Open letter to Iraq
To (Iraqi) :
There are many Americans who are deeply distressed and believe that the destruction that is occurring in your nation of Iraq is disgraceful. I am one of them.
I am an official with the Indianapolis Peace & Justice Center, which is part of the global Peace Community of the United States, Europe, Asia, South America(s) and Africa. For fourteen years we have opposed violence against the Iraqi people. The purpose of this letter is to ask if the Peace Community may begin working with you, as a peace leader, to bring honesty, integrity, healthcare, education, food, clean water and a condition of non-violence to both our nations. The president of the United States has been granted at least two billion dollars to repair the destruction that America brought with its war. Mr. Bush has chosen to spend very little of it. Now he wants to divert the money for repairing your society into his army and into more munitions. You may see television images of America offering prosperity to many. However, the middle income and poor people in America have the same problems that are unaddressed by the Bush administration in Iraq. Poverty in the United States is growing at a significant rate and the result is increasing violence, just as in Iraq.
If the leaders of the United States and the UN Security Council had been willing to talk with and fully support leaders such as you, perhaps you and the Iraqi people could have made the changes that you desire for your nation. Everyone would then have understood that the killing of endless thousands of Iraqis and destruction of their property is a direct violation of international law and all treaties the United States has signed. I am very sorry that not enough of us in the Peace Community knew who you were so that you, I and the others could have begun many years ago working together for peace and the well being of our populace.
It now appears that my nation is still the central cause of the destruction that is occurring in your society. George W. Bush has on many occasions stated to the American media that he is intentionally "attracting terrorists into Iraq so that Americans will not be bothered by them." President Bush's stated program sends devastating violence into your homes, schools, mosques and your marketplaces. Many of your most beautiful cities are now destroyed. It is believed, by Americans who believe as he does, that people in your part of the world do not love their families, their schools, their homes, or their places of worship, as much as do Americans. On certain occasions during the US presidential election campaign, Mr. Bush declares that he "supports" the Iraqi people. Yet, Mr. Bush's policies are not capable of addressing the root causes of terrorist violence anywhere.
The program of Mr. Bush to "attract terrorists into Iraq," also expresses a disreputable belief about people of other races and religions. Most Americans do not notice the racist character of Mr. Bush's program as they hear him stating it, because such racism remains entrenched amongst certain groups of American citizens. However, if most Americans understood that "attracting violence into Iraq," is a racist policy, I believe that they would immediately withdraw their support from Mr. Bush's reprehensible policy. With your help, we can enable Americans to understand this.
We citizens who are under the rule of Mr. Bush have learned to look underneath his speeches to see what is in fact occurring: The violence that we now see across Iraq clearly demonstrates this core belief that the Iraqi people are less deserving than other people and can absorb all levels of violence. From the very first day of the US invasion of your nation on March 18, 2004, the financial, security and reconstruction resources of the US have been primarily used for protecting the oil fields, not the people, of Iraq. Mr. Bush's most recent statement that he will divert the reconstruction money of Iraq to his army is to provide specific protection for oil interests.
The first reason that Mr. Bush proposed for invading of your nation was "weapons of mass destruction." However, such a reason had nothing to do with the well being of the Iraqi people. When chemical weapons attacked the Kurdish people of Iraq in 1988 the United States, through Mr. Bush's father and President Reagan was a partner of Saddam, supplied him with the chemical agents and did not actively oppose his use of the weapons. Also, Donald Rumsfeld, the current Secretary of Defense, was a party to that alliance with Saddam. In fact, George W. Bush on many occasions stated that it would be better for Israel if Saddam Hussein could be removed from office. Bush has stated, "with Saddam Hussein removed the Palestinians will no longer have him as a sponsor, and the Palestinian problem can be solved." Since no "weapons of mass destruction" have been found, the US President now proclaims that his invasion was to "help Iraqi become a democracy." If the government that Mr. Bush is putting in your country is a "democracy" that has your support, then, eventually the situation of violence may ease. At this date the level of violence is rising. We in the Peace Community will support you in whatever form of government best enables Iraqi leaders to build the well-being of all your citizens.
The people of my nation are paying in tax money for the occupation of Iraq. What citizens of America do not fully understand is that we are primarily paying to secure the investment of American oil companies; their objective is to maximize their control over Iraqi oil fields. The people of your nation are paying the enormous cost in lives of mothers, fathers and children who are killed and crippled. The areas under attack in your nation are called "battlefields" on American television. Americans are not allowed to see that the battlefield is the homes, farms, schools, nurseries, marketplaces and mosques of the Iraqi people. The continuity of your ancient and revered culture is now under serious threat. The cost of rebuilding your buildings and personal property is incalculable. Mr. Bush is spending very little. Your religious and cultural treasures can never be replaced. As an American, I am deeply ashamed that families whose members have been killed or permanently injured can never be repaid. By now you have observed that the US military routinely kills first and believes that offering American tax money to the families of its victims will settle everything, later.
I hope that you agree that putting your nation back in control over its oil and other national resources helps begin the process of national healing. I believe that the day that both America and Iraq have heads of state that announce that "Iraqi oil wealth is dedicated to the Iraqi people," then the hatred and resentment of America will diminish. However, America must first have a leader who wants the Iraqi people to have control over and benefit from their own oil wealth. There is no evidence that George W. Bush is such a leader.
Those of us in the peace community of the United States and Europe opposed the eleven years of military attacks on Iraqi citizens by the United States and Britain in the so-called, "no-fly zones." I am aware that often those attacks were not confined to such a "zone," but rather, extended throughout Iraq. We looked in horror as Canadian and other news sources from outside the US often reported the innocent men, women and children being killed. We could not depend on these deaths being reported by US news sources. We understood that those eleven years of regular attacks, along with the UN Sanctions and the additional murders and vicious corruption of Saddam Hussein, devastated the Iraqi people. Many of us in the global Peace Community spent time in Iraq attempting to help Iraqis overcome these three plagues. The month before Mr. Bush launched his War in March 2003, I, from here, spent much time on the phone with peace workers in Iraq. Those of us in the Peace Community were working hard to continue helping the Iraqi people overcome Saddam Hussein and the Baathists while also deflecting a military invasion of your precious society by the army of George W. Bush.
The same group of decision makers rules both your nation and my nation. What happens in Iraq is decided by the regime of George W. Bush and John Negroponte his appointee in Baghdad. And what happens in the United States is decided by the regime of George W. Bush. Because the Bush government rules both our nations, and he is a great influence over the direction of your great nation, you are a direct party to the elections that will occur in the Untied States on November 2, 2004. You may not desire to be a party to the US elections, but your opinion on the oil contracts and these other matters is vitally important. I would like to make your opinions known to people of peace in America and also the global Peace Community. I would also like to make your ideas about the American occupation, and return of Iraqi oil and Iraqi sovereignty, known to all candidates for US presidency who will genuinely support the Iraqi people.
Neither the Coalition Authority nor the Interim Iraqi Government or the new US Embassy in Baghdad have revealed any program that insures the oil wealth of Iraq goes to its citizens for permanent health care, education, culture, water purification and other matters. Your opinion is vitally important on these facts.
Most importantly, I would like to propose that you and I work together to design an Iraqi National Trust into which the oil wealth of Iraq, instead of going to private companies, would go to insure that each Iraqi citizen receives adequate health care, education, food support and other matters that you feel are important. You and I both have many talented financial, technology, spiritual, cultural and other types of experts who would be delighted to join us in such an endeavor.
I am not a man of great power. However, I am a man of great conscience. I respectfully ask you to allow us to move forward together before the middle of October 2004.
I wish you peace and I will do my part to help bring peace to you and me.
In trust,
Keni Washington
Indinapolis Peace & Justice Center
Indianapolis, IN USA 46205
