Justification for the Iraq War

Yesterday in class we talked about what we knew about the Iraq War. In answer to the question, how many students in this class believe that there was some kind of link between Saddam Hussein and 9/11? half of the class raised their hands.

This is obviously a very important question when it comes to the justification for the Iraq War. Once again, it is very instructive to turn to Wikipedia, this time their extensive page on Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda. According to this resource, "The intelligence community (CIA, NSA, DIA, etc) view, confirmed by the conclusions of the 9/11 Commission Report and the Senate Report of Pre-war Intelligence on Iraq, is that there was not a cooperative effort between the two and that Saddam did not support the 9/11 attacks." And, "the joint FBI-INS-police PENTBOM investigation, the FBI program of voluntary interviews and numerous other post-9-11 inquiries, together comprising probably the most comprehensive criminal investigation in history—chasing down 500,000 leads and interviewing 175,000 people -- has turned up no evidence of Iraq's involvement; nor has the extensive search of post-Saddam Iraq by the Kay and Duelfer commission and US troops combing through Saddam’s computers."

Michigan's senator, Carl Levin, has stated, "The bottom line is that intelligence relating to the Iraq-al-Qaeda relationship was manipulated by high-ranking officials in the Department of Defense to support the administration's decision to invade Iraq. The inspector general's report is a devastating condemnation of inappropriate activities in the DOD policy office that helped take this nation to war."

Another question that came up in class was did Iraq have weapons of mass destruction, specifically nuclear weapons? Wikipedia also has an extensive page on this question. Another very interesting person arguing about the presence of weapons of mass destruction is Scott Ritter, former head of the United Nations weapons investigating team in Iraq.

The same argument is now being used to present an argument that Iran is preparing nuclear weapons.

The Wall

One of the most disturbing things that Jimmy Carter talks about in his book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, is the building of a wall, or walls, around the Gaza Strip and throughout the West Bank. I tried to see what I could learn about the wall on the internet. One website is the Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign with regular news reports on the wall's progress and their succinct Fact Sheet. The Quaker organization, American Friends Service Committee, also has a useful Fact Sheet (AFSC).

There are videos about the wall on U-Tube, including one where a man walks by the wall in his neighborhood, and one where Palestinian youth rap about the wall. There were also a number of videos that added interesting perspectives, including one called If American's Knew what Israel was Doing, News Israel Doesnt' Want You to See, and a debate on Larry King Live between Rabbi Lerner and Dennis Prager.

There is irony and great loss of historical memory in the building of the wall in Palestine. I remember the wall Jewish people were forced to make by the Nazis around the Warsaw Ghetto, where they were squeezed into a confined area, kept from working, starved, and killed.

Palestinians "Detained"

In the novel we are reading, Wild Thorns written in 1976, there are scenes of Palestinians detained in an Israeli prison. This is still an on-going issue in 2007. During the the second Intifada, from 2000-03 there were 28,000 Palestinians incarcerated in prisons or prison camps, according to a Fidh report, a French human rights organization. Such imprisonment includes children and may involve torture according to The Jerusalem Fund. Conditions remain harsh according to the BBC. The website Islam On Line claimed in 2006 that 20% of the Palestinian population has been detained at one point or another. News last week in the Boston Globe about a prisoner release for Ramadan.

1948 War and Palestinian Refugees

"The war will give us the land. The concepts of 'ours' and 'not ours' are only concepts for peacetime, and during war they lose all their meaning." David Ben-Gurion, first Prime Minister of Israel

The Palestinian literature we are reading often has as a reference point the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, the loss of Palestinian land, and the Palestinian refugee crisis. Under the British "mandate" or colonial rule of Palestine (Trans-Jordan) the British supported Jewish immigration, many escaping terrible persecution in Europe. (Many Jewish refugees were turned away from European countries and the United States, and returned to Germany where they died in extermination camps.)

From 1936-39 Arabs in Palestine revolted and were brutally suppressed by the British and Jewish auxiliary troops, and "Special Night Squads" attacked Palestinian villages. By 1947-48 there was civil war in Palestine, and when David Ben-Gurion, a Zionist leader, proclaimed the state of Israel in May of 1948 troops from the surrounding Arab league countries invaded. Eventually Jewish troops prevailed and something over 700,000 Palestinians became refugees, and many Palestinian villages were destroyed.

Today, nearly sixty years later, the Palestinian refugee problem has not been solved and 5 million Palestinians live as refugees, stateless, and lacking citizenship in any country. 8 million Palestinians live directly or indirectly under Israeli military occupation in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and in Israel.

Men in the Sun

Ghassan Kanafani has written a disturbing story about four Palestinian refugees seeking work in Kuwait. Geoff Ferris, a former student of mine, has created a web page of useful information about the novel and resources for teachers.

In 1972 Kanafani was killed by a car bomb in Lebanon he was 36 and had young children. His niece was killed with him. According to Wikipedia Mossad has claimed responsibility. Mossad is Israel's intelligence agency and is responsible for intelligence collection, counter-terrorism, covert operations such as paramilitary activities, and the facilitation of Jewish immigration to the land of Israel.

Steven Spielberg's recent film, Munich, explores the actions of Mossad at the time of Kanafani death.

Ottoman Collapse, Europe, America, and the Modern Middle East

Allen's quick history:

From 1700 the Ottoman Empire began to decline. In 1798 Napoleon took Egypt (which became English in 1882). The rise of nationalism led territories to rebel, Greece (1829) and Serbia, Romania, Montenegro and Bulgaria (1875). Despite a series of modernizing reforms (constitutions, factories, banking, military), the Ottoman Empire was the "sick man of Europe." Just before WWI, Libya was taken by the Italians.

Joining WWI on the side of the Germans the Turks had early victories (the photograph is Kemal Ataturk at Gallipoli). The British fostered an Arab revolt (see the film "Lawrence of Arabia") making promises of independence to the Arab peoples, including Saudis, Syrians, and Palestinians if they would fight with them against the Turks. In a secret deal before the end of the war plans were laid to partition the Middle East and put it under English and French domination. At war's end Istanbul was occupied by the British and French, the sultanate ended, and the empire taken over. In 1922 a rebellion against the Europeans in Turkey led by Kemal Ataturk established modern Turkey as an independent state instituting European laws and dress.

Betraying their promises to the Arabs, the British and French divided the Middle East between them (based on their secret plan) and promised Palestine to the Jews (Balfour Declaration). The British and French created regions of administration to suit themselves. Based on the British promise Jews migrated to Palestine, especially after WWII (see Aliyah). In 1948 an uprising of Jews drove many Palestinians out of Palestine and the state of Israel was declared. Jews from Europe, the Middle East, and, later Russia, flooded in. The 1940s also saw many territories created by the Europeans gaining independence (Iran, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Egypt).

The increasing importance of oil and the discovery of vast reserves led to major intervention in the region by American oil companies and the American government -- in many ways taking the place of the retreating British and French empires. The CIA overthrew a democratic government and installed the Shah of Iran in 1953, for example. The Cold War with Russia led Americans to see nationalists and socialists such as Gamal Abdel Nasser and Sadam Hussein (originally on the CIA payroll) as potential Russian allies and, thus, American enemies. In the Six Day War of 1967 Israel, seen as a client state of America, defended itself from an Arab attack and captured significant land in Egypt, Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon. Although portions were returned, there are still calls by the UN and states in the region for a return to the 1967 borders.

In 1979 an Islamic uprising in Iran toppled the Shah (and led to Americans held as prisoners at the embassy). Soviet intervention in Afghanistan to support a socialist regime inspired the United States to lead a long, "secret" war supporting Islamic "freedom fighters" from the whole region, including the Islamic Brotherhood from Egypt and money from elites in Saudi Arabia. (Osama Ben Laden, a Saudi, was then also on the CIA payroll fighting "godless" communists.)

American efforts against the nationalists and support of traditional kingdoms (who work with American oil companies) and of Islamic fundamentalists (against the "communists" and "socialists") has typically undermined democracy in the region.

Anger against the United States is much intensified by continued American support of Israel (30 billion in military aid now committed for the next ten years) and disregard of the the Palestinians and other Arabs in the region. Add the War in Iraq -- 1 million Iraqis dead -- and the United States is certainly hated by many people in the Middle East.

How does this history influence the way we view 9-11 and "Islamic terrorists"? Who are the terrorists?