War College - 67 things you might want to know before the bombs drop
ABRAHAM. Father of Islam, Judaism and Christianity. According to the Bible, Abraham came from Ur, which is located in present-day Iraq. Hey, Godboy, Abraham was Iraqi. See also ESCHATOLOGY.
"AL." Most words beginning with "al"—such as "algebra"—date back to medieval Arabic and are now a big un-American no-no. Just as anti-German hysteria swept the U.S. in 1917 (when Americans renamed hamburger and sauerkraut), it’s possible we’ll soon see the final prohibition of alcohol—the word, not the hooch. First mass-distilled by Arabs in potent proofs called alembics, alcohol may disappear with "alfalfa," "Aladdin" (who has already been replaced by an Asian actor at Disney’s California Adventure), "albacore" tuna, "alchemy," Al Sharpton and, sadly, Al Green.
AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL. Lyrics to the song were composed by progressive poet Katherine Lee Bates, a lesbian who had a decades-long, live-in relationship with economist Katharine Coman. Both women were professors at Wellesley College, and both were active in reform movements involving workers rights, the inner-city poor and women’s right to vote. The book that presented the new lyrics to Great Britain’s "God Save the Queen" was called America the Beautiful and Other Poems, and those "other poems" included several that excoriated the United States for its imperialistic policies in the Philippines.
ANTHRAX. During much of the Iran-Iraq war, U.S. Department of Commerce officials granted export licenses to numerous U.S. companies to sell anthrax, bubonic plague and various insecticides to Baghdad. These licenses, including one allowing Dow Chemical to sell Iraq $1.5 million worth of pesticides, came despite warnings that the agents were intended for Iraq’s active chemical-warfare program. The exports continued even after news that Saddam Hussein was bombing Kurdish villages in northern Iraq with nerve gas.
AREA, COMPARATIVE. The U.S. is about half the size of Russia, slightly larger than China and about two and a half times the size of Western Europe. Iraq is slightly more than twice the size of Idaho.
BAGHDAD. Densely populated capital of Iraq. Of the country’s 24 million people, 4.8 million live here. The city’s principal economic activity is oil refining, but just about all of the country’s industries are based here. Baghdad has several museums, numerous archaeological sites and three universities, the largest of which is the University of Baghdad, founded in 1958. The city itself was founded on the west bank of the Tigris River in 762 by the Abbasid caliph Mansur. Under the caliph Harun al-Rashid, Baghdad became one of the greatest cities of Islam, home to many scholars, artists and poets. In 1638, Baghdad became part of the Ottoman Empire, and after being "liberated" by British forces, it became the capital of the newly constituted kingdom of Iraq in 1920. In 1958, a coup in Baghdad ousted King Faisal and led to the birth of the Iraqi republic. During the bloody Iran-Iraq war, Baghdad became a dreary place constantly under threat of attack. But the city’s darkest days occurred after Iraq invaded Kuwait, when U.S. warplanes reduced much of Baghdad to rubble.
BLOOD. America’s blood supply, already at such a seriously low level that some parts of the country have less than a one-day supply, may be stretched to dangerous levels if a war in Iraq proves to be bloody. A Red Cross official explains that many American service personnel are ineligible to donate blood because they may have been exposed to Mad Cow disease while stationed in Western Europe. With a reduced pool of military donors, the Red Cross may have to ask civilians for more blood, blood they haven’t been providing over the past few months.
BUSH, GEORGE W. When he was a young man of draft age in 1970, facing induction and possible deployment to Vietnam, the patriotic and hawkish Bush joined not the U.S. Army or Air Force, but the Texas Air National Guard. During his four-year enlistment, the son of then-Congressman George H.W. Bush served just 68 days on active duty, flying obsolete F-102 interceptors in defense of the Gulf of Mexico. In fact, records show it is likely the future commander in chief was absent without leave (AWOL) during his last two years of service. From May 1, 1972, to April 30, 1973, Bush was actually in Alabama, working on a U.S. Senate campaign. In theory, Bush was part of the 9921st Air Reserve Squadron of the Alabama Air National Guard—a paper command that had no aircraft or pilots and met just one weeknight per month—but the future president’s request to get transferred to that all-but-nonexistent unit never went through. Military personnel records obtained by numerous newspapers and researchers during the 2000 presidential election make clear Bush likely never returned to active duty until his 1974 discharge. See also CHICKENHAWK.
CASUALTIES. The World Health Organization estimates "as many as 500,000 [Iraqis] could require treatment to a greater or lesser degree as a result of direct or indirect injuries." Of that number, 400,000 are projected as indirect casualties because "the outbreak of diseases in epidemic if not pandemic proportions is very likely." According to UNICEF, "It is estimated that nutritional status of some 3.03 million persons countrywide will be dire, and they will require therapeutic feeding. This consists of 2.03 million severely and moderately malnourished children under five and 1 million pregnant and lactating women." Thirty percent of Iraqi children under the age of five "would be at risk of death from malnutrition." According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, "It is estimated that there will eventually be some 900,000 Iraqi refugees requiring assistance, of which 100,000 will be in need of immediate assistance." The document reports that despite requests to the United States, the U.K. and other western governments for emergency aid in case of war, "no funds have been made available to any agencies to date." "Likely Humanitarian Scenarios" is available at www.casi.org.uk. See also COLLATERAL DAMAGE.
CHENEY, DICK. A big-time administration chickenhawk, Cheney wasn’t always so desirous of dumping Hussein. Even as late as 1996, Cheney was still justifying his view to PBS’s Frontline that U.S. forces were right to leave Hussein in power: "Now, you can say, well, you should have gone to Baghdad and gotten Saddam, [but] I don’t think so. I think if we had done that, we would have been bogged down there for a very long period of time with the real possibility we might not have succeeded." See also CHICKENHAWK.
CHICKENHAWK. A prominent person who loudly advocates war but who skipped the chance to put himself in harm’s way when he was eligible to serve in combat. The current administration and its most vocal supporters pushing for another war against Iraq is an impressive aviary of chickenhawks. The New Hampshire Gazette maintains an online chickenhawk database (www.nhgazette.com/chickenhawks.html), which may help give some much-needed perspective the next time you hear the bellicose rhetoric of Dick Cheney (five deferments during Vietnam, says he "had other priorities"), House majority leader Tom Delay (says he wanted to join up for Vietnam but "minorities" had filled all the available positions so he had to stay home), or Rush Limbaugh (couldn’t go mano a mano with the Vietcong due to an outbreak of anal cysts). Even more chickenhawk information can be found at AWOLBush.com, a site set up to examine the mysterious unexcused absence from the National Guard of our current commander in chief from May 1972 to October 1973, during his term of service. See also BUSH, GEORGE W.
CLAREMONT. Quaint liberal town north of Orange County where City Council member Sandy Baldonado spearheaded passage of what some call a "symbolic" resolution (Mayor Paul Held calls it an "empty gesture") against the federal Patriot Act. The resolution—similar ones have been adopted—was originally supposed to urge city employees to resist participating in federal law-enforcement action premised on the terms of the Patriot Act. The final resolution, more broadly worded, expresses "concern" over some provisions of the act. Council members left intact several additional measures concerning local education and information-gathering practices and have basically said no thanks to Bush’s usurpation of civil liberties. See also PATRIOT ACT II.
COLLATERAL DAMAGE. The Pentagon’s favorite euphemism for killing innocent civilians first used during press briefings leading up to and during the first Persian Gulf War. Before Desert Storm brought weeks of intense U.S. aerial bombardment to Iraq, General Norman Schwarzkopf and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Colin Powell asserted that U.S. "smart" weaponry would minimize harm to innocent Iraqi civilians. But after the war, the Pentagon acknowledged that, of the 142,000 tons of bombs dropped on Iraq and Kuwait, only 8 percent were "smart." A United Nations fact-finding mission reported the air war caused "near apocalyptic" conditions in the Iraqi countryside and said that it had reduced "a rather highly urbanized and mechanized society . . . to a pre-industrial age." The U.S. Census Bureau calculated that Desert Storm killed 145,000 Iraqis, only 40,000 of whom were soldiers and 100,000 of whom were civilians that perished in the chaos that occurred within a year of the war. Years later, the United Nations Food & Agriculture Organization added to the tally of "collateral damage" more than 500,000 dead Iraqi children, most of whom died in an epidemic of preventable diseases. See also CASUALTIES.
DOMESTIC POLICY. Remember? See also CRIME RATE (RISING), ECONOMY (COLLAPSING), EMPLOYMENT (FALLING), HEALTH CARE (YEAH, RIGHT) INFRASTRUCTURE (DECAYING) and POLITICS OF DISTRACTION (YES, SIR!).
ESCHATOLOGY. Theological field of thought concerned with the end of the world or of humankind. Mostly applied to Christian End Times theories. Many fundamentalist Christians view Iraq as the "whore of Babylon" (Revelations 17: 1-6) and think its defeat (Isaiah 13: 19-22) is a necessary precursor to the Second Coming of Christ. See you in hell. See also ABRAHAM.
EUROPE, OLD. Enemy of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Old Europe is a magical land of high castles and universal health care spanning what used to be called France and Germany. Once firmly in line with the interests and war aims of the U.S., Old Europe no longer feels any need to toe Washington’s line and firmly opposes any American invasion of Iraq. To counter the threat from Old Europe, Rumsfeld has turned to a new coalition he calls New Europe—Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Denmark, Narnia, etc. These countries cheer Rumsfeld’s march into the desert, as well as fork over millions of dollars to buy U.S.-made fighter jets and munitions. Hurrah!
FRANKS, TOMMY. Head of U.S. Central Command since June 2000, General Franks will be military governor of Iraq following the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. A career artillery officer, Franks is, according to CNN, currently under investigation by the Pentagon’s inspector general’s office for possible abuses of office involving his wife, whom he allegedly allowed to attend classified briefings as well as fly at taxpayers’ expense on U.S. military aircraft.
FREE VERSE. Laura Bush, who never tires of reminding us that she was once a school librarian, was scheduled to host "Poetry and the American Voice," a Feb. 12 White House conference of poets examining the works of Walt Whitman, Langston Hughes and Emily Dickinson—until someone realized that poets, unlike the executive-branch PR staff, might consider poetry something more than just rhymes in books on shelves and take the opportunity to criticize Bush administration policies on Iraq. The event was abruptly canceled. Sam Hamill, one of the poets invited to the event, along with others who believe poetry isn’t just an entry in the Dewey Decimal System, has set up the Poets Against the War website (www.poetsagainstthewar.org).
FREEDOM FRIES. The Associated Press reported Feb. 19 that Neal Rowland, owner of Cubbie’s in Beaufort, North Carolina, now only sells his fried-potato strips as "freedom fries." Rowland said his intent is not to slight the French people, but to take a patriotic stance to show his support for the United States and the actions of President Bush. "It’s our way of showing our patriotic pride." See also AL.
FRIENDLY FIRE. According to a congressional study after the war, at least 28 major incidents of friendly fire—resulting in the deaths of 35 U.S. and nine British soldiers—took place during Desert Storm. Friendly fire kept killing U.S. troops in the Persian Gulf even after the war ended. During a 1994 operation to rescue Kurdish refugees in northern Iraq, a U.S. jet shot down two Blackhawk helicopters. Twenty-six soldiers from several countries perished. Last month, The Houston Chronicle reported that the Pentagon has "failed to outfit aircraft and tanks with combat-identification systems developed since the Persian Gulf War, increasing chances that American soldiers will be killed by friendly fire in a coming conflict."
FUNDING, TERRORIST. Dick Cheney’s old company, Halliburton, recently got a $9.7 million contract to build 204 new prison cells at Guantanamo. That’s $97,000 for cells that reportedly are about as complex to build as a storage unit.
GAS. The mere anticipation of war has driven the wholesale price of gasoline up 14 cents a gallon in the last month. The cost at the pump is up an average of 56 cents—400 percent—meaning that, for doing absolutely nothing, Bush’s oil buddies already are pocketing an extra $5 every time you tank up.
HALABJA. The Kurdish village in northern Iraq that Hussein gassed in March 1988. Though President Bush frequently uses this atrocity—a reported 5,000 died—as reason enough to annihilate Hussein’s regime, U.S. officials did nothing at the time to stop or even protest the attacks, even though U.S.-Iraqi relations were at an all-time high. In fact, the flow of intelligence to Iraq from U.S. military sources actually increased during 1988, despite Hussein’s war crimes.
HUMAN SHIELDS. In the months leading up to Operation Desert Storm, Saddam Hussein ordered his security forces to place British and American families living in Iraq under house arrest, where they were interviewed on live television by Hussein himself. His tactic—implying that those families would be in danger if the U.S. began dropping bombs on Iraq—backfired. The Bush administration declared that Iraq was holding the families hostage and using them as "human shields" to protect military installations. This time, Hussein doesn’t have to bother to use hostages because peace activists from around Europe are flying to Iraq and volunteering their services. So far, about 100 would-be human shields have touched down in Baghdad to a gleeful welcome by locals. The Bush Jr. administration says there’s no guarantee they won’t get bombed.
IRAQ. About 24 million people live here. Most Iraqis are Arabs, 95 percent of whom are Muslim, although there are small minorities of Christians, Jews and Yazidis. Only 30 percent of Iraqis are Sunni Muslims, while more than half the population are adherents of the Shia faith—most of whom are so-called "marsh" Arabs who live in the Basra area and the Kurds of northern Iraq. Iraq became part of the Ottoman Empire in 1638, which lasted until World War 1, when the British established the Kingdom of Iraq. That’s when British mapmakers decided to shave off a tiny corner of the kingdom to make room for an artificially created and soon-to-be-oil-rich country: Kuwait. Such imperial gestures helped spur a 1958 military coup in Baghdad, which led to the birth of the Iraqi republic and Saddam Hussein’s Ba’ath Party. See also BAGHDAD.
ISRAEL. The No. 1 recipient of U.S. foreign-military aid. Its decades-long occupation of the West Bank and Gaza strip has made life miserable for Palestinians, violates international law, and is a major source of instability in the Middle East. In violation of global nuclear-arms-reduction treaties, Israel has (like North Korea) developed a nuclear-weapons program, which it continues to deny exists. Israel is also currently violating several United Nations resolutions, including Nos. 1322, which calls upon Israel to "scrupulously abide by the Fourth Geneva Convention regarding the responsibilities of occupying power"; 1402, which demands that Israel withdraw from Palestinian cities; and 1403, which urges Israel to withdraw its occupation forces to their positions as of September 2000 and to "end its military activities in and around Ramallah, including the destruction of security and civilian infrastructure." On the other hand—Sammy!
JIHAD. Arabic word that translates as "struggle" and which, theologically, refers to a devotee’s commitment to remain pure in thought and mind, particularly in the face of evil and/or temptation. Jihad also refers to the struggle of Muslims to retake Muslim holy land when it is besmirched, as some Muslims believe it was when U.S. military forces landed in Saudi Arabia before the Persian Gulf War—and never left. That’s what originally got Osama bin Laden going with his idea of declaring total war on Saudi Arabia’s ruling family—and America.
JUST WAR THEORY. Philosophical principle made famous by the Catholic scholar/saints Augustine of Hippo and Thomas Aquinas. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, a war can be justly waged only if "the damage inflicted by the aggressor on the nation or community of nations must be lasting, grave and certain" and "all other means of putting an end to [foreign aggression] must have been shown to be impractical or ineffective." It has been cited by the Catholic Church in its opposition to Bush’s proposed war on Iraq. Such a papal edict, however, did not stop the Bush administration from sponsoring a Feb. 10 trip to the Vatican by neo-con-Catholic commentator Michael Novak. The Holy See was not persuaded.
KISSINGER, HENRY. A devotee of realpolitik—the notion that, in matters of state, might really does make right. Realpolitik prompted the Reagan administration to arm Islamic fundamentalists, including Osama bin Laden, as part of a strategy to harass the Soviet Red Army in Afghanistan. Realpolitik animated the administration’s decision to arm Saddam Hussein throughout the 1980s in order to draw out Iraq’s bloody war with Iran. The fact that we now confront the nuts we’ve armed doesn’t bother Kissinger’s intellectual heirs. For more, read Christopher Hitchens’ The Trial of Henry Kissinger.
KURDS. Twenty million strong, the Kurds are the largest stateless ethnic group in the world. They live mostly in Northern Iraq and Turkey, and it’s hard to tell which nation abuses them more. Hussein tested nerve gas on them in the late 1980s, but Turkey has been at war with Kurdish guerrillas since 1984. In the mid-1990s, Turkey used its American-made Cobra helicopter gunships and tanks to attack Kurdish strongholds and villages, slaughtering hundreds, if not thousands, of civilians. In any post-Hussein Iraq, the Kurds will demand their own state in northern Iraq, a wish that could make Iraq all but ungovernable.
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