WHY I AM AGAINST THE WAR


courtesy of the Philippine Daily Inquirer

Over the weekend, my mail inbox was suddenly active with the barrage of opinions coming from my Sillimanian friends, in and out of the country. The topic - - war against Iraq. Several points were raised and I would like to share my opinions on several of these concerns.

Fresh from his oath taking as a new lawyer, Atty. Lowell Yu said that we should not forget that in August 2, 1991 Iraq invaded Kuwait, so why is it that now the US is being portrayed as evil by those opposing the war on Iraq?

We will never forget the 1991 Gulf War. Never. But Iraq has already paid dearly with that invasion. Twelve years ago the United Nations came up with the Resolution No. 661 which imposed strict sanctions on Iraq's import and export. As a result to this economic sanction, as of October 1999, a total of 1.5 million Iraqis have died and 750,000 of these are children. The child death rate of Iraq in 1989 (before the Gulf War) was at 38 per 1,000 births. In October of 1999 the child death rate of Iraq rose to 131 per 1,000 births or an increase of 345 percent. Secondly, America claimed that it has already destroyed 80 percent of Iraq's military capacity.

(These facts were taken from the "Test the War-on Iraq IQ Test" by Charles Sheketoff, Executive Director of the Oregon Center for Public Policy)

Another issue raise was September 11, 2001. It would be unfair for us to criticize the United States when it was them who felt the pains on terrorism on that fateful day. Yes America was hurt, but the rest of the world was hurt too. How many Filipinos lost their jobs because of the recession resulting from 9/11? How many economies suffered because of 9/11? Needless to say, many poor countries have long suffered from terrorist attack even before 9/11.

The question now is, is there any hard convincing proof that Saddam Hussein has something to do with 9/11? That Saddam Hussein has links with the Al Queda Network? Unfortunately, the answer is "No".

The very essence of the criminal justice system of a democratic country is that a suspect is presumed innocent until proven guilty and that his guilt should be proven beyond reasonable doubt. It unfortunate for America, being the "bastion of democracy", to have rush into their judgement against Iraq.

Yes you were hurt, but we hurt too. However, just because you were terribly hurt that does not give you any right to run after any of your enemies without the clear and convincing proof that they took part or helped the perpetrators of such terrible crime.

Third issue. Does Iraq still have some weapons of mass destruction? Probably yes or probably no. We would never know because America chooses to wage war against Iraq thereby the UN inspectors have no option left but the leave Iraq. On the first place, we should have asked the question, who helped Saddam develop his military arsenal? The answer is: United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia, China, Japan, Netherlands, Belgium and Sweden. There a total of 24 US companies who have helped Saddam develop his nuclear program, biological weapons, chemical weapons, rockets and conventional weapons, military logistics and military plants. On the other hand, 17 British firms gave the same support except for biological weapons.

Since 1975, these companies supplied the "entire complexes, building elements, basic materials, and technical know-how for Saddam's program to develop nuclear, chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction."

(This is based on the documents submitted to the United Nations to which British officials confirmed as accurate and upon the request of the United States these 8,000 pages document were censored by the UN but were somehow leaked to the press, thank you to Conrado de Quiros of the Philippine Daily Inquirer for this information).

Now, before I get misinterpreted (again!), I categorically say that I do not condone Saddam Hussein. To quote one friend of mine who works in one of the embassies here, "if half of the stories about Saddam and his sons are true, then he is a real monster." To which I agree. Saddam has done terrible things to the Kuwaitis, to the Kurdish and to his own people. He has tortured a lot of people, his republican guard raped hundreds of women and he has stolen the wealth of his country which should have been due to his people.

By all means we should disarm Saddam if indeed his weapons of mass destruction pose a threat to the world. BUT, it should be done according the standards set by international bodies like the United Nations. I believe no one has the right to disregard the sovereignty of another country. That is why we have the United Nations to address our concerns in the international arena. We should, by any means, respect these bodies, for if we don't we would just be inviting chaos.

What the United States and the "Coalition of the Willing" have done seriously undermined the credibility of the United Nations. It is unfortunate that the US and the UK, who taught of organizing the nations of the world at the end of World War II to promote international understanding and world peace, would trample upon the credibility of the United Nations to which they were two of the founding members. (I wonder if Roosevelt and Churchill were alive today, what kind of advice would they give to Bush and Blair?) Just because the majority's decision was inconvenient to you, that does not mean you can just disregard them. That is the very essence of democracy and America who claimed to be the "defender of democracy", should know that.

Secondly, since the Gulf War America has conducted a number of air raids against Iraq and claimed that 80 percent of Iraq's military capacity is destroyed. With 20 percent of its military capacity and with the declaration of Scott Ritter, UNSCOM chief that "Iraq had in fact, been disarmed to a level unprecedented in modern history," can Saddam and his Republican armies be still considered a threat to the world?

I share the opinion of that friend of mine who works in one of the foreign embassies here that if there is one thing we should be bothered, it should be North Korea. Saddam has been disarmed, Saddam shows himself to international bodies like the Arab League. But Kim of North Korea has never been disarmed, and I wonder who among the world leaders counsels him. He has been very secretive through the year. Yet the United State choose the diplomatic avenue to settle this. But for Iraq, the US has suddenly become impatient when in fact Iraq was given 12 years to disarm.

I just wonder what interest does the United States have in North Korea? Probably there are some. How about Iraq? Well, Iraq happens to have the second largest oil reserve in the Middle East. And who controls the oil in Iraq? Definitely not the US. When Nobel Peace Prize winner Nelson Mandela of South Africa said that oil is the reason for this war, this should be given serious considerations.

And for those who thinks that the United States is the savior of the world, let us not forget that once in our history American invaded us and killed our fellow Filipinos. Let us not forget that once in our history, America supported a dictator named Ferdinand Marcos and America played blind to the Marcos atrocities and human rights violations. Let us not forget that America once supported the tyrant Shah of Iran. Let us not forget that that America helped Saddam in building his war arsenal. Let us not forget America still won't do something with the toxic waste they left in the former US bases in Subic and Clark. And let us not forget that America never apologized for all these things that they committed.

America's interest is their "own interest". If they want to save the world from all weapons of Mass Destruction, then America should also disarm. Having possess 10,000 nuclear warheads and now with their wanton disregard to the United Nations, isn't it that America is also a threat to the world?

I just hope and pray that history will judge the US right. Because no amount of reconstruction and aid after the regime change in Iraq could bring back the life of the innocent civilian who died in this war. No amount of foreign aid could save the Iraqi children from being an orphan because their parents died defending their country from foreign invaders. No amount of aid could bring back the dignity of one country and its people that was trampled by foreign aggression.

I pray for a swift resolution because there is nothing much left for me to do.

This is a very sad day in the history of the human race. Very Sad.