Resisting the Rape of Iraq
On November 12, Peace Action Maine called a press conference in Portland to
protest the planned conference on "Doing Business in Iraq: The Private
Sector," scheduled for the following day in Scarborough. The conference was
to be held under the auspices of the University of Maine's College of
Business. Students there protested the university's sponsorship of the
event.
Former Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger, charged with four counts of
lying to congressional Iran Contra investigators, was to be the keynote
speaker. Conference participants were mostly representatives of Fortune 500
companies with close ties to the Bush administration, who paid $850 to
attend.
The conference was postponed. The press conference went ahead as planned.
Among the speakers at the press conference was Bruce Gagnon, coordinator of
the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space.
The proposed "Doing Business in Iraq Conference" by the University of Maine
is part of an illegal and immoral process underway in Iraq today.
The U.S. has occupied Iraq and now is in the process of colonizing it.
On September 19, U.S. "colonial governor" Paul Bremer issued a unilateral
order:
- Privatizing 200 state-owned companies in Iraq, essentially handing over
that nation's assets to U.S.-controlled corporations;
- Decreeing that these firms can retain 100% ownership of Iraqi banks,
mines, factories and the like;
- Allowing these corporations to move 100% of their profits out of Iraq.
There is 70-80% unemployment in Iraq today.
This is nothing more than the theft of an entire nation's resources by the
U.S.
This theft is illegal under international law. The Geneva Convention
governs the behavior of occupying forces by outlawing this kind of economic
colonization.
Paul Bremer's job is to create a governing council corrupt enough to allow
the fleecing of Iraq.
The U.S. is not in Iraq to liberate the people.
The U.S. is in Iraq to steal the national wealth and natural resources from
the Iraqi people.
How will the people of Iraq react when they discover what we have done to
their nation?
The people of Maine would be ashamed if they knew the truth of the
University of Maine's participation in this illegal process by sponsoring
this so-called business conference in Iraq.
Iraq is not America's to sell.
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Winter, 2003 - 2004