Antiwar.com Blog

US officials keep insisting that the Iraqi government pass the laws the US wants. But what would happen if Iraqi legislators pass some of the laws the US has for itself.

Specifically the Third Amendment to the US Constitution: No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

An Associated Press story today highlights a plea by the director of Iraq’s National Library for US soldiers to leave the building:

Saad Eskander, who has overseen the restoration of the library after it was burned and looted following the 2003 invasion, claimed that U.S. and Iraqi soldiers forcibly entered the three-story building earlier this week as part of security preparations for a major Shi’ite pilgrimage.

The presence of foreign forces in the building could make it a target for insurgents, he said. He noted that the library’s collection had not suffered any damage, but said he holds U.S. and Iraqi forces “responsible for any damage inflicted on priceless documents or any human casualties due to this illegal operation. Any damage or theft will represent a cultural catastrophe along the lines of the looting of the Iraqi Museum after the fall of Baghdad in 2003,” he added.

But the most significant point of the article is this:

It is not uncommon for forces to temporarily commandeer houses and buildings as rest stops or lookout posts. (emphasis added)

I wonder how the US occupation forces would feel if the Iraqi government passed a similar law. Would they respect such a law? Perhaps Iraqi legislators will start turning to their actual constituency, the Iraqi people, and start passing laws to protect them, instead of catering to a foreign occupier.

The following is excerpted from a speech given by Daniel Ellsberg at a press conference where Cindy Sheehan announced her candidacy for the 8th Congressional District of California.

I see this campaign as aiming much higher than putting Cindy Sheehan in Congress in 2009. Well before that time, we aim to help restore our Constitution, to end a war and avert starting a new one, and to remove from power two officials – George W. Bush and Richard Cheney – who block those objectives before they can do more harm in their remaining months in office.

That’s an ambitious project; but there’s a clear path to achieving it. We will work to change public awareness and, as a result, Nancy Pelosi’s policies as Speaker of the House well before the election, by revealing to the public real alternatives to the courses she and the Democrats have followed so far, and demonstrating the breadth and strength of public support for those alternatives.

The truth is that Democrats, and even Republicans, can do much better than they have been doing, under Pelosi’s leadership in the House, to protect our freedoms and our security. In this campaign we will publicize specifics of what can and should be done, and let the public tell the politicians which approach they want.

One essential demand is for Pelosi to encourage, rather than to block, Congressional investigations of past and ongoing administration deception, unwisdom, illegality and unconstitutionality in pursuing an aggressive war and in curtailing our rights. Such investigations, calling forth testimony under oath of current and former officials many of whom are eager to tell the truth at last, as well as demonstrating continued administration stonewalling, will almost surely lead to what does not yet exist: irresistible pressure from a belatedly-informed public for the impeachment and removal of Bush and Cheney.

Further, we need Pelosi’s leadership in rescinding the unconstitutional parts – which will not leave much – of the Patriot Act, the Military Commisions Act and the recent, outrageous legislation purporting to legalize warrantless wiretaps and data mining. And – absolutely essential to ending our war in Iraq – public pressure is needed to demand that Congress defund our indefinite occupation, providing funds only for the orderly, safe withdrawal of all our troops, contractors and bases on an announced time-table.

Among the top political sites on the Web last week, according to HitWise, one of the top Internet rating services.

[audio:http://dissentradio.com/radio/07_08_08_hansen.mp3]

Ron Hansen of the Detroit News discusses the government’s criminal conspiracy [.pdf] to suborn perjury by the FBI and State Department and withhold evidence from the defense in the bogus Detroit “sleeper cell” case.

MP3 here. (39:26)

Ronald J. Hansen is a reporter for the Detroit News.

[audio:http://dissentradio.com/radio/07_08_07_gregory.mp3]

Anthony Gregory discusses how war destroys liberty rather than protects it and American foreign interventions since World War I have only set up for the next one.

MP3 here. (34:30)

Anthony Gregory is a research analyst at the Independent Institute, a public policy research organization that analyzes government policy and suggests nonpartisan, peaceful, free-market solutions to today’s social and political ills. He is also a policy advisor to The Future of Freedom Foundation, a guest editor for Strike the Root, and a columnist for LewRockwell.com.

[audio:http://dissentradio.com/radio/07_08_06_porter.mp3]

Historian and journalist Gareth Porter discusses the reasoning behind the government’s lies that Iran has been supplying the bombs that are killing G.I.s in Iraq, the likely consequences of backing the Iran factions, SCIRI and Dawa even as the U.S. gives up fighting the Sunni insurgents and have begun to arm them.

MP3 here. (32:54)

Gareth Porter was co-director of the Indochina Resource Center, an antiwar lobbying organization in Washington, DC, from 1974 to 1976. He has written about negotiated settlements of wars in Vietnam, Cambodia, and the Philippines and is the author of Perils of Dominance: Imbalance of Power and the Road to War in Vietnam. He is a reporter for IPS News and writes regularly for the American Prospect.