Expressions from Ellen
by Ellen Finkelstein
I first met members of Western Washington FOR in the months leading up to the start of the Iraq War. I joined with them – and others – to form SNOW (Sound Nonviolent Opponents of War). It seems like a lifetime ago. For many, it is. And now, “the war is over.” So do we declare “victory”? Should peace activists declare “Mission accomplished” and turn our sights elsewhere? It seems talking about war – the costs of war, its lasting impact, the effect of militarism – is suddenly out of favor, even with some in the peace and justice movement.
It seems people no longer want to contemplate 4,500 American dead and 60,000 wounded, nor the impact on their families and communities as veterans return and bring with them all the wounds of war (physical, psychological). Let alone think about the up to a million dead Iraqis (according to Phoebe Marr’s just published Modern History of Iraq) and the devastation of a nine-year war.
In a letter to President Obama, “Now That You Have Destroyed Our Country, Withdrawing Is Not Enough” the President of the Federation of Workers’ Councils and Unions in Iraq says [in part]: “Your withdrawal now – which we still do not trust to be total or final – will not solve the problems that our society faces. It will not end the crisis that the US created. We will need many long years to forget the painful memories and suffering of being victims of occupation. We will need decades to restore what you have destroyed and decades to save our future generations. You have left behind an environment polluted by radiation and soil poisoned with chemicals. Our children and our elders are dying from diseases caused by your weapons and destruction. They cry out for treatment, but there is no cure for their suffering. Many hope for death just to end their pain.”
Meanwhile, what does the “withdrawal” of troops actually mean? The U.S. will maintain the world’s biggest embassy in Baghdad. Of the16,000 personnel being left behind in Iraq, roughly half (8,000) are to be armed military contractors (according to Raed Jarrar). Privatization of war doesn’t make it less onerous. Not all the troops leaving Iraq will be returning to the U.S.; some are being repositioned in neighboring countries on standby. In addition, the U.S. recently signed a contract to use Turkey’s Incirlick Air Base to run Predator drone attacks into Iraq, theoretically to target Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants. (The PKK uses the mountainous regions in Iraqi Kurdistan to hide after launching attacks in Turkey.) This new deal is likely to be heighten tensions inside Iraq: the Iraqi government has been opposed to Turkey making cross borders attacks.
The war cost $1 trillion in direct costs and an estimated $4 trillion in long-term (mostly medical) costs. There will also be continuing funding for the contractors and the embassy, for increasing use of expensive drones and other technology. We continue to face the ongoing effects in our communities of a country that prioritizes war and militarism instead of human security.