On the Justice of Roosting Chickens 1458727 221033723 2008-06-22T19:30:26Z DOI bot 6652755 Citation maintenance. You can [[WP:DOI|use this bot]] yourself! Please [[User:DOI_bot/bugs|report any bugs]]. <!-- Commented out because image was deleted: [[Image:On the Justice of Roosting Chickens.jpg|right|frame|Book cover for ''On the Justice of Roosting Chickens'']] --> '''''On the Justice of Roosting Chickens: reflections on the consequences of U.S. imperial arrogance and criminality''''' (ISBN 1-902593-79-0) is a book written by [[Ward Churchill]] published in 2003 by [[AK Press]]. The "Roosting Chickens" of the title comes from a 1963 [[Malcolm X]] speech about the [[John F. Kennedy assassination]], calling it "merely a case of 'chickens coming home to roost.'"{{Fact|date=September 2007}} 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]] were "[[casus belli|acts of war]]" by the [[Muslim world|"Islamic East"]] in defense against the "[[crusade]]s" waged by the "Christian West" (e.g. [[Arab-Israeli conflict]] and [[Gulf War|The First Gulf War]]) throughout the late 20th century.<ref name="essay">{{cite journal | title = "Some People Push Back": On the Justice of Roosting Chickens | author = Ward Churchill | journal = Pockets of Resistance | volume = 20 | year = 2001 | month = September | url = http://www.darknightpress.org/index.php?i=news&c=recent&view=9 | format = {{Dead link|date=May 2008}} }}</ref> == The original essay == The original ''Some People Push Back'' essay was written one day after [[September 11, 2001 attacks|September 11, 2001]]. === Topics === In Churchill's original ''Some People Push Back'' essay, he pointed out some practices of the [[United States armed forces|U.S. armed forces]] that, according to him, violated widely accepted [[Principles of Warfare]]: : ''1991 US [[surgical strike|"surgical" bombing]] of ''[&nbsp;[[Iraq]]'s&nbsp;]'' [[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 bombing of cities|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 [[economic sanction|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.''<ref name="essay"/> === 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". As a result of what he believes to be the nefarious effects of American foreign policy and global capitalism, Churchill argues that those killed by the destruction of the [[World Trade Center]] were not innocent civilians and deserved to die: : ''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. Recourse to "ignorance" - a derivative, after all, of the word "ignore" - counts as less than an excuse among this relatively well-educated elite. To the extent that any of them were unaware of the costs and consequences to others of what they were involved in - and in many cases excelling at - it was because of their absolute refusal to see. More likely, it was because they were too busy braying, incessantly and self-importantly, into their cell phones, arranging power lunches and stock transactions, each of which translated, conveniently out of sight, mind and smelling distance, into the starved and rotting flesh of infants. If there was a better, more effective, or in fact any other way of visiting some penalty befitting their participation upon the [[little Eichmanns]] inhabiting the sterile sanctuary of the twin towers, I'd really be interested in hearing about it.''<ref name="essay"/> == The book == The essay was followed by the book ''On the Justice of Roosting Chickens'' in 2003. After a foreword by [[Chellis Glendinning]], the book is divided into three parts: # ''The Ghosts of 9-1-1'', an expanded version of ''Some People Push Back''.<ref name="ghosts-of-911">{{cite journal | first=Ward | last=Churchill | year=2005 | month=Spring | title=The Ghosts of 9-1-1: Reflections on History, Justice and Roosting Chickens | journal=[[Alternative Press Review]] | volume=9 | issue=1 | pages=45–56 | url=http://www.altpr.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=Sections&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=352&page=1 }} (a reprint of the first part of the book)</ref> # ''That "Most Peace-Loving of Nations"'', a long and detailed list of military interventions and covert actions allegedly conducted by the US government. # ''"A Government of Laws"?'', an equally long list of instances where Churchill alleges that the US has contravened international law, particularly [[United Nations]] resolutions. == Response == {{main|Ward Churchill 9/11 essay controversy}} Neither piece was widely publicized at the time, though the 2003 book does indicate that the Nazi references in the earlier essay were already controversial.<ref name="ghosts-of-911"/> The ''Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights'' gave Churchill's volume an honorable mention in December 2004.<ref>{{cite web | title = 2004 Gustavus Myers Book Awards: Honorable Mention | publisher = Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights | year = 2004 | month = December | url = http://www.myerscenter.org/pages/04honment.htm }}</ref> Churchill's remarks about World Trade Center victims became the center of considerable attention and controversy in January 2005 when [[Hamilton College]] of [[Clinton, Oneida County, New York|Clinton, New York]] invited him to give a speech. As a result, the speech was cancelled, citing "credible threats of violence". Churchill's "little Eichmanns" drew ferverous condemnation from conservative media pundits, such as [[Sean Hannity]] and [[Bill O'Reilly (commentator)|Bill O'Reilly]], who called for his resignation and deemed him unfit to teach. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKYVZrcL9k4][http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiEN54EptY0] The [[University of Colorado at Boulder|University of Colorado]] Board of Regents publicly apologized for Churchill's writings about the September 11, 2001 attacks. Following an investigation of Churchill's research misconduct, Churchill was fired from the university for academic misconduct in July, 2007.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2007/jul/25/cu-regents-fire-ward-churchill/|title=CU regents fire Ward Churchill|author=Berny Morson|work=Rocky Mountain News|date=2007-07-25}}</ref> == References == <references/> == See also == * [[Economy of Iraq]] * [[Genocide]] * [[Overseas expansion of the United States]] * [[Inversion in postcolonial theory]] * [[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]] ==External links== * [http://www.kersplebedeb.com/mystuff/s11/churchill.html Some People Push Back: On the Justice of Roosting Chickens] (essay) * [http://www.ratical.org/ratville/CAH/WC091201.html Some People Push Back: On the Justice of Roosting Chickens] (essay (truncated)) {{AK Press}} [[Category:2003 books]] [[Category:Books by Ward Churchill]]