What if they gave a war and nobody noticed?
by Ramsey Kysia

The dictionary defines “state of war” as,
 
1a: a state of actual armed hostilities regardless of a formal
declaration of war; 2a: a state of hostility, conflict, or
antagonism; b: a struggle or competition between opposing
forces or for a particular end.

We are at war. We are at war with the government, and
with the people, of Iraq. We have been at war with them for
almost ten years. And what bothers me most about this
war, aside from the actual war itself, is that it has somehow
become “controversial” to even acknowledge it. We are at
war, and the mere act of mentioning that, of making that
simple, declarative statement, is a controversy.

For over a year, in what is now the longest running air-war
since Vietnam, we have been bombing Iraq on the average
of 3-4 times a week. We have bombed Iraqi military and
intelligence facilities. We have bombed radar stations. We
have bombed communication centers. We have also
bombed oil fields and oil pipelines, farms and food
warehouses, water supplies, hospitals, schools, and civilian
neighborhoods. But we say that somehow this is not war.

We say that we bomb Iraq only in “self-defense.” What
does that mean when, after over a year of bombing
missions, Iraq has not managed to hit one of our planes—
let alone shoot one down?

We say that we enforce the “no-fly-zones” to protect the
people living under them. What does that mean when we
continue to allow Turkish planes to violate those zones, fly
over Iraq, and drop bombs on those same people? What
does it mean when we continue to bomb those same
people ourselves?

We deny that we are targeting civilians with our bombing
campaign. We refuse to believe it. And when we are
confronted with independent, UN or international press
reports of civilian casualties, we say that these are
“accidents.” How we can consistently bomb civilians and
civilian infrastructure by accident is something I do not
understand.

We say that we are engaged in our non-war because we
are fundamentally opposed to “weapons of mass
destruction.” If we are, if that is true, then why do we
continue to use a weapon of mass destruction against
Iraq? Sanctions are a form of collective punishment, and, in
Iraq, they have indiscriminately killed over 1,000,000
people. Sanctions are the greatest single weapon of mass
destruction at work in the world today.

Since August 6th, 1990, we have enforced a world-wide
blockade on all trade with Iraq. Because of this blockade,
there are critical shortages of food and medicine in Iraq.
Because of this blockade, Iraq has been unable to rebuild
the civilian infrastructure (specifically, electrical plants and
water and sewage treatment centers) that we so thoroughly
destroyed during “Desert Storm.” Because of this blockade-
-these “Sanctions”--over 1,000,000 people, mostly children,
have died from malnutrition and disease. According to the
UN, a child dies every 10 minutes in Iraq because of
Sanctions. And somehow this too is still not war.

The UN started an “oil-for-food” program in 1997 to try to
address the massive crisis caused by our non-war. Denis
Halliday, Assistant Secretary General in charge of “oil-for-
food” and a 34 year veteran at the UN, resigned in protest
over the inability of this program to address this crisis. He
has called the Sanctions an act of “Genocide.” Hans Von
Sponek, the current director of “oil-for-food” and a 30 year
veteran at the UN, has called Sanctions a “crime.” All of the
money generated by this program is controlled by the UN,
and over 30% of it goes to pay reparations to Kuwait and to
Corporations that lost business or property during the Gulf
War. The budget for the “Office of the Iraq Program” at the
UN is paid for by Iraqi oil, and it is larger than the budget of
the entire rest of the UN combined. But even if all of the
money from “oil-for-food” were directly spent on food and
medicine for Iraq, it would only amount to some 50-60¢ per
person per day. And if Saddam Hussein plays politics with
this program, then so too do we when we place indefinite
“holds” on orders for medical supplies, or deny Iraq
schoolbooks and pencils, claiming that these are “dual-use”
items that could potentially be used for weapons programs.

We deny that we are killing civilians with our “Sanctions.”
We refuse to believe it. And when we are confronted with
independent, UN or NGO reports of civilian casualties, we
say that these deaths are either all “Saddam’s fault,” or that
they are the “price” of containing him. We say that this
“price” is “worth it.” How we can believe that we are starving
hundreds of thousands of children to death in the interests
of “peace” is beyond me. How we can believe that “who’s
responsible” is somehow important to the reality of this
Genocide is also beyond me.

1,000,000 people are dead. They are dead. 5,000 children
die, for lack of adequate food, medicine, or clean water,
each and every month. They do die. They continue to die. I
traveled to Iraq in August of 1999 with Voices in the
Wilderness. I visited hospitals in Baghdad, Basra and
Ammara. In one of the richest countries in the world, I saw
ward after ward filled with dying children. I saw their
distended bellies, oversized heads, undernourished bodies.
These children did not even have the strength to cry. And
their brothers and sisters that were still alive— as they
stood a deathwatch over their dying siblings, they told us
that they would rather die from the bombs than from the
Sanctions because, “at least the bombs are quick.”

1,000,000 people are dead. Thousands more die every
month. Regardless of “who’s responsible,” these facts have
made absolutely no difference to either our goals or tactics
in prosecuting our non-war. What does that say about us?

We say that Iraq threatens us. How well do you think the
average Iraqi citizen, listening to our planes flying overhead
daily, cringing at the explosions of our bombs, struggling to
make ends meet in a devastated economy, watching their
children suffer and, often, die— how well do you think they
react to our “fear”? Iraq killed roughly 150 U.S. soldiers
during “Desert Storm.” We killed, roughly, 150,000 Iraqi
soldiers and civilians during those same six weeks. No
Americans have been killed since then, and over 1,000,000
Iraqis have died. Are we allowed to ask, honestly— who
threatens who?

After ten years of war in Vietnam, there were thousands of
Americans working, very hard, to end that war. There were
demonstrations and protests. There were discussions and
denouncements. There was debate. After ten years of war
in Iraq, most people in this country are not even aware that
there is a war. And our massive silence is taken as consent
by our government.

I will not consent. I will not be silent. I will not allow my
government to bomb civilians. I will not allow my
government to starve children. I will not allow my
government to kill 1,000,000 people in my name. I will
oppose this war. I will do everything I can to oppose it.

What will you do?