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Page 2 of 2 As stated above, like any resistance movement, the Iraqi Resistance is a homogeneous people's movement. "I met Shia [sic] and Sunnis fighting together, women and men, young and old. I met people from all economic, social, and educational backgrounds", wrote Molly Bingham, a scholar at Harvard University , who spent some time with a group of Resistance fighters in Iraq . She rightly added; "[I]n the absence of a solid government or civil structure it is not surprising that a Muslim community [like any other community] would revert to Koranic law, even if only temporarily". It is important to remember the US Occupation forcibly dismantled the Iraqi state, destroyed Iraq 's infrastructure and encouraged criminal anarchy. In other words, the country was deliberately made lawless by US forces.  Furthermore, the "anti-war" movement's decision to parrot the US administration's slander and associate the Iraqi Resistance with violence and terrorism - as if the 150,000 US forces and their mercenaries are not by far the most violent terrorist groups in the country today - is misguided and plays into the hands of the Bush administration and proponents of the war. There is no gentler, kinder occupation. Occupation is violent, occupation is oppression, occupation is anti-democratic and occupation is theft. Throughout the history of human struggle against colonial occupation and aggression there has been no "pristine" resistance movement. All resistance movements have been required to respond with armed resistance to defend against imperialist military attacks and occupation. Iraq is not different. Violent resistance arises from violent military occupation. However, Iraqi sources argue very credibly that most terrorist acts attributed to the Iraqi Resistance movement were actually carried out by the US-created militias and secret US and Israeli agents (so-called "black-ops") in order to distort the image of the Resistance and stir up sectarian divisions among the population. Iraqi Resistance leaders and the Association of Muslim Scholars have rejected attacks against civilians and blamed the US forces and their allies for orchestrating the violence. The creation, arming and financing of 'ethnic militias' and para-military death squads by US forces was designed to create ethnic divisions and provoke civil war, which is now a specific goal of the Bush administration in Iraq. Jalal Talabani's recent call to use the Kurdish Peshmerga militia and the Badr Brigade; the Iranian-trained militia of the SCIRI party, to fight the Iraqi Resistance is a desperate act which will pave the way for the ultimate breakdown of Iraqi society. After all, the US and its allies have the most to gain from a divided Iraq embroiled in sectarian violence. The Iraqi civilians are the victims of this US-instigated violence. From March 2003 to October 2004, US forces have killed more than 100,000 Iraqi civilians, most of them innocent women and children, which was reported by the reputable British journal, The Lancet; the only credible scientific study published so far. The estimate is considered conservative because it excludes the high death toll resulting from the atrocities committed by the brutal occupation forces in Fallujah. The US forces have created "self-immunity" from prosecution making it very easy for them to kill Iraqis with institutionalised impunity, as if Iraqis were not human beings. Fallujah was fire bombed and destroyed by US forces. In violation of International Law and the Geneva Conventions, US forces used modern forms of napalm bombs (MK-77 Mod 5), which ignite on impact, to attack the civilian population. According to the Red Cross, more than 6,000 innocent civilians (men, women and children) have been killed while the rest of the population has been displaced and are now refugees. The attack upon Falluja, which was a war crime termed "collective punishment" and designed to instill fear in the Iraqi population, passed with complete silence in Western capitals. Cluster bombs, and mines have needlessly blown up countless Iraqi men, women and children. Many of the cluster bombs reportedly dropped from the air by US-British forces on civilian areas throughout Iraq were internationally banned weaponry; BLU97A and CBU-105. In addition to cluster bombs, the use of "depleted" uranium (DU) by US-British forces have contaminated large areas of Iraq with abnormally high levels of radiation. Credible evidence clearly demonstrates DU is the cause of dramatic increases in cancer and birth defects. After two years of US Occupation, Iraq teeters on the brink of disaster. Malnutrition, hunger and infant mortality among Iraqi infants under the age of five has almost doubled since the invasion - double the number of that before the invasion and during the genocidal sanctions. The lack of clean drinking water and electricity has exacerbated the severe and unhealthy living conditions. Poverty has increased and the living standards in Iraq have declined markedly. Most Iraqis are still living on food rations and aid. Iraqis continue to be humiliated and abused in violent house-to-house searches being conducted by US forces. Tens of thousands of Iraqi men, women and children are imprisoned, abused and tortured in US-built and controlled prisons throughout Iraq. The April 19, 2005 demonstration of more than 300,000 Iraqis in Baghdad alone (the largest in Iraq for many decades), jointly organized by the Al-Sadr movement and the Association of Muslim Scholars, showed that all Iraqis are united against the US Occupation and terrorism. This unity contradicts the West's perception of Iraqis as a divided society and rejects the occupiers' imperialist policy of 'divide and rule'. "The fact is that sectarian and ethnic tensions in Iraq are not a product of deep-seated cultural differences. They are the product of a history of imperialism and colonialism in the region and domestic Iraqi politics", wrote Rami El-Amine of Left Turn magazine. El-Amine rightly added that; "This applies as much to the Arab-Kurd tension as it does to the Sunni-Shias [sic]". This should serve, as the launching pad for the "anti-war" movement's demands for the full withdrawal of US troops from Iraq and liberation of the Iraqi people from foreign occupation. Resistance to foreign occupation is the legitimate right of the people to peruse national liberation and sovereignty. "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". The Iraqi people have the right to resist colonial aggression. The success of the Iraqi Resistance to liberate Iraq from US Occupation and achieve national independence and sovereignty is a precursor to thwart US imperial doctrine of dominating the world by force. Had it not been for the Iraqi people's Resistance against US Occupation, Syria and Iran would have been attacked by now. To match its rhetoric with its actions, the "anti-war" movement should use its resources to expose the violent and anti-democratic imperialist nature of the Occupation. The best way to support the Iraqi people and prevent Iraq from descending into more violence and civil war is to end US Occupation of Iraq. The Occupation is the problem not the solution. Iraqis are very capable of working things out themselves and rebuilding their own society without interference from foreign forces. The "anti-war" movement can then organize the establishment of a war crimes tribunal to investigate and prosecute those who committed this murderous war of aggression against the Iraqi people. This will eventually contribute to enhancing democracy and respect for the rules of law at home and throughout the world. Ghali Hassan lives in Perth Western Australia. He can be reached at e-mail: G-Hassan@modernwriters.org" target="_blank">G-Hassan@modernwriters.org Recommend this article...
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