IRAQ: HORRIBLE MISTAKE BY USA
From the very first day the U.S. invaded the sovereign nation of Iraq, I spoke out against it in my writing and public speaking. One of my graduate school majors was in Middle East History. My major paper [thesis] was on Western World Imperialism in the Middle East. But in addition to the invasion being a terrible mistake, it was internationally illegal. Iraq had done nothing to justify the invasion. Other nations around the world had equally horrible dictators, but we did not invade their sovereignty.
Now, as the U.S. is about to pull out of Iraq after a decade there, we leave behind a mess. A mess that has been suffered by the Iraqi people. What the Iraqi people are now suffering is clearly identified as mainly caused by the Americans. The vast majority of Americans do not know the extent of the suffering of the people in Iraq. Some Americans consider it unpatriotic to point out how we have brought suffering there. As is so often the case with militaristic invaders, we not only ignore our part in the miserable conditions we caused, but we stretch things so that we do not look so bad. We were bad. They DO suffer.
"The U.S. troops officially pulled out by the end of 2011, but left behind a crippled country called Iraq. Iraq will never be the same after 2003. According to international law, the U.S. is legally and morally responsible to pay Iraqis reparations and to rebuild the country. But today, after nine years of American occupation and 'nation-building,' Iraq is left with destruction. Education and health levels are far below what they were before the invasion. Electricity and clean water are not available for millions of Iraqis. Tragically, the most affected segments of the population are women and children. Trafficking of Iraqi women for prostitution continues through neighboring countries, and an estimated three million Iraqi widows and five million orphans (one-fifth of the country's children) are struggling to survive, according to the 2009 Iraqi Government report." -Worldwidewamm newsletter, March/April, 2012, page one, www.worldwidewamm.org ...continuing from the same article:
"Meanwhile, the balance of power in the region, which President Bush hoped to tip in the favor of the West, is precarious and dependent on many factors outside of American control, such as the Arab Spring uprisings. The Iraqi economy is in shambles and production facilities are destroyed. Ninety percent of the Iraqi population is traumatized, most having witnessed killing, explosions, and other violence over the past three decades. According to some estimates, over one million Iraqis have died from war-related violence since 2003." -WAMM article authored by Sami Rasouli
There is no argument about it; the invasion of Iraq was both illegal and a mistake. The U.S. is being taken over by the military-industrial complex and attendant big money. We are in great danger of losing our democratic society and becoming a militaristic bully-for-profit. This includes both political parties.
"For well over half a century, the U.S. has been cannibalized by the military-industrial complex, which has infantilized its sense, squandered its wealth and undermined its political integrity. Our political leaders are not genuine leaders, but have been reduced to the role of apologists for this monster, which has a bureaucratic momentum of its own. The primary political duty of Americans and their European allies should be to reduce and dismantle this gigantic military machine before it leads us all inadvertantly into 'the supreme international crime' of no return." -journalist Diana Johnstone
