantity of safe drinking water.
6. Iraq was a country of laws, public services, education, and health care that was able to succeed in spite of Saddam Hussein, because Iraq had a government, and economic structure made functional by a knowledgeable and dedicated citizenry.
7. Iraq was selling and willing to continue selling oil at market rates to the U.S. However, oil companies and the so called neo-cons and oil companies wanted more than just oil – they wanted massive profits and control over the oil.
1.The subterfuge by the Bush Administration leading up to the war is well covered in several books, news articles and other documents.
2.On March 17, 2003, President Bush, in violation of International Law, ordered massive bombing and missile attacks (called shock and awe) on Iraq and an invasion of Iraq.
3.On March 20, 2003 US-UK forces invaded Iraq, seizing the major oilfields and refineries almost immediately. When coalition forces later entered Baghdad, they set a protective cordon around the Oil Ministry, while leaving all other institutions unguarded, allowing looting and burning of other government ministries, hospitals and cultural institutions. Looters sacked the National Museum and burned a wing of the National Library, but the Oil Ministry stood relatively unscathed, with its thousands of valuable seismic maps safe for future oil exploration.
4. Every step in the early post-war period confirmed the centrality of oil, not as an Iraqi
national resource to be protected, but as a spoil of war to be controlled. Now, many
months after the war, the picture remains the same
.
5. On or about March 20, 2003, the first contracts for rebuilding post-war Iraq were awarded, and Vice President Dick Cheney's old employer, Haliburton Co., was one of the beneficiary’s.
6. On May 1, 2003, Bush announced "Mission Accomplished in Iraq" and the occupation of Iraq began.
1. Every step in the early post-war period confirmed the centrality of oil, not as an Iraqi
national resource to be protected, but as a spoil of war to be controlled. Now, years after
the war, the picture remains the same
.
2. On January 20, 2003, Jay Garner, a retired army Lieutenant General, had been named head of the U.S. Defense Department’s Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance (ORHA). The staff of ORHA designed and planned the administration of postwar Iraq in detail. The ORHA plan called for the U.S. led occupation government of Iraq to last no more than three months.
3. On April 21, 2003, two weeks after the “fall of Baghdad,” Garner and his ORHA staff had arrived in Iraq.
4. On May 6, 2003, President Bush fired General Jay Garner and appointed L. Paul Bremer III, to be Bush’s Presidential Envoy to Iraq and the Administrator of the U.S. led Iraqi Occupation Government, the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA). President also replaced ORHA with the CPA and Bremer and the subjugation of Iraq began.
5. The reason behind the replacements exposes a good deal about the Bush Agenda in Iraq.
6. Garner told BBC reporter Greg Palast, “My preference was to put the Iraqis in charge as soon as we can, and do it with some form of elections. . . . I just thought it was necessary to rapidly get the Iraqis in charge of their destiny.” As a retired army lieutenant general who had overseen assistance to the Kurds in Northern Iraq after the first Gulf War Garner knew that the longer the United States appeared to be in charge, the more antipathy toward the United States would grow and expose U.S. troops to greater danger. Garner also disagreed with many of the Bush administration’s more radical economic proposals, such as full privatization of Iraq’s 192 state-owned enterprises, arguing that the Iraqis should be in charge of determining their own economic fate. Apparently, this attitude met with disapproval among his superiors in the administration, and Garner was summarily fired.
7. Unlike General Jay Garner, Paul Bremer, a former corporate consultant with no specific experience in Iraq, had no qualms about remaking Iraq and its economy in accordance with the Bush/Cheney agenda. After replacing Garner, Bremer wasted little time laying the foundation for U.S. subjugation of the economy, institutions, politics, etc. of Iraq.
8. Bush’s Presidential Envoy to Iraq and the Administrator of the U.S. led Iraqi Occupation Government, the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), L. Paul Bremer III:
a. A former corporate consultant, had no specific experience, education or training in Iraq security, policing, the military, or occupying a country.
b. Had full authority over the CPA and full executive, legislative, and judicial authority over Iraq and its people.
c. Controlled most of the funding for Iraq and had signature authority from the President of the United States. Nothing happened without his agreement according to a UN official
d. Did not have an exit strategy or exit plan because Bush, Cheney, Bremer and others had no intention of leaving Iraq. However, they did have a secretive, extensive economic plan for post-war Iraq developed at least six months before the invasion. On February 21, 2003, executives of Bearing Point had delivered this plan, which Bremer used to:
i. Manage the occupation and attempts to economically subjugate and colonize Iraq.
ii. Gain control of Iraq oil and oil profits for U. S. Oil companies, the opening of Iraq to U.S. corporations, the advance of the neo-con agenda, etc.; but, not on the provision of basic security and basic services, e.g. water, electricity, hospitals, as required by the Hague Regulations and Geneva Convention .
iii. Change and made law by issuing one hundred Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) regulations referred to as the "Bremer Orders".
9. With his orders, Bremer, among other things:
a. Fired 120,000 of Iraq's most experienced and highest ranking civil servants, which, after about five months, caused the government to slide into a state of total disarray.
b. Disbanded the Iraqi military, refused to continue to pay their salaries, handed security and reconstruction work to private U.S. companies, turning 2.4 million Iraqis, including soldiers' families, against the U.S., all in the first month of the occupation.
c. Institutionalized production sharing agreements (PSA's) which could extend for an unheard of 30 years with oil companies receiving as much as 75% of profits with the remaining going to Iraq. These would earn massive profits for oil companies while costing the Iraqi people hundreds of billions of dollars.
d. Except for the oil reserves and industry, privatized most of the rest of Iraq's resources and state-owned enterprises. (Note that as of late May 2007, the U.S. continues to illegally pressure the government of Iraq to pass the new petroleum law written by Bearing Point under contract with the U.S. which would turn over as much as 87% of Iraqi oil reserves to oil companies selected by U. S. government officials)
e. Allows for 100% of ownership of Iraq's businesses by non-Iraqis by overriding Iraqi ownership laws.
f. Allowed unrestricted, tax-free remittance of all profits and other funds away from Iraq by foreign corporations.
g. Provided the right for corporations to take legal disputes out of Iraq's courts and into international tribunals.
h. Suspended all tariffs, customs duties, import taxes, licensing fees and similar surcharges for goods entering or leaving Iraq. This led to an immediate inflow of cheap foreign products, vegetables, wheat, etc., which devastated local producers and sellers.
i. Gained control over telecommunications, broadcasting, information services, and other forms of media in Iraq and heavily censored the media, padlocked and left newspapers in ruin, etc.
j. Granted full immunity from Iraqi laws and the Iraqi legal system to Coalition Military Forces and all foreign contractors.
k. Gave foreign contractors freedom from all income taxes, corporate taxes, and sales taxes.
l. Replaced Iraq's progressive tax strategy with a flat tax.
m. Created a U.S. “corporate haven,” - a model and starting point for the rest of the region.
n. Placed American representatives in key decision-making positions within each government ministry, to ensure its indirect rule over Iraq.
o. Established a commission that gave the Bush Administration the power to disqualify political parties and their candidates from participating in Iraqi elections.
10. Bremer was well aware of what his policies would do to Iraq and its people. In a November 2001 paper "New Risks in International Business," Bremer:
a. Outlined the risks to multinational corporations associated with the implementation of corporate globalization policies.
b. Walked through the devastating impacts of each policy on local populations. Warned companies that the painful consequences of globalization are felt long before its benefits are clear.
c. Explained that privatization of basic services almost always leads to price increases for those services, which in turn often leads to protests or even physical violence against the operator.
d. Said globalization has a very disparate effect on incomes, which causes political and social tensions.
e. Said that the elimination of trade protections destroys small companies and causes enormous pressures on retailers.
11. The policies that Bremer described in his 2001 report as being devastating to a country were among those he himself implemented.
12. President Bush also appointed Phil Carroll, a former high-ranking US oil executive, to assume control of Iraq’s oil industry.
13. On May 22, Bush issued Executive Order 13303 giving immunity to oil companies for all activities in Iraq and deals involving Iraqi oil.
14. On May 22, 2003, the UN Security Council passed Resolution 1483 which, among other things:
a. Recognized the U.S. and UK as occupying powers with specific authorities, responsibilities, and obligations under applicable international law.
b. Stressed the right of the Iraqi people to freely determine their own political future and control their own natural resources, ... and expressed resolve that the day when Iraqis govern themselves must come quickly.
c. Stressed the need for respect for the archaeological, historical, cultural, and religious heritage of Iraq, and for the continued protection of archaeological, historical, cultural, and religious sites, museums, libraries, and monuments.
d. Called upon the U.S. and UK, to promote the welfare of the Iraqi people ... including in particular, working towards the restoration of conditions of security and stability and the creation of conditions in which the Iraqi people can freely determine their own political future.
e. Called upon the U.S. and the UK to comply fully with their obligations under international law including in particular the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and the Hague Regulations of 1907.
15. The Geneva Conventions and the Hague Regulations, both ratified by the U.S. are, along with the U.S. Constitution, the supreme Law of the Land and require, among other things, that:
a. The people of the occupied country and prisoners of war must at all times be humanely treated. The legal definition of "humane" is: Kind, tender, compassionate. Disposed to eliminate the cause of suffering of man or beast.
b. An occupying power take all the measures in his power to restore, and ensure, as far as possible, public order and safety, while respecting unless absolutely prevented, the laws in force in the country.
c. An occupying country is required to ensure functioning electricity, potable running water, safe streets, and that the basic necessities of life are provided and is not permitted to make changes in the country's law beyond those absolutely necessary to meet these obligations.
16. On October 13, 2005, U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, and Iraqis selected by the Bush Administration secretly rewrote key provisions of the new Iraqi Constitution.
17. The contents of the newly revised Constitution and the fact that it had been revised were not made public.
18. There were no debates or discussions and elected officials did not see the final version until after it was voted on in the National Referendum on October 15, 2005.
19. Ratification of the Constitution locked in most of the "Bremer Orders."
20. The new constitution also created a country where religion is substantially
intermingled with the government - a formula for disaster. In a heterogeneous country
like Iraq the government will NOT succeed unless it is officially secular
.
21. By focusing efforts on changing Iraq's laws, "privatizing " Iraq's resources, industries and businesses, the opening of Iraq to U.S. corporations, the advance of the Bush Agenda, etc, instead of the immediate provision of basic security and basic services (e.g. water, electricity, hospitals), Bremer:
a. Caused much of the strife in Iraq today.
b. Led to the destruction of much of the foundations of the Iraqi economy and social structure.
c. Brought Iraqi development to a standstill in many areas.
d. Caused the death and injury of scores of thousands of innocent civilians.
22. Iraq has a multi-ethnic heterogeneous society with three very large groups (Sunni
Arabs, Shia Arabs, and Kurds) and numerous smaller groups . Although many members
of the three largest groups can be found in other parts of the country, in particular
Bagdad, they generally live in three jurisdictions formally established by the new Iraqi
Constitution
:
a. Kurds mainly in the oil rich North and are now behaving like they live in a separate country.
b. Shia Arabs mainly live in the oil rich south.
c. Sunni Arabs mainly live in the center of Iraq which is resource poor. Sunni Arabs generally:
i. Had ruled Iraq off and on for many years and held many responsible positions in the Iraqi government before the U.S. invasion. After the invasion, they lost almost all significant political and economic power when Bremer shifted American support to the Shias and Kurds.
ii. Did not support Saddam Hussein.
iii. Were disproportionately affected by debathification, the process by which Bremer and the Iraqi government fired and would not hire members of the former ruling Baath party Sunnis, argue that their membership was out of necessity and that it is not fair to target them.
iv. Want Iraq to remain united, intact and have a secular government.
v. Now feel that the new government does not represent their interests and responded to their marginalization with a uprising.
VIII. The Results of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq
The Iraq Study Group Report released in November 2006:
Provides description of the deplorable conditions in Iraq, the very poor condition of the Iraqi army and the even worse condition of the Iraqi police force and states:
• Only 36 percent of Iraqis feel their country is heading in the right direction.
• Seventy-nine percent of Iraqis have a "mostly negative" view of the influence that the United States has in their country.
• Sixty-one percent of Iraqis approve of attacks on U.S.- led forces.
• If Iraqis continue to perceive Americans as representing an occupying force, the United States could become its own worst enemy in a land it liberated from tyranny.
• Stresses the need for diplomacy but does not call for a full withdrawal of U.S. troops and security contractors, eliminating permanent bases, etc.
• Mentions oil over 65 times.
• States "the United States should assist Iraqi leaders to reorganize the national oil industry as a commercial enterprise "and recommends using U.S. Military personnel to protect the oil industry. This appears to mean privatizing and unlawfully putting almost all of Iraqi's oil industry, oil reserves and profit from oil sales under the control of U.S. and British oil companies so that these oil companies would realize potential profits of trillion dollars.
According to Cathy Kelly, in a article published in April 2008, available statistics about the consequences of the US invasion and occupation of Iraq speak of misery and chaos nearly unimaginable to most Americans.
• One out of six Iraqis [approximately 4.7 million] have been displaced from their homes.
• 122,000 Iraqi children didn't reach their fifth birthdays in the year 2005 alone.
• 54 percent of Iraqis live on less than $1 per day, including 15 percent who are forced to live on less than fifty cents per day.
• Seventy percent of Iraq's people lack access to potable water.
• Forty-three percent of Iraqi children under age five suffer a form of malnourishment, with 23 percent suffering from chronic malnourishment and eight percent suffering acute malnourishment. Forty percent of Iraq's population are children under age 15.
• In the past year, US aerial bombardments of Iraqi neighborhoods increased fivefold while the number of Iraqis incarcerated in US prisons in Iraq has doubled. (Some 24,000 Iraqis are now imprisoned by US forces, approximately 650 of whom are juveniles).
• If a foreign country were bombing US cities and imprisoning US civilians, would we
ever agree to pay the invaders' military expenses? Would we agree that the
aggressor nation had no fiscal responsibilities to pay for reparations?
The surge did not work. Security sweeps have taken a heavy toll on US forces. Since the February 14, 2007 start of the US-led offensive, deaths among American soldiers climbed 21 percent in Baghdad compared with the previous two months. The bloodiest year of the occupation was 2007. Iraq casualties have spiked in the last few months. Iraq deaths rose from 568 in December to more than 1082 in March. U.S. Troops from 23 in December to 38 in March.
Our military is deteriorating the heroic efforts.. There are more terrorists in the world today now. America is less secure.
At of the end of February, 2008, over 4000 U.S. service members have been killed and well over 25,000 seriously wounded. Over 500,000, Iraqis (mostly innocent civilians and children) have been killed and millions are displaced
The invasion and occupation has already directly cost U.S. taxpayers over $900 billion and will ultimately cost over $ 3 trillion. These funds are desperately needed for services for working Americans (e.g. adopting alternative energy sources, creating new domestic jobs, rebuilding infrastructure of American cities, education, health care, protecting our environment, etc.).
The surge did not work. Security sweeps took a heavy toll on US forces. After the February 14, 2007 start of the US-led offensive, deaths among American soldiers climbed 21 percent in Baghdad compared with the previous two months. The bloodiest year of the war was 2007. Iraq casualties have spiked in the last few months. Iraq deaths rose from 568 in December to more than 1082 in March. U.S. Troops from 23 in December to 38 in March.
1. The situation in Iraq is an occupation not a war. There is no such thing as winning an occupation. Winning in Iraq means stealing Iraq’s oil and oil profits.
2. The Iraq invasion and occupation were from the beginning and still are illegal, unjust and immoral.
3. Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with Al Qaeda or 9/11 and had no weapons of mass destruction. His secular Ba'athist state was scorned by fundamentalist Muslims.
4. Saddam Hussein should have been indicted and tried, in absentia if necessary, in the International Criminal Court in a just, orderly fashion that guaranteed continuity of the government in Iraq.
5. The occupation of Iraq has and is continuing to:
a. Cause the unnecessary deaths and maiming of United States servicemen and Iraqis.
b. Cause massive damage to the infrastructure, buildings, hospitals, homes, mosques, bridges, waterways, etc. of Iraq.
c. Seriously harm the defense, security and reputation of the United States.
d.Contribute to instability in the Middle East.
e. Generate more terrorist than are being killed or detained.
f. Contribute to increasing fuel and energy costs.
g. Decrease availability and security of world energy resources.
h. Contribute to budget deficits and increased government debt.
6. Absent a formal declaration of war, the U. S. Constitution, treaties, and other laws prohibits:
a. Congress authorizing the President to use the United States Armed Forces, private security guards and the CIA against Iraq, to conduct clandestine operations in Iraq, to use any form of force in Iraq, to occupy Iraq, etc.
b. The President using the United States Armed Forces, private security guards and the CIA against Iraq, conducting clandestine operations in Iraq or using any form of force in Iraq, occupying Iraq, etc.
c. Prohibits Congress authorizing any funds to use the United States Armed Forces against Iraq, to conduct clandestine operations in Iraq, to use any form of force in Iraq, to occupy Iraq, etc.
7. Senior U.S. officials wrongfully and unlawfully :
a. Lied about the reasons for invading and occupying Iraq
b. Had Iraq invaded and occupied because they wanted to help U.S. and UK oil companies illegally control as much as possible of Iraq’s oil industries and reserves and to help U.S. and UK oil companies take as much as possible of the trillions of dollars of Iraqi oil profits. This war is not just about ensuring the U.S. has a supply of oil –Iraq would happily sell oil to the U. S. at market prices.
c. Have focused efforts on Iraq oil and the opening of Iraq to U.S. corporations, not on the immediate provision of basic security and basic services, e.g. water, electricity, hospitals, as required by the Hague Regulations
d. Rewrote the Constitution of Iraq and changed the laws of Iraq so that U.S. and other foreign oil companies would not have to pay taxes on these profits and could immediately transfer these profits out of Iraq and to their offices in countries other than the U.S. so that they would not pay U.S. taxes. (As a matter of fact, U.S. oil companies would not even have to sell Iraqi oil to the United States and could increase the price of oil at will by withholding Iraq oil from the U.S.)
e. Keeping U.S. Armed Forces and defense contractors in Iraq to provide security for and help U.S. oil companies control Iraq’s and oil industries and reserves and reap massive profits from Iraq's oil sales because they are afraid that Iraq will nationalize all their oil reserves if U.S. forces leave.
f. Have violated various U.S. and Iraqi laws, the Geneva Convention, Hague Regulations, UN Security Council Resolution 1483 of May 22, 2003, and other international laws, etc.
8. Certain members of Congress have wrongfully and unlawfully appropriated taxpayers money to be used to:
a. Purchase munitions to kill, maim, abuse, detain and subjugate Iraqis
b. Pay private security contractors (including mercenaries) to provide security for the Iraq oil ministries, U.S. Oil companies and war profiteers but not the museums and mosques in Iraq.
c. Pay the salaries of the senior officials who planned and executed this illegal and immoral war and the theft of Iraqi oil.
d. Provide the dogs used to abuse detainees.
e. Rewrite the laws and the Constitution of Iraq in violation of the Hague Regulations of 1907 and the Geneva Conventions
f. Create and maintain illegal prisons in Iraq, Guantanamo and around the world.
g. Build a number of permanent military bases to occupy Iraq indefinitely and which could be used to launch attacks against other Mideast countries
h. Fund illegal, non-competitive contracts that have wasted billions of dollars of taxpayers dollars.
9. On April 24, 2007, Congress enacted legislation to wrongfully and unlawfully:
a. Appropriate additional funds for these immoral, illegal acts.
b. Attempt to force the Iraqi parliament to pass the so called New Hydro-Carbon Law which would give control of up to 84 percent of Iraqi oil reserves and trillions of dollars of oil profits to foreign, primarily U.S. oil companies.
10. On April 25, 2007, President Bush signed this legislation into law.
11. Iraq can easily use management and technical service type contracts to hire individuals to do any needed work instead of having large oil companies do this work for a percentage of the profits.
12. Congress has not provided any meaningful oversight over the current administration or the Iraq invasion and occupation..
13. The people of the U.S. are paying for the war with their lives, maimed bodies and taxes and having to paying salaries and expenses of the legislators who vote for more war spending. The people of the U.S. also pay over twice as much for a gallon of gasoline as they did six years ago.
14. Oil companies, defense contractors and other war profiteers are reaping massive profits from the war. Executives and employees from these companies are donating more and more to many representatives and senators and other elected officials under the guise of campaign contributions.
15. Appropriating funds for the illegal and immoral war/occupation of Iraq is a war crime and a crime against humanity. Accepting campaign donations from war profiteers is crime of moral turpitude.
16. The insurgency in Iraq has been and is being fueled by:
a. The killing and maiming of scores of thousands of innocent Iraqis including women and children.
b. The wrongful and unlawful abuse, detention, torture and murder of Iraqis.
c. The massive damage to the infrastructure, buildings, hospitals, homes, mosques, bridges, waterways, etc. of Iraq.
d. The fact that Iraq was illegally invaded and is being occupied so that U.S. and U.K. oil companies can wrongfully take control of as much as possible of Iraq’s massive oil reserves and reap massive profits from the sale of Iraq oil.
e. The prolonged, wrongful and unlawful occupation of Iraq by the United States.
f. The prospect of a very long-term U.S. military presence in Iraq as indicated by the building of permanent United States military bases and refusal to have a timeline for withdrawal of U. S. Forces.
g. United States senior officials and legislators siding with and providing offensive weapons to Israel and supporting Israel’s prolonged and brutal occupation of Palestinian territories
h. The natural tendency of individuals to resist tyranny, colonization and aggression.
17. The people of Iraq and their supporters have a right to resist aggression and attempts to take their resources.
18. All of Iraq’s industries, oil reserves, other resources, etc. belong to the Iraqi people.
19.The United States has a considerable responsibility to the people of Iraq.
20. Most Iraqis want the U.S. to withdraw. The longer our troops remain in Iraq the worse it will get. The U.S. military and privateers in Iraq are a provocation and the greatest obstacle to achieving any kind of political settlement there, and the greatest threat to our own national security. Opinion polls in Iraq show that the occupation has become increasingly and decisively unpopular. Even polls commissioned by the US and UK governments demonstrate clearly that a large majority of Iraqis are critical and favor a speedy withdrawal. By a large margin, Iraqis now feel that the occupation increases insecurity and sectarian violence. More than ever, Iraqis overwhelmingly want the occupation to end.
21. The United States cannot abruptly depart from Iraq nor can U.S. troops remain in populated areas where they are not wanted or needed.
22. Any further military action by and even the presence of U. S. Troops in Iraq, will make matters worse.
23. The longer it takes to make to make a decision to withdraw from Iraq, the more lives will be lost.
24. A timely U.S. military withdrawal is in Iraq's and the United States' best interest.
25. The U.S. must make amends for its mistakes.
26. No country in the region will benefit, from chaos in Iraq.
27. Neo-cons and some multinational corporations are attempting to implement similar policies all over the world through so called “free trade” agreements, by taking over and/or bullying international organizations, bribing officials, lobbying with campaign contributions, etc.
28. We cannot allow the Iraq conflict, war profiteering, nuclear proliferation and the Israel-Palestine situation to continue. We must continue work to understand the underlying causes of these problems and solve them.
29. Until the United States takes responsibility, makes considerable amends and completely withdraws from Iraq, the U.S. will have essential no credibility in the world community.
30. A high percentage of the Iraqi and much of the world has lost confidence in President Bush and his administration and the United States.
31. The path to a stable Iraq can ONLY result from political and economic, not military solutions, in which all the parties have a stake in the new Iraq
32. If the U.S. does withdraw, are just and stop siding with Israel, the insurgents “will not follow the U.S. home” and Al Qaeda will leave or be forced out of Iraq.
33. United States Armed Forces as the occupying power should not be abruptly withdrawn from Iraq.
34. United States Armed Forces must have a plan for a rapid withdrawal.
35. Offensive and clandestine operations in Iraq, Iran by the CIA, U.S. military forces and security contractors are illegal and should cease immediately.
36. Timely, fair, fully creditable regional and national elections so that true democratic self rule can be put into place must be held without the presence or influence of the U.S.
37. The United States, as an "occupying power ", has specific obligations under the Geneva Conventions, the Hague Regulations and UN Security Council Resolution 1483, all of which the U.S. must live up to.
38. President Bush’s reasoning ability and his judgment were faulty and dangerous. He resisted redeploying or withdrawing U.S. forces until the new oil law could be passed and US oil companies had secure access to Iraq's oil which will probably never happen.
• Execute the Proposed Plan to End Wars/Occupations and Use of Force in the Mid East and Bring All U. S. Troops and Contractors Home
• Discreetly Prosecute Public Servants and others who have broken the law or refuse to provide honest services, as outlined in the Plan to Prosecute Public Servants et al and Provide Restorative Justice and Reconciliation Opportunities for Victims and Perpetrators of Crimes
• Outline, study and take actions on lessons learned from these invasions, occupations, wars and the use of force.