Leaked US-Iraqi Agreement - Permanent Bases, Indefinite Occupation

AFSC posts first English translation of U.S.-Iraq draft agreement*

WASHINGTON, DC (Sept. 3) – At the end of 2008, the current U.N. mandate for the United States military presence in Iraq expires. Will the U.S. stay, or will it withdraw its troops?

An Arabic-language version of a draft agreement has appeared in media outlets in Iraq, but has not been reported on in the United States. The American Friends Services Committee today posts the first known public English translation.

Members of the U.S. and Iraq executive branches have worked to define what will happen with the U.S. troops, but. neither government had announced an agreement. Both the U.S. Congress and the Iraqi parliament have expressed strong resistance to such a measure. The Iraqi parliament, in particular, opposes establishing such an agreement with an occupying power. The agreement would have significant implications for the future of the U.S. military presence, permanent bases, and other aspects of continuing U.S. occupation in Iraq.

Raed Jarrar, AFSC Iraq consultant, has translated this draft to better inform U.S. policymakers, media, and interested members of the public.

*copied entirely from the AFSC website

To read a transcript of an interview between Raed Jarrar, the translator of the document, and Amy Goodman of Democracy Now, follow this link or watch the video of this interview (real player)

"Maybe a major point that is related to this discussion is the fact that the agreement legitimizes or legalizes these long-term bases, that indefinite number of US troops will stay there."

Liberation Takes More Lives than Genocide

A recent study published in Lancet places the total death toll resulting from the US-led invasion of Iraq at 655,000 people as of 2006. In Darfur the total deaths are estimated to be 450,000 resulting from genocide. The USA states that one of its overall purposes for being in Iraq is to liberate the people from an oppressive regime and install democracy. However, when we look at the numbers it appears that even genocide takes fewer lives from a country than liberation.

In both cases the number of lives taken is outrageously high and similarly in both cases it can be equally argued whether the ends justify the means. If the world’s nations are united in saving the people of Darfur, then where are they assembling to save the people of Iraq?

All nations have common interests in the Middle East, however the military solution has already proven fatal for more than 2.5% of the population of Iraq, 4 million Iraqi’s have been displaced (14%), 60,000 people continue to be displaced every month, and scores of others are wounded. It seems prudent at this point to consider a multi-lateral diplomatic approach to the achievement of our goals, lest we find ourselves with no one left to liberate.

UNHCR - UN Refugee Agency - Iraq Situation

Read Full Lancet Study Here – (Sign up for free)

Pentagon ‘three-day blitz’ plan for Iran

September 2, 2007 --- The Sunday Times --- Sarah Baxter, Washington

THE Pentagon has drawn up plans for massive airstrikes against 1,200 targets in Iran, designed to annihilate the Iranians’ military capability in three days, according to a national security expert.

Alexis Debat, director of terrorism and national security at the Nixon Center, said last week that US military planners were not preparing for “pinprick strikes” against Iran’s nuclear facilities. “They’re about taking out the entire Iranian military,” he said.

Debat was speaking at a meeting organised by The National Interest, a conservative foreign policy journal. He told The Sunday Times that the US military had concluded: “Whether you go for pinprick strikes or all-out military action, the reaction from the Iranians will be the same.” It was, he added, a “very legitimate strategic calculus”.

President George Bush intensified the rhetoric against Iran last week, accusing Tehran of...(read full article here)

War Cannot be Justified to the Dead

"What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans, and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty and democracy?" - Ghandi

The Great Turning

David Korten, author of When Corporations Rule the World, and more recently The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community, implores us to replace dominator-control stories with new stories -- affirming life values of cooperation, community and interdependence.