National
Council of Churches of the Philippines Conference Statement on Handover
Sovereignty to Iraq
'Handover' Blurs the Truth:
Sovereignty Resides
In The People!
The charade is on. Two days before schedule, the much touted June 30
"handover of sovereignty" was held by the U.S. occupiers-stealthily like a
thief in the night-on June 28th, as people who oppose the U.S. war in Iraq
poise to mount protests against this latest window dressing act of the
United States. In secret oath-taking ceremonies and amid tight security
befitting a true cabal of evildoers, "power" was formally transferred to
U.S.-appointed authorities in Iraq. World reaction welcoming the "handover"
as the clarion call signaling the Iraqi people's independence belies the
nature and aims of U.S.
occupation of Iraq.
What the "handover" is not:
1. U.S. and the "coalition of the willing" are liberators.
George W. Bush, speaking on the "handover" from Istanbul during the NATO
talks, claimed the early transfer of power proves the U.S. and allied troops
in Iraq are "liberators" and that they have every intent to rebuild and
establish democracy in Iraq. U.S. and allied troops in Iraq are illegal
occupants. U.S. forces invaded Iraq, removed its government and imprisoned
its leaders, desecrated the cultural heritage of this ancient civilization,
disrupted every form of civil order, and in its place implanted a military
authority whose aims are no less tyrannical than the ruler they deposed. The
pretexts for the "pre-emptive" war against Iraq--possession of weapons of
mass destruction and the Saddam regime's links with the Al Qaeda--are all
lies. Every justification for the rush to war-to disarm Iraq and prevent
attacks on U.S. territories and interests, to liberate Iraq and bring
greater freedom to the Middle East-are no more than carefully crafted alibis
deliberately promoted to conceal America's real agenda in the Middle East.
2. The U.S. handover of sovereignty affirms the will of the international
community.
The U.S. ignored the United Nations when it invaded Iraq in March 2003.
Through UN Security Council Resolution 1546 on the "handover" of Iraq
sovereignty, the U.S. succeeded in securing legitimacy for the political
institutions it established illegally in Iraq and to draw in a multinational
force to do the dirty job of fighting the nationwide resistance movement in
the country.
The resolution officially ends the occupation but at the same time
authorizes the presence of a multinational force led by the U.S. without
stipulating the date of their withdrawal. The United Nations, which remains
by and large cowered by U.S. dictates, is no longer representative of the
will of the international community. The U.S. acted and continues to act
unilaterally against the will of the international community.
3. Iraqis will have full sovereignty.
The U.S. conceded only a
vague notion of partnership with the Iraqi government whose powers under
Resolution 1546 are significantly constrained. The interim government does
not have control and authority over the 160,000-strong multinational force
that will remain in Iraq indefinitely. Indeed, upon the transfer of power,
Iraq will not become a sovereign state; it will remain a colony or a puppet
state, subservient to Washington and protective of American interests.
Despite the "Iraqi face" of the new government, the insurgency is bound to
continue with a likelihood of developing into a civil war. The fall of
Baghdad did not usher in a new and free Iraq. Far from it ... Today, the
people are in a turmoil so pervasive that the "handover" seems more and more
a public-relations act to gain respectability for the U.S. occupation that
has lost all credibility. The "transfer of sovereignty" issue has shifted
the area of interest, which will likely result in diminishing the concern
over the still unanswered questions regarding the invasion, the issues of
human-rights violations and breaches on the Geneva Convention.
The accountabilities of the occupying power that predate the transfer of
government must be restored to the frontline of debates. Among them:
1. The wanton disregard for life and human dignity shown by recent
revelations of death, torture, sexual abuse and humiliation suffered by
Iraqi prisoners in the hands of their American jailers.
2. The rising death toll among Iraqi civilians, especially women and
children, foreign workers, Iraqi insurgents, and Coalition Forces.
3. The millions of dollars in war profits made by U.S. corporations
from military contracts and the ongoing reconstruction of Iraq amidst
staggering poverty and unemployment among the Iraqi population
Iraq's transition to self-rule will be genuine only if the following
conditions are met:
1. Relinquishment of all political, military and economic control of
Iraq by the U.S. and its allies, and the immediate, complete and
unconditional withdrawal of all foreign forces and facilities from Iraq.
2. Immediate and unconditional end to all military offensives by the
U.S.-led coalition against the people of Fallujah and Najaf and other areas
of Iraqi resistance.
3. Full ownership by the Iraqi people of the political process of
transition to self-rule.
The foreign meddlers of Iraqi affairs now find themselves in a quagmire that
has claimed thousands of lives and put to waste billions of dollars in war
profiteering. The violence and widespread resistance now raging in Iraq are
not merely offshoots of poor strategy on the part of the coalition
invaders. These are deeply rooted and indeed are natural outcomes of the
unjust and self-serving ends of U.S. military aggression that seeks not to
liberate people from terror but to impose the U.S. government's imperial
agenda upon the world. An end to the senseless violence gripping this
country and the genuine liberation of its people are urgent tasks for the
peace movement. The peace agenda is always urgent for as long as threats to
life and the integrity of creation persist.
