'In Less than Three Years’ : The cliché of US sponsored “democracy” to justify invasion and mass murder
by Ghali Hassan
Global Research, February 4, 2006
GlobalResearch.ca
...In less than three years, the Iraqi people have lost their sovereignty and national constitution. They were replaced with fake sovereignty and a U.S.-crafted constitution that strips Iraqi women of all of their human rights and divides Iraq along sectarian and ethnic lines. In addition, Iraqis have lost their freedom, including freedom of movement, and their rights to organise and protest. They are replaced by insecurity, curfews, and martial laws.
In less than three years, the U.S. orchestrated three illegitimate and fraudulent elections in order to manipulate public opinions, Americans in particular, and legitimise the Occupation. The elections were unfair, undemocratic, and based on sectarianism rather than politics. Indeed, all the so-called “parties” are divided on sectarian lines and do not subscribe to any political ideology. As mentioned earlier, the U.S. aim was to produce a puppet government devoid of nationalism and totally dependent on U.S. forces, and bent on carrying out U.S. colonial agenda. It is traditional pattern of Western colonialism. Colonisers have always used the clichés of “democracy” and “human rights” to manipulate their citizens into believing that their governments are morally responsible and have no evil intention.
In less than three years, without the participation of the Iraqi people, the Bush and Blair governments, and the puppet government are in the process of transferring Iraq's entire economy into a “free market” economy to serve U.S. corporate interests. The long-awaited covert plan to transfer Iraq's oil resources to U.S. and British Oil Corporations is on the table. According to the so-called production sharing agreements (PSAs) – proposed by the U.S. State Department before the 2003 invasion and put aside to be implemented after the December 15 2005 illegitimate elections – Iraqis are set to lose control of their own economic and political fate. (See my Endless Looting of Iraq).
In less than three years, Iraq has gone from a major oil exporter to an importer of oil and petroleum products. Iraqi oil prices have increased dramatically, and for the first time Iraqis are queuing to buy petrol. Many Iraqis believe that it is cheaper to buy a barrel of oil in Kuwait and bring by limousine to Iraq than buy it in Iraq.
Iraq and the Laws of War
by Professor Francis A. Boyle
Global Research, December 21, 2005
GlobalResearch.ca
If there were any doubt about this matter, paragraph 358 of U.S. Army Field Manual 27-10 (1956) makes this legal fact crystal clear:
358. Occupation Does Not Transfer Sovereignty
Being an incident of war, military occupation confers upon the invading force the means of exercising control for the period of occupation. It does not transfer the sovereignty to the occupant, but simply the authority or power to exercise some of the rights of sovereignty. The exercise of these rights results from the established power of the occupant and from the necessity of maintaining law and order, indispensable both to the inhabitants and the occupying force. . . .
Therefore, the United States government never had any "sovereignty" in the first place to transfer to its puppet Interim Government of Iraq. In Iraq the sovereignty still resides in the hands of the people of Iraq and in the state known as the Republic of Iraq, where it has always been. The legal regime described above will continue so long as the United States remains the belligerent occupant of Iraq. Only when that U.S. belligerent occupation of Iraq is factually terminated can the people of Iraq have the opportunity to exercise their international legal right of sovereignty by means of free, fair, democratic, and uncoerced elections. So as of this writing, the United States and the United Kingdom remain the belligerent occupants of Iraq despite their bogus "transfer" of their non-existent "sovereignty" to their puppet Interim Government of Iraq...
This brings the analysis to the so-called Constitution of Iraq that was allegedly drafted by the puppet Interim Government of Iraq under the impetus of the United States government. Article 43 of the 1907 Hague Regulations on land warfare flatly prohibits the change in a basic law such as a state's Constitution during the course of a belligerent occupation: "The authority of the legitimate power having in fact passed into the hands of the occupant, the latter shall take all the measures in his power to restore, and ensure as far as possible, public order and safety, while respecting, unless absolutely prevented, the laws in force in the country." This exact same prohibition has been expressly incorporated in haec verba into paragraph 363 of U.S. Army Field Manual 27-10 (1956). To the contrary, the United States has demonstrated gross disrespect toward every law in Iraq that has stood in the way of its imperial designs and petroleum ambitions, including and especially the pre-invasion 1990 Interim Constitution for the Republic of Iraq. Most recently, to the same effect is U.N. Security Council Resolution 1637 of 9 November 2005, which extends the foreign military occupation of Iraq until 31 December 2006 but expressly subject to Annex II thereof setting forth a 29 October 2005 letter by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to the President of the Security Council guaranteeing that: "The forces that make up the MNF will remain committed to acting consistently with their obligations under international law, including the law of armed conflict." Thereunder, the new Iraqi government that will be installed after the self-styled elections of 15 December 2005 will still remain a puppet government according to the laws of war.
http://www.counterpunch.org/dawoody05172004.htmlThe ninth mistake was authoring Iraq's new Provisional Constitution by an American named Noah Fieldman, without the participation or input from the Iraqi people. Most Iraqis have rejected this constitution as illegal.
Looting By Another Name
The Corporate Takeover of Iraq's Economy
By KEVIN ZEESE
http://www.counterpunch.org/zeese05102006.htmlPrior to the invasion, Bearing Point received a $250 million contract from US AID to develop a blueprint for the remaking of Iraq's economy into a 'free-market' economy friendly to U.S. corporate interests. Bremer's job was to implement the Bearing Point plan. Juhasz points out that while there may have been an inadequate military plan, there was in fact a plan for the takeover and remaking of the economy of Iraq.
Bremer had the power to create laws by issuing "binding instructions or directives." Bremer issued 100 Orders, Juhasz in 2005 interview describes some of the key orders:
"Order No. 39 allows for: (1) privatization of Iraq's 200 state-owned enterprises; (2) 100% foreign ownership of Iraqi businesses; (3) "national treatment" - which means no preferences for local over foreign businesses; (4) unrestricted, tax-free remittance of all profits and other funds; and (5) 40-year ownership licenses.
"Thus, it forbids Iraqis from receiving preference in the reconstruction while allowing foreign corporations - Halliburton and Bechtel, for example - to buy up Iraqi businesses, do all of the work and send all of their money home. They cannot be required to hire Iraqis or to reinvest their money in the Iraqi economy. They can take out their investments at any time and in any amount.
"Orders No. 57 and No. 77 ensure the implementation of the orders by placing U.S.-appointed auditors and inspector generals in every government ministry, with five-year terms and with sweeping authority over contracts, programs, employees and regulations.
"Order No. 17 grants foreign contractors, including private security firms, full immunity from Iraq's laws. Even if they, say, kill someone or cause an environmental disaster, the injured party cannot turn to the Iraqi legal system. Rather, the charges must be brought to U.S. courts.
"Order No. 40 allows foreign banks to purchase up to 50% of Iraqi banks.
"Order No. 49 drops the tax rate on corporations from a high of 40% to a flat 15%. The income tax rate is also capped at 15%.
"Order No. 12 (renewed on Feb. 24) suspends "all tariffs, customs duties, import taxes, licensing fees and similar surcharges for goods entering or leaving Iraq." This led to an immediate and dramatic inflow of cheap foreign consumer products - devastating local producers and sellers who were thoroughly unprepared to meet the challenge of their mammoth global competitors."
Full interview at:
http://democracyrising.us/content/view/180/164/.The result of these orders was to create an economic environment more favorable to U.S. corporations than laws in the United States. As a result Iraq corporations, and Iraqi workers have been excluded from the rebuilding of Iraq. And, the Iraq reconstruction has failed to provide adequate electricity, food, sewage treatment and even gasoline--but U.S. corporations have profited handsomely from this failed reconstruction.
Juhasz describes the impact of U.S. policies on the Iraqi economy:
"The new economic laws have fundamentally transformed Iraq's economy, applying some of the most radical, sought-after corporate globalization policies in the world and overturning existing laws on trade, public services, banking, taxes, agriculture, investment, foreign ownership, media, and oil, among others. The new laws lock in sweeping advantages to U.S. corporations including greater U.S. access to, and corporate control of, Iraq's oil. And the benefits have already begun to flow. Between 2003 and 2004 alone, the value of U.S. imports of Iraqi oil increased by 86 percent and then increased again in the first three quarters of 2005."
To further embed a U.S. corporate economy in Iraq, the Iraq Constitution contained provisions that approve the Bremer Orders. The new Iraqi Constitution specifically repealed the Transitional Administrative Law, but did no such thing for Bremer's Orders and therefore they continue to be the law of the land. Thus, U.S. corporations continue their hold on the reconstruction of Iraq, and U.S. contractors continue to have full immunity from prosecution in Iraq. Beyond that, several articles of the Constitution re-enforce the Bremer Orders, e.g. Article 25 requires "modern economic principles that insure the full investment of its resources, diversification of its sources and the encouragement and development of the private sector; Article 26 "guarantees the encouragement of investment in various sectors," Article 27 allows for the privatization of state property. Juhasz points out that modern economic principles means corporate globalization and the market principles of the Bremer Orders, and private investment means foreign investment.
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
