Iraq Resources
Press Action
Sunday, January 26, 2003
http://www.pressaction.com/news/weblog/full_article/spinoza01262003/
By Abu Spinoza*
With a looming war on Iraq, it would be useful for activists and citizens to have at hand various Iraq-related links, articles, and books to learn about Iraq and its people, the Persian Gulf War, and more important to refute the claims of the War Party.
Organizations
Education for Peace in Iraq Center is an organization dedicated to improving humanitarian conditions in Iraq and defending the human rights of the Iraqi people. It has worked on the education and the involvement of Americans in a national dialogue about Iraq.
Voices in the Wilderness is a joint U.S./U.K. campaign to end the economic sanctions against the people of Iraq. Since March 1996, nearly 50 Voices delegations have traveled to Iraq in open violation of the sanctions. Each small delegation represents thousands of people in America and England who oppose cruel economic warfare. Voices in the Wilderness has put together some excellent document about the sanctions and their effects.
The Iraq Action Coalition is an online media and activists’ resource center for groups and activists who are working to end the war against the people of Iraq.
The National Network to End the War Against Iraq is a nationwide coalition of more than 140 peace and justice, student and faith-based organizations united to work for a common cause: ending the illegal, unjust, and inhumane war being waged against the people of Iraq by member states of the United Nations, led by the United States.
The Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq (CASI), based in Cambridge, England, provides information about the humanitarian situation in Iraq and its context. It aims to raise awareness of the effects of sanctions on Iraq, and campaigns on humanitarian grounds for the lifting of non-military sanctions.
News and Commentary
One of best sites with daily updates is Antiwar.com. Its coverage of war news is comprehensive. It carries not only links to the mainstream press but also viewpoints and op-eds, including their own columnists. The regular columns of Justin Raimondo are always lucidly written and worth reading, even if you don’t agree with his libertarian views. The folks at antiwar.com have done a commendable job in bringing together the best antiwar materials.
Znet’s Iraq page is comprehensive too, with articles by Milan Rai, John Pilger, and many others.
Noam Chomsky remains one of the leading antiwar writers. Check out an older Noam Chomsky Archive as well as the Bad News Noam Chomsky for sustained and penetrating critique of U.S. foreign policy.
Counterpunch.org, edited by Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St. Clair, is probably the best left newsletter in the country. It has plenty of articles on Iraq and the Middle East.
Iraqjournal.org provides direct coverage of recent developments in Iraq. It has plenty of video and audio materials.
Middle East Report is an excellent magazine with comprehensive coverage of the Middle East.
Even though Tony Blair’s United Kingdom has been the most dedicated lieutenant of U.S. policy toward Iraq, British newspapers often provide good analysis. Liberal papers such as The Independent and The Guardian provide excellent coverage of international affairs, including Iraq and Middle East. Robert Fisk’s articles, which appear regularly in the Independent, are probably the best reports from the Middle East. Occasionally, even the tabloid The Daily Mirror has good articles too by war critics like John Pilger.
Speakers
Iraq Speaker Bureau, a project of EPIC-USA, provides direct access to policy experts, diplomats, former UN officials, human rights activists and public health researchers who are committed to taking you beyond the headlines.
Books
There are a number of good books on Iraq, several worth mentioning:
Arnove, Anthony, ed., (2002). Iraq under Siege: The Deadly Impact of Sanctions and War, Updated Edition. Cambridge, Massachusetts: South End Press. (Recently reviewed in Press Action).
Alnasrawi, Abbas, (2002). Iraq’s Burden: Oil, Sanctions, and Underdevelopment. Westport Connecticut: Greenwood Press. (This book looks at the structure and development of Iraq’s economy and the effect of sanctions.)
Brown, Sarah Graham (1999). Sanctioning Saddam: The Politics of Intervention in Iraq. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press.
Simons, Geoff (1996). The Scourging of Iraq: Sanctions, Law and Natural Justice. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press.
*Abu Spinoza is pseudonym for an economist.