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Audio: The Iraq Debate -- David Swanson and Brad Friedman
Isn't this a good war, Brad Friedman asks David Swanson.
Listen to this clip:
http://archive.kpfk.org/mp3/kpfk_140813_150002friedman.MP3
Starts around 7:30
UPDATE: Also here on Brad's site where he'd like you to comment:
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=10759
Iraq and Endless War
By Robert C. Koehler
Our kills are clean and secular; theirs are messy and religious.
“In their effort to create a caliphate across parts of Iraq and Syria,” CNN tells us, “ISIS fighters have slaughtered civilians as they take over cities in both countries.
“In Syria, the group put some of its victims’ severed heads on poles.”
Stomach-churning as this is, the context in which it is reported – as simplistic maneuvering of public opinion – numbs me to its horror, because it quietly justifies a larger, deeper horror waiting in the wings. To borrow a phrase from Benjamin Netanyahu, this is telegenic brutality. It’s just what the U.S. war machine needs to justify the next all-out assault on Iraq.
“In another instance caught on camera,” the CNN report continues, “a man appears to be forced to his knees, surrounded by masked militants who identify themselves on video as ISIS members. They force the man at gunpoint to ‘convert’ to Islam, then behead him.”
This is positively medieval. In contrast, when we kill Iraqis, it’s quick and neat, as emotionless as a chess move. The same CNN story informs us: “Iraqi officials said U.S. airstrikes Saturday killed 16 ISIS fighters, and an Iraqi airstrike in Sinjar killed an additional 45 ISIS fighters, Iraq state media reported.”
That’s it. No big deal. The dead we’re responsible for have no human qualities whatsoever, and our killing them is as consequence-free as cleaning out the refrigerator. It’s simply necessary, because these guys are jihadists, and, well . . .
“The main U.S. strategic priority now should be rolling back and defeating ISIS so it can’t establish a terrorist caliphate,” the Wall StreetJournal editorialized several days ago. “Such a state will become a mecca for jihadists who will train and then disperse to kill around the world. They will attempt to strike Americans in ways that grab world attention, including the U.S. homeland. A strategy merely to contain ISIS does not reduce this threat.”
And here’s South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, saying the same thing with more hysteria on Fox News, as quoted by Paul Waldman in the Washington Post: Obama’s “responsibility as president is to defend this nation. If he does not go on the offensive against ISIS, ISIL, whatever you want to call these guys, they are coming here. This is not just about Baghdad. This is not just about Syria. It is about our homeland. . . .
“Do you really want to let America be attacked? . . . Mr. President, if you don’t adjust your strategy, these people are coming here.”
The belligerence that passes for patriotism has never been more reckless. I was stunned by these arguments a decade ago; the fact that they’re coming back pretty much intact, rising from their own ashes to call for a new war to quell the horrors created by the old one, pushes me to a new level of incredulous despair. Fear springs eternal and can always be summoned. War devours its own lessons.
As Ivan Eland wrote recently at Huffington Post: “In war, the most ruthless groups grab the weapons and use them on everyone else. If doubt exists about this phenomenon, when ISIS recently invaded Iraq, it disarmed the better-equipped Iraqi military and sent it on the run. In its current air campaign against forces of the now renamed IS, American airpower is fighting its own weaponry.”
He added: “With such a great recent track record, one would think that American politicians would be too embarrassed to get re-involved militarily in Iraq. But they now think they need to fight the monster that they created. But if IS is more ferocious than its ancestor, al Qaeda in Iraq, what more formidable creature are they now creating in opposition to U.S. bombing?”
Let’s let this sink in. We completely destabilized Iraq in our now officially forgotten “war on terror,” displacing millions of people, killing hundreds of thousands (and by some estimates more than a million), shattering the country’s infrastructure and polluting its environment with war’s endless array of toxins. In the process of doing all this, we stirred up unimaginable levels of animosity, which slowly militarized and became the present Islamic State, which is viciously and ruthlessly taking the country back. Now, with our ignorance about Iraq’s socio-political complexity intact, we see no alternative but to jump back into a bombing campaign against it, if not a far wider war.
President Obama and the moderate Democrats see this as a limited, “humanitarian” intervention, while the Republicans and the hawkish Dems are clamoring for a major killfest in order, once again, to protect “the homeland,” which otherwise they would prefer to abandon for tax purposes.
And the mainstream analysis remains as shallow as sports commentary. Military intervention, whether full-bore, boots-on-the-ground, or limited to bombs and missiles, is always the answer, because war always looks like a solution. What’s missing above all else is soul-searching of any sort.
Meanwhile, Iraq and its people continue to suffer, either directly at our hands or at the hands of the monsters we’ve created. As the arms dealers would say, mission accomplished.
Robert Koehler is an award-winning, Chicago-based journalist and nationally syndicated writer. His book, Courage Grows Strong at the Wound (Xenos Press), is still available. Contact him at koehlercw@gmail.com or visit his website at commonwonders.com.
© 2014 TRIBUNE CONTENT AGENCY, INC.
Top 9 Reasons to Stop Bombing Iraq
1. It's not a rescue mission. The U.S. personnel could be evacuated without the 500-pound bombs. The persecuted minorities could be supplied, moved, or their enemy dissuaded, or all three, without the 500-pound bombs or the hundreds of "advisors" (trained and armed to kill, and never instructed in how to give advice -- Have you ever tried taking urgent advice from 430 people?). The boy who cried rescue mission should not be allowed to get away with it after the documented deception in Libya where a fictional threat to civilians was used to launch an all-out aggressive attack that has left that nation in ruins. Not to mention the false claims about Syrian chemical weapons and the false claim that missiles were the only option left for Syria -- the latter claims being exposed when the former weren't believed, the missiles didn't launch, and less violent but perfectly obvious alternative courses of action were recognized. If the U.S. government were driven by a desire to rescue the innocent, why would it be arming Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Bahrain? The U.S. government destroyed the nation of Iraq between 2003 and 2011, with results including the near elimination of various minority groups. If preventing genocide were a dominant U.S. interest, it could have halted its participation in and aggravation of that war at any time, a war in which 97% of the dead were on one side, just as in Gaza this month -- the distinction between war and genocide being one of perspective, not proportions. Or, of course, the U.S. could have left well alone. Ever since President Carter declared that the U.S. would kill for Iraqi oil, each of his successors has believed that course of action justified, and each has made matters significantly worse.
2. It's going to make things worse, again. This bombing will aggravate the Sunni-Shia divide, increase support for ISIS, and create a lasting legacy of hostility and violence. President Obama says there is no military solution, only reconciliation. But bombs don't reconcile. They harden hearts and breed murderers. Numerous top U.S. officials admit that much of what the U.S. military does generates more enemies than it kills. When you continue down a path that is counterproductive on its own terms, the honesty of those terms has to be doubted. If this war is not for peace, is it perhaps -- like every other war we've seen the U.S. wage in the area -- for resources, profits, domination, and sadism? The leader of ISIS learned his hatred in a U.S. prison in Iraq. U.S. media report that fact as if it is just part of the standard portrait of a new Enemy #1, but the irony is not mere coincidence. Violence is created. It doesn't arise out of irrational and inscrutable foreignness. It is planted by those great gardeners in the sky: planes, drones, and helicopters. A bombing campaign justified as protecting people actually endangers them, and those around them, and many others, including those of us living in the imperial Homeland.
3. Bombs kill. Big bombs kill a lot of people. Massive bombing campaigns slaughter huge numbers of people, including those fighting in the hell the U.S. helped to create, and including those not fighting -- men, women, children, grandparents, infants. Defenders of the bombing know this, but ignore it, and make no effort to calculate whether more people are supposedly being saved than are being killed. This indifference exposes the humanitarian pretensions of the operation. If some humans are of no value to you, humanitarianism is not what's driving your decisions. The U.S. war on Iraq '03-'11 killed a half million to a million-and-a-half Iraqis and 4,000 Americans. A war that puts fewer Americans on the ground and uses more planes and drones is thought of as involving less death only if our concern is narrowly limited to U.S. deaths. From the vantage point of the ground, an air war is the deadliest form of war there is.
4. There are other options. The choice between bombing and doing nothing is as false now as it was in September. If you can drop food on some people, why can't you drop food on everyone? It would cost a tiny fraction of dropping bombs on them. It would confuse the hell out of them, too -- like Robin Williams' version of God high on pot and inventing the platypus. Of course, I now sound crazy because I'm talking about people who've been demonized (and personified in a killer straight out of a U.S. prison). It's not as if these are human beings with whom you can lament the death of Robin Williams. They're not like you and me. Etc. Yadda. Yadda. But in fact ISIS fighters were sharing their appreciation of Williams on Twitter on Tuesday. The United States could talk about other matters with ISIS as well, including a ceasefire, including a unilateral commitment to cease arming the Iraqi government even while trying to organize its ouster, including an offer to provide real humanitarian aid with no nasty strings attached, but with encouragement of civil liberties and democratic decision making. It's amazing how long minority ethnic groups in Iraq survived and thrived prior to the U.S. bringing democracy, and prior to the U.S. existing. The U.S. could do some good but must first do no harm.
5. There are now enough weapons already there to practically justify one of Colin Powell's slides retroactively. The U.S. accounts for 79% of foreign weapons transfers to Western Asia (the Middle East). The war on Libya had identical U.S. weapons on both sides. ISIS almost certainly has weapons supplied by the U.S. in Syria, and certainly has weapons taken from Iraq. So, what is the U.S. doing? It's rushing more weapons to Iraq as fast as possible. Americans like to think of the Middle East as backward and violent, but the tools of the violence trade are manufactured in the United States. Yes, the United States does still manufacture something, it's just not something that serves any useful purpose or about which most of us can manage to feel very proud. Weapons making also wastes money rather than creating it, because unaccountable profits are the single biggest product manufactured.
6. This is going to cost a fortune. Bombing Iraq is depicted as a measure of great restraint and forbearance. Meanwhile building schools and hospitals and green energy infrastructure in Iraq would be viewed as madness if anyone dared propose it. But the latter would cost a lot less money -- a consideration that is usually a top priority in U.S. politics whenever killing large numbers of people is not involved. The world spend $2 trillion and the U.S. $1 trillion (half the total) on war and war preparations every year. Three percent of U.S. military spending could end starvation on earth. The wonders that could be done with a fraction of military money are almost unimaginable and include actual defense against the actual danger of climate change.
7. Bombs are environmental disasters. If someone photographs a big oil fire, some will give a thought to the environmental damage. But a bombing campaign is, rather than an environmental accident, an intentional environmental catastrophe. The poisoned ground and water, and the disease epidemics, will reach the United States primarily through moral regret, depression, and suicide.
8. There go our civil liberties. Discussions of torture, imprisonment, assassination, surveillance, and denial of fair trials are severely damaged by wartime postures. After all, war is for "freedom," and who wouldn't be willing to surrender all of their freedoms for that?
9. War is illegal. It doesn't matter if the illegitimate government that you're trying to dump invited you to bomb its country. How can anyone take that seriously, while the U.S. installed that government and has armed it for years, as it has attacked its people? War is illegal under the Kellogg Briand Pact and the United Nations Charter, and pretending otherwise endangers the world. Domestically, under U.S. law, the president cannot launch a war. While the Senate has been silent, the U.S. House voted two weeks ago to ban any new presidential war on Iraq. Offering Congress a slap in the face, Obama waited for it to go on break, and then attacked Iraq.
Iraq News - Aug 13, 2014
VIDEO: Desperate Yazidis mob helicopter in dramatic rescue mission - YouTube
VIDEO: Heroic mission rescues desperate Yazidis from Islamic State on Mount Sinjar - CNN
U.S. to send 130 military advisers to help Iraq's Yezidis - ABC News
Syrian Kurdish fighters rescuing stranded Yazidis - Fox News
VIDEO: Yazidi refugees continue to flee Iraq over Syria border - BBC News
Pentagon Says Airstrikes Have Slowed but Not Stopped Islamic State Militants - NYTimes.com
VIDEO: US Air Strikes Pound Islamic State in Iraq - Arutz Sheva
Militants have not yet displayed surface-to-air capability, Pentagon says - Air Force Times
Iraq militants changing tactics, complicating US airstrike mission - Fox News
Who are the tribesmen standing up to the Islamic State in Syria? - GlobalPost
VIDEO: The Islamic State (Part 3) - VICE News
VIDEO: The Islamic State (Part 4) - VICE News
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U.S., allies rush heavy weapons to Kurds to fight Islamic State militants in Iraq - LA Times
Britain to transport weapons to Kurds battling Islamic State in Iraq - Washington Times
France Urges Europe to Arm Kurds to Battle Islamic State - Bloomberg
Germany struggles to find consensus on arming Iraq’s Kurds - The Washington Post
Kurdish fighters hold off Islamic State, await more help from US, Baghdad - Fox News
Islamic State has exposed peshmerga's military vulnerability - The Guardian
Why the Kurdish Peshmerga Have Many Troubles in Stopping the Islamic State - VICE News
Islamic State captures Kurdish Peshmerga forces in Makhmor area, Mosul - Iraqi News
Kurds from Syria and Turkey helped to turn the tide against Islamic State in Iraq - McClatchy DC
Iranian Kurdish Parties Support Peshmerga With Fighters - Rudaw
How Mosul Dam Allows the Islamic State to Inflict Water Torture on Iraq - ibtimes.co.uk
Islamic State funds caliphate with Mosul Dam as terror spreads - The Boston Globe
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Maliki’s Bid to Keep Power in Iraq Seems to Collapse - NYTimes.com
VIDEO: Obama throws support behind Maliki successor in Iraq - YouTube
Biden urges Kurdish leader, new Iraqi PM to work together - KUNA
Iraqi Kurdistan's leader says supports Iraq's new leader Abadi - Yahoo News
Iran puts support behind Maliki's successor as Iraqi prime minister - The Guardian
Saudi king praises nomination of al-Abadi as Iraq’s new PM - Al Arabiya News
Profile: New Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi - Al Akhbar English
To contact Bartolo email peaceloversingle_at_gmail.com (replacing _at_ with @)
A Meditation on Peacemaking: Americans Need to Break the Cycle of War
By John Grant
All we are saying is give peace a chance
-John Lennon
Iraq News - Aug 11, 2014
20,000 Iraqi Yazidis besieged by IS escape from mountain after US air strikes - The Guardian
Kurdish rebels help rescue besieged Yazidi refugees from Iraq mountain - The Guardian
Iraqi Yazidis describe flight from Islamic State militants - LA Times
U.K., France Join U.S. Aid Efforts For Displaced Iraqis - rferl.org
VIDEO: US Cargo Planes C 17 Drop Humanitarian Aid over Northern Iraq - YouTube
VIDEO: Bleeding Yazidi children trapped on Sinjar Mountain - YouTube
PHOTOS: Yazidis rescued by Kurdish peshmerga after escaping Jihadist horde - Mail Online
Iraq Claims IS Militants Executed Hundreds Of Minority Yazidis - NPR
Claims IS buried women and children alive should be treated carefully - i100.independent.co.uk
Pope Francis: IS violence against minorities in Iraq must be stopped - The Guardian
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Targeted US airstrikes hamper Islamic State's advances in Kurdish territory - ibtimes.co.in
Iraqi Kurds say U.S. attacks helping push back Islamic State militants - LA Times
After resisting for years, U.S. increases military aid to Kurds in Iraq - WJLA.com
Obama Says Iraq Airstrike Effort Could Be Long-Term - NYTimes.com
TRANSCRIPT: President Obama's remarks on airstrikes and humanitarian efforts in Iraq - LA Times
VIDEO: US Military Releases Video Showing Air Strike in Iraq - YouTube
Kurdish Peshmerga Retake Gwer; IS in Retreat in Nineveh - Rudaw
Suicide bomber kills 10 Kurdish fighters in Iraq - THE DAILY STAR
VIDEO: Kurdish Special Forces raid on ISIS compound! (raw) - LiveLeak.com
VIDEO: Kurdish Peshmerga reclaim Gwer from IS militants - YouTube
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VIDEO: Maliki forces deployed around Baghdad - CNN
U.S. says backs Iraqi president after Maliki forces deploy in Baghdad - Yahoo News
ISIS recruiting on the rise in Iraq, officials say - CNN.com
Tens of Arab Tribes help IS in Northern Iraq - BAS NEWS
VIDEO: Grooming Children for Jihad: The Islamic State (Part 2) - VICE
To contact Bartolo email peaceloversingle_at_gmail.com (replacing _at_ with @)
U.S. Bombs Won't Save Iraqi Lives
Daddy George H.W. Bush; Bill Clinton; W. Bush and now Barack Obama have an unbroken streak of bombing Iraq.Let us say as strongly as we can, that the bombing begun overnight in Kurdish areas — no matter who “asked” for it to be done — is outrageously dangerous, will not “save civilians,” but instead will endanger them further. Rather than protecting people in harm's way, US bombs and secret operations are a message to other powers that no one else will be allowed to run Iraq.
Avoid bullies and thugs: Beware the World’s Leading War-Monger and Terrorist Organization
By Dave Lindorff
There’s an old adage that goes: “You can judge a man by the company he keeps.”
If that’s the case, then applying it to nations, the world has to judge the US to be a truly wretched and repugnant country, and should be steering clear of it.
Back in Iraq, Jack!
President Obama may want us to sympathize with patriotic torturers, he may turn on whistleblowers like a flesh-eating zombie, he may have lost all ability to think an authentic thought, but I will say this for him: He knows how to mark the 50th anniversary of the Gulf of Tonkin fraud like a champion.
It's back in Iraq, Jack! Yackety yack! Obama says the United States has fired missiles and dropped food in Iraq -- enough food to feed 8,000, enough missiles to kill an unknown number (presumably 7,500 or fewer keeps this a "humanitarian" effort). The White House told reporters on a phone call following the President's Thursday night speech that it is expediting weapons to Iraq, producing Hellfire missiles and ammunition around the clock, and shipping those off to a nation where Obama swears there is no military solution and only reconciliation can help. Hellfire missiles are famous for helping people reconcile.
Obama went straight into laying out his excuses for this latest war, before speaking against war and in favor of everything he invests no energy in. First, the illegitimate government of Iraq asked him to do it. Second, ISIS is to blame for the hell that the United States created in Iraq. Third, there are still lots of places in the world that Obama has not yet bombed. Oh, and this is not really a war but just protection of U.S. personnel, combined with a rescue mission for victims of a possible massacre on a scale we all need to try to understand.
Wow! We need to understand the scale of killing in Iraq? This is the United States you're talking to, the people who paid for the slaughter of 0.5 to 1.5 million Iraqis this decade. Either we're experts on the scale of mass killings or we're hopelessly incapable of understanding such matters.
Completing the deja vu all over again Thursday evening, the substitute host of the Rachel Maddow Show seemed eager for a new war on Iraq, all of his colleagues approved of anything Obama said, and I heard "Will troops be sent?" asked by several "journalists," but never heard a single one ask "Will families be killed?"
Pro-war veteran Democratic congressman elected by war opponents Patrick Murphy cheered for Obama supposedly drawing a red line for war. Murphy spoke of Congress without seeming aware that less than two weeks ago the House voted to deny the President any new war on Iraq. There are some 199 members of the House who may be having a hard time remembering that right now.
Pro-war veteran Paul Rieckhoff added that any new veterans created would be heroes, and -- given what a "mess" Iraq is now -- Rieckhoff advocated "looking forward." The past has such an extreme antiwar bias.
Rounding out the reunion of predictable pro-war platitudes and prevarications, Nancy Pelosi immediately quoted the bits of Obama's speech that suggested he was against the war he was starting. Can Friedman Units and benchmarks be far behind?
Obama promises no combat troops will be sent back to Iraq. No doubt. Instead it'll be planes, drones, helicopters, and "non-combat" troops. "America is coming to help" finally just sounded as evil as Reagan meant it to, but it was in Obama's voice. The ironies exploded like Iraqi houses on Thursday. While the United States locks Honduran refugee children in cages, it proposes to bomb Iraq for refugees. While Gaza starves and Detroit lacks water, Obama bombs Iraq to stop people from starving. While the U.S. ships weapons to Israel to commit genocide, and to Syria for allies of ISIS, it is rushing more weapons into Iraq to supposedly prevent genocide on a mountaintop -- also to add to the weapons supplies already looted by ISIS.
Of course, it's also for "U.S. interests," but if that means U.S. people, why not pull them out? If it means something else, why not admit as much in the light of day and let the argument die of shame?
Let me add a word to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs spokesman David Swanson, who is not me and whom I do not know: Please do keep pushing for actual humanitarian aid. But if you spoke against the missiles that are coming with the food, the reporters left that bit out. You have to fit it into the same sentence with the food and water if you want it quoted. I hope there is an internal U.N. lobby for adoption by the U.N. of the U.N. Charter, and if there is I wish it all the luck in the world.
Iraq News - Aug 8, 2014
Obama authorizes limited airstrikes against IS in Iraq, humanitarian air drops - NYTimes.com
Iraq's largest Christian town falls to Islamic State - The Long War Journal
Islamic State pulls down church crosses in northern Iraq as 200,000 flee - Telegraph
VIDEO: Christian leader: ISIS beheading children - CNN
Rebels Capture Iraq’s Largest Dam - NYTimes.com
UN Council urges world to help Iraq after jihadist onslaught - Yahoo News
Pope asks for international action to help Iraq's persecuted Christians - National Catholic Reporter
Kurds use lobbying to plead for help in Washington - THE DAILY STAR
US adds Nusrah, Islamic State financiers to list of global terrorists - Threat Matrix
Ex-MI6 chief cites ISIS’s Saudi, Qatari donors - Money Jihad
Kuwait vows to fight terror after US sanctions over funding - The National
How Vice News Got Unprecedented Access To The Islamic State - huffingtonpost.com
VIDEO: The first of five-part Vice News documentary on The Islamic State (Part 1) - VICE News
The ISIS Online Campaign Luring Western Girls to Jihad - The Daily Beast
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VIDEO: Yazidi lawmaker cries: We're being slaughtered - YouTube
VIDEO: Iraq’s Yazidis At White House Plead For Weapons and Aid - The Daily Caller
VIDEO: Unicef on Iraq’s Crisis in Sinjar - NYTimes.com
Yazidis Starving in Sinjar: Iraqi Helicopters Airdrop Aid Supplies From Turkey - ibtimes.co.uk
U.N. says some rescued from Iraqi mountain siege, 200,000 flee - Reuters
VIDEO: UN spokesman: Some trapped Yazidi 'extracted' - BBC News
Kurdish fighters rescue some Yazidis stranded on Iraq mountain - THE DAILY STAR
Turkey gives sanctuary to hundreds of Yazidis fleeing Iraq - Yahoo News
Turkey airdrops aid to internally displaced persons in Iraq - hurriyetdailynews
Who are the Secretive Yazidi Kurds and Why do Islamic Militants Want to Kill Them? - ibtimes.co.uk
To contact Bartolo email peaceloversingle_at_gmail.com (replacing _at_ with @)
Toledo, Ohio, Sips of Life in Iraq
By Mike Ferner
Congresswoman Lee Praises Passage of Bipartisan Resolution to Stop Endless War in Iraq
Washington DC – Today, the House of Representatives overwhelming passed the bipartisan McGovern-Jones-Lee resolution which requires the President to seek Congressional authorization before deploying armed services engaged in combat operations in Iraq.
“This resolution reclaims Congressional responsibility in matters of war and peace. In 2001, Congress gave the Administration a blank check for endless war and it’s long past time for Congress to take back that authority,” said Congresswoman Lee. “Enough is enough. After more than decade of war, the American people are war-weary; we must end the culture of endless war and repeal the AUMFs.”
Recent polling by Public Policy Polling found seventy-four percent of American voters oppose military action in Iraq.
“There is no military solution in Iraq,” said Congresswoman Lee. “Any lasting solution must be political and respect the rights of all Iraqis.”
“This resolution is a step in the right direction but Congress needs to repeal the AUMFs that serve as a blank check for endless war,” added Congresswoman Lee.
Congresswoman Lee authored H.R. 3852 to repeal the 2002 Authorization for Use of Military Force in Iraq. Congresswoman Lee joined Congressman Rigell in a bipartisan letter signed by more than 100 Members of Congress calling on President Obama to seek Congressional authorization before taking military action in Iraq.
A Nation on the Brink: How America's Policies Sealed Iraq's Fate
By Dahr Jamail
[This essay is a joint TomDispatch/Truthout report.]
If Iraq Were in Central America
Just as in discussions of bombing nations for women's rights it's hard to bring up the subject of the right not to be bombed, in discussions of shipping so-called illegal children away from the border where you've been terrorizing them in reenactments of Freedom Ride buses it's hard to bring up the subject of not having your government overthrown and your nation turned into a living hell.
Imagine, however, if Iraq were in Central America. Most people in the United States don't realize how convenient it has been to have millions of Iraqis made homeless so far away from the United States, fleeing to places like Syria, and then fleeing Syria when it's Syria's turn to be destroyed.
If, during the past decades of war and sanctions and war on Iraq, Iraq had been located closer to Miami and San Antonio than New York or Seattle is, wouldn't it have been a bit harder for people to tell pollsters that Iraq was benefitting from the war? Wouldn't it have been a bit harder to continue pretending immigrants are something different from refugees? Wouldn't immigrants rights groups have been compelled to notice the military and the wars that create the justification for abuses in the United States but also the motivations for fleeing homes where the wars happen?
If Gaza were in Maryland, would the United States still provide the weapons for bombing the homes there? Would CNN still blame Gazans who remain in their homes? Or would it, rather, scream at them to get back home where they belong?
Well, Honduras is closer to Florida and Texas than much of the United States is. The U.S. government facilitated the overthrow of the government of Honduras with a military coup in 2009 and has supported, funded, armed, and trained the military and the police that have turned Honduras into the most violent and dangerous place on earth, beating out Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Libya, and other top contenders in the World Cup of Hell Holes. The President of Honduras was yanked out of bed and flown to a U.S. military base and out of the country. The military that replaced him has been trained in torture and assassination at the School of the Americas in Georgia.
And now President Obama is ordering Honduran toddlers flown home from the United States where they are disturbing good democratic citizens of the land of liberty. Perhaps this is a moment, after all, in which to unite the movement for the rights of immigrants with the movement for peace and the rule of law in foreign relations.
Imagine the strength of those two movements combined. Words like Hope and Change might actually mean something.
Until then, forgive me if I'm simply disgusted with the level of evil imposed on the world by those in power and the failure of those abused to unite against it.
Courage to Resist Calls for Military Personnel to Resist
A hearty "thank you" to Courage to Resist, which just issued a call to "all U.S. military personnel to resist any effort to pursue a new military attack on Iraq via troops, bombs, drones or any other means. In keeping with our Mission Statement, we affirm that, just as there was never any legitimate reason for the United States to send military forces to Iraq in the past, there is not now any reason for the United States to participate militarily in the affairs of the people of Iraq."
It is absolutely essential to put before the US public the need for visible resistance to US re-escalation and occupation of Iraq.
Congress Members Write to Obama on Iraq, Mention Law, But Not Its Enforcement Mechanism (Impeachment)
Dear Mr. President:
We join you and with those in the international community who are expressing grave concern over the rise in sectarian violence in Iraq over the last days and weeks. The consequences of this development are particularly troubling given the extraordinary loss of American lives and expenditure of funds over ten years that was claimed to be necessary to bring democracy, stability and a respect for human rights to Iraq.
We support your restraint to date in resisting the calls for a "quick" and "easy" military intervention, and for your commitment not to send combat troops back to Iraq. We also appreciate your acknowledgement that this conflict requires a political solution, and that military action alone cannot successfully lead to a resolution.
We do not believe any such intervention could be either quick or easy. And, we doubt it would be effective in meeting either humanitarian or strategic goals, and we are certain that it could very well be counter-productive. This is a moment for urgent consultations and engagement with all parties in the region who could bring about a cease fire and launch a dialogue that could lead to a reconciliation of the conflict that is spreading like a conflagration through the region.
Any solution to this complex political crisis can only be achieved through such an effort, and nothing short of that can successfully bring stability to Iraq or the region and only if the process and outcome is inclusive of all segments of the Iraqi population.
As you consider options for U.S. intervention, we write to urge respect for the constitutional requirements for using force abroad. The Constitution vests in Congress the power and responsibility to authorize offensive military action abroad.
The use of military force in Iraq is something the Congress should fully debate and authorize. Members of Congress must consider all the facts and alternatives before we can determine whether military action would contribute to ending this most recent violence, create a climate for political stability, and protect civilians from greater harm.
We stand ready to work with you to this end.
Sincerely,
Justin Amash
Karen Bass
Earl Blumenauer
Julia Brownley
Michael Capuano
Lois Capps
Andre Carson
Judy Chu
Katherine Clark
Yvette Clarke
Emanuel Cleaver
John Conyers
Lloyd Doggett
Anna Eshoo
Peter DeFazio
Rosa DeLauro
Lloyd Doggett
John J. Duncan Jr.
Keith Ellison
Sam Farr
Los Frankel
John Garamendi
Chris Gibson
Alan Grayson
Raul Grijalva
Janice Hahn
Alcee Hastngs
Rush Holt
James Himes
Rush Holt
Michael Honda
Jared Huffman
Hakeem Jeffries
Henry C. "Hank" Johnson Jr.
Walter Jones
Kathy Kastor
William Keating
Joseph P. Kennedy III
Ann McLane Kuster
John. B. Larson
Barbara Lee
John Lewis
Zoe Lofgren
Alan Lowenthal
Stephen Lych
Jim McDermott
Betty McCollum
Gloria McLeod
James McGovern
Michael Michaud
George Miller
James P. Moran
Jerrold Nadler
Grace Napolitano
Rchard Neal
Richard P. Nolan
Eleanor Holmes Norton
Beto O'Rourke
Fran Palllone
Ed Pastor
Dnald Payne
Colin Peterson
Chellie Pingree
Mark Pocan
Charles Rangel
Reid Ribble
Scott E. Rigell
Bobby Rush
Matt Salmon
John Sarbanes
Kurt Schrader
Robert C. "Bobby" Scott
Jose Serrano
Krysten Sinema
Louise Slaughter
Jackie Speier
Mike Takano
Bennie Thompson
Niki Tsongas
Nydia Velazquez
Maxine Waters
Peter Welch
Iraq/Syria News - July 4, 2014
VIDEO: Interview: Barzani calls for a independence referendum - BBC
Interview: Barzani’s Push for Kurdish Independence: “It is Our Natural Right” - VOA | EA WorldView
VIDEO (Kurdish): Full speech of President Barzani to parliament on independence - YouTube
Iraqi Kurds say will sue Baghdad if it blocks oil sales - todayszaman.com
Maliki Rejects Kurdish Independence Vote, Territorial Expansion - Rudaw
Iraqi Kurd Officials Lobbying for Independence in Washington - WSJ
Iraqi Kurdish officials in Washington describe 'different country' after Mosul - Al-Monitor
White House talks down Kurdish independence - TheHill
US State Dep Does Not Support Kurdish Referendum for Independence - BAS NEWS
NGOs hold 'Kurdistan' demonstration in front of KRG Parliament - CİHAN
Israel, Turkey back off pro-Kurd independence stances - THE DAILY STAR
Netanyahu expresses support for Kurdish independence - Los Angeles Times
Israel and Kurdistan's Alleged Oil Deal Is Putting the U.S. on Notice - New Republic
AKP spokesman Indicates Turkey Ready to Accept Kurdish State in Iraq - Rudaw
Turkey’s Erdogan asks Parliament to approve talks with Kurds - McClatchy DC
PYD Kurdish leader Muslim: We don’t seek independence from Syria - BAS NEWS
YPG Kurdish Commander: Kurds in Syria ‘Deserve’ US Support - Rudaw
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Saudi Arabia deploys 30,000 soldiers to border with Iraq: al-Arabiya TV - Reuters
Experts: Iraq’s new jets likely from Iran - Al Arabiya News
Biden, Kerry Work the Phones to Unite Iraqi Politicians - ABC News
Obama Admin Debates Whether Assad Really Must Go - The Daily Beast
Pentagon leaders: Iraq probably needs outside help to retake seized territory - The Washington Post
Islamic State seizes oil field and towns from rival rebel fighters in Syria's east - Reuters
VIDEO: Islamic State seizes oil field from rival rebel fighters in Syria's East - YouTube
Syrian activists say powerful tribe in town near Iraq pledge allegiance to jihadi group - Fox News
Senior al-Qaeda leader calls for followers to support ISIS - Channel 4 News
Syrian rebels threaten to quit fight against ISIS - Al Arabiya News
Jarba insists Syria and Iran behind rise of ISIS - THE DAILY STAR
Indian Nurses in Iraq's Tikrit Moved, Are In ISIS Captivity - NDTV
Turkish truck drivers held by ISIS in Iraq are freed (VIDEO) - euronews
ISIS Militants Kidnap 150 Kurdish Students in Syria - NBC News
To contact Bartolo email peaceloversingle_at_gmail.com (replacing _at_ with @)
Iraq News - July 1, 2014
US Rushes Hellfires to Iraq, Trying to Rebuild Arsenal - From ABC News
Iraq’s bid to regain Tikrit: armed US drones enlisted to keep militants at bay - The Australian
Russian Jets and Experts Sent to Iraq to Aid Army - NYTimes.com
Iraqi PM Nouri Maliki: Russian jets will turn tide - BBC News
US to co-operate with Iran for countering ISIS militants: military chief - DAWN.COM
Saudi King Tells Kerry He Will Press Sunnis To Join Iraq Government - Gulf Business
Iraq crisis: US steps up drone flights amid intelligence blame game - The Independent
CIA let Iraq spy network wither after troop withdrawal, officials claim - Fox News
Former Marine Corps Adviser: The Current Chaos In Iraq 'Was Totally Predictable' - Business Insider
WikiLeaks: PM Barzani Had Warned US of Current Iraq Crisis - Rudaw
Opinion: US Intelligence Failure in Iraq - huffingtonpost.com
How 2 shadowy ISIS commanders designed their Iraq campaign - Merced Sun-Star
In Iraq and Syria, ISIS Militants Are Flush With Funds - NYTimes.com
Russia Asks UN to Stop Syrian Terrorist Oil Sales - ABC News
Blackwater threatened to kill US investigator in Iraq in 2007 - NYTimes.com
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Sunni militants declare Islamic state in Iraq and Syria - Fox News
Full text of the ISIS announcement of Caliphate (English) - myreader.toile-libre.org
ISIS declaration of Islamic state threatens anti-Shiite Sunni alliance - Fox News
Syria rebels say IS caliphate 'null and void' - Yahoo News
ISIS Crucifies 8 Syrian Rebel Fighters, According To Human Rights Group - huffingtonpost.com
Iraq Sunni group calls for autonomy in decentralized Iraq - Middle East Eye
Iraqi Shiites Fleeing ISIS Fear A Divided Iraq Would Leave Them Homeless - huffingtonpost.com
Kurds’ deputy PM Talabani calls for decentralised Iraq - FT.com
VIDEO: Barzani says Kurdish Self-Rule in Kirkuk to Stay - Iraq Business News
Maliki's coalition: Kurdish annexation of Kirkuk is a declaration of war - middleeastmonitor
Turkey rejects Kurdish independence, wants Iraq unity government, officials say - Reuters
Maliki must not run for 3rd term: Muqtada al-Sadr Speech - Iraqi News
Prisoner Deaths Indicate Mass Executions By Iraqi Police - huffingtonpost.com
Iraq’s Christians See Putin As Savior - The Daily Beast
To contact Bartolo email peaceloversingle_at_gmail.com (replacing _at_ with @)
Audio on Afghanistan and Iraq on the Coy Barefoot Show
GUEST: David Swanson, author, activist, and blogger. His books includes Daybreak: Undoing the Imperial Presidency and Forming a More Perfect Union and War is a Lie and When the World Outlawed War. Follow him on Twitter.
TOPIC: David reacts to the news that Bowe Bergdahl has been released— and that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan continue.
ORIGINAL BROADCAST DATE: Friday, June 6, 2014.
Iraqis Are Not Abstractions
by Debra Sweet Today, help on challenging how people in the U.S. are looking at "helping" Iraq: Larry Everest writes in Revolution, More U.S. Killings and War Crimes in Iraq? HELL NO! today:
When you hear the commander-in-chief of the U.S. empire talk about freedom and giving people "the opportunity to forge their own future," here's what that has meant for the people of Iraq:
The Syrian Election and ISIS in Iraq
Earlier this month, I traveled with seven other westerners to Syria where we joined with thirty plus activists, journalists and politicians from Asia, Africa and South America to observe the Syria Presidential election. Bashar. Assad won 88% of the vote. Though some people in opposition areas boycotted the election, and others could not get to a polling station, 73% of the entire population of Syria eligible to vote did vote. The 73% turnout was more significant than the votes for Assad. I had heard a detailed report back from the electoral commission, and spent voting day touring voting sites, so I wasn’t entirely surprised by this outcome.
Looking at the election as a referendum on the current government, the result was an expression of unity across Syrian society, the unity of a people who came forward to support the sovereignty and independence of their country. When Bashar Assad was declared the winner of the Syrian election, people celebrated in the streets late into the night. in central Damascus, and other cities around Syria. Even in Homs, people danced all night in celebration. The slogan of the President was 'Unity' and that is what the people wanted to hear.
There were those who gushed in their affection and support of the President. And I have at least one recorded on video. However there were many more people who are tired of war and suffering and hoping to begin rebuilding under a government that could support their basic needs. And there were those who were ready to cut their losses and return to a life that wasn’t so bad. Whatever softness there was in the connection between the very well thought out process and the villagers who loosely followed it, there is no doubt that the majority of Syrians want Assad to continue to govern.
U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry dismissed the Syrian election as a fraud several days before it took place, and many Western countries, including the US, Canada and members of the EU joined Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Monarchies in denying Syrian expat voters the opportunity to participate in the election at a local Embassy. The Western press largely dismissed the election, though a massive outpouring of Syrian voters in Lebanon surprised everyone including, we later learned, the Syrian Election Board.
However, it seems clear, as the current events in Iraq unfold, that somebody took the results of the Syrian election along with the successes of the Syrian Arab Army in liberating the towns along the Lebanese border, and throughout most of the populated areas of the country (except for Aleppo) quite seriously. Suddenly, a week after the election, the most militant, brutal fighting force in Syria moved much of its forces to Iraq where, with the support of a well organize Sunni defection, they brazenly swarmed across the north west area of the country taking over one city after another. Iraq is seriously shaken. It has already been through a terrible bloodbath within this decade and the healing has not seriously begun. Now a new sectarian war has appeared to be on the horizon.
ISIS (The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria), a violent, fanatical organization of religious extremists, supposedly a breakaway from al-Qaeda, is not new to Iraq. It was born there during the US occupation. The man who currently leads ISIS spent several years in the US prison camp at Bucca. After spending another year in an Iraqi prison, he was released, and shortly after that he took charge of ISIS. Wealthy Saudis have consistently funded ISIS, while Turkey has facilitated delivery of arms and other supplies to ISIS across their border. ISIS has been dismantling the factories in Aleppo, transporting them across the Turkish border and then setting them up for business there. This could not be done without the tolerance of the Turkish government. Members of ISIS were trained by US Special Ops forces in Jordan last year. When ISIS took over the oil well at Raqqa in Syria, the EU dropped its sanctions against Syrian oil production so that they could provide parts to repair the old broken down wells so ISIS could start pumping the oil, which I assume European countries are now buying.
During the last year Syria had, with the help of Iran and Hebollah, begun to beat back the insurgency and recover the territories lost to war. It is true that thousands of Syrian refugees are in Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon, but many times more are in refugee camps in the government held areas of Syria where they are supplied with food and shelter, and basic medical care, and schools for the children. The Syrian Arab Army is mostly Sunni. It reflects the population demographics of the country as does the government bureaucracy. Iraq does not have the resources, the political integrity or the stable social structures to fight a war like this. It is already fractured in all directions. There are no resources left for refugees in Iraq. A sectarian war is a real possibility.
Iraqi President al Maliki has requested the United States to provide assistance. US President Obama has sent a few Special Ops forces and promised more. There is a lot of talk about whether the US should put ‘boots on the ground’; whether the US should use air strikes against ISIS in Iraq. While the American people stood fast against bombing or sending troops to Syria, they are wavering on Iraq. Once there are boots on the ground in Iraq, there will be boots crossing the border into Syria. If drones strike Iraq, they will soon be striking Syria. It will be open season on Iraq and Syria.
There is talk of dividing the country. I’m hearing the “We broke it - now we own it” line again. This is a serious distortion of reality. We aren’t talking about accidentally knocking a pot off the shelf in a department store. We didn’t ‘break Iraq’. We deliberately invaded the country and smashed it. We had another 7 or 8 years after that to try to ‘fix it’, but instead we presided over the destruction of what remained of the society. We should not be given control over any process that might affect the integrity of Iraq or Syria. Who governs these countries is not our business and we have no right to choose for them. Creating mayhem with fanatical militias capable of obscene acts of violence is not the way to ‘free’ people. Dividing people and power according to ethnic and religious affiliations destroys the fabric of ancient societies and benefits only foreign overlords who find it easier to control a weak and unempowered society.
No matter how bad it looks for Iraq, we must not forget that it is most likely that US officals at some level, at least the CIA, had something to do with the redeployment of ISIS to Iraq. Therefore the last thing they need is ‘help’ from us. Let us send them our prayers. Let us send food and medical aid for refugees. Let us respect their elections be they ever so fragile and flawed. Let us respect their sovereignty and their right ot solve their own problems. AND, let us pressure our government to stay out of the fray and to demand that our allies cease to support and facilitate blood thirsty fanatical militant forces in this region.
Let the Iraqis and the Syrians have a chance to restore their countries and their lives. We don’t own them. We haven’t earned even the privilege to call ourselves their friends. Let us give them the freedom to make their own choices and solve their own problems. Cede to them their right to self determination. That is what we really owe them.
Iraq News - June 26, 2014
Syrian warplane airstrikes targeting ISIS kill at least 50 in Iraq, authorities say - Fox News
Iran Secretly Sending Drones and Supplies Into Iraq, U.S. Officials Say - NYTimes.com
POLL: Not Worth It: Huge American Majority Regret Iraq War, Exclusive Poll Shows - NBC News
Lebanon’s Hezbollah ready to fight ISIS in Iraq - ASHARQ AL-AWSAT
ISIS Suicide Bomber Blows Up Part of Beirut Hotel: Official - NBC News
Saudi Funding of ISIS - The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
'Thank God for the Saudis': ISIS, Iraq, and the Lessons of Blowback - The Atlantic
VIDEO: Who’s funding ISIS? - Al Jazeera America
Russian diplomat urges UN to probe into oil exports by terrorists in Syria, Iraq - ITAR-TASS
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VIDEO: Iraqi Shiite fighters parade in show of force in Baghdad - YouTube
Iraq: Tribal forces pledge to confront ISIS advance on Haditha Dam - ASHARQ AL-AWSAT
Sunni tribes register in Basra to help Iraqi army against ISIS radicals - AhlulBayt News Agency
Shiite villagers describe ISIS ‘massacre’ in northern Iraq - The Washington Post
Iraq: Suicide bomber kills 13 south of Baghdad - AP
ISIS strengthened on Syria border after Nusra Front unit joins it - THE DAILY STAR
Syria jihadists now using Humvees seized in Iraq: NGO - THE DAILY STAR
To contact Bartolo email peaceloversingle_at_gmail.com (replacing _at_ with @)
War Stories: Bad Wars and the Voice of Disillusion
By John Grant
When lo! An angel called him out of heaven,
Saying, Lay not thy hand upon the lad, . . .
Audio: Connect the Dots on Iraq
Listen to Lila Garrett's Connect the Dots on KPFK: AUDIO.
Guests include:
David Swanson organizer of WORLD BEYOND WAR does an in depth analysis of our intervention in this civil war in Iraq including its connection to those interests in the US determined to feed and maintain our permanent war economy.
Former Congressman Bob Filner served as Chair of the Congressional Com. On Veteran Affairs from 2006-2010. As chairman, Filner increased spending on veterans healthcare, and a new GI bill for veterans of Afghanistan and Iraq. Filner describes the serious cut backs by this Congress on those benefits. This includes the 50,000 vets on medical lists waiting to see a doctor for months…even years.
Senate Candidate Shenna Bellows, Democrat from Maine, whom journalist John Nichols has called “possibly the future of progressive politics in America”, describes Maine’s extreme rightwing leadership. About Bellows' opposition, Republican Susan Collins, author Stephen King writes: “Senator Susan Collins is considered a moderate who compromises a lot. Sounds good, but when it comes down to casting votes that serve Mainers, she always seems to end up with her Republican colleagues, led by Mitch McConnell.”
Lila Garrett (Host of CONNECT THE DOTS)
KPFK 90.7 FM in LA; 98.7 Santa Barbara; 93.7 San Diego;
99.5 China Lake
Airs Mondays from 7AM to 8AM.
Moral Injury: WashPost Neocons and Iraq
Iraqis Are Not ‘Abstractions’
Editor Note: U.S. policymakers have long behaved like spoiled, destructive children treating Iraq as if it were some meaningless plaything. The game has been about who “wins” or “loses” in Washington, not who lives or dies in Iraq, a moral failure that ex-CIA analyst Ray McGovern addresses.
By Ray McGovern
Iraq News - June 20, 2014
VIDEO (short version): President Obama Remarks on Iraq - YouTube
VIDEO (full version): President Obama Remarks on Iraq - C-SPAN.org
TRANSCRIPT: President Obama's remarks on Iraq - CNN.com
The military advisers will have a number of missions, Pentagon officials say - NYTimes.com
CIA facing gaps in Iraq as it hunts for ISIS militants - THE DAILY STAR
Kerry says U.S. may share information with Iran over Iraq, not cooperate - Reuters
Iranian Leader Vows to Protect Holy Sites in Iraq - NYTimes.com
Saudi FM blasts Iraqi PM Maliki’s ‘sectarian policies’ - Al Arabiya News
Gulf Nations Struggle With Iraq Militant Blowback - ABC News
ISIS advance in Iraq forces Gulf donors to rethink their patronage - Yahoo News
How Arab backers of the Syrian rebels see Iraq - The Washington Post
Turkey gives cold shoulder to US strikes in Iraq - todayszaman.com
Turkey Gives Up On Unified Iraq - The Daily Beast
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Iraq's Maliki: I won't quit as condition of US strikes against ISIS militants - theguardian.com
Iraqi capital out of danger; urgent need for U.S. strikes eases: Maliki ally - Yahoo News UK
Iraq's al-Maliki extends overtures to Sunni and Kurdish rivals - Yahoo News
Biden urges Maliki , Barzani and Nujaifi to unite against ISIS - shafaaq.com
Kurds support dividing Iraq into three autonomous regions - Al-Monitor
Battle rages for Iraq's largest oil refinery - Middle East - Al Jazeera English
Iraq exodus? Oil majors withdraw staff as terror threat rises - RT Business
Kurdish Oil Keeps Flowing, For Now - Rudaw
Iraqi Kurds link Kirkuk to own oil pipeline, plan more exports via Turkey - hurriyetdailynews
Iraqi Kurds seize control of key Syria border crossing - Al-Monitor
ISIS alliance with a deeply rooted network of Saddam Hussein loyalists - nytimes.com
ISIS photos show gains and Iraqi support - The Long War Journal
ISIS, Inc. – Jihadists attract investors, fighters with annual reports & glossy PR - RT News
With gritty determination, Iraqi Shiites rush to fight ISIS militants - CSMonitor.com
To contact Bartolo email peaceloversingle_at_gmail.com (replacing _at_ with @)
Supporting Democracy is So Yesterday: Washington’s Rats are Abandoning Maliki
By Dave Lindorff
The rat, among mammals, is one of the most successful animals on the planet. Cunning, ruthless, competitive and above all adaptable -- it is able to change its habits quickly as needed to accommodate the situation it finds itself in.
When it comes to foreign policy, the US government is filled with rats.
U.S. Veteran on Violence in Iraq
By Evan Knappenberger, Charlottesville Center for Peace and Justice
But also my heart is heavy and I have been walking in grief over this for nearly a decade. Here's the thoughts which I feel compelled to share, and I hope that they can clarify for you what I believe has happened.
A short explanation of Iraq, 2004-2014
As a disabled veteran I receive about $850 per month. A Sunni militiaman in 2007 could receive about $600 per month, just to have name placed on the rolls by the local Shayk, payable by the US government and your tax dollars. This was the Bush administration's secret weapon to pacify the peace movement that was burning his butt politically. The Sunni insurgents used this time to train, to re-equip, to organize and to plan. The US military watched that happened, encouraged it. Wait till we're gone then, whatever.
And the narrative is at a turning point. The Sunni militiamen are doing it right this time, taking no prisoners, and there is no stomach for any intervention. The Iranian government is so scared, they're ready to ask the US for help! The Kurds, the Turks, the Syrians, the Israelis are all freaking out. What are we to make of this?
But the reality is, that this tragic middle east situation has been in the works for years. I myself have been mourning it for eight years now since I was made aware of it.
The hard truth of the situation is not that now we have left the savage hordes are going to revert to murdering each other. The hard truth is -- and this is something that needs to be minded most especially by comfortable center-left Americans as we go about our summer vacations -- that the US put this regional, genocidal conflict into motion in 2003 and 2004 while Paul Bremer was dictator of Iraq.
Because the US military was blinded by the Bush administration's ideology, the occupation paradigm was unable to handle the inevitable insurgency. And rather than stay and admit that we caused this, the occupation under Petraeus decided to stave it off for a few years till we could leave, in the process making it much, much worse. That is the narrative that won't be spoken in the media, and that is what you need to know to connect with the soldiers who left blood and tears in the Sunni Levant.
I am not the only Iraq veteran interested in peace, though I may have been on the early side of it. There are a million former analysts and interrogators and tankers and military policemen who need that truth now.
Eastern Mennonite University, (B.A. 2015)
The Democratic Push to Bomb Iraq Again
People forget the extent to which Democrats, who controlled the U.S. Senate at the time, pushed for and supported the 2003 attack on Iraq. Remember them or not, theeeeeeeeeey're back!
The Center for American Progress, the head of whose "action fund," former Democratic Congressman from Virginia's Fifth District Tom Perriello, slipped through the revolving door into a State Department job in February, is now pushing for "principled" bombings of Iraq.
Principled or not, the Center for American Progress is funded by Lockheed Martin and other huge war profiteers. C.A.P. has just put out a report recommending that air strikes be considered.
For that to happen, many other things need to not be considered:
1. The views of the U.S. public, which opposes more wars and some of whom here in the fifth district of Virginia fantasized they'd elected an antiwar candidate in Periello several years back.
2. The views of the Iraqi public, who have been nonviolently and violently protesting an illegitimate government installed by the U.S.-led occupation.
3. The rule of law, which bans wars (under both the U.N. Charter and the Kellogg-Briand Pact) even in places where the U.S. has recently fought wars in blatant violation of the law without any legal consequences.
4. The U.S. Constitution, which required that wars be authorized by Congress even before Article VI came to encompass the aforementioned treaties.
5. The 100-year history of foreign military interference consistently making things worse in Iraq.
6. The 11-year history of foreign military interference making things dramatically worse in Iraq to the point where it is no exaggeration to say that the nation has been destroyed.
7. The record suicide rate among U.S. war veterans, many of whom are realizing the role they played in destroying Iraq.
8. The liberties we keep losing as long as the wars for "freedom" role on.
9. The environmental destruction of our largest consumer of petroleum and greatest poisoner of land masses, the U.S. military.
10. The financial cost of trillion-dollar wars when tens of billions in reparations and actual aid could make a world of difference.
11. The history of small numbers of "advisors" in Vietnam and many other wars mushrooming into devastating occupations and millions of murders.
12. The need people have to imagine that Democrats are fundamentally different from Republicans. Think of the damage being done to that already tenuous pretense. Spare those tender souls any troubled thoughts if you can't spare the lives of Iraqis for their own sake.
