Tuesday, December 21, 2004

Resource Links

Alternatives to the War on Terror: Restraint, Cooperation, and Outreach

Scroll down for links in these categories:
Background on War on Terror Concept
Factors that may have influence in push for emphasis on war
Real Effects of "war on terror"
Provocative and Counterproductive U.S. Policies
Criticism of war on terror concept
Links to US supported international organizations whose stated missions
are to help the world’s people, but whose results are only hurting them.
Resources and articles on principle of Outreach

Background on the War on Terror concept:


The Project for a New American Century.
http://www.newamericancentury.org/index.html

Empire Builders: Neoconservatives and their Blueprint for US Power. (Christian Science Monitor)
http://www.csmonitor.com/specials/neocon/index.html

U.S. National Security Strategy.
http://usinfo.state.gov/topical/pol/terror/secstrat.htm

James Woolsey on War on Terror as World War IV
http://www.avot.org/stories/storyReader$138

Samuel P. Huntington. The Clash of Civilizations. (1993)
http://www.alamut.com/subj/economics/misc/clash.html

President Bush calls war on terror "an inescapable calling of our generation."
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/19/international/middleeast/19TEXT-BUSH.html?pagewanted=2&ei=5070&en=dbaae3def026b7c4&ex=1089950400

Bush Tempers All-Out Terrorism VictoryPresident Bush Acknowledges an All-Out Victory Against Terrorism May Not Be Possible. (Associated Press.) http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2004/8/30/83930.shtml

Bush: U.S. Can't Win War On Terror (Admits that "victory" as it is usually known can not happen with war on terror concept)
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/08/31/politics/main639709.shtml

Bush Changes War On Terror Tune (Returns to statements supporting war on terror concept) http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/08/30/politics/main639576.shtml

International Law and pre-emptive doctrine: The American Society for International law. "Under a 19th century formulation by the U.S. Secretary of State in the Caroline incident, reaffirmed by the Nuremberg Tribunal after World War II, the necessity for pre-emptive self defense must be “instant, overwhelming, and leaving no choice of means, and no moment for deliberation.”
http://www.asil.org/insights/insigh88.htm

Factors that may have influenced the push for the emphasis on war:


Secrets of Cheney's Energy Task Force Come to Light. Project Censored. (Sonoma State University. CA.)
Freedom of Information Act reveals Cheney Energy Task Force documents assessing Iraq oil producing capacity prior to 9-11.
http://www.projectcensored.org/publications/2005/8.html

Advocates of War Now Profit From Iraq's Reconstruction
http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/iraq/contract/2004/0714advocates.htm

America plans military bases in Iraq to apply pressure on Middle East http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/04/21/wirq21.xml

San Francisco Chronicle: After 9/11, U.S. policy built on world bases. (2004)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/03/21/MNGJ65OS4J1.DTL

Descriptions of US bases in Iraq
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iraq/balad-ab.htm

Why the Press Failed
http://www.motherjones.com/commentary/columns/2004/07/07_203.html

The CIA's DI Disgrace.
(How the fact-based work of the CIA has been altered by political forces to fit policy, rather than shaping policy based on objective intelligence.)
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2004/071304.html

C.I.A. Held Back Iraqi Arms Data, Officials Say
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/06/politics/06INTE.html

Neoconservatives push for a new world order (2003)
http://www.independent-media.tv/item.cfm?fmedia_id=567&fcategory_desc=Under%20Reported

CNN.com: Suit Challenges Bush War Authority. (2003)
http://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/02/13/anti.war.lawsuit.ap/

Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan Natural Gas Pipeline Project: (2003) http://www.adb.org/Documents/Articles/AFG/afg_2003001.asp

Central Asia Pipeline Deal Signed (Dec. 2002)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/2608713.stm

India urged to join trans-Afghanistan pipeline project. (2003) http://www.gasandoil.com/goc/news/ntc31286.htm


Contrasting views on America’s “unavoidable” dependence on oil.

The Thirty Year Itch (For Oil)

Free and Green: (How eliminating Big Energy subsidies makes alternative energies competitive.) By Harvey Wasserman. January 20, 2004

Real Effects of "war on terror":
Militants 'wanted Bush re-elected' (CNN International) Terrorist extremists prefer the aggressive policies of the Bush Administration because it helps them to strengthen their cause.
(The aggressive neoconservative approach is worsening the terrorist threat, not lessening it.)
http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/12/24/france.hostage/

Civilian death toll in Iraq exceeds 100,000 (Reuters)
More Than 10,000 Iraqis Die in Baghdad (Associated Press)http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2004-09-08-iraq-deaths_x.htm

Disappearing the Dead: Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Idea of a "New Warfare". Project on Defense Initiatives (Estimated 18,000 Afghan and Iraqis dead from both wars.) http://www.comw.org/pda/0402rm9exsum.html

Iraq Body Count. (Approximately 11,000- 13,000 Iraqi civilian deaths as of 7-04) http://www.iraqbodycount.net/
UN Report: US War on Terror Radicalizes Arabs (originally Published on Monday, October 20, 2003 by Reuters )
Selectivity Negates the Power of the Rule of Law (How Lebanese Daily Star newspaper editors view US response to Abu Grhaib as symptomatic of lack of US support for international law)
"Seeing Islam through a lens of US Hubris". Article by Anonymous (CIA agent Michael Scheuer) about the weaknesses of the war on terror concept.
Pew Research Center poll on worldwide attitudes on US and religions. (2004)
Why they hate us. Global Beat Syndicate. The next generation’s image of Americans.
http://www.lengel.net/gbs/image/hateus.html
Bin Laden Speaks to American People (Washington Post) (Exceprt from 10/04 Bin Laden tape in which he clarifies that his grievance is with US policy, not an inherent "hate" of freedoms as proponents of war on terror assert. This supports the idea that changing US policy toward more consistency and less hypocrisy can reduce terrorism and undermine support for it.)
INDEPTH: OSAMA BIN LADEN (CBC News) (Bin Laden’s motives for opposing US based on US policy transgressions, not “hate of what we stand for.”)
http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/osamabinladen/faq.html
Insurgents in Fallujah drive BMWs. (Google News search results)
(Do some "hate us for what US stands for," or what it does?)
Richard Clarke on Meet the Press (3-28-04) Transript.
AL QAEDA,TRENDS IN TERRORISM AND FUTURE POTENTIALITIES: AN ASSESSMENT. Bruce Hoffman. Rand Corporation
Global Terror Up. CBS News.
The Lair of bin Laden. By David Pratt. Glasgow Sunday Herald. (Includes description of growing popularity of name Osama for newborn Pakistani boys.)
Osama Bin Laden Is Wanted Here Too. (L.A. Times article on growing popularity of name Osama in Muslim world.)

Provocative and counterproductive U.S. policies undermine efforts to spread democracy:

Memos show FBI agents complained about abuses at Guantánamo Bay
(Human rights abuses are more widespread than just in Abu Ghraib, and one memo notes approval of torture procedures by US Deputy Secretary of Defense Wolfowitz.)

Tribunal halted after judge rules system unlawful (USA Today)
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2004-11-08-gitmo-court-halt_x.htm
U.S.-Sponsored Regime Change in Haiti (Failure of US government to support democratically elected Haitian leader casts doubt on US’s stated commitment to spread democracy.)
http://www.alternet.org/story/17995
No 'Business as Usual' With Libya
(Calls for US to push for democratic reform in Libya. To not do so undermines US credibility in region and world.)
The Bush Definition of Democracy (Rahul Mahajan) Be it in Iraq or Afghanistan, the Bush administration has a track record of fixing elections to produce the winner it desires.
USA Today. Cluster bombs kill in Iraq, even after shooting ends.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2003-12-10-cluster-bomb-cover_x.htm
International Campaign to Ban Landmines. (U.S., N. Korea, Iran among the non-signers.)
http://www.icbl.org/
War Statistics and Nuclear Powers (170 million killed by totalitarian regimes, and another 37 million killed in war during the 20th century.)
http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~reymers/courses/soc206/war.html
Federation of American Scientists. Arms Sales Monitoring Project. Fast Facts.
http://www.fas.org/asmp/fast_facts.htm
Western Hemisphere Institute for Security and Cooperation (WHISC) (Formerly the School of the Americas) teaches harsh tactics to third world military personnel, including methods of torture.
US Institute for Peace (USIP)
(Present and former Board members include those who planned and supported Iraq war, gives impression of a derisive view of peace by US government.)
Army Peacekeeping Institute Sent Packing
http://www.tompaine.com/feature.cfm/ID/5799
Singer Cat Stevens denied entry to US (BBC News) (Blocking travel to US by Muslim moderates impedes efforts to improve cultural understanding.)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3678694.stm
US Congress scrutinizes Peace Corps volunteers’ security.
http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=0AE2A44F-C817-48F5-88152E1DB9656CCF
Peace Corps Online. Funding difficulties.
http://peacecorpsonline.org/messages/messages/2629/2020466.html
Journalists tell Senate, they want no CIA ties.
http://www.cnn.com/US/9607/18/spies.journalists/

The Mission
Protestant missionaries have been criticized for their plans to evangelize in Iraq. If history is any guide, they're not likely to have much luck anyway.
Public Diplomacy is Not the Answer. Barry Zorthian. (Projecting a positive American image through marketing falls short without real policy changes.)

Criticism of war on terror concept:

America Must Find Alternatives to Fear. Gordon Adams. Center for American Progress
http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=246447

How Do You Know When You Win? Ronald I. Spiers. Rutland Herald Online

Beyond the war on terror. Mark Engler.
Spreading Democracy: The World’s Most Dangerous Idea. Eric J. Hobsbawm
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/files/story2666.php

If America were Iraq, What would it be Like? by Juan Cole. (Reverses positions of Iraq and US to point out the daily terror faced by Iraqi people)
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0922-11.htm

The Pentagon's New Map. Dr. Thomas Barnett
(Naval War College professor Barnett argues that a worldwide US military presence is "best" way to bring the globalizing "Core" nations and the disconnected "Gap" nations together for a peaceful "future worth creating." Faults Bush Administration for failing to articulate a positive vision.)
http://www.thomaspmbarnett.com/



US and Western policies that undermine efforts to bring security and democracy to Iraq and elsewhere:

U.S.-Sponsored Regime Change in Haiti (Failure of US government to support democratically elected Haitian leader casts doubt on US’s stated commitment to spread democracy.)
http://www.alternet.org/story/17995
No 'Business as Usual' With Libya
(Calls for US to push for democratic reform in Libya. To not do so undermines US credibility in region and world.)

Crossing the Lines: (MotherJones.com) How a top Pentagon official and a host of influential Republicans almost made sure that one American cellular company gained a key stake in Iraq's lucrative wireless market (even though it delayed implementation, and cost lives.)
http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2004/09/09_801.html

Investigate Bechtel's Failure to ProvideAdequate Water Services to Iraq (San Fransico Indy Media Center)
http://sf.indymedia.org/news/2004/04/1689265.php


Links to US supported international organizations whose stated missions are to help the world’s people,but whose results are only hurting them.

Confessions of an Economic Hit Man: How the U.S. Uses Globalization to Cheat Poor Countries Out of Trillions(John Perkins)

A lost decade for the world's poor (The richest 1% of the world's population (about 60-million) now receive as much income as the poorest 57%, while the income of the richest 25-million Americans is the equivalent of that of almost two-billion of the world's poorest people.)http://www.aegis.com/news/dmg/2003/MG030710.html

World Trade Organization.
World Bank
International Monetary Fund IMF.

Resources and articles on principle of Outreach:

You Can’t get Here from There. Joseph Nye. (originally in N.Y. Times) How current immigration rules are keeping students and other who contribute to US, out. (Includes anecdote about Soviet exchange student who years later influenced Gorbachev to seek normalization with US. Example of how promoting positive relationships can bring positive change without war.)

US Wrestlers get warm welcome in Iran. (1998)
US / Iran conflicts affect US wrestlers. (2002)
India starts landmark cricket tour (CNN, 2004)

Rotary International Youth Exchange program. http://www.rotary.org/programs/youth_ex/host/about.html
Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam.
International Student Exchange Program
Institute of International Education
AFS.
Youth for Understanding

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