5 YEARS ON , we revisit Iraq to explore some of the costs of the war and
the continuing challenge it brings to us as Christians.
In this leafletChristian Peace Witness for Iraq gives background, ideas for prayer and
action on 19 March 2008, the eve of the anniversary of the start of the war in
2003. Use it within your parish, group and community to REMEMBER, PRAY and
ACT for peace and justice for Iraq.
Download the following resources to help you plan your own act of worship/vigil on March 19. Please let us know of your plans and we will post them on the website.
Worship outline that will be used in London on March 19 - please adapt for local use
Listing of names of the dead from Iraq, the UK and the US to be read out during acts of worship/ at vigils
Litany prepared for use at vigil in Coventry on March 19
Click here to see events planned in the UK to mark this tragic anniversary
This action is in solidarity with Christian friends in the United States,
Christian Peace Witness for Iraq, whose site gives more information and
liturgical resources: www.christianpeacewitness.org
In his new book, Nobel-prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz reveals how short-sighted budget decisions,cover-ups and a war fought in bad faith will affect us all for decades to come.
"Illegal Attacks" -
A new Anti-war music video by Ian Brown with Sinead O'Connor
Ian Brown, ex singer of the landmark
British rock group Stone Roses and creator of four highly acclaimed
solo albums, launched his latest single 'Illegal Attacks' as aStop
the Warexclusive.
Iraq
violence, in figures Iraq:
Reduction in deaths... or selective accounting!? According
to the USA the violence is decreasing, but the criteria used for
keeping count isn’t convincing. "... based on official
data, which speaks of 25,000 injured American soldiers (15,000
of whom are considered to be seriously injured), it is likely that
the total number of American soldiers killed in Iraq is over
10,000.Read more..
September 2007 -More
than 1,000,000 Iraqis murderedaccording
to Opinion Research Business - a
murder rate that now exceeds the Rwanda genocide from 1994
(800,000 murdered)...
Khaleej Times: US
corners 42 percent of world arms market(01/10/07)
United
States, Russia and Britain controlled last year more than 71
percent of
international arms trade - war is good business!...
BBC Internet News: Iran:
Can a military strike work? -
"military strike on Iran could speed up Iran's
production of a nuclear bomb" Oxford report says (05/03/07)
- Read the full
report (PDF format)
An
American anti-war activist, Joe Wezorek, has published a stark
mosaic image of President George W Bush composed from photos
of US service men and women killed in Iraq.
Afghanistan’s Vietnam portent (20-04-08)
The demolition of a French empire at Dien Bien Phu is inspiration to a Taliban aiming to erode the resolve of the United States and its allies.
A war of decades (10-04-08)
Washington's bubble of optimism about Iraq has burst. The fallout reveals the contrast between American and jihadi strategic thinking, says Paul Rogers.
The Iraqi whirlwind (07-04-08)
The uncertain and fragile security situation in Iraq challenges the view that the war is being won
The war over there Iraq (07-03-08)
Afghanistan, and Pakistan are near-invisible in the United States election. That may not last
The Iraq project (31-01-08) The United States's military and political ambition in Iraq is enormous and undiminished.
The New Atlantic Century?
(24-01-08)
A valuable but flawed report on Nato's future highlights the real 21st-century security agenda.
The war of the long now (18-01-08)
The increased use of American firepower in Iraq, and alliance divisions in Afghanistan, cast fresh light on the progress of the global war.
Iran and Pakistan: danger signals
(10-01-08)
The election buzz in the United States ignores problems that may explode into the campaign.
A Pakistani dilemma (15-11-07)
The United States is facing greater military problems in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region just as its political imperative is control and quietude.
The Tehran fixation (02-11-07)
A convergence of strategic concerns and electoral dynamics in the American homeland is increasing the chances of war with Iran.
Iraq: a far horizon (25-10-07)
The United States long-term military strategy in Iraq and the region lacks understanding and imagination
The United States army in control (18-10-07)
The war on terror's seventh year finds United States military thinking locked in an unsustainable security paradigm.
Afghanistan-Pakistan: zone of insecurity (11-10-07)
A season of political deal-making in Islamabad, London and Washington cannot conceal the failings of the "war on terror" at its point of origin.
Afghanistan: six years of war (04-10-07)
A peace process involving elements of the Taliban is the alternative to endless war.
Iran:
war and surprise
(13-09-07)
The heart of the United States's autumn flurry over Iraq is to shift
focus towards Iran.
Gordon
Brown's white elephants (26-07-07)
Britain needs fresh thinking about national and global security. A key military-political
decision by its new prime minister closes the door to it.
Iraq’s
pressure-point (12-07-07)
The intensification of violence in Iraq is creating political fracture in
Washington and narrowing the White House's options.
A
crusader for peace (28-06-07)
The shadow of the United States-Israel military relationship looms
over Tony Blair's peace-envoy role in the middle east.
Afghanistan:
low level, high impact (14-06-07)
A shift in tactics by the Taliban suggests that it is they, not the United
States or Hamid Karzai's government, who are setting the agenda in Afghanistan's
war.
The
United States vs Russia, again (07-06-07)
The US's plan for missile-defence
installations in central Europe will trigger a new arms race
The
fire next time (24-5-07)
The
United States's response to its problems in Iraq and Afghanistan could
escalate into an Iran-centred regional crisis.
Iraq's
cloudy horizon (10-05-07)
The insurgents in Iraq are forcing the United States' military into a tactical
corner and thus casting shadows over its surge strategy.
Britain:
terror and security (03-05-07)
An imminent change of political leadership in Britain opens the possibility
of more enlightened foreign and security policies.
The
Iraq insurgents' surge (26-04-07)
Iraqi fighters are finding new ways to counter and stall the United States'
military strategy.
Iraq's
long night (19-04-07)
The failure of the United States' surge will be significant for its domestic
politics, devastating for Iraqi citizens.
Global
security: a vision for change (12-04-07)
The United States' global military strategy serves a control paradigm. What
the world needs is sustainable security.
Al-Qaida's
fresh horizon (05-04-07)
The evolving nature of al-Qaida must be understood as the seventh year
of the "war on terror" approaches.
Iraq's
surge signals (29-03-07)
The most zealous advocates of the latest United States strategy in Iraq cannot
contemplate its failure.
Al-Qaida’s
standing (22-03-07)
The blindness of the Bush administration is a key weapon in the al-Qaida
network’s
armoury.
The
costs of America’s
long war (08-03-07)
The United States's planned defence spending reveals both its military ambition
and its fear of losing control of an unruly world.
The
west’s Afghan
blues (01-03-07)
The tensions among Nato member-states over military strategy in Afghanistan
complicate the struggle against a reviving Taliban.
Iraq:
the beginning of the end (22-02-07)
The proposed British evacuation
of Iraq prefigures the failure of the United States-led project in the country.
The
United States and Iran: the logic of war (01-02-07)
The Bush
administrations's hardline rhetoric, backed by more military hardware in
the Persian Gulf, brings a devastating confrontation nearer.
The
east moves west (25-01-07)
The United States's calculations
in relation to Iran and Syria cannot ignore the influence in the region of
China and Russia.
Tony
Blair's long war (18-01-07)
The British prime minister's vision
of a country engaged in long-term global struggle against radical Islamism
is fortified by gargantuan and costly military commitments.
Bush’s
surge, Iraq’s insurgency (11-01-07)
The decision to increase
the number of United States troops in Iraq is a gift to al-Qaida.
Afghanistan:
the choice (21/12/06)
Without
a change of Nato strategy, the prospect for Afghanistan in 2007 is escalating
violence.
Iraq
out of sight (14/12/06)
The Baker report is already history. A fundamental rethink of United
States policy in Iraq and Afghanistan is still beyond the horizon.
Washington’s
Iraqi sandstorm (30/11/06)
The meltdown of United States policy in Iraq is fuelling neo-conservative
disarray in Washington. But will the Bush administration change course?
Afghanistan
under siege (23/11/06)
The
west's military strategy in Afghanistan is proving counterproductive as
well as costly.
Britain’s
war: evasion and reality (16/11/06)
The head of Britain's security
service shows more understanding of the political realities of the war
on terror than the country's prime minister.
Abqaiq's
message to Washington (09/11/06
The al-Qaida attack on an
oil facility in Saudi Arabia in February 2006, which came nearer to success
than was reported at the time, has increased pressure on United States
forces in the region.
After
failure in Iraq (26/10/06)
The United States is considering two military options in Iraq: keep
going, or fortify around key military bases. What will happen if neither
works?
New
frontiers: from Iraq to outer space (19/10/06)
The United States leadership's unbounded military ambition stems
from an absolute need to maintain control.
Lebanon:
the war after the war (12/10/06)
The argument that, after all, Hizbollah's war with Israel was a failure
is the product of military-commerial spin.
Iran:
the politics of the next crisis (28/09/06
The George W Bush administration, embarrassed by intelligence leaks
and under siege over Iraq and Afghanistan, may seek electoral fortune by
raising tensions with Tehran.
Iraq:
the cost of asymmetry (21/09/06)
The
United States plan to "lock down" Baghdad highlights the imbalance between
the "long war's" expensive, ineffective military strategy and a cheap, devastating
insurgency.
Al-Qaida’s
new terrain (14/09/06)
The successes of a new generation of jihadi militants in
Iraq and Afghanistan suggest that the United States is losing the first phase
of its long war.
The
war on terror: past, present, future (24/08/06)
The
United States responded to the attacks of 11 September 2001 by declaring
a global "war on terror". More recently, it has redefined the conflict as
the "long war". In his 250th global security column, Paul Rogers assesses
US strategy in the war's first five years, and looks ahead.
An
unfinished war (14/08/06)
Israel's failure in Lebanon will influence United States calculations
over a potential attack on Iran.
Israel’s
strategic impasse(01/08/06)
Israel's
relentless military assault on Lebanon cannot conceal the crisis of its
security doctrine.
After
Qana: a false dawn? (31/07/06)
The
Qana massacre has changed the immediate course of the war, but the determination
of Israel and the United States to destroy Hizbollah remains unchanged.
Lebanon:
the world's choice (28/07/06)
The
first two weeks of August will be decisive in determining whether the Lebanon
war escalates further or can be contained.
Lebanon:
no quick fix (26/07/06)
Israel's
war in Lebanon is being conducted with unstinting United States support.
This suggests that a long war is in prospect.
Lebanon
in the wider war (25/07/06)
George
W Bush's portrayal of Israel's campaign against Hizbollah as part of the
war on terror is a gift to al-Qaida.
Hit
Beirut, target Tehran (21/07/06)
Washington's
support for Israel's war against Hizbollah is intimately linked to its
strategic calculations towards Iran.
Israel:
losing control (20/07/06)
Israel's
assault on Lebanon reveals the failure of its long-standing security paradigm.
A
proxy war (19/07/06)
The
conflict between Israel and Hizbollah is also a surrogate for an even larger
confrontation: between the United States and Iran
War
defeats diplomacy (18/07/06)
A
week into the war, Israel's intransigence and the United States's indulgence
make the prospects for peace minimal.
The
threads of war (06/07/06)
The
British government remains in denial about the connection between its foreign
policies and the London bomb attacks of 7 July 2005.
Britain’s
nuclear-weapons fix - a "MUST
READ!" article (29/06/06).
The determination of Britain's political elite to maintain the
country as a nuclear-weapons state is rooted in a half-century of military
planning to which the possibility of tactical and first use of nuclear
weapons is central.
Afghanistan’s
war season (22/06/06)
The Taliban are proving a formidable enemy in face of the sophisticated
technology, tactics and personnel of the United States and British military.
The
United States vs China: the war for oil (15/06/06)
The United States's focus on the middle east, al-Qaida and terrorism
is also a surrogate for long-term strategic competition with China for
the world's oil resources.
Haditha:
a question of responsibility (08/06/06)
The chain of command involved in the massacre of Iraqi civilians
at Haditha reaches far beyond those directly involved.
A
tale of two insurgencies (01/06/06)
The
insurgent campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan are exerting severe pressure
on United States and British forces – and there is more to come.
A
parallel universe (11/05/06)
The
building of a massive new United States embassy and military bases in and
around Baghdad signals the US determination to remain in Iraq for the long
term.
A
wager on war (27/04/06)
The United States military is preparing for the "long war" by shifting
its tactics and expanding its ambitions.
Iran:
war by October? (20/04/06)
Washington's
political timetable may turn harsh rhetoric into military escalation, unless
voices of restraint in both the United States and Iran can prevail.
There
are alternatives (30/03/06)
A
new compendium of global "people power" initiatives shows that
non-violence and peace activism can be a more effective instrument of social
change than military force.
The
war at home (23/03/06)
The
security of the United States homeland and its borders is becoming part
of the Bush administration's military planning for the "long war".
Iran,
the real focus (16/03/06)
The
Bush administration’s growing charge-sheet against Iran,
including an active role in the Iraqi insurgency, is bringing armed confrontation
closer.
Iraq's
burning season (23/02/06)
United
States strategy in Iraq is increasingly powerless in the face of intensifying
insurgency and sectarian violence.
The
next Iran war (16/02/06)
A new report examines the likely course and proliferating dangers of a
United States attack on Iran.
The
world as a battlefield (09/02/06)
The linguistic
shift from "war on terror" to the "long war" reflects a deeper rethinking
among United States political and military leaders.
Endless
war (19/01/06)
In Afghanistan and Iraq, the opening weeks of 2006 highlight the future direction
of United States military strategy.
The
United States, nuclear weapons, and Iran (23/12/05
The United
States and its British ally are planning to modernise their nuclear-weapons
arsenal while castigating Iran for its nuclear-power programme.
A
new struggle for Afghanistan (22/12/05)
A Taliban revival,
drawing on exchanges of military expertise with Iraqi insurgents, promises
to make 2006 a difficult year for the United States and its Nato allies
in Afghanistan.
Victory
in Iraq (15/12/05)
The Washington neo-conservatives' new mantra for counter-insurgency efforts
in Iraq - “clear, hold, build” – ignores the facts on the ground.
The
Iraqi illusion (01/12/05)
The mass insurgent assault in Ramadi, one day after George W Bush predicted "victory
in Iraq", indicates the gap between Washington fantasies and Iraqi facts.
Jordan
catches Iraq's fire (10/11/05)
The Amman bombs, alongside evidence of Afghans training with Iraq's insurgents,
defy American claims
that the “war on terror” is being won.
Iraqi
and American body-counts (27/10/05)
The return to Vietnam-era “body-counts” of enemy dead in Iraq is a signal
of a military strategy
in deep trouble.
A
world becoming more peaceful? (17/10/05)
The first annual Human Security Report finds – despite evidence from
Afghanistan to Iraq, Chechnya
to Congo – that violent conflict around the world is declining. Can this
be true?
Hizbollah's
warning flight (05/05/05)
A dramatic, under-reported incident over northern Israel carries a sobering
message for United States strategists in Iraq.
Iraq's
end to optimism (28/04/05)
With renewed insurgency, cowed security forces, and stuck politics, can
the United States hold the line in Iraq?
Lefties in the Army, A Peacemaker in the White House?
It's the last thing you'd expect from this administration. But here it is in full public view: Pentagon spokesmen announcing Directive 3000.05 from the Department of Defense. Henceforth, the making of peace, it seems, holds equal footing with the making of war. It is now official policy that “stability operations are a core U.S. military mission” that “shall be given priority equal to combat operations…..” “Stability operations”? In DoD's words, they are “military and civilian activities conducted across the spectrum from peace to conflict to establish or maintain order….” Their immediate goal, says DoD, “often is to provide the local population with security, restore essential services, and meet humanitarian needs. The long-term goal is to help develop indigenous capacity for securing essential services, a viable market economy, rule of law, democratic institutions, and a robust civil society.” It gets even more interesting. On December 7, President Bush gave his Secretary of State a peace mandate. Condoleezza Rice now has a new role: developing strategies for stabilization and reconstruction in conflicted countries. This will include leading interagency planning “to prevent or mitigate conflict”, and developing “detailed contingency plans for integrated U.S. reconstruction and stabilization” in conflicted areas. It will also include leading “development of a strong civilian response capability” in hot spots. What, lefties in the Army? A peacemaker in the White House? We witness here learnings from the school of hard reality, the results of deadly encounter with the limits of force as a tool for security. For well over a year, American military on the ground in Iraq have been reporting that success there requires more than destroying insurgents. “As long as there's no water, or clinics, or jobs, we've got no chance of winning this war,” in the words of an Army officer fresh out of Afghanistan and Iraq. These painful lessons are finally filtering up to the level of policy. Might hard reality help Americans to re-examine how to do national defense? We have long assumed that destroying the bad guys equals security. When I write about why the invasion of Iraq makes the world more dangerous for us I get a common response: “Face up to the reality that there is evil in the world! Someone has to destroy the bad guys!” The reasoning is simple: 1) There is evil in the world; 2) Good cannot succeed in the presence of evil; 3) Therefore to be safe and do good we must destroy evil. Yes, there is evil in the world. Yes, evil endangers good. But we destroy evil by destroying those who do evil? Not so fast. That may have been true in a time when wars were fought on battlefields, when enemies could be slaughtered and left behind in far away places. But those days are gone. Today enemies blend into civilian populaces. Ease of movement and cheap access to compact, powerful weapons mean that hatred against us planted anywhere on earth may well follow us home. To defeat the evil we face today we need to understand how it spreads. Those who commit evil acts against us are the extreme wing of a group of ordinary and decent people. The car bombers of Iraq are a small minority who have chosen barbaric means to accomplish something that patriots in every country want: the removal of heavily armed foreigners, who bring cultural and religious values different from those of many Iraqis, and whose real purpose for the invasion is, they believe, for the foreigners' benefit. Here's the rub: The doers of evil in Iraq are embedded in a larger society. And, many share their concerns even while rejecting their means. Thus every move on our part to destroy evil people gravely injures good people and stirs hatred against us. Simplistic strategies of destroying evildoers plant seeds of more evil. The more actively we campaign to destroy, the faster evil grows. The alternative? Don't fight fire with fire. Fight fire with water. Don't destroy evil with evil, but overcome it with good. America's security today will not be increased by increased capability to destroy evil. When ordinary people all over the world know that America makes their lives better, in terms of clean water, health, education, jobs, and a say in their own future, the appeal of terrorists will be limited. We can never make ourselves invulnerable to those who hate us, but with sensible defensive measures we can limit the damage they cause. And if we are creative, determined and generous, we can make it difficult for their hatred to spread to others. The good will of our global neighbors will bring us more security in the long run than all the guns and bombs we could ever hope to accumulate. There is reason for skepticism about the directives of Bush and the DoD. But for now we might applaud two moves in the right direction – and encourage many more like them. by Ron Kraybill
Professor, Center for Justice and Peacebuilding
Eastern Mennonite University
Harrisonburg, VA
Click here to respond to this essay on the author's blog Click here for a quick overview of ideas for true security .
This essay may be post on websites or reproduced if reproductions contain the following:
Copyright Ron Kraybill 2005. For more essays by the author go to www.RiverhouseEpress.com , a web source of booklets and edocs on peace including essays on alternative security, a blog , a conflict style inventory and tools for dialogue and group facilitation. To subscribe to Paxserve, a listserve that distributes essays on conflict resolution and alternative security by Ron Kraybill, send a message to listmgr@emu.edu In the body of the message write: SUBSCRIBE PAXSERVE YOUREMAILADDRESS , however instead of YOUREMAILADDRESS , type your address. You can leave the subject line blank. This list will not be given to any other users.
'Huge
rise' in Iraqi death tolls: 655.000
dead in Iraq according to new survey
Mortality
after the 2003 invasion of Iraq: a cross-sectional cluster sample
survey
(The
Lancet, 14 Oct. 2006) Gilbert Burnham, Riyadh Lafta, Shannon Doocy, Les Roberts
Summary
Background
An excess mortality of nearly 100.000 deaths was reported (see
below) in Iraq for the period March, 2003 – September,
2004, attributed to the invasion of Iraq. Our aim was to update this
estimate.
Methods Between May and July, 2006, we did a national cross-sectional
cluster sample survey of mortality in Iraq.
50 clusters were randomly selected from 16 Governorates, with every
cluster consisting of 40 households. Information
on deaths from these households was gathered.
Findings
Three misattributed clusters were excluded
from the final analysis; data from 1849 households that contained
12.801 individuals in 47 clusters was gathered. 1.474 births and
629 deaths were reported during the observation
period. Pre-invasion mortality rates were 5.5 per 1000 people
per year (95% CI 4.3–7.1), compared with 13.3
per
1000 people per year (10.9–16.1) in the 40 months
post-invasion. We estimate that as of July, 2006, there have been
654.965 (392.979–942.636) excess Iraqi deaths
as a consequence of the war, which corresponds to 2.5% of
the population in the study area. Of post-invasion deaths, 601.027 (426.369–793.663)
were due to violence, the most common cause being
gunfire.
Interpretation
The number of people dying in Iraq
has continued to escalate. The proportion of deaths ascribed to
coalition forces has diminished in 2006, although the actual numbers
have increased every year. Gunfire remains the
most common cause of death, although deaths from car bombing have
increased.
100.000 DEAD in Iraq according to a conservative estimate by The Lancet Journal
Mortality before and after the 2003 invasion of
Iraq: cluster sample survey
Les Roberts, Riyadh Lafta, Richard Garfield, Jamal Khudhairi, Gilbert Burnham
Summary Background In March, 2003, military forces, mainly from the USA and the UK,
invaded Iraq. We did a survey to compare mortality during the period of 14.6
months before the invasion with the 17.8 months after it.
Methods A cluster sample survey was undertaken throughout Iraq during September,
2004.33 clusters of 30 households each were interviewed about household composition,
births, and deaths since January, 2002. In those households reporting deaths,
the date, cause, and circumstances of violent deaths were recorded. We assessed
the relative risk of death associated with the 2003 invasion and occupation
by comparing mortality in the 17.8 months after the invasion with the
14.6-month period preceding it.
Findings
The risk of death was estimated to be 2.5-fold (95% CI 1.6-4.2) higher
after the invasion when compared with the preinvasion period. Two-thirds of
all violent deaths were reported in one cluster in the city of Falluja. If
we exclude the Falluja data, the risk of death is 1.5-fold (1.1-2.3) higher
after the invasion. We estimate that 98.000 more deaths than expected (8.000-194.000)
happened after the invasion outside of Falluja and far more if the outlier
Falluja cluster is included. The major causes of death before the invasion
were myocardial infarction, cerebrovascular accidents, and other chronic
disorders whereas after the invasion violence was the primary cause of
death. Violent deaths were widespread, reported in 15 of 33 clusters, and
were mainly attributed to coalition forces. Most individuals reportedly
killed by coalition forces were women and children. The risk of death from
violence in the period after the invasion was 58 times higher (95% CI 8.1-4.19)
than in the period before the war.
Interpretation
Making conservative assumptions, we think that about 100.000 excess deaths,
or more have happened since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Violence accounted for
most of the excess deaths and air strikes from coalition forces accounted for
most violent deaths. We have shown that collection of public-health information
is possible even during periods of extreme violence. Our results need further
verification and should lead to changes to reduce non-combatant deaths from
air strikes.
"Condolence Book" : Remembering the victims of the war with Iraq
While no formal 'ending' of the war has been announced the plight of the peoples of Iraq is slipping off the political agenda. In order that our Churches and communities can remember all those who had died in the war to date Pax Christi produced a Condolence Book of more than 6,000 signatures which was sent to the American Ambassador in London and Mr Tony Blair at the end of June 2003. To see the wording of the Condolence message see below.Click to download (PDF format - you need Acrobat Reader) to print copies.
Catholic & Anglican Archbishops' Joint Statement on Iraq
Following a recent private meeting, the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster, Cormac Murphy-O'Connor and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, have issued the following statement concerning Iraq
War is always a deeply disturbing prospect; one that can never be contemplated without a sense of failure and regret that other means have not prevailed, and deep disquiet about all that may come in its train.
We are very conscious of the huge burden of responsibility carried by those who must make the ultimate decision in these matters. They are daily in our thoughts and prayers, as are all those who would find themselves caught up directly or indirectly in
BBC Internet News:US strike 'kills Iraqi civilians' (22/05/08)
