Insurgentjg

The devastating attack on the World Trade Centre in 2001 changed the whole picture of the world’s politics. Nine days after the September eleven attacks the American President George W. Bush launched a ‘War on Terror’. This war was authorized on September 18, 2001, by the United States Congress under the Authorization for Use of Military Force against Terrorists. This war basically begun to erase the very roots of the terrorist groups with global reach, however it extended to include the Iraqi regime as well. The Iraqis have witnessed two wars in the past. One of which was the bloody Gulf War, therefore they know what a war is and its terrible cost. 650,000 Iraqi civilians have been estimated dead in this war.

The war on terror has encouraged torture, rape and other extreme human right abuses that have gone beyond its main objective. Even the most disciplined and restrained soldiers take advantage of their power and the surrounding conditions of war has allowed others to take advantage as well. It is a fact that most forces of war do not have self control. The forces use hunger and deprivation of water as weapons of war against the civilian population. Most of them on purpose use certain tactics to intimidate those they consider their rivals for example the Iraqis are exposed to white phosphorus that can burn the flesh by the U.S soldiers.

 “In Iraq, a fresh outbreak of violence, includes an attack on a family in the native village of former president Saddam Hussein, has left 22 people dead and 14 others injured. Nine people from one family were shot dead in the village of Ouja north of Baghdad, the police said. Gunmen stormed in the early hours of Thursday the home of a building contractor and killed him and his wife and children.” On the other hand in the bewildered situation of war the Iraqis take their revenge from the U.S soldiers to resolve their grievances through revenge killing or other forms of revolt.

 Someone who has lost a loved one in the recent bomb blasts in Pakistan can understand the pain that the Iraqis are going through. The lives of the people who are dependant on that person come to an unexpected end forever. War creates orphans and bereaved family members. War on terror is an unjust operation especially infants who play no role in waging a war invariably suffer. The trauma in so intense that the children can not get out of the shock all their life. Mothers plead the officers to pick the dead bodies lying on the streets so that their children will be spared from the horror of looking at them on their way to school.

 The lives of the Iraqis have been changed forever; they do not have even the basic needs, they depend on the aid to get their food supplies. Even cultivation has become impossible which is terrible for a country which has two major rivers running through it. The water supplies have been damaged. The domestic and health conditions have been extremely deteriorated. The death toll especially in infants is extremely high: 1 in 8 children die by the age 5. Local and international aid flooded into Iraq in 2004, the year following the invasion, but much of the supply was blocked off after the kidnapping of many aid activists in the country. The food the Iraqis did get was often not what they needed, or wanted. The Iraqis do not feel comfortable receiving food aid when they exported food in the past. Iraq has been a field of aid NGOs since the U.S. occupation began and many of those NGOs brought foodstuff that is not what Iraqis were used to but they had to take it due to the need they were facing. Under the occupation, Iraqis are getting much of their food from companies in Australia and other countries who assisted the United States during the invasion and occupation. This food has often been of low quality.

 68 % of the Iraqis are without clean water and 81 percent are without working sewers. The already damaged water and sanitation system can further be damaged if the power stations are hit. This can lead to epidemics such as cholera and hepatitis. According to the United Nations, “the outbreak of diseases in epidemic if not pandemic proportions is very likely”. The greatest risk is to the water and sanitation due to war. There is an increase in the development of weapons of mass destruction, therefore the war itself and its preparation is the largest source of pollution on earth. The chemical toxins that are dropped may effect the population for two decades and may have disastrous effects on the future generations. Millions of Iraqis are suffering from catastrophic situations that are further getting worse. The medical professionals are fleeing from Iraq after witnessing the abduction of their colleagues.

 There have been political, financial and operational problems surrounding the provision of aid and the reconstruction of Iraq. In particular there has been a difficulty in striking a balance between the US and the UK fulfilling their responsibilities to provide aid and assist in rebuilding and their control of the process to the detriment of its effectiveness. In October 2003, the US pledged 20 billion dollars for reconstruction in Iraq. This amount is equal to one and a half times the USA’s annual development aid budget. Pledges by other donors were far smaller, but those like the UK, the European Commission or Spain that have pledged an amount equivalent to 20% of their annual development budget for Iraq will have to dig deep. The politicization of relief complicates the provision of aid, and may yet scupper the effective reconstruction of Iraq. Using humanitarian aid as a political or military tool to woo the ‘hearts and minds’ of the Iraqi population risks prolonging suffering, entrenching unilateralism and reducing the willingness of states to contribute towards the rebuilding of Iraq.

 With the horrible conditions prevailing in Iraq it would not be wrong to say that this is not a war on terror rather this is a war of terror.

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References

http://www.casi.org.uk/briefing/030416aid.html
http://www.iraqanalysis.org/
http://www.whereistheoutrage.net/wordpress/category/war-on-terror/
http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/48

This article is based on class readings and discussions by Anum Khan