Howard Zinn - America is occupied by a president & thugs

[Democrat 4 Ever]

It is not only Iraq that is occupied. America is too

My country is in the grip of a president surrounded by thugs in suits

By Howard Zinn

08/12/05 "The Guardian" -- -- It has quickly become clear that Iraq is not a liberated country, but an occupied country. We became familiar with that term during the second world war. We talked of German-occupied France, German-occupied Europe. And after the war we spoke of Soviet-occupied Hungary, Czechoslovakia, eastern Europe. It was the Nazis, the Soviets, who occupied countries. The United States liberated them from occupation.

Now we are the occupiers. True, we liberated Iraq from Saddam Hussein, but not from us. Just as in 1898 we liberated Cuba from Spain, but not from us. Spanish tyranny was overthrown, but the US established a military base in Cuba, as we are doing in Iraq. US corporations moved into Cuba, just as Bechtel and Halliburton and the oil corporations are moving into Iraq. The US framed and imposed, with support from local accomplices, the constitution that would govern Cuba, just as it has drawn up, with help from local political groups, a constitution for Iraq. Not a liberation. An occupation.

And it is an ugly occupation. On August 7 2003 the New York Times reported that General Sanchez in Baghdad was worried about the Iraqi reaction to occupation. Pro-US Iraqi leaders were giving him a message, as he put it: "When you take a father in front of his family and put a bag over his head and put him on the ground, you have had a significant adverse effect on his dignity and respect in the eyes of his family." (That's very perceptive.)
We know that fighting during the US offensive in November 2004 destroyed three-quarters of the town of Falluja (population 360,000), killing hundreds of its inhabitants. The objective of the operation was to cleanse the town of the terrorist bands acting as part of a "Ba'athist conspiracy".

But we should recall that on June 16 2003, barely six weeks after President Bush had claimed victory in Iraq, two reporters for the Knight Ridder newspaper group wrote this about the Falluja area: "In dozens of interviews during the past five days, most residents across the area said there was no Ba'athist or Sunni conspiracy against US soldiers, there were only people ready to fight because their relatives had been hurt or killed, or they themselves had been humiliated by home searches and road stops ... One woman said, after her husband was taken from their home because of empty wooden crates which they had bought for firewood, that the US is guilty of terrorism."

Read the rest of the article at -

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9747.htm

[ailsagirl]

1. "And it is an ugly occupation..."

It is surely that. Thanks for the post, Democrat 4 ever.

[mitchtv]

2. Thanks, hits the point behind all the lies

I feel strongly that we are the bad guys here.

[Disturbed]

3. An illegal Invasion and Occupation of Iraq...

cannot be left to be unacountable. The perpetrators must be charged with their crimes!

[Triana]

4. Already posted.. yesterday!

I beat ya to it!

:P

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4326043&mesg_id=4326043

[Mojambo]

5. That's a brilliant piece.

He is forceful and impassioned, but also so elegantly simple in his form.

That last line...

There is no act too small, no act too bold. The history of social change is the history of millions of actions, small and large, coming together at points in history and creating a power that governments cannot suppress.

Vintage Howard Zinn. So inspiring it's almost exhilarating.

[ShockediSay]

6. Yeah Howard!!!

Back in Boston you helped us to see Viet Nam for what it really was. You are a model of consistent moral values, teaching best by your example; even against the 'liberal leadership' of LBJ.

Glad your still around when the country needs your outspokenness, telling it like it is.