The United States has been engaged in "huge acts of terrorism" in Iraq, says a Utahn who was kidnapped in that country earlier this year.
William Van Wagenen, 29, a Provo man who graduated from Brigham Young University in 2003 and performed humanitarian work in Iraq for about seven months, spoke Sunday in the downtown Salt Lake Library.
He told the Deseret Morning News that he is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and has been working for Chicago-based Christian Peacemaker Teams, a group largely financed by other religions. He has earned a master's degree in theological studies from Harvard, according to a press release.
Van Wagenen said he was kidnapped and held captive for about nine days in northern Iraq but would not say why he was released. Kidnappers claimed they were among Baathist supporters of the late dictator Saddam Hussein, but he does not believe that, he said.
More likely, the Baathist statement was an attempt to mislead, he said. He believes they were Kurds, a group that was persecuted by Saddam.
Most of his talk centered on the violence and hardships endured by ordinary Iraqis, much of which he claims came at the hands of the United States before, during and after the two wars fought in the country — in 1991 and from 2003 until the present.
His point was that officials who say the only road to peace is to kill all terrorists don't have the answer. Not only one side committed wrongful acts against civilians, Van Wagenen believes.
During the 1991 war resulting from Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, he said, American bombers blasted critical Iraqi infrastructure needed to produce clean water and dispose of sewage. The announced purpose was to incite Iraqi's citizens to rise against the dictatorial regime, he said, citing a newspaper report at the time.
The June 23,1991, article in the Washington Post quoted an Air Force officer involved in planning the campaign who was questioned about the effects on water and sewage. "Well, what were we trying to do with sanctions," the officer asked, "help out the Iraqi people? No. What we were doing with the attacks on infrastructure was to accelerate the effect of the sanctions."
Van Wagenen said water supplies were targeted because the lack of clean water might trigger epidemics and would lead to hardships, causing disruptions. Adding to the pressure was a food embargo, he said. Some people would begin to starve, reducing support for the Iraq leadership, under that theory.
After the invasion of Kuwait, U.S. and allied forces targeted power plants, and one pilot — according to Van Wagenen — reported that not one electron was flowing in Iraq. Four months later, he said, there was a report that Iraq's electrical capacity was back in the 1920s. Iraq could not run water and sewer plants.
He also cited a quotation from another unnamed Air Force planner, in the same Washington Post article: "Big picture, we wanted to let people know, 'Get rid of this guy (Saddam Hussein) and we'll be more than happy to assist in rebuilding. We're not going to tolerate Saddam Hussein or his regime. Fix that, and we'll fix your electricity."
These attacks, Van Wagenen claims, caused infant mortality rates to increase significantly. Infectious diseases, lack of proper medical care, scarce food and other problems killed 40,000 Iraqi children, according to one report, he said. Another report, produced by Harvard, estimated that 170,000 children under age 5 would die in the next year as "delayed effects of bombing," he said.
The idea was to make civilians suffer to enhance the pain of international sanctions, Van Wagenen said.
Dick Cheney, then defense secretary and now vice president, said at the time that all U.S. targets in Iraq were legitimate, he said.
"Yes, we're talking about, you know, a couple hundred thousand deaths here," Van Wagenen said.
Cheney said if he had to he would do it over again, according to Van Wagenen, and he said the vice president has done that in the second war.
After the first President George Bush left office, President Bill Clinton kept the sanctions in effect, he said.
Van Wagenen told his audience that the phrase "shock and awe," used to describe initial American attacks in the present war, comes from a 1996 book about military strategy by that name. It says that sort of attack should have the same impact on a country as a nuclear attack, except without the radiation.
Targets cited could include communications, transportation, food and water supplies, he said.
"The U.S. actions toward Iraq since 1991— you know, I don't know any other way to describe it as that is state terrorism on a very massive scale," Van Wagenen added.
He believes oil is at the heart of American interests in Iraq. Even if combat troops stop military actions there as called for by Democrats in Congress, he said, U.S. military bases will remain in Iraq.
Peace prospects seem distant to him. Van Wagenen said Iraq faces continuing sectarian violence, American military presence and al-Qaida actions. Also, Iran and Saudi Arabia favor opposing factions in the religious in-fighting and could move in if the United States leaves.
E-mail: bau@desnews.com