Easter Reflections On Iraq - Bombing Mosques - Is There Really No Other Way?

'Fight Smart' Update - Easter Sunday, 11 April 2004

Don't Take the Bait - Fight Smart
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Who is the enemy?

"It was only 25 years ago when there began to be a melding of the Republican Party with fundamentalist Christianity, particularly with the Southern Baptist Convention. This is a fairly new development, and I think it was brought about by the abandonment of some of the basic principles of Christianity. First of all, we worship the prince of peace, not war. And those of us who have advocated for the resolution of international conflict in a peaceful fashion are looked upon as being unpatriotic, branded that way by right-wing religious groups, the Bush administration, and other Republicans.... what do Christians stand for, based exclusively on the words and actions of Jesus Christ? We worship him as a prince of peace. And I think almost all Christians would conclude that whenever there is an inevitable altercation -- say, between a husband and a wife, or a father and a child, or within a given community, or between two nations (including our own) -- we should make every effort to resolve those differences which arise in life through peaceful means. Therein, we should not resort to war as a way to exalt the president as the commander in chief. A commitment to peace is certainly a Christian principle that even ultraconservatives would endorse, at least by worshipping the prince of peace... The alleviation of suffering was a philosophy that was enhanced and emphasized by the life of Christ. Today the ultra-right wing, in both religion and politics, has abandoned that principle of Jesus Christ’s ministry. Those are the two principal things in the practical sense that starkly separate the ultra-right Christian community from the rest of the Christian world: Do we endorse and support peace and support the alleviation of suffering among the poor and the outcast?"
Jimmy Carter [America's first evangelical Christian president and a southern Baptist]
explains how the Christian right isn't Christian at all
The American Prospect, 5 April 2004

"American forces dropped two 500lb bombs and fired rockets at the wall of a mosque in Fallujah, killing many Iraqis, yesterday after insurgents took refuge in the building. There were unconfirmed reports that 40 Iraqis had died, although Brigadier-General Mark Kimmit, deputy director of operations for the US military in Iraqi, would say only that there was 'a large casualty toll'. He said that insurgents had sought refuge behind the outer wall and that 'when you start using a religious location for military purposes, it loses its protected status'..... the radical Shia cleric, Hojatoleslam Moqtada al-Sadr, which has been behind the wave of attacks and street fighting in southern cities and Baghdad..... said that Iraq would become 'another Vietnam' for America unless it transferred power to Iraqis unconnected to the US-led occupation authority."
Many die as US attacks mosque
London Times, 8 April 2004

"A grizzled Shia fighter with a massive scar on his belly walked into the Abu Khanifa mosque in the hardline Sunni district of al-Hurriya in Baghdad, keen to join the scores of people inside giving blood and money for the besieged Sunni city of Fallujah. 'We will all fight together from now on, Shia and Sunni. Unity is our strength,' he declared as he strode through the traditionally pro-Saddam mosque. As the US-led coalition declared all-out war yesterday on the insurgent Shia cleric Hojatoleslam Moqtada al-Sadr, vowing to destroy his al-Mahdi Army, the two fronts — Shia in the south, and Sunni insurgents in the west and north — appeared to be coalescing with people in Baghdad’s more radical mosques calling for a holy war. It was another bad day for the coalition, which faces the formidable task of quelling two well-armed and determined insurgencies without creating a bloodbath that would plunge the country into full-scale revolt and accelerate the unity of Shia and Sunni fighters.... the rising death toll — more than 200 Iraqis in three days of fierce clashes — risks creating more outrage among ordinary Iraqis, already weary of the year-long occupation and the slow pace of reconstruction. In the Abu Khanifa mosque, men, women and even children arrived to give food, money and blood for their brethren in Fallujah. 'We never thought such great and free countries would take their revenge in such a childish way,' one woman giving blood said as reports of a helicopter strike on a mosque in Fallujah caused waves of anger. 'Is it acceptable to bomb a whole city for the murder of four people? Or just for Bush to be re-elected?' Young men and women, keen to vent their rage to the Western media, lined up to deliver a tidal wave of invective against President Bush, vowing to fight until their last drop of blood. 'We are giving our blood and money here now, but this is just the start. We will give our souls. This will be worse than Vietnam. The Shia and Sunni will fight together.'”
We all fight together, rebels proclaim
London Times, 8 April 2004

"We were eight hours into Iraq, on the Amman-Baghdad highway, in the bandit country where no US Marines will come charging to our rescue because the coalition military is too busy quelling the insurrections that have erupted all around Iraq..... The Iraqis watching us from a weigh station, a tea hut and other buildings quickly melt away as the Ali Baba (bandits) seize us..... The 'Mujahidin' (resistance fighters) have arrived, and are taking charge. This lot are calmer, and more disciplined — a good thing. The bandits are clearly afraid of them — a bad thing.... Little is said or done until the leader, a tall, black-garbed figure who introduces himself as Abu Mujahid, arrives.... 'Why are you here? Who are you? What are you doing here?' he demands to know. 'We are journalists. We have come to report on what is happening in Iraq. If we are not here, the world will not know the truth,' we repeat. .... Long pause. He looks again at the accreditation, my shaven head, considers the fact that we were alone, in the badlands, in an armoured car. Weighing. Soldiers or journalists. Dead or alive. 'I need for you to tell the news,' he says, finally. Safe, maybe. 'I need for you to ask Bush. Amreeka, what do you need here from Iraq? I need to know why the American Army is killing the people of Iraq,' he asks. 'The petrol,' he said, answering himself. 'Democracy is killing people? This is the lie of America.' Insisting there was no difference between Iraqi communities in the face of the foreign occupation, he insists: 'No Sunni, no Shia, all Muslim. No fitna (civil war). No difference.'.... 'Why the killing? Why shoot the big rockets. Why the air force? Why the B25s (sic)? Now no find weapons of mass destruction. All the people now sit on the streets, they find no work. I have launched two or three rocket attacks on the Americans that day. Another I am shooting now may be ten rockets.'”
A Kalashnikov in my face, a knife in my ear, a masked thug screaming 'You're finished'
London Times, 8 April 2004

"Globalisation and the US pose a more serious threat to the world than war and terrorism, according to a BBC poll. Corruption came second on a list of the biggest problems facing the world, the survey of BBC viewers worldwide found..... Respondents from Europe, Asia, North and South America, the Middle East, Africa and Australasia, ranked the power of the US and large corporations as the biggest worry."
'US is bigger threat than terror'
BBC Online, 9 April 2004

This situation has followed the realisation - for the most part publicly unspoken by discreet diplomatic and other official circles - that the Iraq crisis of the first decade of the century was primarily about the impending arrival of 'peak oil' (where global oil production begins to decline as old reserves are not replaced by new discoveries) and America's related efforts to control the Persian Gulf.

As the American public become increasingly restless during their country's ensuing precipitous economic and social collapse their civil liberties are gradually eroded. This has been an inexorable process, beginning with the 'Patriot Act' of 2001 - the first building block in the creation of a repressive state security apparatus. The Act had passed into law largely without congressional scrutiny under the guidance of a 'God-fearing' President who had claimed to be the defender of freedom and democracy during the conduct of an alleged 'war against terrorism'.

Through all of this America has, however, made strenuous efforts to maintain and expand its military - a process which has crushed its national budget, just like that of the Soviet Union before it. But seated on the verge of national bankruptcy, and failing to overcome the additional burden of intransigent technical difficulties, America has been unable to implement its costly Star Wars missile defence programme so strongly vaunted by successive administrations.

The more economically destitute the country has become the more bellicose has been the domestic and international rhetoric of its Presidents. It has not mattered much whether the Presidents have been Republican or Democrat. Their posturing, derived from a destructive mix of personal vanity and collective impotence typical of the leadership of failing nations, has lead to a new international arms race which gradually plays into the hands of America's now economically stronger rivals.

Meanwhile the widespread rioting that followed the discovery of electronic vote rigging in several states during the last Presidential election had lead to the declaration of marshal law, and the subsequent questioning of the legitimacy of the regime by much of the rest of the world.

The new foreign power which has since invaded the United States claims that not only does America have weapons of mass destruction, but that it is a threat to the international community. Indeed, ever since the early days of the century America has unequivocally proclaimed its willingness to use weapons of mass destruction for first strike attacks against other nations. It is a willingness which has always been in contravention of the Charter of the now disbanded United Nations.

But using new technology based on extraordinary discoveries made in the field of quantum physics (technology which not even its closest allies knew it had developed), the invading foreign power is able to prevent the launch of those weapons during a surprise attack.

As its men and machines pour in from the coast and across the American heartland the foreign power claims the strike is 'pre-emptive'. Since the beginning of the century it has no longer been 'necessary' to gain advance international approval of such 'defensive' measures via the United Nations. No longer in existence the UN is unavailable to provide America with the protection of its national sovereignty that its unpopular government now needs.

After the invasion America's weapons of mass destruction are quickly found and destroyed. Their existence has never been a secret, and the new technology deployed by the invading power makes the task a simple one.

Equally quickly the belligerent leader of the United States is removed by the invading power, for which the majority of the country is immensely grateful.

But soon the American people find that the invading power is little better than the 'evil doer' it has replaced.

Having achieved its stated aim of disarmament, the foreign power does not leave the United States. In a nominal political sense it withdraws, but operationally it remains.

In addition to establishing the world's largest 'diplomatic mission' with over 30,000 staff it seeks to install a government of its own liking, particularly one which will allow it to maintain military bases in 'the land of the free'. The foreign power has economic ambitions for other parts of the Americas, including access to their 'free trade' area and remaining natural resources. Its strategy is deeply resented by the 'liberated' American people.

During its occupation the invading power demonstrates a deep lack of understanding and even contempt for the customs, culture and religion of the American people. It roughly manhandles its women folk in public, and closes newspapers which are hostile towards it.

More and more Americans begin to object and then to protest, even though many are delighted that their previous leader has been deposed. Continuing the mistakes made by her predecessors during the first two decades of what many had hoped would be 'The New American Century', the President has simply further intensified their pain and suffering.

Lead by these fundamentalists some Churches become focal points for national resistance. Violence eventually erupts even though the Christian extremists no longer have access to the national TV networks to promote their message.

The foreign power, in retaliation and out of uncontrolled fear of an uprising, begins to destroy these Churches.

The foreign occupying power, a constitutionally atheist country, hopes through its promulgation of this show of force to subdue the rest of country. This majority of the nation is a predominantly Church-going, peace-loving, and sincere Christian community. But this community is also proud.

Can it be that all these peace-loving Christian people will be prepared to accept an assault of this nature on their personal pride and way of life?

Can it be expected that they will all 'turn the other cheek', as their core religious texts tell them they must if they are to enjoy salvation? Or will they begin to follow the religious extremists as part of America's struggle against the invading power? Will the previously shunned fundamentalists unite the country in a struggle against a common enemy?

On the other side of the divide the foreign power convinces itself that its actions will eventually be supported by the American people. It feels this because it did indeed find the weapons of mass destruction that it had alleged had been there all along and which it had condemned (even though this was a hypocrisy most frequently pointed out by the United States itself).

But not all back in the homeland of the foreign power are so sure. They are unsure that the bombing of the Churches was an action which will reduce the very hatred and enmity that the extremist elements of the Christian world have previously projected towards their country - a country which they have demonised as being full of 'unbelievers'.

They wonder about that enmity and hatred which is the source of their own anxiety and insecurity. Did these actions increase or reduce that enmity and hatred?

They wonder whether history will judge that the destruction of the Churches and Chapels of Texas and Wisconsin really brought security to the invading power - and to the other nations of the world with which it claimed kinship and allegiance. Or whether history will judge that it brought them something far different.

They wonder whether in fact their leaders really did 'fight smart' on their behalf?

But they also wonder whether their leaders, blinded by the imprisoning ignorance born of their own fear and greed, simply did not know any other way.

"Imagine there's no countries, It isn't hard to do, Nothing to kill or die for, And no religion too,
Imagine all the people, Living life in peace... You may say I'm a dreamer, But I'm not the only one, I hope someday you'll join us, And the world will live as one."
Imagine
John Lennon, 1971

Imagine A Logical And Scientifically Proven Way To Create Peace
No Need To - This Is No Longer An Imagination

"I think the claim can be plausibly made that the potential impact of this research exceeds that of any other on-going social or psychological research programme. The research has survived a broader array of statististical tests than most research in the field of conflict resolution; I think this work and the theory that informs it deserve the most serious consideration by academics and policy makers alike."
David Edwards, Ph.D, Professor of Government, University of Texas, Austin, USA

"A new paradigm must be introduced to bring about a solution to this senseless use of violence as a means to achieve lasting peace. In fact, that paradigm is present today, but the leaders of the Free World choose not to recognize it. Shortly after Sept. 11, 2001 changed the landscape of our lives so cruelly, John Hagelin, a renowned quantum physicist, spent time on Capitol Hill. There he met with congressional leaders, senior military officials from the Pentagon, and members of the White House staff, such as Tom Ridge, then the special assistant to the president for homeland defense. At some of the meetings he was accompanied by Peter Salk, a biomedical researcher, and David Edwards, a highly respected professor of political science at the University of Texas... Dr. Hagelin went ....with a proposal to bring about an immediate reduction in world hostilities. The cost of this plan in perpetuity is $1 billion -- a fraction of what is being spent on weapons systems that function only to bring about peace through death. To be more exact, the amount is half the cost of one B-2 bomber, a gargantuan relic of Cold War military strategy.... Unfortunately, while our government's leaders initially seemed to listen to Dr. Hagelin's proposal, their inability to think outside the box has obscured their capacity to act for the public's welfare. Despite the efforts of leaders such as Congressmen Dennis Kucinich (D.-Ohio) to use their influence in support of Dr. Hagelin's proposal, no funds have materialized for such a project. Its simplicity, its elegance has been lost in the maze of conflicting interests. That our representatives could not even agree to invest in a scientifically verified program to create peace during a war on terrorism shows the confusion and gridlock in Washington."
A plan for permanent world peace
Providence Journal, 18 March 2003

Dr. John Hagelin and Rep. Dennis Kucinich filmed a one-hour special for WISDOM television about legislation to create a U.S. Department of Peace in the Cabinet. Read the transcript here

"'We have an important message for the people of the Middle East,' said Dr. John Hagelin, a quantum physicist and author, and recipient of the prestigious Kilby Award for scientific research.... 'This practical approach, known as Invincible Defense Technology, applies cutting-edge discoveries in quantum mechanics, neuroscience, and human consciousness to diffuse stress, effectively disarming aggressors,' he said. 'It targets the root cause of violence acute stress resulting from religious and ethnic tensions. Just as anger can spread through a population, so can calm. Humanity is connected at the deepest level of human interaction an abstract, quiet communication so that collective consciousness can be influenced in a tangible and measurable way. There is a proven correlation between meditation and reduced social stress,' he claimed, pointing to 19 published research studies."
Transcendental Meditation: The solution to terrorism?
Jerusalem Post, 2 July 2002

"A day-by-day study of a two-month assembly in Israel in 1983 showed that, on days when the number of participants in the Invincible Defense Technology (“TM Group Size,” right) was high, war deaths in neighboring Lebanon dropped by 76%. Other possible causes (weekends, holidays, weather, etc.) were statistically controlled for (Journal of Conflict Resolution 32: 776-812, 1988). (Figure 1)

These results were subsequently replicated in seven consecutive experiments over a two-year period during the peak of the Lebanon war. The results of these interventions included:

The likelihood that these combined results were due to chance is less than one part in 10¹⁹, making this effect of reducing societal stress and conflict the most rigorously established phenomenon in the history of the social sciences (Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, in press). (Figure 2)"

This Is The Only Scientifically Tested Way To Stop Meltdown In Iraq
Please Don't Ignore It

"This study is especially significant because the ongoing warfare in Lebanon was a combination of conventional warfare, guerilla warfare, and terrorism."
permanentpeace.org

"That country [Afghanistan] has had so many problems and the Taliban says 'we have come to save you' and the people, they would accept that easily but that is not the real Islam. What they are doing is an abuse of power.... I have seen in the past how the Maharishi Effect has helped in troubled areas such as my country. The effect is true and I am trying to do my part to help what is happening now. I feel sad for wherever there is war, the poor people are the ones who will suffer"
Iranian emigre to the USA, 31-year-old University computer science intern Payman Salek
Muslims in Fairfield keep the faith
The Ottumwa Courier (Iowa), 8 October, 2001

Can we permanently stop
terrorism and war?

If 50 demonstration projects and 23 published scientific studies can be believed, the answer is Yes.
Please Click Here

"Black adolescents at risk to be hypertensive adults can lower their blood pressure through daily transcendental meditation, according to research published in the April issue of the American Journal of Hypertension. A study of 156 inner-city black adolescents in Augusta, Ga., with high-normal pressure showed that teens who practiced 15 minutes of transcendental meditation twice daily steadily lowered their daytime blood pressures over four months and that their pressures tended to stay lower, according to Dr. Vernon A. Barnes, physiologist at the Medical College of Georgia and principal author of the paper."
Transcendental meditation lowers blood pressure in black adolescents
Medical News Today (UK), 3 April 2004

Urgent message to the wealthy in the world
From Physicians and Scientists for Responsible Application of Science and Technology (PSRAST)
Published at February 20, 2004

Your wealth is endangered

A deep world economy crisis of unprecedented size is inevitable, unless effective countermeasures are immediately carried through. This is the consequence of multiple global problems, the most important ones being: global warming predicted to cause unexpectedly rapid climate change, unexpectedly rapid depletion of global oil resources, ongoing and accelerating mass extinction of species and increasing overpopulation.
This will have serious consequences unless the course of events is drastically changed. Because of the nature of this process, measures have to be taken immediately. When the severity of the situation becomes even more obvious, it will be much too late to do anything about it. Even now it is becoming late....

You Can Do Something About It

Click here to contact PSRAST and take averting action - there is an urgent need for a global coalition for action

London Times - 26 January 2004
World's Top Ten Oil Companies
Unable To Replenish Reserves
www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex/Documents/oilsectorfailstoreplenishreserves.htm
Sector Finding Less Oil - Pull Outs Anticipated

A Vision For Transforming America - Click Here