Support the troops,
they say, (while stabbing soldiers in the back)
August 19, 2007:
Iraqi lawmakers frustrated at occupation conundrums| |
Excerpt: Iraqi politicians complain that they are not able to replace [Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki] until the Americans signal strong opposition and identify a replacement. For many in the Iraqi political class, the meetings between Maliki and the other leaders, which are scheduled to continue, represent the government's last chance to prove itself to a patron that might soon waver.
Everyone, said Qasim Dawood, a Shiite lawmaker, is waiting on the Americans. "From one side, they interfere in everything they want," he said. "Then on the other side, they say, 'Sorry, you are a sovereign country, you have to do it yourself.' " |
April 19, 2007:
Training of Iraqi troops no longer matters in U.S. policy| |
Comment: In the never-ending fountain of lies from the Bush-Cheney administration, let's not forget that "training Iraqi troops" was one of the key lies of the Bush-Cheney re-election ... |
March 14, 2007:
Gen. Petraeus linked to high-profile suicide in Iraq| |
Excerpt: Now, a new article reveals -- based on documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act -- that [ethics expert] Col. Ted Westhusing's apparent suicide note included claims that his two commanders tolerated a mission based on "corruption, human right abuses and liars." One of those commanders: the new leader of the "surge" campaign in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus. |
Dec. 15, 2006:
Threat to humanitarian effort in Iraq greater from
Americans than from insurgents, says Red Crescent| |
Excerpt: "We have flags, we have everything, we have (the) logo, so they (U.S. forces) know everything, but unfortunately they come again and attack us many times," said Dr. Jamal Al-Karbouli, vice president of the Iraqi Red Crescent. He complained that U.S. forces broke doors and windows at the Red Crescent headquarters "and they didn't find anything, and they left." |
Sept. 17, 2006:
Bush-Cheney sent unqualified Republican cronies to administer occupied Iraq| |
Comment: It's not exactly 'breaking news' that after the invasion of Iraq, flamboyantly un-qualified Republican cronies were exported from Washington DC to administer that occupied nation.
These were among the early decisions by the Bush-Cheney administration which helped make America despised, and as the occupation has continued, subsequent decisions have followed similar patterns. Basically, anything that might tend to make Iraqis hate America less has been tabled, and any idea that would infuriate Iraqis has been pursued with vigor.
Now we're well into the fourth year of the occupation, and the Bush-Cheney plan to completely destroy Iraq continues. And they tell us we must "stay the course" until, presumably, every American soldier, sailor, airman and Marine in Iraq is either dead or maimed, and until finally, Iraq is brought to its knees ... just like Afghanistan was brought to its knees by the Soviet occupation in the 1980s... Helen & Harry Highwater PERMANENT LINK
May 23, 2004:
Naïve young Republicans given enormous authority in Iraq
|
June 30, 2006:
Just another day
by Mr. Chuckles, Unknown News
| |
Excerpt: The electricity still isn't working and now the water doesn't work either. It is 120 degrees outside, 100 degrees inside, you cannot cook on your electric stove, you still cannot watch TV and the toilet is full of excrement that you cannot flush because there is no water ... |
June 26, 2006:
Iraqi Prime Minister announces reconciliation plan (without amnesty for killers of Americans)| |
Comment: What's worth remembering, though, is how certain Republicans reacted to the earlier version of Maliki's proposal -- the version that leaked out of Maliki's office a few weeks ago, that would have granted amnesty to any Iraqis who killed Americans.
The real story is that Republicans were for the earlier version of Maliki's plan -- amnesty for killing Americans -- before their press offices told them they damn well better be against it. Madeline Zane PERMANENT LINK |
June 18, 2006:
Memo from US Embassy in Iraq details abductions, threats to women's rights, and "ethnic cleansing"| |
Comment: This memo from the US embassy in Baghdad might be worth remembering, the next time lying Republicans and TV propagandacasters tell you things are looking up in Iraq, or President Bush claims that "freedom is on the march." Helen & Harry PERMANENT LINK |
June 7, 2006:
In Zarqawi's hometown, relatives and neighbors pray for 1,000 Zarqawis to rise up| |
Comment: Do not be fooled, again. This signifies nothing, except the failure of American strategies.
Tonia Barrows LINK
|
May 20, 2006:
Iraq is disintegrating as ethnic cleansing takes hold| |
Excerpt: The sectarian warfare in Baghdad is sparsely reported but the provinces around the capital are now so dangerous for reporters that they seldom, if ever, go there, except as embeds with US troops. |
April 23, 2006:
US contractors using slave labor in Iraq
April 14, 2006:
The new US 'embassy' in Iraq: 21 buildings on 104 fortified acres
April 8, 2006:
Three US commanders relieved of duty as Iraqi town mourns its dead
March 30, 2006:
US-funded propaganda aimed at Iraqis is laughably inaccurate| |
Excerpt: "Anybody who knows about propaganda knows the first rule of propaganda is that it should not look like propaganda. It's embarrassing enough that [the US military] got caught ... but then for their product to be so cheesy ... It's just embarrassing." |
March 22, 2006:
CBS cameraman faces secret charges in Iraq
March 22, 2006:
Iraqi criminal courts still under American control| |
Comment: If the Iraqis want to have pretend trials for their own people, let them. But for America to have representatives presiding over kangaroo court held under military occupation while the "elected" government of Iraq cowers inside the American "Green Zone" -- that is a travesty. Zebra LINK |
March 20, 2006:
Killing women and children: the “My Lai phase” of the Iraq War
by Mike Whitney, InformationClearingHouse| |
Excerpt: There were no Al Qaida fighters in the home in Ishaqi. The attack was just another lethal blunder by a blinkered military fighting an invisible enemy. “The killed family was not part of the resistance; they were women and children,” said Ahmed Khalaf. “The Americans promised us a better life, but we only get death.” |
March 15, 2006:
Saddam speaks in courtroom, until judge cuts his microphone| |
Comment: This is a kangaroo trial, and a clumsy one at that. It's so obviously rigged, so transparently unfair, that it might backfire. It might -- amazingly -- turn this tyrant into a folk hero among Iraqis. H&HH LINK |
March 14, 2006:
The Abu Ghraib files| |
Summary: Photos galore and documentation from the ongoing Abu Ghraib torture scandal.
Excerpt: Although the photos are a disturbing visual account of particular incidents inside Abu Ghraib prison, they should not be viewed as representing the sum total of what occurred. As the Schlesinger report states in its convoluted prose: "We do know that some of the egregious abuses at Abu Ghraib which were not photographed did occur during interrogation sessions and that abuses during interrogation sessions occurred elsewhere." Also, the documentation doesn't include many details about the detainees who were abused and tortured at Abu Ghraib. While the International Committee of the Red Cross report from February 2004 cited military intelligence officers as estimating that "between 70 to 90 percent of persons deprived of their liberty in Iraq had been arrested by mistake," much remains unknown about the detainees abused in the "hard site" where the Army housed violent and dangerous detainees and where much of the abuse took place. |
March 6, 2006:
'14,000 detained without trial in Iraq' | |
Excerpt: US and UK forces in Iraq have detained thousands of people without charge or trial for long periods and there is growing evidence of Iraqi security forces torturing detainees, Amnesty International said today.
In a new report published today, the human rights group criticised the US-led multinational force for interning some 14,000 people. |
Feb. 28, 2006:
All new Iraq reconstruction funds go to build prisons
Jan. 14, 2006:
Iraqi academics assassinated, missing ... "liquidated"
by Khalid Jarrar, Tell Me A Secret| |
Excerpt: A little known aspect of the tragedy engulfing Iraq is the systematic liquidation of the country's academics. Even according to conservative estimates, over 250 educators have been assassinated, and many hundreds more have disappeared. With thousands fleeing the country in fear for their lives, not only is Iraq undergoing a major brain drain, the secular middle class -- which has refused to be co-opted by the US occupation -- is being decimated, with far-reaching consequences for the future of Iraq. |
Jan. 2, 2006:
with dots connected by Madeline Zane
Nov. 27, 2005:
Iraqi abuse worse now than under Saddam, says ex-PM Allawi
Nov. 22, 2005:
Iraqis stand united at last:
Shi'ites, Kurds, and Sunnis call call for U.S. withdrawal timetable
Comment: Correct me if I'm wrong here, but didn't we say that if the Iraqis asked us to leave, that's when we would know it was time to, you know, LEAVE?
Madeline Zane PERMANENT LINK
Comment: That's what President Bush said. And that's what then-Secretary of State Colin Powell said. But it's not like this is the Bush administration's first lie about Iraq, or even in the first few hundred.
H&HH PERMANENT LINK
Nov. 14, 2005:
CIA covered up evidence of Iraqi man's torture killing
Nov. 10, 2005:
A name that lives in infamyExcerpt: One year ago this week, US-led occupying forces launched a devastating assault on the Iraqi city of Falluja. The mood was set by Lt Col Gary Brandl: "The enemy has got a face. He's called Satan. He's in Falluja. And we're going to destroy him."
The assault was preceded by eight weeks of aerial bombardment. US troops cut off the city's water, power and food supplies, condemned as a violation of the Geneva convention by a UN special rapporteur, who accused occupying forces of "using hunger and deprivation of water as a weapon of war against the civilian population". Two-thirds of the city's 300,000 residents fled, many to squatters' camps without basic facilities.
As the siege tightened, the Red Cross, Red Crescent and the media were kept out, while males between the ages of 15 and 55 were kept in. US sources claimed between 600 and 6,000 insurgents were holed up inside the city - which means that the vast majority of the remaining inhabitants were non-combatants.
Nov. 7, 2005:
New improved napalm "melts the body right down to the bone"
U.S. used chemical weapons in Fallujah siege
Oct. 24, 2005:
Report lists 21 'detainees' murdered in U.S. custody
as Cheney proposes exemption allowing CIA torture
Oct. 23, 2005:
Iraqi air power, by Yomama
Oct. 23, 2005:
82% of Iraqis "strongly opposed" to US-British occupation, poll shows
Oct. 19, 2005:
More riot gear rushed to Iraq, Afghanistan
Sept. 28, 2005:
US forces in Iraq 'out of control', says Reuters chief
Sept. 23, 2005:
Entire 101st Airborne Division deploying to Iraq
Aug. 12, 2005:
Stealing Iraq
by Michael Meacher, The Times of London [UK]
Aug. 3, 2005:
Before invasion, CIA trained Iraqi saboteur-torture teams
July 26, 2005:
Former Bush aide exposes massive fraud,
malfeasance in Iraq reconstruction
July 8, 2005:
Iraqis say U.S. rehired Saddam-era torturers as "new" police force
(News, with a side order of context)
June 27, 2005:
Reporter's story filed posthumously
Sunni men in Baghdad targeted by attackers in police uniforms
June 20, 2005:
Iraqi lawmakers call for foreign troops to withdraw
June 10, 2005:
Hatred for America simmers among U.S.-trained Iraqi troops
June 7, 2005:
Devastating photo-essay from Fallujah
(Not for U.S. news markets)
Comment: Funny, I don't get why the U.S. isn't winning the minds and hearts of Iraqis. Can't they understand our desire to bring them democracy? Aren't they so much better off now?
Joerg PERMANENT LINK
May 31, 2005:
Understanding the enemy's mind
by Don Nash, Unknown News
May 26, 2005:
Iraqi gov't to deploy 40,000 troops in Baghdad
May 17, 2005:
Iraqi town turns to U.S. for help; gets death, destruction instead
May 16, 2005:
Negroponte's death squads up and running in Iraq?
May 16, 2005:
Three more Iraqi prisoners die of natural causes
May 15, 2005:
Staying what course?
by Paul Krugman, The New York Times
May 10, 2005:
Soaring birth deformities and child cancer rates in Iraq
Comment: And guess what? It's not just a coincidence.
H&HH PERMANENT LINK
May 10, 2005:
Mission accomplished in Iraq. Really.
May 1, 2005:
The news we should be seeing on TV
by Mello Cat, Unknown News
April 26, 2005:
Iraqi insurgency far from 'fizzling'
April 12, 2005:
Iraqi children were better off under Hussein
April 9, 2005:
"Yankees, go home"
Huge protest in Baghdad
March 20, 2005:
Americans undermine Iraqi cops:
Iraqi crooks freed if they promise to spy for U.S.
March 16, 2005:
U.S. troops kill Iraqi general
March 12, 2005:
Baghdad's streets now a deadly gauntlet
Feb. 22, 2005:
Are U.S. forces executing Iraqi prisoners?
by Martin Burlinson, Unknown News
Feb. 11, 2005:
Iraqis take over danger zone
as Americans start [phony] exodus
Feb. 1, 2005:
U.S. considers Chalabi for key Iraqi postExcerpt: Here we have a New York Times reporter going on the record saying that according to a source, the Bush administration was in talks with Chalabi about a position in the new Iraqi government. So, in one neat little package we learn that the Bush administration backs Chalabi and has significant influence over appointments in the new government, once it exists. ...
Jan. 18, 2005:
Military officials extended condolences for "unfortunate incident"Excerpt: As the children get out of the car one of them screams, her hands covered in blood...
Comment: The BBC story (above) said the car failed to stop at a checkpoint. This article contains an interview with the photographer, Chris Hondros, who states that it was a routine foot patrol and that standard operating procedure is to "stop" vehicles passing on the street, especially after dark.
In other words, a family of seven is driving down the road and a US foot patrol decides to just waste them because they are moving, not even having any idea of who is in the car.
This shit has to stop. We need to evacuate Iraq and quit murdering these people.
Swell Mel PERMANENT LINK
Jan. 9, 2005:
U.S. ponders El Salvador-style
"death squads" for killing Iraqis
Report says Halliburton is hiring
Colombian mercenaries for "work" in Iraq
Jan. 6, 2005
CIA propaganda station derided by Iraqis
Jan. 4, 2005:
Women and children's bodies still piling up in Fallujah
Dec. 30, 2004:
Falloujans return home to unsettling sights of city
Dec. 24, 2004:
U.S. to take bigger bite of Iraq's economic pie
Dec. 5, 2004:
Returning Fallujans will live in police state
"There's something to be said for a firm hand"
Nov. 25, 2004:
Fallujah "ratonnade" and the meaning of jihadExcerpt: It is time we faced the truth. It is time we heard the mutterings on the streets of Baghdad at the sight of rolling Humvees, guns pointed out the windows: "Get off our streets with your guns," "You aren't here to protect us, you bastards," "Can't you see we have no weapons of mass destruction? Now, go home."
Nov. 24, 2004:
"You know we're going to destroy this town"
Nov. 21, 2004:
Americans intentionally targetted hospitalExcerpt: The first target in the recent campaign in Fallujah was the General Hospital. The New York Times explained why: "The offensive also shut down what officers said was a propaganda weapon for the militants: Fallujah General Hospital, with its stream of reports of civilian casualties." If there were no hospital, there would be no visible casualties; if there were no visible casualties, there would be no international outrage, and all would be well.
Comment: Anyone who could order such a war crime should, of course, face prosecution at the Hague. And so should anyone who supports such acts from the comfort of their American living room, or who knows about such acts and fails to speak against the American military command which made it happen.
H&HH PERMANENT LINK
Nov. 16, 2004:
Iraqi gov't to press: Report the right news, or elseExcerpt: "We hope you comply … otherwise we regret we will be forced take all the legal measures to guarantee higher national interests."
Nov. 16, 2004:
U.S. arrests high-ranking Iraqi officialExcerpt: U.S. forces arrested a senior member of an influential Sunni political party Tuesday after a dawn raid on his Baghdad home, party officials said.
Comment: Not to belabor the obvious, but in "soverign" nations, foreign troops don't arrest politicians.
H&HH PERMANENT LINK
Nov. 13, 2004:
Insurgents bring order to parts of Iraq's Mosul
Nov. 10, 2004:
Rumsfeld sees Fallujah battle as the way to win Iraqi hearts and minds
Nov. 6, 2004:
US strikes raze Fallujah hospital
Oct. 21, 2004:
Fallujah residents plead to U.N. for end of U.S.-inflicted "genocide"
Oct. 16, 2004:
Iraq's new patent law:
A declaration of war against farmersExcerpt: For generations, small farmers in Iraq operated in an essentially unregulated, informal seed supply system. Farm-saved seed and the free innovation with and exchange of planting materials among farming communities has long been the basis of agricultural practice.
This has been made illegal under the new law.
The seeds farmers are now allowed to plant ... will be the property of the corporations.
Comment: We ask again: If the intent of America's Iraq offensive was to make average folks there hate America with a white-hot rage, would any of America's policies need to be changed in the slightest?
H&HH PERMANENT LINK
Oct. 16, 2004:
Iraq will PAY $200-million in war reparations
Oct. 7, 2004:
U.S. does not even control Baghdad
Oct. 6, 2004:
"Take them out, dude"
Pilots toast hit on Iraqi civilians
Oct. 4, 2004:
Baghdad, Baghdad, It's a hell of a TOWWWN!
We're not on the Pacific Coast Highway anymore, Toto
by Dan Neil, Los Angeles TimesExcerpt: "What am I doing here?" I am not a war correspondent. I am The Times' automotive writer, whose previous exposure to risk amounted to driving fast in a Ferrari. I have come to Baghdad, believe it or not, to write about the automotive war -- the Humvees and armored personnel carriers, the convoys and suicide car bombs. It seemed like such a clever idea for a story, back in Los Angeles. ...
Oct. 3, 2004:
Another lovely day in liberated Iraq
Sept. 14, 2004:
"Take pictures -- show the world the American democracy"
Aug. 25, 2004:
Iraqi police round up reporters at gunpoint
(but tells them they're not under arrest)
Aug. 19, 2004:
Iraqi soccer players angry at Bush campaign ad
Aug. 18, 2004:
Iraqi Police threaten to kill all reporters in holy city
Aug. 8, 2004:
Just another day in Iraq: 19 dead
Aug. 8, 2004:
U.S. puppet government shuts down Al Jazeera in Baghdad
Aug. 4, 2004:
U.S. companies get 85% of Iraqi oil money
Aug. 4, 2004:
Chalabi linked with investigator's assassination
Aug. 1, 2004:
Coalition imprisons, tortures Iraqi children as young as 10
July 30, 2004:
27 criminal investigations of U.S. handling of occupied Iraq funds
July 27, 2004:
Iraq establishes censorship bureaucracy
July 17, 2004:
New Iraqi Prime Minister personally executes six
July 7, 2004:
Three Army commanders punished for conspiring to impede homicide investigation
May 23, 2004:
Naïve young Republicans given enormous authority in Iraq
May 21, 2004:
'US soldiers started to shoot us, one by one'
May 13, 2004:
New Iraqi government can't expel U.S. troops
May 4, 2004:
Foreign contractors in Iraq import slaves
May 3, 2004:
From the duh department
U.S. claims of foreign fighters in Iraq "insurgency" are mostly bogus
May 1, 2004:
Iraqis win Fallujah battle as U.S. retreats
Saddam's General assumes command, questions U.S. claims
April 23, 2004:
Hussein's generals are hired to train new Iraqi Army
Half of Iraqi troops refused U.S. orders to fight Iraqis
April 23, 2004:
Bush appoints death squad Ambassador to Iraq
April 23, 2004:
Iraq: To tell the truth
by Helen & Harry Highwater, Unknown News| |
Excerpt: The American military isn’t pulling out of Iraq. Ever. Not under Bush, not under Kerry, not under any conceivable American administration, Republican or Democratic. The United States will have huge concentrations of troops in Iraq -- at least tens of thousands, more likely hundreds of thousands -- as many as are needed to keep Iraq subjugated -- for as long as anyone reading this is alive. And probably, for as long as the United States remains a nation. |
April 18, 2004:
Mercenary killed in Iraq was apartheid assassin
April 14, 2004:
Iraqi 'beaten to death' by U.S. troops
April 13, 2004:
Reports say U.S. snipers are firing at ambulances in Fallujah
April 9, 2004:
Do these people seem "liberated" to you? by Tess Ellis, Unknown News
April 4, 2004:
Iraq Coalition press office staffed with Republicans
March 29, 2004:
U.S. shuts down Iraqi newspaper
March 23, 2004:
14 "long-term" US military bases under construction in Iraq
March 12, 2004:
Not only has the U.S. made no attempt to
leave Iraq, but it has started digging in
by Liberez L'Ours, Unknown NewsExcerpt: The U.S. is not leaving, was not leaving, and has no plans to ever leave -- until the oil is gone from ALL of the Middle East.
In essence, Iraq will serve as a land-based aircraft carrier and battle convoy anchored in the heart of Islam. ...
Feb. 8, 2004:
Northern Iraq inches towards civil war
Jan. 16, 2004:
Iraqi women lose legal rights: They must submit to Islamic law
Jan. 14, 2004:
U.S. killing video becomes viral news
Jan. 4, 2004:
CIA to install secret police in Iraq
Dec. 20, 2003:
Some Iraqis hate U.S. more than they hated Saddam|
|
Excerpt: Now, some Iraqi villages are being encircled with barbed wire. Only those Iraqis with U.S.-issued identity cards may come and go; the relatives of suspected insurgents are being detained and, in some cases, their homes are being demolished. And the Americans are being urged to mirror the Israelis' extensive West Bank and Gaza informants' network, which has underpinned the Israeli campaign of summary execution for terror suspects - but which has failed to end the violence or advance the peace. | |
Dec. 18, 2003:
"Any demonstration against the government or coalition forces will be fired upon"
Dec. 17, 2003:
U.S. troops smash into homes, shops in major raid to hunt for guerrillas in turbulent city
Dec. 17, 2003:
Iraqi school under siege by U.S. forces
Dec. 16, 2003:
Insurgents or protesters? 18 are killed in clashes with U.S. troops
Dec. 11, 2003:
CIA will train Hussein’s henchmen as spies
Dec. 1, 2003:
Firefight leaves 46 Iraqis dead (my ass)
Nov. 27, 2003:
War crimes:
U.S. arrests wife and daughter of alleged Iraqi bad guy
Clear violation of Geneva Convention
Nov. 17, 2003:
U.S. exodus from Iraq? Don't believe it
by Liberez L'Ours, Unknown News
Nov. 11, 2003:
U.S. troops arrest Iraqi for criticising them
Nov. 6, 2003:
U.S. still taking hostages, it's still a war crime, and the Washington Post still won't say so
Oct. 22, 2003:
America's occupation of Iraq: E-ticket to Hell
Oct. 12, 2003:
U.S. soldiers bulldoze Iraqi farmers' crops
Sept. 23, 2003:
U.S.-backed council bars al-Jazeera, al-Arabiya
Sept. 22, 2003:
America puts Iraq up for sale
Sept. 20, 2003:
U.S. soldier at after-hours Baghdad zoo party
shoots, kills tiger that mauled drunken buddy
Aug. 31, 2003:
Bush pals hired to rewrite Iraqi law
Aug. 30, 2003:
U.S. decree strips thousands of jobs
A violation of the Geneva Convention
|
|
Excerpt: Prof Rawi said this violated the fourth Geneva convention. "An occupier cannot dismiss people from jobs, administer collective punishment, and discriminate against people on the basis of political belief".
A coalition spokesman said that only between 15,000 and 30,000 people had been affected. ... | |
Aug. 30, 2003:
Ayatollah softened his anti-U.S. position and then he was killed
Aug. 29, 2003:
Postwar Germany was nothing like Iraq
Aug. 19, 2003:
U.S. appoints chief censor for Iraq media
Aug. 7, 2003:
Is it terrorism to be a patriot?
Or is it like Red Dawn, with turbans?
by Helen & Harry Highwater, Unknown News
Aug. 6, 2003:
U.S. holding Iraqis at notorious prison
July 28, 2003:
U.S. commander in Iraq admits war crime
(Washington Post doesn't notice)
by Helen & Harry Highwater, Unknown News
July 27, 2003:
Bush executive order grants immunity
for U.S. oil companies in Iraq
July 26, 2003:
Americans opened fire on crowd, witnesses say
U.S. troops accused of killing in Mosul
July 22, 2003:
U.N. urges U.S. to restore self-rule in Iraq
July 7, 2003:
U.S. raids offend Iraqi sensibilities
|
|
Excerpt: Prof Rawi said this violated the fourth Geneva convention. "An occupier cannot dismiss people from jobs, administer collective punishment, and discriminate against people on the basis of political belief".
A coalition spokesman said that only between 15,000 and 30,000 people had been affected. ... | |
June 19, 2003:
Just another day in Baghdad|
|
Excerpt: The demonstrating Iraqis have no work, no money and are desperate. Two are shot dead. Nearby, an American soldier guarding a gas station is casually killed. | |
June 18, 2003:
U.S. troops kill two Iraqi protesters
June 3, 2003:
Occupation forces will choose Iraq's interim government
|
|
Excerpt: In a major shift, U.S.-led occupation authorities have abandoned the idea of letting a national conference of Iraqis select an interim government. They have opted for a plan that gives the U.S. a more direct role in choosing the country's leaders. | |
May 13, 2003:
Anarchy in Iraq|
|
Excerpt: Americans have been in control of Iraq for more than a month. If anything has changed, it has been for the worse. Eventually the looting will have to stop when there is simply nothing left in Baghdad to steal or burn down. | |
April 30, 2003:
Troops again fire on Fallujah protesters
April 29, 2003:
13 killed as troops fire on protesters
| All republished material is copyrighted by its original publisher.
This site contains copyrighted material, the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this is a 'fair use' of copyrighted material, as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more info go to: www.law.cornell.edu/ uscode/17/107.shtml. |
|
|
|
|
The American military isn’t pulling out of Iraq. Ever. Not under Bush, not under the next President, not under any conceivable American administration, Republican or Democratic.
The United States will have huge concentrations of troops in Iraq -- at least tens of thousands, more likely hundreds of thousands -- as many as are needed to keep Iraq subjugated -- for as long as anyone reading this is alive. And probably, for as long as the United States remains a nation.
If you imagine that the American military will pack their dufflebags and leave Iraq to the Iraqis, say hello to Korea. Visit Cuba. Look at Germany. Japan. Kosovo. Bahrain. Belgium. Colombia. Say hello to planet Earth: America has military bases in dozens of nations, and in many of those nations the natives want the Americans out. But if the base serves an important strategic purpose, the Americans don’t leave. This pattern should be obvious to anyone who’s awake.
Quick, name three countries where America used to have a military base, but doesn’t any more... I’ll step out for a cup of coffee while you scratch your head.
Let’s quit pussyfooting around and simply tell the truth, even if it’s unpleasant.
In Iraq, the truth is: American authorities will be providing “guidance” behind the scenes of any Iraqi so-called “self-government.” “Sovereign” Iraq’s policies will be pre-approved by American officials, and policies that aren't pre-approved will not be policies. Iraqis who hold high-level positions will be pre-screened by American officials, and Iraqis who don’t meet with American approval will not be permitted to hold high-level positions.
Iraqis know all this, of course, because Iraqis are not stupid.
The rest of the world knows this, too, because it’s remarkably obvious to anyone watching events unfold …unless you’re watching through red white and blue blinders.
The truth is: You're wearing those red white and blue blinders, if you're getting your news from American mainstream media.
And for as long as America wears those blinders -- as long as good, patriotic, middle-of-the-road Americans are willing to swallow whatever lies they’re told, all common sense to the contrary -- the dying will continue.
Iraqis won’t “get used to” American occupation, any more than Americans would “get used to” living under Red Chinese occupiers. They won't willingly surrender their weapons, any more than you'd willingly surrender yours if a hostile enemy army occupied America. Iraqis will fight, in whatever way they can, for as long as there are Iraqis.
They will fight back, because Iraq belongs to Iraqis. And the next American killed in Iraq, like the first, will be dead for nothing.
Sorry. If you can't handle the truth, there's always Fox News.
Hundreds of Americans who joined their nation’s military -- men and women bravely willing to put their lives on the line to defend America -- have sacrificed their lives for squat. "Support the troops," some people shout, but it doesn't seem very "supportive" to order soldiers to fight, kill, and die for nothing.
America has invaded and occupied Iraq for lies. The reasons listed for the war before the war were all bogus. The reasons mentioned after the war are also bogus:
• "Democracy in Iraq." Yeah, as if democracy or freedom comes at the point of a gun, like a stick-up.
• "Saddam was bad." Indeed he was. And at Hussein's worst, while Hussein was killing Kurds, Iranians, and Iraqis, America was underwriting it.
• "The war on terror." Hussein's Iraq, of course, had little or nada to do with terrorism. But America's Iraq will be infuriating Iraqis, Arabs, and Muslims worldwide -- a source of terrorism, probably for many generations. Thank you, Mr. President.
If Americans remain stubborn and gullible, then thousands instead of hundreds of Americans will die for nothing before it's over, and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis instead of tens of thousands. If it ever ends at all.
--Helen & Harry Highwater, Unknown News
|
|
N E W S B Y T O P I C
|
