Book cover

On the Justice of Roosting Chickens: reflections on the consequences of U.S. imperial arrogance and criminality (ISBN 1902593790) is a book written by controversial scholar Ward Churchill published in 2003. The "Roosting Chickens" of the title comes from a 1963 Malcolm X speech about the assassination of the U.S. president John F. Kennedy, as the violence that Kennedy did not stop "was merely a case of 'chickens coming home to roost.'" This image is a book cover. ... Look up Controversy on Wiktionary, the free dictionary A controversy is a contentious dispute, a disagreement in opinions over which parties are actively arguing. ... Ward Churchill Ward LeRoy Churchill (born October 2, 1947) is an American writer, activist, and academic. ... 2003 (MMIII) is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Malcolm X, (May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965) also known as Detroit Red, El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, and Omowale, was a longtime spokesman for the Nation of Islam. ... President Kennedy, with his wife, Jackie, and Texas Gov. ... The President of the United States (unofficially abbreviated “POTUS”) is the head of state of the United States. ... For other uses, see JFK (disambiguation) or John Kennedy (disambiguation). ... Violence refers to acts —typically connotative with aggressive and criminal behaviour —which intend to cause or is causing of injury to persons, animals, or (in limited cases) property. ...

Churchill used the term "Roosting Chickens" in a short essay Some People Push Back: On the Justice of Roosting Chickens first published on September 12, 2001. In that article, Churchill alleged that the September 11, 2001 attacks against the United States by "terrorists" were "Islamic East"'s "acts of war" against the "Crusades" waged by the "Christian West" (e.g. Arab-Israeli conflict and The First Gulf War) throughout the late 20th century. An essay is a short work that treats a topic from an authors personal point of view, often taking into account subjective experiences and personal reflections upon them. ... September 12 is the 255th day of the year (256th in leap years). ... 2001: A Space Odyssey. ... The September 11, 2001 attacks were a series of coordinated suicide attacks upon the United States of America carried out on Tuesday, September 11, 2001, in which hijackers took control of four U.S. domestic commercial airliners. ... Terrorism is the unconventional use of violence for political gain. ... The Arab world The Arab world consists of twenty-three countries stretching from Western Sahara and Mauritania in the west to Oman in the east. ... Casus belli is a Latin expression from the international law theory of Jus ad bellum. ... This article is about the medieval crusades. ... It has been suggested that History of Arab-Israeli Conflict be merged into this article or section. ... C Company, 1st Battalion, The Staffordshire Regiment, 1st UK Armoured Division The 1991 Gulf War was a conflict between Iraq and a coalition force of approximately 30 nations mandated by the United Nations and led by the United States. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999 in the...

Background

The original Some People Push Back essay was written on the next day of September 11, 2001 when people were still in confusion. And the book On the Justice of Roosting Chickens was published in 2003, before the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse, the use of white phosphorus in Fallujah, and many other war atrocities of the 2003 invasion of Iraq are publically known or even took place (See also: Human rights situation in post-Saddam Iraq). September 11 is the 254th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (255th in leap years). ... 2001: A Space Odyssey. ... United States soldier Spc. ... This article is about the chemical element. ... This article is about the city of Fallujah in Iraq. ... The 2003 Invasion of Iraq began on March 20 comprising United States and United Kingdom forces (98%), and several other nations. ... The Bush administration and many parties have expressed concern about the state of human rights in Iraq after the 2003 occupation of Iraq. ...

Before the media controversy, the Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights gave an honorable mention award to Churchill's volume in December 2004.

Topics

It goes without saying that wars are cruel in nature. In Churchill's original Some People Push Back essay, he pointed out some practices done by the U.S. armed forces that, accorded to him, violated widely-accepted Principles of Warfare: War is a state of widespread conflict between states, organisations, or relatively large groups of people, which is characterised by the use of lethal violence between combatants or upon civilians. ... The armed forces of the United States of America consist of the United States Army United States Navy United States Air Force United States Marine Corps United States Coast Guard Note: The United States Coast Guard has both military and law enforcement functions. ... Throughout history, soldiers and scholars have sought to determine fundamental rules for the conduct of warfare. ...

1991 US "surgical" bombing of [ Iraq's ] water purification and sewage facilities, as well as other "infrastructural" targets upon which Iraq's civilian population depends for its very survival.

... it should be noted that this sort of "aerial warfare" constitutes a Class I Crime Against humanity, entailing myriad gross violations of international law, as well as every conceivable standard of "civilized" behavior -- the death toll has been steadily ratcheted up by US-imposed sanctions for a full decade now. Enforced all the while by a massive military presence and periodic bombing raids, the embargo has greatly impaired the victims' ability to import the nutrients, medicines and other materials necessary to saving the lives of even their toddlers.

All told, Iraq has a population of about 18 million. The 500,000 kids lost to date thus represent something on the order of 25 percent of their age group. ... In effect, an entire generation has been obliterated.

Strategic bombing (since the World War II) and carpet bombing (widely used in the Vietnam War) are frequently regarded as forms of state terrorism by their critics. The "precision bombing" of Baghdad during the First Gulf War had used smart bombs and non-nuclear cruise missiles. Therefore, officially, the bombing of Baghdad was not indiscriminated or overkill. A surgical strike is a military attack upon a target which results in, was intended to result in, or is claimed only to have resulted in damage to the intended legitimate military target, and does not result in any collateral damage to surronding structures, vehicles, buildings, etc. ... Water purification, or drinking water treatment, is the process of removing contaminants from surface water or groundwater to make it safe and palatable for human consumption. ... Sewage is domestic, municipal, or industrial liquid waste products disposed of via a pipe or similar structure. ... The aerial bombing of cities became a common tactic in World War II. // Balkan Wars The first ever aerial bombardment was on October 16, 1912 by a Bulgarian military airplane during the Balkan Wars. ... International law, is the body of law that regulates the activities of entities possessing international personality. Traditionally, that meant the conduct and relationships of states. ... Economic sanctions are economic penalties applied by one country (or group of countries) on another for a variety of reasons. ... Strategic bombing is a military strategem used in a total war style campaign that attempts to destroy the economic ability of a nation-state to wage war. ... Combatants Allied Powers Axis Powers Commanders {{{commander1}}} {{{commander2}}} Strength {{{strength1}}} {{{strength2}}} Casualties 17 million military deaths 7 million military deaths World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a mid-20th century conflict that engulfed much of the globe and is accepted as the largest and deadliest... The phrases area bombing and carpet bombing refer to the use of very large numbers of unguided gravity bombs to attempt the destruction of a target, either to destroy personnel and materiel or as a means to demoralize the enemy. ... The Vietnam War or Second Indochina War was a conflict between the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRVN, or North Vietnam), allied with the National Liberation Front (NLF, or Viet Cong) against the Republic of Vietnam (RVN, or South Vietnam), and its allies — notably the United States military in support of... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Average temperature (red) and precipitations (blue) in Baghdad Baghdad (Arabic: ) is the capital of Iraq and of Baghdad Province. ... BOLT-117 laser guided bomb Precision-guided munitions (smart munitions or smart bombs) are self-guiding weapons intended to maximize damage to the target while minimizing collateral damage. Because the damage effects of an explosive weapon scale as a power law with distance, quite modest improvements in accuracy (and hence... A Tomahawk cruise missile A cruise missile is a guided missile which uses a lifting wing and most often a jet propulsion system to allow sustained flight. ...

The "Highway of Death"

However, judged by the fact that the "collateral damages" of that war were in the order of thousands, if not more, civilian lives (e.g. the February 13, 1991 bombing), the "precision bombing" seemed not to be the case to some people. The war atrocities also included the infamous "Highway of Death" where an unknown number of defeated Iraqi soldiers and fleeing civilians were killed and buried and the equally infamous "bulldozer assault" where possibly thousands of Iraqi soldiers were buried alive during February 24-25, 1991. The deaths directly caused by the U.S. had become unbearable to many war critics. The indirect deaths caused by the decade-long sanctions were even less justifiable on the ground of humanity. us military photo (public domain) File links The following pages link to this file: Gulf War Highway of Death On the Justice of Roosting Chickens Category:Persian Gulf War Categories: U.S. military images ... Collateral damage refers to unintended damage amidst intended damage. ... February 13 is the 44th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1991 (MCMXCI) is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Highway of Death A rusting tank at the Highway of Death, taken in February 2003 A sole, the only remaining part of a shoe, that lays where it was left by its wearer, most likely killed The Highway of Death refers to a road between Kuwait and Basra on... February 24 is the 55th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... February 25 is the 56th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1991 (MCMXCI) is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Conclusions

Since he claims that it was the U.S. who started violence in the first place, he argues that it is not unimaginable that "some people push back".

Churchill believes that many of those who were killed by destruction of the World Trade Center were not "innocent civilians": The World Trade Center in New York City (sometimes informally referred to as the WTC) was a complex of seven buildings designed by American architect Minoru Yamasaki and leased by Larry Silverstein from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey around a central plaza, near the south end...

As for those in the World Trade Center, well, really, let's get a grip here, shall we? True enough, they were civilians of a sort. But innocent? Gimme a break. They formed a technocratic corps at the very heart of America's global financial empire -- the "mighty engine of profit" to which the military dimension of U.S. policy has always been enslaved -- and they did so both willingly and knowingly. (http://www.kersplebedeb.com/mystuff/s11/churchill.html)

Consequences

Although not widely publicized at the time, Churchill's remarks about World Trade Center victims became the center of considerable attention and controversy in January 2005 when Hamilton College of Clinton, New York invited him to give a speech. As a result, the speech was cancelled, citing "credible threats of violence". 2005 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December- → Deaths in January • 29 Ephraim Kishon • 25 Philip Johnson • 23 Johnny Carson • 22 Parveen Babi • 20 Jan Nowak-Jeziorański • 17 Virginia Mayo • 17 Zhao Ziyang • 15 Ruth Warrick • 14 Rudolph Moshammer Recent deaths Ongoing events • Tsunami relief... Hamilton College is a private liberal arts college located in Clinton, New York. ... Clinton is a village located in Oneida County, New York. ...

In an extraordinary step, the University of Colorado Board of Regents ordered an investigation into whether Churchill should be fired, and publicly apologized for Churchill's writings about the September 11, 2001 attacks. Churchill resigned his position as chairman of the Ethnic Studies Department but remained a professor. The University of Colorado (CU) System consists of five campuses: University of Colorado at Boulder University of Colorado at Colorado Springs University of Colorado at Denver University of Colorado Health Sciences Center Fitzsimons campus of the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, scheduled to open in 2007 in Aurora, Colorado...

In 2005, students at the University of Colorado at Boulder overwhelmingly picked Ward Churchill its Teaching Recongnition Award. Following the political pressure to distance themselves from Professor Churchill, the University of Colorado Alumni Association, which sponsors the award, promptly announced that they would withhold the award from Churchill. Given annually for 44 years, this is the first time the award's was withheld from the person who won it.

See also

• Atrocity
• Economy of Iraq
• Genocide
• History of United States imperialism
• Jus ad bellum
• Laws of war
• New Imperialism
• Oil for Food program
• Popular opposition to war on Iraq
• Post-September 11 anti-war movement
• Reprisal
• Strategic bombing
• Victor's justice
• War crime

An atrocity (from the Latin atrox, atrocious, from Latin ater = matte black (as distinct from niger = shiny black)) is a term used to describe crimes ranging from an act committed against a single person to one committed against a population or ethnic group. ... // Overview Iraqs economy is dominated by the petroleum sector, which has traditionally provided about 95% of foreign exchange earnings. ... Genocide is defined by the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (CPPCG) article 2 as any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, as such: Killing members of the group; Causing... At its start, the United States was a collection of small colonies on the eastern seaboard with little international import. ... Jus ad bellum (Latin for Law to War; see also just war) are a set of criteria that are consulted before engaging in war, in order to determine whether entering into war is justifiable. ... The laws of war (Jus in bello) define the conduct and responsibilities of belligerent nations, neutral nations and individuals engaged in warfare, in relation to each other and to protected persons, usually meaning civilians. ... The term New Imperialism refers to the policy and ideology of imperial colonial expansion adopted by Europes powers and later the United States and Japan during the late 19th and early 20th centuries; approximately from the Franco-Prussian War to World War I (c. ... The Oil-for-Food Programme was established by the United Nations in 1996 to allow Iraq to sell oil on the world market in exchange for food, medicine and the like. ... Anti war protests in France Many commentators have opined that popular opposition to war on Iraq exceeded the movement against the Vietnam War in scale, even before the war was declared. ... The dispute is confined to the sections Left and anti-war in Europe and Criticism of the anti-war movement. ... In warfare, a reprisal is a limited and deliberate violation of the laws of war to punish an enemy for breaking the laws of war. ... Strategic bombing is a military strategem used in a total war style campaign that attempts to destroy the economic ability of a nation-state to wage war. ... The label victors justice (in German, Siegerjustiz) is applied by advocates to a situation in which they believe that a victorious nation is applying different rules to judge what is right or wrong for their own forces and for those of the (former) enemy. ... A war crime is a punishable offense, under international (criminal) law, for violations of the law of war by any person or persons, military or civilian. ...

External links

• Some People Push Back: On the Justice of Roosting Chickens (essay)
• Some People Push Back: On the Justice of Roosting Chickens (essay, expanded version)