IRAQ PEACE TEAM RESPONDS TO PRESIDENT BUSH'S STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS

Quotations from President George W. Bush’s
State of the Union address, January 28, 2003
with Responses from the Iraq Peace Team in Baghdad


1.      “The qualities of courage and compassion we strive for in America also determine our conduct abroad.”

How we wish this were true.  As many observers have pointed out, after defeat in the Gulf War, disarmament of major weapons, and 12 years of sanctions that have prohibited a replacement of equipment, Iraq is militarily the weakest of all countries in region.  How much courage is required for the world’s largest superpower to make war on a militarily weak country?  True courage is better shown through restraint and justice.

Since 1991 it is estimated that more than 1.7 million Iraqis have died unnecessarily from diseases and cancers related to the Gulf War and its aftermath[1].  Of these more than 500,000 were children.  Until recently the importation of food and medicines were prohibited by economic sanctions.  Now the U.S. declares its intent to launch an attack and invasion that studies have shown will create far larger death and destruction for Iraq’s civilian population[2].  Where is the compassion in any of this?  Indeed, the behavior of the U.S. and its allies in targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure are crimes of war under section 56 of the 1977 Geneva Convention.



2.      “In Afghanistan we helped to liberate an oppressed people and we will continue helping them secure their country, rebuild their society, and educate all their children, boys and girls.”

While significant aid to rebuild Afghanistan was promised before the U.S. attack on that country, very little has been delivered.  By far the largest fraction of aid is military.  Education and rebuilding are a very small part of the U.S. effort.



3.      “As our nation moves troops and builds alliances to make our world safer, we must also remember our calling, as a blessed country, is to make the world better.”

Destruction of Iraqi society and its people does not make the world safer or better.  A war on Iraq is contrary to American values for a rule of law, cooperation among nations, and reverence for the life and liberty of every human being.  To be true to our calling as a country we must embrace those values that make a better world and reject a war that will primarily hurt the civilian population of Iraq.



4.      “A doctor in rural South Africa describes his frustration.  He says, “We have no medicines, many hospitals tell people, ‘You’ve got AIDS. We can’t help you. Go home and die’.” In an age of miraculous medicines, no person should have to hear these words.”

We applaud any efforts the U.S. makes to support prevention and treatment of AIDS.  We hope this principle might also be applied to Iraq where it has been U.S. policy to deny needed medicines and medical equipment for cancer and other curable illnesses.  The lack of medicines and equipment especially for curable cancers has forced Iraq hospitals to say to cancer patients, “We can’t help you.  Go home and die.”  This situation will change only when the U.S. ends its insistence on continuing economic sanctions.



5.      “In this global war against a scattered network of killers, the war goes on and we are winning.”

There is no evidence that this is true.  U.S. belligerence and its policies of intimidation and destruction have alienated people throughout the world.  U.S. support for war on Arab and Palestinian states have increased the desperation of Muslim people and have increased the numbers willing to resort to desperate, terrorist measures.



6.      “All told more than 3,000 suspected terrorists have been arrested in many countries.  And many others have met a different fate.  Let’s put it this way:  they are no longer a problem to the United States...”

It is deplorable that the President of the United States should smirkingly celebrate the extrajudicial execution of alleged criminals in violation of principles of justice and due process.



7.      “One-by-one the terrorists are learning the meaning of American justice.”

American justice derives its meaning from our Constitution and our laws that provide for bringing alleged criminals to trial, no imprisonment until there are charges that a law has been broken, the right of alleged criminals to a speedy trial at which they can have access to an attorney to defend themselves, a presumption of innocence until proven guilty, equal application of law to all persons, and no punishment implemented until a guilty verdict is rendered.  These are precisely the policies that the government of George Bush has sought to undermine both internationally and domestically.  We must wonder what concept of American justice President Bush has when he promotes indefinite detentions without charges or trials, racial profiling, and summary executions.



8.      “As we fight this war we will remember where it began:  here in this country.”

The problem of terrorism did not start on September 11.  There is a long history of why people become so desperate as to commit terrorist acts.  There is an equally long history of U.S. support for repressive regimes and the denial of basic human rights.  The kind of simplistic thinking shown here only detracts from the effort to find constructive strategies that promote a safer world.



9.      “I am instructing the leaders of the FBI, the CIA, the Homeland Security, and the Department of Defense to develop a Terrorist Threat Integration Center, to merge and analyze all threat information in a single location.”

There are good historical reasons why there has been a separation of duties between domestic and international law enforcement and between military action and law enforcement action.  When there has been a confusion about the separation of these duties there has often been significant abuse of police powers.  We are very concerned that the kind of interagency collaboration that Mr. Bush is ordering (seemingly without authorization from Congress) is building the foundation for a unified police establishment more along the lines of the Soviet Union’s KGB or Germany’s Gestapo.



10.     “We will not permit the triumph of violence in the affairs of men.”

Yet it is the “triumph of violence” that the U.S. is seeking in Iraq.



11.     “Now, in this century, the ideology of power and domination has appeared again….”

Indeed, it has appeared again.  We deeply regret that it is our own U.S. government that is promoting “the ideology of power and domination”.  The State of the Union address clearly reflects this ideology.



12.     “This nation and our friends are all that stand between a world at peace and a world of chaos and constant alarm.”

The destruction from terrorist acts, as terrible as they are, is small compared to the military attacks carried out by the United States.  It is the United States that has declared “endless war”.  Today the United States is the nation most strongly promoting a “world of chaos and constant alarm”.



13.     “The course of this nation does not depend on the decisions of others.”

The Bush administration once again shows its contempt for cooperation among nations and world opinion.  World issues are not just U.S. issues.  Respect for democracy demands that all people who are affected by a problem have some say in how the problem is resolved.  The President seems to deny this.  Following the world wars of the last century there was widespread recognition that it would take strong cooperation among all nations to ensure that these wars did not happen again.  The United Nations was established out of that conviction.  Today more than ever the interdependence of all countries needs to be recognized and promoted.  Therefore we regret Bush’s disrespectful, isolationist stance.



14.     “In Iran we continue to see a government that represses its people, pursues weapons of mass destruction, and supports terror.”

President Bush applies to Iran the same unsupported charges he uses against Iraq.  Not only is he reversing 20 years of gradually developing closer ties with Iran, he is telling us that Iran is next in line in the series of military conquests that he wants.  How many taxpayer dollars and American lives are to be sacrificed for Bush’s “endless war”?



15.     “In Iraq, a brutal dictator, with a history of reckless aggression, with ties to terrorism, with great potential wealth will not be permitted to dominate a vital region and threaten the United States.”

Iraq’s sole aggression that was not supported by the United States was its invasion of Kuwait, an area to which Iraq has had long standing claims.  Iraq has never threatened the United State and until 1990 was considered a U.S. ally.  None of its neighboring countries perceive Iraq as a threat.  More to the point is Bush’s recognition that Iraq is a land of great potential wealth.  He seems to be saying that Iraq should not be allowed to control a natural resource that is clearly theirs.  Is this a frank admission that the real reason for this U.S. war on Iraq is to allow U.S. corporations to control Iraqi oil?



16.     “Twelve years ago Saddam Hussein faced the prospect of being the last casualty in a war he started and lost.”

The purpose of the Gulf War in 1991 was strictly to force the withdrawal of Iraqi troops from Kuwait.  Carried out by a broad coalition of countries under the UN the war did not seek the defeat of Iraq, only the “liberation” of Kuwait.  The coalition would have fallen apart, if an invasion had proceeded to Baghdad.  Therefore Saddam Hussein was never in danger of being a casualty.  Iraq did invade Kuwait and was intransigent about a withdrawal, but it should be acknowledged that the U.S. and its allies were the ones to initiate the war.



17.     “[Saddam Hussein]has shown … utter contempt for the United Nations and for the opinion of the world.”

Iraq has largely cooperated with the UN and compromised its own sovereignty in order to accommodate UN and world opinion.  Israel, Morocco, and Turkey all remain in violation of more UN Security Council resolutions than Iraq and all three continue to occupy foreign soil.  If violation of UN resolutions is the grounds for war, why is it applied only to Iraq?  Indeed, at the present time it is the United States that has shown contempt for the UN and world opinion by pursuing a war on Iraq that the vast majority of countries strongly oppose.



18.     [Chemical agents] “He’s not accounted for these materials.  He has given no evidence that he has destroyed them.”

According to Scott Ritter, former head of UN weapons inspections in Iraq, it is unlikely that any significant weapons of mass destruction have existed in Iraq since 1996.  Even if some weapons do exist, according to the director of the CIA, Iraq has no incentive to use or provide them to terrorist organizations, except if they are invaded.

It is very difficult to prove something does not exist.  Accounting for materials is problematic for any country.  Recall that in the U.S., where data systems are routinely used, the U.S. military has consistently failed to have complete accounts of biological agents, nuclear material, and military equipment.  Iraq does not have sophisticated database systems and has been prevented from acquiring computers for such databases by the U.S. and the economic sanctions.



19.     “Iraqi officials accompany the inspectors in order to intimidate witnesses.”

Iraq is required by UN resolution 1441 to provide accompanying staff and logistical support.  They must pay for these officials as well as all other support of UN weapons inspectors.  If UN inspectors suspect intimidation of witnesses, they have the power to remove witnesses and their families outside of Iraq to conduct the interviews.  So far the UN inspectors have not thought it necessary to do this.



20.     “Saddam Hussein aids and protects terrorists, including members of Al Qaida.”

Since September 11, 2001, the United States has tried hard to tie Saddam Hussein to Al Qaida or other terrorist organizations.  It claims to have secret proof, but has never revealed this “proof”.  No Iraqi national has ever been involved in over two dozen Al Qaida plots and attacts.  At the same time the U.S. turns away from criticizing Saudi Arabia that has widely known connections to Al Qaida and other fundamentalist groups.



21.     “Some have said we must not act until the threat is imminent.”

This is not just the opinion of some.  It is a requirement of the United Nations Charter which the United States has signed and help write.  A U.S. war on Iraq and Bush’s policy of preemptive attacks are directly contrary to our treaty obligations and to international law.



22.     “Since when have terrorists and tyrants announced their intentions, politely putting us on notice before they strike?”

The U.S. describes Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait as a terrorist act (in fact, it is Iraq’s sole act of aggression other than its war on Iran, which the U.S. fully supported).  Yet the invasion was clearly announced to U.S. officials before it happened and U.S. officials at the time registered no complaint.



23.     “Tonight I have a message for the brave and oppressed people of Iraq:  Your enemy is not surrounding your country, your enemy is ruling your country.  The day he and his regime are removed from power will be the day of your liberation.”

Iraq Peace Team has lived in Iraq and has worked with Iraqi people for many years.  So this is something we have first hand knowledge about.  Iraqi people have a diversity of opinions on all sorts of political issues.  Certainly not all of them like the way Saddam Hussein has ruled.  Nevertheless, on the question of war all Iraqis are quite unanimous – they do not support it.  They know the horrendous suffering that it will entail and they do not see a U.S. imposed puppet government as any improvement over their current situation.  They prefer to work out their own problems themselves.



24.     “We seek peace.  We strive for peace.  And sometimes peace must be defended.  A future lived at the mercy of terrible threats is no peace at all.”

The Iraqi people are the ones that today “live at the mercy of terrible threats”.  Mr. Bush is right – it is no peace at all.  Even the threats, themselves, are creating much hardship.  We’ve asked Iraqi families, “What do you tell your children about why this is happening?”  They shake their heads, “What can we say?  We try to prepare as best we can, but we don’t talk much about why.”  A recently released study documents the serious psychological consequences these continuing U.S. threats of war are having on Iraqi children[3].



25.     “If war is forced upon us, we will fight in a just cause and by just means.”

President Bush seems to have a difficult time accepting responsibility for his own actions.  No one is forcing the United States into war.  The majority of American opinion and the majority of world opinion are very much against this war on Iraq.  It is all too clear that neither the cause nor the means is just.  Is bombing electric generators and water treatment plants just?  Is denying medical equipment and medicines to Iraqi people through economic sanctions just?  Not only are these actions unjust they are violations of the Geneva Convention standards of 1991.



26.     “America is a strong nation and honorable in the use of our strength.  We exercise power without conquest.”

The destruction of more than a million Iraqis is far from honorable.  The installation of U.S. imposed puppet government in Iraq, as the Bush administration has overtly proposed, is conquest given another name.  No one in Iraq is fooled by this.  The President might have been more truthful if he had said, “We exercise power without responsibility.”



27.     “The liberty we prize is not America’s gift to the world; it is God’s gift to humanity.”

Every religious tradition celebrates openness of heart and generosity to all people.  Every tradition deplores inflicting mass suffering on innocent civilians.  A U.S. war on Iraq is opposed by members of every major religion.  God’s gift to humanity is also peace.

[1] Dr. Luay L. Kasha, Director of Al-Mansour Pediatric Teaching Hospital, Baghdad.

[2] International Study Team, Our Common Responsibility: The Impact of a New War on Iraqi Children, January 2003.

[3] International Study Team, Our Common Responsibility: The Impact of a New War on Iraqi Children, January 2003.