“People’s Report” on Iraq Offers Alternative US Policy

As a contrast to General Petraeus report to Congress claiming that the United States is making some form of “progress” in Iraq, the national antiwar group United for Peace and Justice (http://www.unitedforpeace.org) has released “Iraq: The People’s Report (http://www.unitedforpeace.org/downloads/peoplesreport.pdf).” The Petraeus report, designed to evaluate “progress” in Iraq, fails to take into account how much the United States occupation has “shattered” the lives of the 25 million people living in Iraq according to United for Peace and Justice. The four-page report prepared with assistance from the Institute for Policy Studies and Veterans for Peace includes a section on what is missing from the Petraeus report, an accounting of the costs of the war to the United States, the costs to the Iraq, and a policy for leaving Iraq.

“The People’s Report” begins by outlining some of the omissions of Petraeus’ report:

It will almost certainly NOT mention the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians dead because of the U.S. war and occupation: the British medical journal Lancet reported 650,000 dead as of two years ago and casualties have increased since.

It will probably NOT say much about the two million Iraqis who have fled the war to seek hard-to-find refuge in neighboring countries, nor the additional two million Iraqis forced by war-fueled violence to flee their homes and who remain displaced and homeless inside Iraq.

It will very likely NOT mention that most Iraqis have electricity for only about five hours a day, that clean water remains scarce for most and unobtainable for many, and that Iraq’s oil production remains a fraction of what it was before war.

It is NOT likely to highlight the fact that the Pentagon has already spent $456 billion or so of our tax dollars, occupation, war and violence have so devestated the Iraqi economy that unemployment has reached up to 40% and higher, and underemployment an additional 10% or more.

If the report has anything close to a true assessment, it would acknowledge that the lives of people in 2007 Iraq are worse than ever.

In order to prove that “the lives of people in 2007 Iraq are worse than ever,” the report cites the following:

Iraqi Civilian Casualties: estimates range from 71,017 – 600,000+

Iraqi Police and Security Forces Killed: 7,391

Number of resistance fighters in Iraq:

November 2003 estimate: 5,000 fighters

March 2007 estimate: 70,000

Iraq’s war-related deaths per day:

2006: 33

2007: 62

Unemployment: 25% – 60%

Unemployment in the U.S. during the Great Depression: 25%

Health Costs:

80% of people lack effective sanitation

70% lack access to regular clean water

Chronic child malnutrition rate: 21% (est)

Number of doctors before the invasion: 34,000

Number of doctors who have left: 12,000 (est)

Refugee Crisis:

Internally displaced: 1,135,000

Living Abroad: 2.2-2.4 million

Refugees admitted to the U.S. since April 2003: 701

Finally, the report offers an alternative policy to that presented by General Petraeus and the Bush administration. This policy is based on the fact that “we do not have the right to determine Iraq’s future” and outlines what United for Peace and Justice is truly a “responsible redeployment:”

First: Announce a timetable for the immediate, rapid and complete withdrawal of U.S. and coalition troops and mercenaries, and simultaneously end U.S. offensive operations. Such a halt will give substance to U.S. claims that it does not intend to occupy Iraq indefinitely, and is serious about bringing all the troops home. It will remove a key justification for the anti-U.S. resistance, and will make possible the beginnings of negotiations with resistance forces leading to a full ceasefire. Congress should not approve any additional funding, except to provide for the safe return of the troops.

Second: The U.S. should immediately announce the closure of all U.S. military bases in Iraq as soon as U.S. troops, coalition troops, and mercenaries are out of the country.

Third: The U.S. should immediately stop its effort to force Iraq’s parliament to pass an oil law that privileges U.S. and other international oil companies. The U.S. should announce that control of Iraq’s oil belongs solely to the people of Iraq, and that Iraq’s own decisions regarding its oil production will have no bearing on U.S. obligations for reconstruction and reparations.

Fourth: Provide economic and political support for reconstruction and for maintaining national unity in Iraq. Reconstruction funds should be turned over to the Iraqi government to enable them to hire local contractors, local suppliers, and local workers, while remaining contracts with U.S. based corporations should be cancelled or otherwise settled, so as to free funds currently committed to U.S. contractors to be made available directly to Iraqis. We should make clear that additional reconstruction and reparation funds will be forthcoming after the end of the U.S. occupation of Iraq.

Fifth: The U.S. should stop trying to train Iraqi military and police forces, and instead turn over remaining training funds to the United Nations for use after the end of the U.S. occupation. The U.S. should stop trying to create Iraq’s military in its own image and for its own interests.

Sixth: Support a regional conference under Arab League or United Nations auspices to produce a regional nonaggression pact. Iran, Turkey, Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia all are key to Iraq’s ability to control its own future, and all have strong interests in supporting Iraq’s unity and stability. Such a conference’s success would be determined by other countries’ and other people’s belief that the U.S. no longer intends to dominate and control Iraq’s politics. The U.S. should make clear that international law, not U.S. military power, should be determinative in setting the role of the international community.

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4. Bush Speech in East Grand Rapids Praises his Policy, Offers Little Supporting Evidence
5. Report Highlights Long-term Costs of the Iraq War