Happy New Year Baghdad - At least you have Donna
by Ian McPherson The human shield
Donna Mulhearn is a 34 year old Australian woman and devout Catholic. Employed before the Iraq war at a busy Catholic press ministery, Donna had made the decision to leave her high pressure, stressful job to lead a life teaching Christian spirituality and meditation.
During a sabbatical, a year of transition between jobs, Donna toured the world, visiting sacred sites and exploring the traditions and mysteries of the world's faiths, including her own Christian faith.
“I was in the middle of this when talk of the (Iraq) war started to brew. I was praying: ‘Lord make me an instrument of your peace’ ... I was crying out to God: ‘How am I to do that literally? What am I supposed to do?’ Then I heard on the radio a call to join the human shields in Iraq, and as soon as I heard it I felt almost a sense of relief and I said: ‘Thank you, God. This is my path’. Within two weeks I was there.”
The die was cast. Donna spent the war protecting non-military Iraqi infrastructure around Baghdad - the power stations, food silos and water treatment plants - the destruction of which killed so many civilians and children after the first Gulf war.
She, and the other human shields in Iraq who volunteered, were inevitably successful in reducing the unnecessary deaths of thousands of Iraqi civilians. Many, like Donna, were there in 1991 too, and knew the techniques necessary to influence the US military and press.
"They bombed the water treatment plant where I was stationed (in 1991). The lack of clean water afterwards caused the deaths of thousands of Iraqi children from dysentery. This was a war crime. A crime against humanity. The human shields were determined this would not happen again and so placed ourselves on these sites."
"I'm proud to say that it worked. None of the sites protected by human shields were destroyed in this war. Unfortunately, we were not able to send human shields to Iraq's second largest city, Basra. There the power stations and water treatment plants were destroyed."
Did you fight anyone, defend anyone, or just watch it on TV?
While we were (mostly) sitting out the war, watching the "tastefully edited", "carnage-free" TV presentation and rooting for our troops, hooting along with the Fox network "talking heads" responsible for filling our brains with lies and propaganda, real civilians just like us were dying, and real people like Donna Mulhearn were trying their best to protect them.
And even now, when the predicted buzz for 2004 threatens to be a mind-numbing channel-switch between the two major events - the Michael Jackson and Saddam Hussein trials on TV - people like Donna Mulhearn are still in Iraq doing our "heavy lifting". While we are mindlessly entertained by the fallout, we ignore the real needs of the Iraqi people.
We like to think that people are not safe in Iraq, that it's not secure. That's not quite true.
Donna Mulhearn is quite safe, unlike George W. Bush, Paul Wolfowitz and Donald Rumsfeld, who have waged a war of attrition against the Iraqi people for decades, because of the leader they themselves helped install and supported during his worst atrocities.
They are the present day Pharisees of a corrupt and vengeful government, and all Iraqis can sense that, no matter how the press spins the US corporate domination.of the reconstruction funds spent in the name of US taxpayers.
Dictator? Who cares as long as he's ours ...
The ex-Reagonite Republicans in the White House are responsible for the support of many dictators and ill-begotten revolutionary outfits, who served the security interests of the US in their time. Here's a short list of the scum that the Republicans are responsible for supporting: - Adolpho Calero - leader of the Nicaraguan Contras. Supported by Ronald Reagan's administration. Responsible for the deaths of 62,000 Nicaraguans, mainly peasants, according to the University of Pittsburgh.
- General Efrain Eoss Montt - the Dictator of Guatemala. Supported by the Reagan administration. Responsible for the deaths of up to 200,000 peasants by his military, which was supplied and trained by the US.
- General Soeharto - Indonesian Dictator. The blood of 500,000 dissidents and 200,000 East Timorese drips from his hands.
- Augusto Pinochea - Chilean Dictator who butchered and tortured tens of thousands of Chileans, but lives comfortably today in Santiago.
- UNITA Rebels of Angola - The Reagan and Bush Snr. administrations funded this body to the tune of US$250 million - the result, 1.5 million deaths.
- The Khmer Rouge - the Nazis of Asia. The US supported the Khmer Rouge throughout the 1980s, as the "legitimate representatives" of Cambodia at the United Nations. The result - 2 million Cambodians starved, tortured or murdered
- Saddam Hussein - the butcher of Baghdad. Installed in a CIA coup. Supported by the US before and during the Iraq/Iran war, where Iraq used chemical weaponry against Iran and the Kurds. Who now will count the deaths on his hands, knowing that the US helped cause them?
How do we know he has chemical weapons? Easy. We kept the receipts ...
Let me pause here, and explain the US's specific dealings with Saddam Hussein. Was the US in bed with him? Absolutely. Here's a list of the chemicals supplied to him by US companies (according to a 1994 US Senate report): - Bacillus Anthracis, cause of anthrax
- Clostridium Botulinum, a source of botulinum toxin
- Histoplasma Capsulatam, cause of a disease attacking lungs, brain, spinal cord, and heart
- Brucella Melitensis, a bacteria that can damage major organs
- Clostridium Perfringens, a highly toxic bacteria causing systemic illness
- Clostridium tetani, a highly toxigenic substance
Here's a list of US companies that rushed to service Iraq. Remember to send them all a New Year's card :)
Private/Public companies: AT&T
AL HADDAD ENTERPRISES, INC.
ALCOLAC INTERNATIONAL
AMERICAN TYPE CULTURE COLLECTION
ASSOCIATED INSTRUMENTS DISTRIBUTORS, INC.
AXEL ELECTRONICS
BANCA NAZIONALE DEL LAVORO
BECHTEL GROUP
BREEZEVALE, INC.
CANBERRA INDUSTRIES
CARL SCHENCK AG
CARL ZEISS
CATERPILLAR, INC.
COMTEC INTERNATIONAL, INC.
CONSARC
COPELAND INTERNATIONAL, INC.
DATA GENERAL CORP
DEKTOR COUNTERINTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY, INC.
DOW CHEMICAL
DRESSER CONSTRUCTION AND EQUIPMENT
DUPONT
E G & G PRINCETON APPLIED RESEARCH
EASTMAN KODAK CO.
ELECTRONICS ASSOCIATES, INC.
ENTRADE INTERNATIONAL, LTD.
EVAPCO
FINNIGAN MAT US
FOXBORO COMPANY
GERBER SYSTEMS TECHNOLOGY
GORMAN-RUPP
HARDINGE BROTHERS
HEWLETT-PACKARD
HIPOTRONICS
HONEYWELL
HUGHES HELICOPTER
IBM
INTERNATIONAL IMAGING SYSTEMS
INTERNATIONAL SIGNAL AND CONTROL
IONICS
KENNAMETAL, INC.
LEYBOLD VACUUM SYSTEMS
LINCOLN ELECTRIC CO.
LITTON INDUSTRIES
LUMMUS CREST, INC.
MBB HELICOPTER CORP.
MACK TRUCKS, INC. | MAHO AG
MATRIX CHURCHILL CORP.
McNEIL AKRON, INC.
MEMPHIS INTERNATIONAL, INC.
MILLER ELECTRIC
MOUSE MASTER
NCR CORPORATION
NRM CORP.
NORWALK CO.
NU KRAFT MERCANTILE CORP.
PERKIN-ELMER CORP.
PHILLIPS EXPORT
POSI SEAL, INC.
PRESRAY CORP.
PURE AIRE
REDLAKE IMAGING CORP.
REXON TECHNOLOGY CORP.
ROCKWELL INTERNATIONAL CORP.
ROTEC INDUSTRIES, INC.
SACKMAN ASSOCIATES
SCIENTIFIC ATLANTA
SCIENTIFIC DESIGN CO., INC.
SEMETEX
SERVAAS, INC.
SIEMENS CORP.
SIP CORP.
SPECTRAL DATA CORP.
SPECTRA PHYSICS
SPERRY CORP.
SULLAIRE CORP.
SWISSCO MANAGEMENT GROUP, INC.
TECHNICAL COMMUNICATIONS CORP.
TEKTRONIX
TELEDYNE WAH CHANG
THERMO JARRELL ASH CORP.
TI COATING
TRADING AND INVESTMENT CORP.
UNION CARBIDE
UNISYS CORP.
VEECO INSTRUMENTS, INC.
WILD MAGNAVOX SATELLITE SURVEY
WILTRON
XYZ OPTIONS, INC.
YORK INTERNATIONAL CORP.
ZETA LABORATORIES |
Now here's a list of the US Government Agencies that also supported Iraq. Don't forget to send them a card too:
Government agencies:CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
DEPARTMENT OF STATE
NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL
U.S. NUCLEAR WEAPONS LABORATORIES |
Homeland defense
If Iraq had attacked the US, just like George Bush scared you into thinking they were capable of, and the US was being occupied now, would you fight the invaders or watch the TV coverage in Arabic?
That question doesn't merit an answer, and neither does the question of who has paid for Saddam's sins, when we know in our hearts it has been an innocent people.
People sometimes wonder why Donna Mulhearn is safe in Iraq, while George Bush has to fly in secretly, just to swan around with a plastic turkey for a photo-op, and leave, lest he be shot at like his neo-conservative associate Paul Wolfowitz.
I don't wonder at all. People can sense genuine support and love, just like they can sense hypocrisy and greed, profiteering, bias and racism. There is nothing that defines the present Bush administration more accurately than profits, greed and revenge.
Empire breeds humiliation, humiliation breeds resentment, resentment breeds eventual defeat. There can be no respect where there is resentment.
Helping the children
No-one has suffered more in the resource wars between Iraq and the US than the Iraqi children. Remember Madelaine Albright, that famous US diplomat. She stated that even in the face of half a million child deaths in Iraq, due to the US/UN sanctions, that the "price was worth it".
What a hypocrite. If they were her relatives, she would not be singing the same discordant tune! What can this be called but racism - the willful killing of a "lesser race"? Will she use this same defence if she has to kneel at Jesus' feet in the last days?
Doing something real
Donna Mulhearn has initiated the "Open House" project in Iraq, to care for children who cannot be accommodated elsewhere. The state-run orphanage system is maxed-out with casualties of the conflict, and most of the well-known aid agencies are pulling out because of security fears. Donna is one of a group of 10 volunteers, mainly former human shields, who are ready to open two safe houses as soon as possible.
“Many of us have felt compelled to return to Iraq. Throughout my time in Iraq, the two months I was there, children featured prominently. And the way they befriended us and loved us made a real impact on me."
“A couple of aid agencies were ready to go with a 24-hour shelter for children, but they’ve withdrawn. We now are armed with information from their research and assessment. We’ll be working with Iraqi partners who operate a state run orphanage (Dar Al Hanam). They’re going to help us to rent houses nearby so they can help us."
“We’re going to take initially the most vulnerable and at-risk children. Eventually, as we get more volunteers and support, we’ll open up more houses. We’re getting great assistance from ordinary Australians and it will be funded totally from donations by the public."
“All staff will be volunteers so 100 per cent of donations will go to the running of the houses. We’ve all made a commitment to be there long-term. Many of us have had experience in emergency situations and with street kids; others have got other skills to bring such as psychology and counselling."
“But the main thing I want to give is lots of love and hugs and care. If volunteers don’t have specific skills it will be their job just to play with the children and give them lots of attention throughout the day. We’re going to talk to the children and play with them every day, give them their own bed, their own things, and meals and get them to a stage where they can feel that they are safe."
“We’ll send them off to school and try to make their lives normal again. As we get more volunteers and more support we’ll open more houses. The long term goal will be to have them reunited with their extended families if that’s possible. It will be a community thing and our houses will fit in with the local community activities, the local mosque and church and so on. I know the local Iraqis will want to help and will embrace the children as well.”
Making a difference
Donna Mulhearn is not a faint hearted individual; rather I suspect she may be a true Christian, unlike many in the media and politics who just purport to be, without witnesses, evidence or actions to support their empty contentions.
Those who claim to be Christians, yet declare war against other nations, regardless of the merits of the conflict, are not Christians; they are liars and hypocrites. They are Old Testament fundamentalists, caught up in "an eye for an eye". As Mahatma Ghandi expressed eloquently; "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind".
Donna Mulhearn is not a bloodletting, revenge-seeking fundamentalist, posing behind the mask of "Christianity", falling prey to the same corruption of spirit and self-interest that drove Jesus to denounce the Pharisees. This is a woman of spirit, conscience and action. Come judgement day, she will stand tall.
Is the revenge over?
Little defines the leaders of the western world as fully as their recent ability to revenge themselves upon innocent people. I thought that was only a tactic for the terrorists. Yet, even here in Australia, while we assist the US to produce thousand of immigrants from Iraq and Afghanistan, fleeing the violence we initiate, we won't grant them sanctuary.
And worse, we detain them without time limit, in abhorrent conditions, and then reject them so that they can only return to their war-ravaged homelands, at best.
In New Year resolutions, it is traditional to call upon Jesus for support in our struggles. How can we do this when we reject his teachings, and support those of the enemy we claim to be at war with?
Who knows what Jesus will make of the Bush administration, one and all using his name and that of God in their wars against the innocents?
What can they be but fools, addicted to power and corruption, the useless supporters of doomed and violent industries, and the harbingers of destruction of all benefits for the poor, aged and homeless?
Only the wise can see that we are at war with them - not the innocents of the world.
How can we make amends, and have a better 2004?
How can we make amends? How can we make 2004 a year to remember for all the right reasons?
Firstly, we can change our ways. We can reject the lying fools we elect to represent us - they represent only their interests and the interests of their rich and powerful friends. Their interest in us extends only to our ability to fund their suicidal, racist stupidities, their wars, their corporate greed and their bloodletting.
It is below us to support their foolishness. We are the nation. We are the state. We can read and write. We know spin when we hear it, and we do not respect the word of liars and hypocrites. We are generous and true to ourselves and our families. Even if we are fooled, we cannot remain true to a lie.
We are not the Republicans. We are not even their photocopies, the Democrats. We are not Labor and we are not Liberal. We are the free people of the world. And that freedom should be extended to all people, of all nations, as Jesus taught.
We may believe in Jesus or Buddha. We may believe in Mohammed or Jehovah. But we must be united under one banner, or nothing will ever change: Donna Mulhearn is happy this New Year, I think, yet I am less so. I have no doubt that while she was doing, I was talking. And therein lies my sin - just like many of you out there - I did not act when I could. I sat it out.
Yet, as Pastor William Sloane Coffin points out, "Despair is not an option". As Jesus stated in his Sermon on the Mount; "Happy are those conscious of their spiritual need, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to them".
Happy New Year - let’s make 2004 a year to remember, for all the right reasons! |
