Ambassador: “Yes.”
Lindauer: “And I ah, sent something to you by fax yesterday.”
Ambassador: “Yes.”
Lindauer: “It is pertaining to the Iraqi issue. This is ah, a peace framework.”
Ambassador: “Right.”
Lindauer: “I have been involved– I live in Washington.”
Ambassador: “Yes.”
Lindauer: “I have been a back door…”
Ambassador: “Hmph hmph.”
Lindauer: “between Iraq and the White House.”
Ambassador: “Yeah.”
Ambassador: “I know.”
Lindauer: “Okay.”
Ambassador: “I know.”
Lindauer: “Okay, good. I have sent that to your, ah, consular.”
Ambassador: “Did you ask for a meeting?”
Lindauer: “I was going to be in New York and I was going to have some meetings with a couple of other embassies.”
Ambassador: “Do you like to come ah, this evening?”
Lindauer: “I am in Washington.”
Ambassador: “Oh I thought you are here.”
Lindauer: “I realize you are incredibly busy, but I would like to share this. Let me put it this way. I do ask you please. I know you’re very busy, but it is very important that you see what I have sent.”
Ambassador: “Okay, I will ask for it.”
Lindauer: “Thank you so much.”
Ambassador: “I will ask for it, and I will see it.”
Ambassador Wehbe showed a remarkable degree of civility and respect for the contributions of an ordinary woman from outside his own country. If my experience has taught me nothing else, it’s that a government willing to discuss ideas put forth by ordinary people—and listen— is doing some things right. One might argue that listening to common people marks the foundation of all genuine democracy. I find it intriguing, therefore, to compare Syria’s handling of the situation to Colin Powell’s reaction to the very same information.
Syria’s Ambassador Wehbe did more than listen and read my proposal. To his tremendous credit, Ambassador Wehbe’s staff checked out the framework with Iraqi diplomats, and verified that the platform was accurately portrayed and entirely valid.
Then Syria followed through, and took action to carry it forward.
Kudos to Damascus!
Several weeks after President Obama’s Inauguration, in February 2009, I confronted the Senate Intelligence Committee in Washington over the abuse that I suffered as an Asset, and the gross dishonesty of defaming Pre-War Intelligence, with such a strong peace framework on the table, ready for implementation.
At that point, the CIA reluctantly acknowledged that Syria had approached them with an identical proposal in early 2003, in the 11th hour before the invasion.261
According to Joseph Farah, who publishes the G2 Bulletin, CIA sources have confirmed that Ambassador Wehbe and Syria’s senior diplomats approached the United States covertly, possibly through a third party, seeking to open a back channel to the Secretary of Defense, in order to implement the comprehensive framework, which Iraq had accepted enthusiastically.262
According to the G2 Bulletin, Iraq offered six unconditional terms to Defense Department policymakers. The terms were:
• Full support of America’s Arab-Israeli peace process
• Support for U.S. strategic interests in the region.
• Priority to the United States for Iraqi oil
• Elections within two years, under U.N. auspices.
• Disarmament—direct U.S. involvement in disarming Iraq. The U.S. could send 5,000 troops into Iraqi to search for weapons of mass destruction.
• Full cooperation in the war terror—including the hand over of Abdul Rahman Yasin, who was involved in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. To this day, he is still at large.
The CIA implied that it arrived too late to act upon. The G2 Bulletin reported that Republican leaders laughed in Syria’s face saying, “See you in Baghdad.”
Why solve a problem when you can have a war instead?
In which case, they acted like fools.
And yet, like Malaysia, Syria deserves the most profound gratitude and praise from the international community, for the simple fact that its leadership had the courage to support peace to the very end. Syria and Malaysia handled this crisis extremely well. They could not have done better.
Their diplomats had the wisdom and courage to recognize the frightening consequences of this stupid war. Instead of getting paralyzed—or relinquishing responsibility for crisis resolution to the West— their leaders used their position on the Security Council to support dialogue, offering themselves as intermediaries.
That’s the U.N. at its best.
As someone who watches trends in the Middle East, Syria’s proactive spirit greatly impressed me. Syria’s diplomats saw the possibility of common ground, and put the good of the world community before any possible differences with Baghdad. I admire that tremendously. It speaks to Syria’s leadership potential in other Middle East conflicts.
Critically, when the CIA acknowledged all parts of Syria’s proposal, they acknowledged mine—since the two are almost 100% identical, and FBI wire taps prove that I shared it with Syria’s Embassy at the start of February, 2003.3
That is valuable for corroborating the legitimacy of the peace framework itself, and the success of my own role as a back channel. Clearly the peace option passed the vetting process with Baghdad, since Syria’s government required verification from Iraqi sources before submitting it to the Bush Administration. I was spot on
Unhappily, problem solving was not what Pro-War Republicans wanted. It was not in the best interests of Big Oil and the War Profiteers, the only winners of this catastrophic War. But a Great Peace was always possible.
That’s critical for the world to know. Although this conflict appeared overwhelming and intractable, dialogue and diplomacy could have achieved results right to the very last days—thanks to the courageous leadership of nations like Malaysia and Syria.
A substantial peace with Iraq could have achieved every objective demanded by United States and Britain as a justification for War. It would have been a prosperous peace, with oil and reconstruction contracts for the United States, Europe and Asia; weapons disarmament; cooperation with anti-terrorism efforts; even democratic reforms. Victory could have been declared without firing a missile, or killing a single Iraqi child.
By corollary, every sacrifice to support this War effort has wasted our financial resources and the talent of future generations. And it never had to happen.
For me, that’s a bitter disappointment. Yet it should give us hope for our future that we don’t have to go down this path again.
Resolving conflict is always a question of leadership, courage and vision. No matter how hopeless and bleak a situation looks, there’s always a path towards conflict resolution. It might appear difficult. But it can be done.
It’s always about dialogue, dialogue and more dialogue. When you go looking for allies, you will find them in the most unusual places.
To Syria and Malaysia, many thanks!
CHAPTER 14:
GOODNIGHT, SAIGON…
March 19, 2003. It was a cold and wet night in Washington, like heaven was storming tears of anguish. Or perhaps they were mine.
All of the peace community was grief-stricken.
For that was the night the United States and Britain launched what the military bragged would be the most ferocious “shock and awe” bombing campaign in the history of the world. CNN brought the whole nightmare right into our homes and living rooms. Watching that pounding horror of explosions and fires that streaked Iraq’s skies, the brutality of that bombing horrified many of us as well.
Around the world America would never be regarded in the same light of humanity and moral righteousness again.
With every bomb that crashed down, the tradition of America’s virtue got smashed
and broken in the flames.
When Baghdad fell, so did we.
Granted, most of us didn’t know it yet. We could not have envisioned how America’s destiny of influence and prestige could be so interlinked to the perceptions of other nations and peoples. Without that recognition of America’s inherent goodness, other nations would no longer trust our moral leadership, and they would start to question us on a wide range of issues. I think history has already shown that America lost its Super Power throne on that dreadful night.
There are so many ‘what ifs’ that we face together as a people. If peace had triumphed instead of War, what would our nation look like today? Would we have a better health care reform policy? Would we have a stronger military? Would there be any major terrorist scenarios on our horizon? Would we have better job prospects for the Middle Class? Would our government face mountains of debt as mighty and treacherous as the Colorado Rockies?
We can only speculate.
That’s a lot to lose. I can’t really blame Americans still in denial about what the Iraq War has cost this country. They haven’t come to grips with it yet.
The rest of us, with our eyes open in dismay, have discovered that our Great America, protector of the weak and downtrodden, vanished from the world’s eye that night.
In its place stood a tyrant.
Well, that just doesn’t work for me. I don’t feel like handing my country over to a few stupid men, so they can ruin us. That makes no sense to me. America might have tyrannical leaders, but with all my heart, I believe we’re not a tyrannical people. And I bitterly resent any White House official hijacking what’s precious about Our Country to promote get-rich quick schemes for his Beltway Bandit friends in the oil and defense establishments.
But what could ordinary people do about it? That was a much tougher question.
Today, some Americans think Occupy Wall Street has the answer. “Occupy” has fire in the belly—not to mention strength in numbers to hold Washington accountable to the 99 % outside the Iron Gates of the Bilderberg Country Club. Americans of all political stripes have found each other. When our freedoms are challenged, we are fighting back together. A word of warning to Big Brother: We refuse to be victimized or disregarded by manipulative politicians on Capitol Hill.
Mediocrity in leadership insults us. Extremist politics aggravates us. We want workable policies. And together we have forced Washington to push Middle Class priorities to the top of their agendas.
Power to the people is back.
On that rainy night, however, the question of “what could we do?” felt much more lonely. I spent that bitter night driving along the neighborhood back streets in Maryland, poking at that question, and listening to the radio for news breaks on the war. I couldn’t go home. I couldn’t stand to watch the explosions and fiery skies of Baghdad on CNN or FOX News. And I couldn’t turn it off in my mind.
I was heartbroken and seething with rage.
And folks, let’s be honest. I had a lot to be angry about.
I could never forgive that Iraq had tried to resume weapons inspections from the opening days of the Bush Administration— a powerful indicator that Baghdad was not hiding WMDs. The U.S. had dragged its feet for two years before sending inspection teams. All that media spin from Washington and London disguised their fear of unmasking the game. It broke my heart.
And now Washington was bombing Baghdad in a foolish attempt to link Iraq with 9/11. It was another breathtaking deception contradicted by Baghdad’s determination to cooperate with the War on Terrorism!
Wouldn’t that send you into orbit?
On the night of March 19, 2003, that sent me through the roof. There’s serious question as to whether the “War on Terror” turned out to be a hideous fraud.
That struck me as unforgivable after such a grievous national tragedy.
In my opinion, our leaders have endangered the United States for the long haul with this calculated selfishness.
To put that in context, before 9/11 and Iraq, I estimate that only 200 to 300 men in the whole world focused their lives on destroying symbols of the United States. Many more fixated on Israel, agreed. But only real die-hard terrorists dreamed of glory attacking the United States. That would be half the size of a small high school auditorium.
Today, thanks to the Iraq War, Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib, I would put those figures between 3,000 to 5,000 individuals—whose entire lives now focus on attacking the United States any way possible. This War on Terror has multiplied the number of terrorists two hundred fold. Now that strikes me as a cock-up situation. If there are more terrorists today than when we started, our strategy has backfired.
Wouldn’t that make you angry, too?
Driving alone that dreadful, rainy night, my thoughts raced with images of the massive explosions in Baghdad, and the brutality that our leaders inflicted on innocent Iraqi people in our name as Americans. I trembled in fury that our leaders would launch such destruction so casually and cynically, knowing the range of choices for conflict resolution available for months before the War.
If you had told me on that dreadful night that within a year, I would get blamed for providing the poor quality of intelligence that led to this War, I would have beat you senseless. I mean it. I would have stomped you. You could not have crawled away like a dog on your belly.
That’s got to be one of the most outrageous and despicable lies ever told in Washington, which let’s be honest, tells a lot of them.
Instead that night, one of those really great DJs on the radio seemed to understand the shock and disbelief breaking over the devoted anti-war activists, who fill our community. Some wonderful DJ played the old Richard Harris version of “MacArthur Park” that’s so maudlin and sad264— MacArthur Park is melting in the dark, all the sweet green icing flowing down….
Just like Baghdad. I had to pull my car to the side of the road to cry.
Pain scorched my spirit. I had worked so hard to build a reliable peace framework, so the U.S. conflict could be resolved without bloodshed. I’d worked on this project for two years with Iraqi officials and U.N. diplomats, overseen by muckymucks at CIA making outrageous demands to protect U.S. interests. We had started before the threat of War emerged on the horizon. We’d worked proactively and energetically to achieve every imaginable U.S. objective. And we had succeeded on every single issue.
Someone left the cake out in the rain…I don’t think that I can take it, ‘cause it took so long to bake it. And I’ll never have that recipe again.
I sobbed, with my head on the steering wheel, as the song played on.
We did everything right. Our peace framework was tremendously positive for the United States, first and foremost. But it was also very good for our allies in Europe and the Middle East. And I think it was excellent for the Iraqi people, too.
None of that mattered. We could not overcome the insanity of our leaders.
I will win the worship in their eyes and I will lose it. And after all the loves of my life, I’ll be thinking of you. And wondering why?
I’ve asked myself a thousand times why they did it. Others have begged me to explain it, too. Honestly, I see no answer. War with Iraq was wholly avoidable and unnecessary. Such an incredible waste of human talent and life’s ambitions and dreams. For nothing. For no purpose at all. Nothing justified such sacrifice.
I thought of Richard Fuisz and Paul Hoven, and all of our years together, almost a decade that ended so abruptly, without explanation or goodbyes.
And I thought about what we’d lost that night as a nation.
America, what have We done to you? I wept with my head on the steering wheel.
I kept asking myself what could be done? How could We, the People resurrect what I hold to be the most beautiful values of our country, when our leaders are ready to smash us to hell on the rocks? And damn the consequences!
I drove all night until I ran out of gas. By the end, I thought I had an answer. It was admittedly very simple. Bu
t it sounded pretty good at two o’clock in the morning.
It was this. America does not belong to the politicians. It’s not theirs to take. It’s not theirs to destroy.
America belongs to the people.
And by God, we are going to take it back!
CHAPTER 15:
WARNING: THIS MESSAGE
CONTAINS DEMOCRACY
“The most dangerous man, to any government,
is the man who is able to think things out for himself.
Almost inevitably, he comes to the conclusion that the government
he lives under is dishonest, insane and intolerable.”
H.L. Mencken, American Writer 1880-1956
I suppose you could call this my year in the wilderness. In which case, it helps to remember that I’m from Alaska. If anybody can survive in the wilderness, it’s me.
I was now on the outside. We were long past “burn notices” from the CIA, when the intelligence community declares an Asset trespassing or “persona non grata’. Otherwise, they’d be flapping all over my doors and windows, shooting down the chimney.
Oh but I was not alone. Trust me when I say the spooks stayed close and circled hard.
Oh, I see. You think I’m “paranoid.” Let me prove you wrong.
The peace camp in Washington folded up its tents shortly after the Invasion. Nonetheless, some die-hard friends and I wanted to make a difference to the Occupation.
What else could we do? Our efforts evolved continuously. Some of my wonderful activist friends, like Muthanna al Hanooti and Mohammad “Mo” Alomari, headed for Baghdad, and tried to help the Sunnis integrate into the “New Iraq.” They tried to show Sunnis how to participate in elections, and protect their political rights, without resorting to violence. Both Muthanna and Mo provided humanitarian assistance to Iraqi citizens during the U.N. sanctions, through a relief organization called “LIFE for Relief and Development”—the only NGO licensed by the State Department to transport medicines and supplies to Iraq under the sanctions. As a consequence of that effort, my friends had deep ties throughout Iraqi society.
EXTREME PREJUDICE: The Terrifying Story of the Patriot Act and the Cover Ups of 9/11 and Iraq Page 27