|
CounterPunch
October
21, 2002
Resistance
is not Futile
An Interview with Milan Rai
by BEN WHITE
By now the signs are familiar. A build
up of rhetoric and demonisation of the 'other'. Documents and
dossiers on horrible threats. Newspapers fill their pages with
battle plan graphics. War is looming.
At the same time as citizens in Baghdad
wait for the bombs to start falling, and government spokesmen
prepare to wrap their tongues around that poisonous phrase 'collateral
damage', some in Britain are marching to a different beat.
One such campaigner is Milan Rai, founding
member of the anti-war group ARROW, and joint founder of Voices
in the Wilderness UK, the British branch of the sanctions-breaking
group. His book, 'War
Plan Iraq', has just been published, and he is now travelling
the country telling whoever will listen why war must be avoided.
'Regime change' is the phrase of the
moment. America wants it, international law prohibits it, others
warn of the dangerous precedent it would set. Yet surely, some
ask, getting rid of Saddam would benefit the Iraqi people, even
if the motivations for doing so are suspect?
"You have to consider the objective
of 'regime change'," Milan emphasises. "Since 1990
the issue has consistently been about leadership change,
thus allowing for an iron ruler to remain in place,  placating Saudi
Arabia and Turkey." Moreover, this is a policy still favoured.
Milan drew attention to the recent comments made by the White
House spokesman Ari Fleischer when he said that 'regime change'
could be done by "one bullet". "The talk about
coups, fermenting dissent within army circles and parachuting
in exiled Iraqi generals mean that a different face is all the
Americans are concerned with."
Many objections to the war on Iraq centre
on the possible humanitarian disaster that such a conflict could
spark. There is an echo in the warnings that preceded the attack
on Afghanistan, caution some feel was misguided. Milan is keen
to point out however that the number of Afghan dead is an unknown.
"We don't actually know the full extent of the human toll
because nobody has thought it necessary to investigate it thoroughly.
How many lives were lost because there was no pause in the bombing
in October?" Estimates range from 3,000 to 8,000 civilian
deaths due to US bombing, without taking into account those who
died from the cut off of aid.
The Kurds, perennial victims of both
the West's post-colonial map-making and the repression of local
regimes, have seen their persecution at the hands of Saddam raised
like a Papal banner by Bush and Blair. Whether they would actually
benefit from a war, however, is open to question, according to
Milan.
"Their plight will worsen as a consequence
of war. They will be subjected to an Iraqi assault and might
then be incorporated by Turkey into a 'security zone'."
Last week the Turkish Defence Minister specifically suggested
this idea, promising "a show of force if necessary, or an
intervention". The northern no-fly zone illegally set up
by USA and Britain ostensibly to protect the Kurds, has in fact
witnessed numerous, and tolerated, Turkish attacks.
The retort of "well, what would
you do" was frequently fired at critics of 'the war on terrorism'
after September 11th, and sensible replies were mostly lost amongst
the rubble and 'anti-American' smears. Milan gave a nuanced outline
of his alternative. "What is our moral responsibility to
the people of Iraq? I would say it is to take our boot off their
necks, to lift the economic sanctions." He points out the
principal issues with Iraq; weapons of mass destruction and the
humanitarian crisis. "There is in fact an international
consensus over a sensible way to tackle these problems, with
the exceptions of US and Britain."
Milan does not pretend that the Iraqi
government has a perfect record in cooperation, but he does raise
an important point. "Why should the lives of innocents be
conditional on the actions of their government?" It is also
unlikely that any future Iraqi government could accept intrusive
inspections without something similar in Israel and Iran. U.N.
Resolution 687 talks of weapons of mass destruction in the context
of establishing "a nuclear-weapons-free zone in the region
of the Middle East."
Most of the media's focus recently has
been on the diplomatic manoeuvrings at the U.N., but Milan is
under no illusions about this bartering. "The American strategy
will be either to prevent them (the inspectors) from entering
in the first place, or to provoke a crisis when they are there.
At the moment they are trying to table a resolution designed
to be unacceptable."
If a U.N. fig leaf is forthcoming then
Milan predicts some drop in opposition to the war. He will be
personally involved in ARROW's 'Pledge of Resistance', a campaign
of non-violent civil disobedience, the participants of which,
he says, come from a varied background.
Before we finish, Milan asks if he can
add one more thing. "The mainstream debate is focussed on
two options, containment or regime change. This is a choice between
killing Iraqis through sanctions and killing them by bombs. It
is a framework I completely reject."
Ben White
is a student at Cambridge University in England. He can be reached
at: benwhite1983@yahoo.com
Click
here to read Jeffrey St. Clair's review of War Plan Iraq.
Yesterday's
Features
Edward Said
Israel,
Iraq and the United States
Pat Califa
The Necessity of Excess
Michael O'McCarthy
George W. and Alcoholism
Michael Ortiz Hill
Bush's Armageddon
Obsession
Elaine Cassel
Anti-Terrorism: a history of abuses
Russell Mokhiber and
Robert Weissman
Bowling for Baghdad
Anis Shivani
A Left Critique of Multiculturalism
Anthony Gancarski
Concerned Citizen: Episode 4
New
Print Edition of CounterPunch Available Exclusively
to Subscribers:
- How to Change the Subject: Corporate Scandal and Pension
Reform as Weapons Against Warmongering;
- Padilla's Predecessor: Court Ruling Cites 1904 War
Against Mining Union;
- Adios Hitchens: the Dorian Gray of Our Time;
- Object of Suspicion: How the FBI Watched Janis Ian
From Birth;
- First Carter, Then Clinton,
Now Sen. John Edwards:
Another "New South" Slimeball;
- Corporate Crooks: Nature or Nurture?
Remember, the CounterPunch website is
supported exclusively by subscribers to our newsletter. Our worldwide
web audience is soaring , with about seven million hits a month
now. This is inspiring, but the work involved also compels us
to remind you more urgently than ever to subscribe and/or make
a (tax deductible) donation if you can afford it. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe
Now!
Or Call Toll Free 1 800 840 3683
home / subscribe
/ about us
/ books
/ archives
/ search
/ links
/
|
October 14,
2002
Harry Browne
Ireland:
No to War; No to Nice
Don Atapattu
The Tragedy of Alan Dershowitz
Linda Heard
So You
Think You Live in a Democracy?
Bob Feldman
Flashback: Inspecting Nuclear Israel
Adam Engel
The Anger
of Achilles
Anthony Gancarski
The
Washington Post and the Wal-Mart Way
Philip Farruggio
Sleepers
Harold Gould
Islamic
West Asia and US Foreign Policy:
A Tale of Strategic Self-Delusion
Dan Brook
An Open Letter to Barbara Lee
October 12
/ 13, 2002
Alexander
Cockburn
Vindication
Through Violence:
Jimmy Carter and the DC Sniper
Robert Jensen
The American
Political Paradox:
More Freedom, Less Democracy
Ben Tripp
Congratulations! It's a War!
Susan Davis
Proverbial
Wisdom:
Red!
David Krieger
A Bleak Day for America
Anis Shivani
George W. in Therapy
Ken Paff
Where Do Hoffa's Tactics Belong in a Mob-Free Teamsters?
Carol Norris
The Politics of Fear
Elaine Cassel
The Lynne Stewart Case:
When Representing an Accused Terrorist Can Land a Lawyer in Jail
Musa AlShaer
Scenes
from an Occupied Wedding
Anthony Gancarski
Concerned Citizen: a serialized
novel (Episode 3)
M. Shahid
Alam
I Will Fight Your Enemies
October 11,
2002
Jeffrey St.
Clair
Montana
Fusion
Steve Kelly's Wild Ride for Congress
Ralph Nader
Whirlwind
Wheelchair Intl.
Anthony Gancarski
Stayin'
Alive: Notes on Facials and Saving Face
Romi Mahajan
What
War Means to the Iraqi People
Uri Avnery
Israel:
the Jewish Demographic State?
Francis Boyle
Bush's
Banana Republic
Lee Sustar
Taft-Hartley,
Bush and the Dock Workers
Katherine
van Wormer
Dry Drunk
Syndrome and George W. Bush
Jerre Skog
The Blessings
of Growth:
The Greatest Deception of All Time
October 10,
2002
Elson E. Boles
Iraq and
Chemical Weapons:
The US Connection
Senator Russ Feingold
"Confused Justifications and
Vague Proposals": Why I Oppose Bush's War Resolution
William A.
Cook
What Bush
Didn't Tell the UN:
The Case Against Israel
Jorge Mariscal
Chicanos
and Chicanas Say:
"No a la Guerra"
Norman Madarasz
Rio's
Holiest View:
Brazilian Elections 2002
Amir Boroomand
Just
Nod, Please
Fedwa Wazwaz
Falwell,
Graham & Friedman:
Religious Extremism in America
Kurt Nimmo
Condoleezza
Rice at the Waldorf Astoria
Resources:
100s of Links
About 9/11
CounterPunch:
Complete
Coverage of 9/11 and Its Aftermath
Five
Days That
Shook The World:
Seattle and Beyond
By
Alexander Cockburn
and Jeffrey St. Clair
Photos by Allan Sekula
(Click Here to Order from CounterPunch
Online at 20% Off Amazon.com's price!)
Read
Whiteout and Find Out
How the CIA's Backing of the Mujahideen Created the World's Most
Robust Heroin Market and Helped to Finance the Rise of the Taliban
and Osama bin Laden
Whiteout:
CIA, Drugs & the
Press
by Alexander
Cockburn
and Jeffrey St. Clair
|