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The Miami Herald Copyright 2005 Knight Ridder  All Rights Reserved

enough is enough!
 
no more sacrifices for lies, propaganda, and hypocrisy!


For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
August 20, 2005

President's Radio Address


     listenAudio
     Fact sheeten Español

THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. In a few weeks, our country will mark the four-year anniversary of the attacks of September the 11th, 2001. On that day, we learned that vast oceans and friendly neighbors no longer protect us from those who wish to harm our people. And since that day, we have taken the fight to the enemy.

We have combated terrorists on the home front by disrupting terror cells and their financial support networks. We're fighting the terrorists in Afghanistan, Iraq, and around the world, striking them in foreign lands before they can attack us here at home. And we're spreading the hope of freedom across the broader Middle East. By advancing the cause of liberty in a troubled region, we are bringing security to our own citizens and laying the foundations of peace for our children and grandchildren.

In this war, our nation depends on the courage of those who wear the uniform. During the coming weeks, I will meet with some of the brave men and women who have been on the front lines in the war on terror. Next week in Idaho, I will visit with some of the fine citizen soldiers of the Idaho National Guard. I will also see the men and women of the Mountain Home Air Force Base who played a leading role in the air campaign in Afghanistan after the September the 11th attacks. I will thank all of them for their service in the war on terror and I will thank the families who make their essential work possible.

Our troops know that they're fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere to protect their fellow Americans from a savage enemy. They know that if we do not confront these evil men abroad, we will have to face them one day in our own cities and streets, and they know that the safety and security of every American is at stake in this war, and they know we will prevail.

Next week, in Utah, I will also address the Veterans of Foreign Wars Convention and thank the proud veterans who have given today's troops such a noble example of devotion and courage. At the end of the month, I will join our veterans and current service members in San Diego to commemorate the 60th anniversary of V-J Day, the day that ended World War II, the bloodiest conflict in human history.

The veterans of World War II defended America when ruthless foes threatened our freedom and our very way of life. And after winning a great victory, they helped former enemies rebuild and form free and peaceful societies that would become strong allies of America. The World War II generation endured great suffering and sacrifice because they understood that defeating tyranny in Europe and Asia was essential to the security and freedom of America.

Like previous wars we have waged to protect our freedom, the war on terror requires great sacrifice from Americans. By their courage and sacrifices, today's soldiers, sailors, airmen, Coast Guardsmen and Marines are taking their rightful place among the heroes of history, and the American people are thankful and proud. In this war, many of these brave men and women have given their lives to defend their fellow citizens and to bring the hope of freedom to millions who have not known it. We owe these fallen heroes our gratitude, and we offer their families our heartfelt condolences and prayers.

Now we must finish the task that our troops have given their lives for and honor their sacrifice by completing their mission. We can be confident in the ultimate triumph of our cause, because we know that freedom is the future of every nation and that the side of freedom is the side of victory.

Thank you for listening.

END

Source:
www.whitehouse.gov

.....the hope of freedom?

The Iraqis Rights to be Free

Ghali Hassan

October 4, 2005

With the continuing US attacks on Iraqi population centres, the Bush administration appeared more desperate than ever to force the new US-crafted constitution on the Iraqi people. The attacks are concentrated on Iraqi communities, who oppose the Occupation, to prevent them from voting on the constitution in the upcoming referendum. The US aim is to divide Iraqis on sectarian and ethnic lines and force them into neo-colonial dependency. It is the Iraqi people’s legitimate rights to fight for their unity, freedom and national independence.

Immediately after the invasion of Iraq, the US and its junior partner, Britain, started the division of Iraqis based on ethnic and sectarian lines. Then and for the first time, “civil war” appeared in every Western newspaper and media outlet. Iraq has been a non-sectarian mosaic society since it inception. Iraqis see themselves to be Iraqis first, Muslim or Christian second. “I haven’t heard of any Iraqi talking about civil war. I only hear Americans and Brits talking about civil war”, said British journalist, Robert Fisk. Premeditated attacks on religious leaders and religious gatherings increased in order to provide fuel and provoke sectarian strife and hatred among Iraqis. In other words, the promotion of religious conflict is the creation of US forces. Further more, the violence is deliberate and designed to make people pay less attention to the wholesale of Iraq’s resources and public assets.

Iraqi sources argued that, US forces and their collaborators – the US-created militias, secret US-British agents and Israel’s Mossad – are behind every major sectarian killing and kidnapping in the country. After every large killing of civilians, the US and mainstream Western media are deliberately blaming the Iraqi Resistance for the violence.(1) Furthermore, the aim is to distort the image of the Resistance and weaken its popular support in Iraq and abroad. It should be emphasised that a national resistance movement has no reason to commit acts of violence against the local civilian population for whom it is fighting and upon whom it depends.

Since March 2003, US forces have killed more than 200,000 innocent Iraqi civilians. Based on the conservative estimate – 100, 000 Iraqis killed between March 2003 to October 2004 – provided by the peer reviewed British medical journal The Lancet, if one includes the atrocity of Fallujah, Ramadi, Qaim, Tel Afar and the daily atrocities committed by US forces and their collaborators against the Iraqi people, the number of Iraqis killed since March 2003 would be in the 200,000 mark or even more. (2)

Based on the November 2004 peer reviewed Lancet report, the majority were women and children. Almost every Iraqi family have lost at least one member. Iraq was a defenceless nation, and therefore, Iraqi blood is cheap to spill to satisfy Western violence. In addition to the slaughter, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis are imprisoned, abused and tortured in US-run prisons. Today, there are more prisons in Iraq than at any time in Iraq’s history. The entire Iraq’s vital civilian infrastructure has been destroyed. Why?

How can people continue to believe that the US and Britain are bringing “democracy” and “freedom” to Iraq? It is a myth that is fed routinely as a diet to Western citizens, Americans in particular, in order to manipulate them into supporting acts of aggression against other nations. What the US and Britain want in Iraq is a brutal, repressive, and corrupt regime in control of the population and service of US interests. And there are plenty of examples. Iraqis and the rest of the peoples of the Middle East want freedom from Western terrorism and imperialism.

Iraqis’ rights to resistance and self-defence are legitimate rights enshrined in UN Charter, numerous UN resolutions and international law. “International law grants a people fighting an illegal occupation the right to use 'all necessary means at their disposal' to end their occupation and the occupied “are entitled to seek and receive support’”. All resistance movements have used armed struggle to force the occupiers to change course. Armed resistant have been used against the English in the US, against the Nazis in France, Yugoslavia and Norway. Iraq is not different. Violent resistance arises from violent military occupation. The Iraqi people have the right to resist colonial aggression.

Resistance to illegal act of aggression and foreign occupation is not terrorism; it is legitimate act of self-defence. Terrorism is the act of unprovoked aggression. People should be intimidated or afraid to support a legitimate act of self-defence. The success of the Iraqi Resistance to liberate Iraq from US Occupation and achieve national independence is also a success for world resistance to imperialism.

The historic judgement by the Italian judge Clementina Forleo, Judge for the Preliminary Hearing in Milan on 24 January 2005 adds legitimacy to the Iraqi struggle against US Occupation. Judge Forleo ruled that the accused (five North African citizens) “cannot be classified as terrorists”, but resistance fighters. She said: “[T]hat resistance [to] US occupation forces in Iraq by sending fighters does not amount to terror”. The judgement was supported by an overwhelming majority of the Italian Legal Community. This historic judgement is supported recently by the German Federal Administrative Court which ruled that the attack launched by the US and its allies against the nation of Iraq was a clear war of aggression – as specified in Article 4, Paragraph 4 of the UN Charter – that violated international law.

The illegitimate elections at the point of the Occupation gun produced illegitimate constitution. Like the January elections, the US-crafted constitution is dividing Iraq on sectarian and ethnic lines masked in the catch word of “federalism”. It is the US card to legitimise the Occupation of Iraq and promote its ideology of dominating the world. A ‘Yes’ vote by US collaborators – the Kurds and the Jaafari-Chalabi groups – would mean a step further in the marginalisation of Iraqis who oppose the presence of US forces, and the continuing of the violence. It is a repeat of previously orchestrated events; the Fallujah atrocity, the fraudulent elections, the ‘handing over’ of fake sovereignty, etc. The US objective is to break-up Iraq according to US-Israel Zionist design.

Finally, the indiscriminate US attacks on Iraqi towns and cities have added fuel to Iraqis determination to be free from the scourge of imperialism. There is no pretext for US troops and mercenaries to remain in Iraq and continue the violence. Iraq is not, was not and never could have been a threat to the US. The only prospect for a peaceful resolution and an end to the current illegal war of aggression is the immediate and full end to the Occupation.

Ghali Hassan lives in Perth, Western Australia

Notes:

1. Al-Ahram Weekly, 07-13 April, 2005; Iraqi Resistance and US Counter-Terror, by Moussa Al-Husseini.

2. See The Lancet Study, by Naom Chomsky; The results of the Iraq Living Conditions Survey 2004 provide more support for the Lancet study; The 'Iraqiyun Humanitarian Organization’ in Baghdad estimated that 128,000 Iraqis have been killed since the U.S. invasion began in March 2003. The Head of Iraqiyun, Dr. Hatim al-'Alwani, said that the toll includes everyone who has been killed since that time, adding that 55 percent of those killed have been women and children aged 12 and under. The report published in June 2005.

Courtesy & Copyright © Ghali Hassan 

Article nr. 16419 sent on 04-oct-2005 13:29 ECT 
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