Insurgentjg

The war brings along series of crimes in all walks of life! British drug companies GlaxoSmithKline and Astra Zeneca have been ordered by the Serious fraud Office to hand over all the confidential files and correspondence details related to dealings in Iraq under UN oil-for-food programme. Several other British companies most importantly infrastructure firms have been ordered the same disclosure. British firms have been investigated in alleged corruption in there dealings during the final years of Saddam Hussein.
 GlaxoSmithKline denies the allegation saying that  the company does not believes that its employees or their agents in Iraq knowingly engaged in any wrong doing regarding oil for food programme. “In fact, GSK went to considerable lengths to cooperate with UK government authorities responsible for the UK administration of the programme, and to impose anti-corruption measures when dealing with intermediaries in Iraq.”Other firms AstraZeneca and Eli Lilly also confirmed the SFO’s demand for the documents and stated that they will corporate with the British government and SFO’s enquiry.
In a report by Paul Vauker more than 2,200 firms around the world are been alleged for bribery payments beneficial to the Iraqi regime. Report also accuses UN official over the scheme of involvement in corruption. Commenting on US Securities and Exchange Commission’s criminal investigations, SFO said that it is only monitoring the allegations its small specialist investigations unit was expected to play a supportive role in a US-led inquiry. Independent criminal enquiry out of London is only being carried out after SFO’s controversial negligence of investigating involvement of a contract between contract between the British arms manufacturer BAE Systems and Saudi Arabia.
SFO has gained funds of £22m  to pursue oil-for-food allegations against British firms and ministers are hoping that this go some way to restoring Britain’s reputation for tackling UK-based companies involved in overseas corruption.

Nir Rosen views on the surge
In his interview to Mike Whitney, Nir Rosen said that to call operation Iraq a surge is misleading. He said that surge is fast; where this took months. Its more like an ooze in which U.S. barely increased the number of troops, they just forced already stressed American soldiers to stay longer. At the same time, U.S. has doubled their enemies; in addition to Shiite militias they are also encountering the Shiite Mahdi army. Commenting on the level of violence being brought down because of the surge, he said ”Objectively speaking, the violence is down in Baghdad, but that’s mainly due to the failure of the US to establish security. That’s not success…Sure, less people are being killed but that’s because there are less people to kill.”
It’s not the power of surge that has reduced the number of people being killed in Iraq everyday. If you look closely there are different attributes which is bringing the toll down. Firstly, Iraq is a country where violence and civil war has left thousand displaced, Shiite militias trying to get rid of Sunnis while Sunni militias are hunting down Shiites, Kurds and Christians. There are just less people to kill. Secondly U.S. never expected that Mehdi army will be ordered to halt action against Shiites and foreign forces or Sunnis to work with U.S. to prepare for the next battle. One important fact that most living in peace neglects is the truth of humans trying to find normalcy amongst the most abnormal situations. Cont…

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Nir Rosen is the author of In the Belly of the Green Bird: The Triumph of the Martyrs in Iraq. He has spent more than two years in Iraq reporting on the American occupation, his reporting and research is also focused on the origins and development of Islamist resistance, insurgency, and terrorist organizations. He has also reported from Somalia, where he investigated Islamist movements; Jordan, where he investigated the origins and future of the Zarqawi movement; and Pakistan, where he investigated the madrassas and pro-Taliban movements.

Northern Iraq is under constant attack by Turkish planes. In just ten days of the New Year, Turkish warplanes have attacked atleast three suspected Kurdish rebel hideouts in northern Iraq. According to Turkey’s military the planes struck in an “effective pinpoint operation”, targeting eight caves and other hideouts being used by rebels of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). It is also reported that Turkish troops are already set to chase rebels in a province of Turkey nearing Iraqi borders. Everyday tens of rebels are reported dead and several injured with no or nearly no medical aid.
These attacks on Turkish / Kurdish rebels are backed up by the intelligence services provided by US to Turkish government, though none of the reports clearly states that the recent attacks are based upon the same reports. European Union, US and Turkey blames Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).to wage the war in parts of Turkey for autonomous parts. PKK is considered to be terrorist organizations not quiet different from the status of al-Qaeda. Turkish raids on Iraq add’s further in already deteriorated situation of the country. A war in a country where everything is already in tatters because of the war led by no one else but Turkey’s closest ally United States.
 

United Nations, in its 60 years tenure has not been able to come up with the satisfactory definition of terrorism. International Criminal Court has excluded terrorism from its jurisdiction, although it deals with a wide range of crimes including genocide. Terrorism is still an abstract concept but has attracted lots of attention by media and academic circles. Authoritarian governments in many countries have been active in taking actions against terrorism, claiming to be the only savior of the country from the deadly virus. Most importantly after September 11 attacks, US has lead a war against terrorism followed by many other countries who want to get rid of terror by spreading more of it. The cooperation Washington gained for war on terror was even more than the cooperation against the international communism. The European Union and Russia collectively rallied to the US cause.

Opinion about the terrorism and terrorist activities is widely been condoned in US but analyising the political and social causes of terrorism has been avoided. Everyone was supposed to agree to the official line – that an irrational force inspired by a hatred of democracy threatened the planet. None of the books considered here justify terrorism; they analyze its causes and suggest remedies.

Violence with political aims

“Unknown Soldiers” a book by Matthew Carr, is about how terrorism is violence adhered to achieve the political aims. He quoted the example of attacks and assassinations in 19th century Russia by organizations claiming to be inspired the French revolution. In 20th century Balkans were under continuous war(1900-13) and in Ireland after 1916.All over the world colonies rebelled against their oppressors

Freedom fighter and rebel groups were demonized to justify repression by the colonial powers. They referred terrorists as bandits, criminals and vermin. In 1950’s Mau rebels in Kenya were accused of belonging to fiendish sect by the British officials and settlers. Even the New York Times explained Kenyan uprising as their frustration on being unable to embrace the development brought in by civilization. Seven years of revolt resulted in massive killing and displacement. Insurgents killed 32 settlers and 177 members of the security forces, about 100 of them African. Whereas the army and police killed more than 20,000 Mau Mau, with hundreds of thousands of Kenyans injured and driven from their homes. Carr points bring our attention to the fact that colonial conflicts often bring former terrorist leaders to power: Jomo Kenyatta in Kenya, Nelson Mandela in South Africa, Ahmed Ben Bella in Algeria, Menachem Begin in Israel and Anwar Sadat in Egypt.

Authorities never consider motives of terrorists to be legitimate and their social demands & sources of their discontent is never taken into account unless under extreme pressure. American eminent writers have put forward many theories, for instance Professor Huttington in 1993, forecasted the clash of civilizations between the West and Islam. In 1964 the historian Bernard Lewis explained the root cause of Arab Israel war to be the inability of the Muslim world to adapt to modernity.

“Violence to oppose that of their oppressors”

Phil Rees in his book “Dining with terrorists” states that violence is merely a way of raising international awareness of distress. Rees is an investigative journalist who has won several international awards for his work on demystifying the motives of terrorists. He has travelled around the world talking to the leaders of organizations in such a way that none re portrayed as terrorists yet convey their political message across. He brings out the human side of his stories by the photographs to back his description of terrorists’ convictions and give powerful arguments to find more peaceable ways to end the violence.

Rees is a remarkable storyteller, the way he puts forward his interviewees’ point of view, who claim that they resort violence only to oppose their oppressors and some want to force the enemy to negotiate a compromise. Rees also argues that Palestinian response in 1970’s especially the hijacking of the airplanes should be treated as propaganda. The Palestinians are resistance fighters just as the Zionists under British between 1922 to 1948 or as the French during German occupation.
1997 was the year when Rees got know a founder of Hamas Issmael Abu Shanab, who completed his education from US and was penned many books on technology or politics. Abu Shanab after serving eight years in Israeli jails remaed a militant. His point of view was that Palestinians only send their children to die in their fight for freedom as a response to tank shelling, bombs dropped by F16 jets and missiles launched by Apache assault helicopters. Violence, in his point of view is a way to get international attention to distress and oppression. Abu shanab’s car was hit by rocket launcher by an Issraeli helicopter. Abu Shanab was the 138th victim of Issrael’s targeted assassination policy which under international law is considered as war crime.

Stop the war on words

Rees during his visit to Columbia witnessed the Marxist Revolutionary Armed forces and counter revolutionary militia. Both the organizations involved in massive killings, kidnapping of the fellow citizens who were suspected to gain sympathies of rival organization. Rees in his accounts interestingly states that instead of naming these organizations terrorists, it will be a better option to try and getting the conflicting parties problems solved and stop the war on words for the sake of world’s peace. ”(1)Quoting former US ambassadors to Latin America, he points out that the US policy in its backyard has little to recommend it .

In his accounts he also states that blame for the crimes committed in Basque country can not only be blamed on Euskadi ta Askatasuna (ETA) independence movement but also on the Spanish government, and indirectly on US and Europe, fo condemning this terrorism without even initiating a peace dialogue. Stating on the situation in Northern Ireland he says that “a peaceful settlement has been found for a conflict that dragged on for decades and was presented as being religious in origin, therefore intractable: it required long negotiations with the Irish Republican Army.”
Whereas the case of Al- Qaeda is different as Bush and Al-Qaeda both considers the differences between the Judeo Christian West and Islam is the struggle between life and death. There is no question of negotiation or compromise so the hope for the peaceful situation is grim. “The jihad waged by Osama bin Laden is as inflexible as the crusade launched by Bush after 9/11.” Rees comments that to get hold of Al-Qaeda is is the most difficult task because of its varied and vast location between the mountains of Pakistan and Afghanistan and the networking is based just upon a call to its supporters. Now how the Western governments are thinking to deal with such autonomous units is a question to ponder!

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 1- The most recent example is the release on bail on 11 April of Luis Posada Carriles in New Mexico. He is an anti-Castro Cuban exile, who took part in the failed Bay of Pigs invasion in April 1961, and a CIA informer. He masterminded the plan to blow up a Cubana de Aviacion airliner in 1976, killing 73 passengers. After entering the US illegally in 2005 he was charged with breaking immigration laws, invalidating the extradition applications filed by Cuba and Venezuela (from which the doomed flight took off).

This article is rephrased from the article published in Le Monde diplomatique, “Does `global war on terror’ mask a new imperialism?” by Eric Rouleau

MATTHEW CARR: Unknown Soldiers: How Terrorism Transformed the Modern World (Profile Books, London, 2006, 400pps, £20)

PHIL REES: Dining With Terrorists: Meetings With the World’s Most Wanted Militants (Macmillan, London, 2005, 432pps, £7.99)

Charles Tripp in his article suggests that it is time for Iraq to consider the political processes after the bloody wake of war. He also stresses upon the importance of creating the sense of stability and durability of present arrangements. It is time to analyze if these arrangements a source for more ferocious violence or these can actually take the country towards the path of development. Two main patterns prevalent during massive years of violence and population displacement is either the localization of politics on the hands of local politicians from tribal clans or religious or ethnic group and who thrives on the fear and insecurities of Iraqi community. The other pattern is the emergence of politics on the national level under the US auspices, which is treating Iraq more like a colony. Both the emerging patterns of politics are equally dangerous for the future political stability and development of the country.Many Iraqis believe that United States got rid of Saddam Hussein in bargain of fifty other Saddams in form of militias, detention centers, local courts and taxes has become an inevitable part of their daily lives. Some view the whole scenario as a result of increased security and yet others wish to fly somewhere where they will be less visible for being questioned.National institutes are completely invisible to help ordinary individual Iraqi. The fact that more than 40 women are being killed in Basra in past three months is evident of lack of empowerment of individuals and national institutions i.e.. police. Their crime was only that they wore make-up in public not veiling or otherwise failing to observe the narrow rulings of the repressive local militias.

Chares Tripp also refers that even when the national politicians try to make do try to take on this entrenched and violent local power, the chances are that they will lose. His stance was quiet evident in Abu Abed’s “Knights of Ameriya”, who comments on the successful mission of present vise president  Tariq al-Hashemi is that he  had received US money, weapons and protection in the name of the fight against “al-Qaida in Iraq”. (Also see Ghaith Abd al-Ahad, “Meet Abu Abed: the US’s new ally against al-Qaida” The Guardian, November 10, 2007.) The only prosperous region in Iraq was the Kurdistan, but recent years of violence has preceded the peace and prosperity as the two major parties in the region battled each other for supremacy. Ideas implemented by US to settle their differences in 2003, political leaders tried to play bigger game to bring down the government in Baghdad. But the later episodes showed Taliban’s that their politics will remain local. Even the idea of localizing the Iraqi politics is the only way to combat no go areas and efforts by al-Qaeda in Iraq.

According to UNHCR report there is dire need to help Iraqi refugees to have access to education facilities for their children in exile. Report quoted that families who escaped to Syria, hounded from their homeland Baghdad at the end of last year by death threats had have to begin a new struggle as refugees. Reportedly parents are turned down from schools for there is no place to adjust the new comers. One of the family state their plight “We tried to get our four boys and our seven-year old twin girls into school when we arrived, but they told us again and again that the schools were full and there is no space for our children. We cannot put them in a private school, which costs more than $600 per child. We are barely surviving ourselves.” To get 155,000 Iraqi children back into schools, UN refugee council has already launched an appeal for $129 million. Up till now more then 2 million Iraqis have fled to neighboring countries hoping for safety. Primarily people fleeing from violence and terrorizing situations to Syria and Jordan where they end up in other set of problems; access to health and education facilities are only two of them. It is estimated that 300,000 Iraqi school age children only in Syria of whom only 33000 are attending school. According to Jordanian government’s estimates 19, 000 Iraqi children are in fee charging schools whereas at least 50, 000 are not enrolled in any school. ‘’The goal is to get another 100,000 Iraqi children into school in Syria; 50,000 in Jordan; 2,000 in Egypt; 1,500 in Lebanon and 1,500 in other countries in the region.’’ UNHCR has set a hotline in Syria, one of the recordings states the plight of Iraqi father who is trying to get his children registered in the school. He is been asked to wait till September to know if There will be a place for his children after accommodating the local students. It is important to know that one best way to get out of Iraq to the safe borders of Jordan or Syria is to ensure that ones child is enrolled in school. UNHCR and UNICEF are planning to work with collaborative partners and local governments to figure out ways to help out of school refugee children and adolescents. The programme aims to provide help and support to 12,000 poor and vulnerable families through outreach programmes, capacity building of existing schools and identifying new buildings to use as temporary schools, Rehabilitating existing schools, upgrading water and sanitation in schools and also informing Iraqi refugees about opportunities to get their children back into the schools. To put this programme into action more than 4,000 teachers will be required and huge funds required to cover remuneration, training and special costs for instance; providing support to children who have gone through traumatic experiences. Seeing the high influx of refugees, UNHCR intends to do similar programmes in Jordan