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Submission to the Iraq Commission, June 2007
Iraq
Occupation Focus
Iraq Occupation Focus is a London-based campaign group that aims
to:
§ campaign to end the occupation of
Iraq and provide practical solidarity for Iraqis;
§ disseminate information in Britain
about the realities of the occupation; develop and publicise the
arguments for ending the occupation; research and highlight the
reasons for British involvement;
§ work to secure more accurate and comprehensive
coverage of the realities of the occupation in the British media;
§ build direct links with and support
Iraqis struggling for democracy and independence.
Summary
1. After four years of worsening violence,
it is clear that prolonging the occupation of Iraq will not deliver
security for the people of Iraq.
2. Opposition to the foreign troop presence
in their country is very strong amongst Iraqis and appears to
be on the rise.
3. Attacks on US and UK troops are linked
to the widespread belief that the US intends to maintain forces
in Iraq permanently, regardless of the wishes of the Iraqi government.
Violence in Iraq is likely to intensify until an end to the occupation
is announced.
4. The UK troop presence is the one factor
amongst those contributing to violence and instability within
Iraq that our country has the power to neutralise. We should withdraw
our military forces from Iraq completely and immediately.
5. The task of normalising the situation
of those Iraqis held in detention by US and UK forces is integral
to ending the occupation and restoring Iraqi sovereignty. All
detainees must be either rendered to Iraqi jurisdiction or released.
6. The UK has, as has been stated on countless
occasions, a ‘duty’ to Iraq. But that duty is to address
the appalling human and physical damage caused to Iraq as a result
of our government’s decision to invade in March 2003 –
not to prolong a military presence that is rejected by Iraqis
and the cause of much of their suffering.
7. Most urgently, the UK should make a concerted
effort to address the plight of around four million displaced
Iraqis – a refugee crisis that is now an international emergency.
This should include offering shelter within the UK for a proportion
of those displaced, as well as aid within the region.
8. In order to safeguard the future health
of Iraqis, the UK must also join forces with Iraqis and international
experts in locating and removing unexploded munitions and toxic
remnants of war.
Military involvement
9. After four years of worsening violence,
it is clear that prolonging the occupation of Iraq will not deliver
security for the people of Iraq. Few outside of the government’s
ranks would now disagree, whatever their original view on the
invasion itself. It is not merely that the presence of US-led
forces over the last four years has been utterly ineffective in
preventing the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians
in post-invasion violence. Military operations by the occupiers
are actually responsible for shameful proportion of those killings.
10. Opinion polls carried out inside Iraq
indicate that ordinary Iraqis also see the occupation as the problem
and want it to end swiftly. A poll conducted in September 2006
showed that 78% of Iraqis, including 82% of Shias, believed that
the pesence of US-led forces in Iraq was “provoking more
conflict than it is preventing.”[1]
11. Political opposition to the presence
of foreign troops is growing more organised in Iraq. There is
now a vocal ‘nationalist’ majority in the Iraqi parliament
that is actively challenging the prime minister’s support
for a foreign troop presence. The parliament has recently passed
a binding resolution to ensure that it will be consulted on any
future extension of the troops’ official mandate. Iraq’s
parliamentarians hope to use this new power to override Prime
Minister al-Maliki and bring about an end to the occupation.[2]
The argument that our troops are in Iraq “at the invitation
of the democratically elected government of Iraq” is wearing
even thinner all the time.
12. Iraqis are deeply suspicious of the motives
and intentions of the foreign occupiers. There is a widespread,
and understandable, fear that the US and UK intend to stay rooted
in Iraq for decades to come and to maintain permanent military
bases in the country in order to exercise long-term control over
the region. Two polls conducted last year showed that almost 80%
of the overall population believe that the US was intending to
create permanent military bases in Iraq and that they would ignore
any requests to leave issued by the Iraqi government.[3] The stubborn
refusal of the US and UK governments to countenance any discussion
of withdrawing from Iraq, even on an extended timeline, simply
reinforces these suspicions.
13. Support for acts of resistance to the
occupying forces, including military resistance, is widespread
among the Iraqi population. Poll evidence on the issue suggests
that, in some Iraqi provinces at least, the majority support attacks
on British and American troops and that this support is on the
rise.[4] When the political backers of the occupation demonstrate
so little willingness to pull out of Iraq, it is hardly surprising
that Iraqis are either taking up arms to attempt to drive them
out by force or supporting those who do.
14. It is self-evident that military resistance
to the occupation will not cease until the occupation itself draws
to an end. Those politicians on both sides of the Atlantic who
look to US and UK troops to ‘quell the insurgency’
through military operations are therefore looking in vain. Levels
of resistance activity may fluctuate over time, and the occupation’s
political backers may attempt to seize on any relative lulls as
a sign of ‘progress’, but it is impossible for the
occupiers to emerge victorious in such a conflict. The tendency
of all military occupations is to descend into a cycle of violence,
arousing increasing hostility from the host population as time
wears on. In other words, conflict and bloodshed on both sides
is likely to get worse the longer our troops remain in Iraq.
15. The UK government’s persistent
argument that annoucing a timetable for withdrawal would invite
more attacks is unsubstantiated. When asked, Iraqis feel differently.
In a September 2006 poll, most of those who supported resistance
attacks on US-led forces said they would feel less supportive
“If the United States made a commitment to withdraw from
Iraq according to a timetable”.[5]
16. Since the fall of Saddam’s regime
in April 2003, Iraq has descended into an ever-worsening state
of violence and insecurity. It is true that, by now, there are
other factors at work in inciting violence besides the US-led
forces and the resistance that counters them. But our presence
as an occupying force remains one of the most, if not the most,
significant catalyst for the spiraling violence in Iraq. It is
also the only factor that it is within our power to remove. The
UK government has no authority to order al-Q’aeda to cease
operations in Iraq, and holds little sway with the Mehdi army.
What it can do is bring about the swift end of an occupation that
has gone disastrously wrong – even by the dismal standards
of military occupations past – and thereby offer Iraq a
chance to finally reclaim its sovereignty. Immediate withdrawal
from Iraq by US and UK forces would be both pragmatic and just.
17. As a first step, UK military personnel
in Iraq should immediately cease all operations in the country
and retire to their bases. Arrangements should then be made for
them to leave the country within weeks. Military bases and installations
set up within Iraq by the UK’s occupying forces must be
permanently dismantled.
18. The UK government should then focus its
diplomatic efforts on persuading the US administration to follow
this example.
Refugees
19. The war and occupation have led to the worst refugee crisis
seen in the region since 1948. The UN estimates that there are
now two million Iraqis outside of Iraq who have fled the country
since March 2003, in addition to 1.9 million who are displaced
inside the country.
20. The UK, along with other donor nations,
must heed the calls of the UNHCR for financial assistance in order
to meet the needs of the growing Iraqi refugee population. The
UNHCR and other relevant agencies should be enabled to provide
aid packages for internally displaced Iraqis and those who have
fled the country, including emergency accommodation, education
and medical services, financial assistance, legal representation,
etc.
21. While Syria and Jordan have shouldered
the burden of accommodating the swelling Iraqi refugee population,
the UK has been slow to offer shelter – even to those Iraqis
who face reprisals for having worked for UK forces in Iraq. The
UK government should demonstrate its goodwill towards the Iraqi
people by taking in a proportionate percentage of the refugee
population, and organising their transport to and accommodation
in this country. This would go some way towards improving the
perception of our country both in Iraq and in the world generally.
22. Besides refusing entry to recent refugees,
the UK government has been conducting forced deportations of refugees
long resident in the UK to Iraq's northern Kurdish provinces.
Whilst Iraq is turmoil, the UK government must adopt an attitude
of consideration and respect towards Iraqi refugees. Claiming
that Iraq is a safe environment to which former refugees should
now be compelled to return is both absurd and inhumane. It is
worth stressing that the human rights situation in Kurdish controlled
regions of Iraq is deteriorating steadily and what democratic
freedoms may have been won in recent years are under severe pressure
from a profoundly corrupt political leadership.
Detainees
23. So far, only a handful of cases of detainee
abuse by British forces in Iraq have hit the headlines in our
national media, but we must fear that these represent a small
proportion of the total. UK forces have been responsible for rounding
up and detaining many thousands of Iraqis during their four-year
occupation of southern Iraq. The incontrovertible cases of documented
abuse are condemned with near unanimity. But the strange situation
of a foreign army seizing and detaining sections of the civilian
population at will, and holding them indefinitely without charge,
trial or access to legal representation, has aroused little comment
from our politicians and mainstream commentators. It is, nevertheless,
an outrage to human rights that differs little from the horrors
of Guantanamo Bay. For Iraqis, the frequently arbitrary seizure
and mistreatment of friends and family members by the occupation
forces is one of the principal sources for the ever-rising resentment
and hostility towards the US and UK presence in their country.
24. The UK government should take urgent
steps to normalise this situation. Doing so will demonstrate this
country’s commitment to the rights and freedoms of the Iraqi
people, and to their national sovereignty.
25. As a first step, all jails operated in
Iraq by UK forces must be declared and made open to scrutiny.
The staff of the Red Cross and Red Crescent must be able to carry
out monitoring of UK-run prisons without delay or impediment.
26. The whereabouts of all detainees must
be made known to their families and representatives. All detainees
should be permitted regular visits and access to legal representation.
27. The human rights of prisoners and detainees
must be rigorously policed by the Iraqi authorities. Jailers and
interrogators - Iraqi or otherwise - must be held fully accountable
in Iraqi courts whenever evidence of abuse is found.
28. Any detainees who have been arrested
by Iraqi citizens for crimes under Iraqi law should have their
cases processed in a manner consistent with legal norms. If there
is evidence to support a prosecution, detainees should be able
to expect a fair trial under Iraqi jurisdiction.
29. Any other detainees held by UK forces
in Iraq should be released without delay, and should, in due course,
receive compensation for their unlawful imprisonment.
30. Iraqis who have been active in resistance
activities against the occupying forces - military or otherwise
– ought to be regarded as prisoners of war and should not
face punishment for such actions. Iraqis who are currently detained
because of involvement or suspected involvement in actions against
the occupying forces must be released without charge.
Helping to clean up Iraq
31. Successive wars and years of occupation
have left a deadly legacy in Iraqi soil. The remnants of both
unexploded munitions and depleted uranium (DU) tipped weaponry
pose a long-term risk to Iraqi health. The UK shares a heavy burden
of responsibility with our American military partners to locate
and clean up these remnants. If we shirk this duty, there is a
high probability that Iraqis born decades from now will still
be suffering dire health problems and injuries as a result of
military action that we carried out in Iraq in 2003 - or indeed
earlier (DU was used extensively during the 1991 Gulf War) - just
as children born in Vietnam today are still suffering from the
use of Agent Orange as a weapon in a war that ended more than
thirty years ago.
32. The Ministry of Defence should promptly
disclose full details (dates, quantities, map references etc.)
of every instance where UK forces have deployed cluster bombs
and DU tipped ammunition within Iraq. This disclosure should extend
back to 1991.
33. The UK government should also co-operate
fully with Iraqis in sharing all expertise likely to assist in
cleaning up the remnants of these weapons and should meet all
requests from Iraq for personnel to carry out clean-up operations.
34. The UK government should step back from
its tradition of blanket denials that DU poses any risk to human
health. A moratorium on the military use of DU by UK armed forces
should be imposed immediately. Our government ought to actively
promote and facilitate scientific co-operation between international
experts in the diseases, syndromes and defects linked to DU contamination
in Iraq in order to bring about a speedy understanding of causes,
treatments and preventative measures.
References
World
Public Opinion, “Poll of Iraqis: Public Wants Timetable
for US Withdrawal, but Thinks US Plans Permanent Bases in Iraq”
”, World Public Opinion, 31 January 2006
“Most
Iraqis Want U.S. Troops Out Within a Year”, World Public
Opinion, 27 September 2006
Raed
Jarrar and Joshua Holland, “Iraqi Lawmakers Pass Resolution
That May Force End to Occupation”, AlterNet, 5 June 2007
Sean
Rayment, “Secret MoD poll: Iraqis support attacks on British
troops,” The Sunday Telegraph, 22 October 2005
[1] “Most Iraqis Want U.S. Troops Out Within a Year”,
World Public Opinion, 27 September 2006.
[2] Raed Jarrar and Joshua Holland, “Iraqi
Lawmakers Pass Resolution That May Force End to Occupation”,
AlterNet, 5 June 2007.
[3] Surveys conducted for World Public Opinion
in January and September 2006 (see references).
[4] A poll conducted in August 2005 for the
MoD found that “Forty-five per cent of Iraqis believe attacks
against British and American troops are justified - rising to
65 per cent in the British-controlled Maysan province” and
“82 per cent are "strongly opposed" to the presence
of coalition troops”. Sean Rayment, “Secret MoD poll:
Iraqis support attacks on British troops,” The Sunday Telegraph,
22 October 2005. Two polls conducted for World Public Opinion
in 2006 found 47% overall support for attacks on US-led forces
in January, rising to 61% by September – including 62% of
Shias (see references).
[5] “Most Iraqis Want U.S. Troops Out
Within a Year”, World Public Opinion, 27 September 2006.
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