Iraq

Why Airstrikes In Iraq Are A Mistake

August 9, 2014 Peter Van Buren, www.dissenter.firedoglake.com Educate! Airstrikes, Iraq, ISIS, Wars and Militarism

As America goes back to war in Iraq with airstrikes, here’s what to know and do instead: – This is a slippery slope if those words have any meaning left. Airstrikes are in part to protect American advisors sent earlier to Erbil to support Kurds there because Iraqi central government won’t. The U.S. is assuming the role of the de facto Iraqi Air Force. What happens next week, next crisis, next “genocide?” Tell me how that ends. – Understand how deep the U.S. is already in. It is highly likely that U.S. Special Forces are active on the ground, conducting reconnaissance missions and laser-designating targets for circling U.S. aircraft. If U.S. planes are overhead, U.S. search and rescue assets are not far away, perhaps in desert forward operating positions. This is how bigger wars begin. Go Google “Vietnam War,” say starting about 1963. – The U.S. media is playing the meme that the U.S. is worried about Christian minority in Iraq, as a way to engorge the American people with blood. But the media fails to note that over half of Iraq’s Christians were killed or fled during the U.S. occupation.

Humanitarian Emergency Does Not Suspend The Constitution

August 9, 2014 Robert Naiman, www.huffingtonpost.com Resist! Barack Obama, Congress, Iraq, Wars and Militarism

President Obama gave a speech last night purporting to justify today's U.S. military strikes in Iraq. Unfortunately, the president's speech failed to clearly answer key questions related to the issue of Congressional war powers under the U.S. Constitution and the War Powers Resolution; that is, he failed to clearly explain why his decision to order airstrikes in Iraq without Congressional authorization is Constitutional and legal. These questions are crucial because regardless of what you think right now of the president's current military action -- and the situation is still unfolding, and it is not at all clear right now what the limits, if any, of the president's action will be -- Americans who want the U.S. to be using military force less frequently are engaged in a "long game" against the presidency -- not just this president, any president -- about the Constitutional, legal, and political scope of the president for unilateral decisions on the use of force in the absence of an attack or imminent threat of attack on the U.S. And every time the president -- this president or any president -- is allowed to "cut corners" on the Constitutional question of Congressional war powers, it sets a bad precedent for the future, eroding a key Constitutional, democratic speed bump against unnecessary wars of choice.

Back In Iraq, Jack!

August 8, 2014 David Swanson, www.warisacrime.org Educate! Iraq, Wars and Militarism

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.

An Inquiry Into The 9/11 Commission’s 10th Anniversary Report

August 1, 2014 Mike Lofgren, www.truth-out.org Educate! Foreign Policy, Iraq, Terrorism, Wars and Militarism

One of the many things I learned in government is that the investigative commissions which inquire into a scandal, disaster or atrocity are usually intended to bury the real causes of the incident and trumpet other circumstantial or irrelevant details as if they are shocking or novel. In other words, commissions are cover-ups pretending to be exposés. This is not always the case, but as the stakes rise, it becomes the accepted practice. One of the masters of this technique has been former House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Lee H. Hamilton (D-Indiana). He cut his teeth as chairman of the House Select Committee to Investigate Covert Arms Transactions with Iran, where he was careful to stop short of implicating President Ronald Reagan of impeachable criminal culpability, and, more importantly, provided the same service to the future President George H.W. Bush. A few smaller fries took the fall, and Reagan, the man whom Republicans retrospectively credit for making the sun shine and the rain fall, was chastised for not being in control of his own immediate subordinates. Bush, of course, was out of the loop. In 1992, Hamilton chaired the House October Surprise Task Force, and failed once again to find Bush culpable of criminal misdeeds - in this case, the allegation being that Bush was involved in secret and illegal negotiations with Iran to deny the American hostages' release until after the 1980 elections. Twenty years later, however, Hamilton confessed to investigative journalist Robert Parry that he now has second thoughts about the October surprise. As they used to say in vaudeville, now he tells us.

House Passes Resolution To Stop Iraq War & Escalation

July 25, 2014 Cristina Marcos, www.thehill.com Resist! Democracy, Iraq, Wars and Militarism

The House on Friday passed a resolution requiring authorization from Congress for a sustained presence of combat troops in Iraq. The resolution passed with bipartisan support in a 370-40 vote. Three Democrats and 37 Republicans voted against the resolution; 180 Republicans and 190 Democrats voted in favor. An original version had resolved that Obama should remove armed forces within 30 days, but left him the option of keeping forces in Iraq until the end of the year should he determine withdrawal to be unsafe. Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) said passage of the resolution would affirm the role of Congress in authorizing military operations abroad. "After more than a decade at war in Iraq and Afghanistan, thousands of lives and billions of dollars lost, the need for Congress to reclaim its war-making powers is critical," Lee said. "Where I think all members can agree is that if the president of the United States ordered U.S. armed forces into sustained combat in Iraq, then he should be coming to Congress to seek an explicit statutory authorization and the backing of this body," said House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-Calif.).

NY Times Pro-War Bias Still Evident

July 14, 2014 Robert Parry, www.consortiumnews.com Educate! Iraq, Journalism, Mass Media, Syria, Ukraine

Exclusive: Mistakes were made on the Iraq War in 2003 and lessons have been learned, the New York Times says, but those lessons haven’t carried over to the Times’ deeply biased coverage of the crises in Syria and Ukraine, reports Robert Parry. The New York Times’ public editor Margaret Sullivan acknowledges that the newspaper’s coverage of Iraq before President George W. Bush’s 2003 invasion “was flawed, driven by outside agendas and lacking in needed skepticism.” But she says lessons were learned. “Many Op-Ed columns and Times editorials promoted the idea of a war that turned out to be both unfounded and disastrous,” Sullivan wrote on June 29, adding that, in retrospect, the coverage “was the cause of much soul-searching for The Times” and that those lessons now are at the forefront of the Times’ handling of the new crisis in Iraq. However, the real question isn’t whether the Times will make the same mistakes in flacking for an Iraq War sequel. As Sullivan noted, President Barack Obama – unlike his neocon predecessor – remains resistant to dispatching U.S. combat forces to Iraq.

Bi-Partisan Reps Tells Obama: Get Congressional Approval For Iraq

July 10, 2014 Resist! Iraq, Obama, Wars and Militarism

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. . . 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.

Be A Patriot: Stop Another US Military Intervention

July 5, 2014 Medea Benjamin, www.codepink.org Organize! Foreign Policy, Fourth of July, Iraq, Wars and Militarism

This July 4, the fireworks won’t just be in celebration of Independence Day. There will undoubtedly be fireworks in cities throughout the Middle East, as the region, engulfed in violence, further explodes. The US military and US taxdollars are already deeply entangled in Middle Easterners’ lives (and deaths), and President Obama is under pressure to get further involved in the wars in Iraq and Syria. But what advice would our nation’s founders give the 44th president this July 4? The Founding Fathers, who revolted against a foreign power, were vehemently opposed to getting involved in military adventures overseas. George Washington cautioned our new nation against the “mischiefs of foreign intrigue.” James Madison said the US should steer clear of unnecessary wars. Thomas Jefferson said, “If there be one principle more deeply written than any other in the mind of every American, it is that we should have nothing to do with conquest.” Secretary of State John Quincy Adams warned in 1821 that America should not go abroad in search of “monsters to destroy”—for such folly would destroy “her own spirit.”

Veterans Groups Oppose More War In Iraq

July 5, 2014 C.J. Lin, www.stripes.com Resist! Foreign Policy, Iraq, Veterans, Wars and Militarism

As President Barack Obama announced Thursday that military advisers would be sent to Iraq, some veterans of the Iraq War railed against more military intervention in the country, warning that it would add to the violence and destruction. More U.S. intervention will only prolong the current conflict and further destabilize the country, said Matt Southworth, an Army veteran who in 2004 deployed to Tal Afar and is a member of Veterans for Peace. “My experience taught me that any foreign military intervention, especially if led by the United States, will only harden the resolve of the radical groups and unite the less religiously motivated into one fight against what they view is an illegitimate Iraqi government with considerable U.S. support,” Southworth said. A former intelligence analyst, Southworth suggested five steps for the U.S. to quell the violence in Iraq: Reject another U.S. military intervention Stop unconditional military aid to Iraq Convene a conference to establish an arms embargo to Iraq and Syria Increase humanitarian efforts and funding to address the basic needs of Iraqis affected by war Publicly support a comprehensive political settlement among the key parties in the conflict

Seeds For Another Invasion Of Iraq Planted

July 5, 2014 James Cogan, www.wsws.org Educate! Foreign Policy, Iraq, ISIS, Wars and Militarism

US Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman General Martin Dempsey refused yesterday to rule out large numbers of American troops being returned to Iraq in defiance of mass opposition in the American working class and population as a whole. He told a press conference that while the Obama administration currently has no plans to increase the US military involvement in Iraq beyond 750 special forces advisors and additional embassy guards, the situation could rapidly change. Dempsey stated: “We may get to that point if our national interests drive us there, if it becomes such a threat to the homeland that the President of the United States, with our advice, decides that we have to take direct action. I am just suggesting to you that we are not there yet.” In the context of what has unfolded in Iraq and the Middle East since June 10, when the Al Qaeda-derived, Sunni extremist Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) seized control of the northern Iraqi city of Mosul and sent forces south toward Baghdad, Dempsey’s comment is a clear indication that plans are being prepared for a full-scale intervention into what is a cauldron of conflicts and intrigues.

Before Shooting Of Civilians In Iraq, A Warning On Blackwater

July 3, 2014 James Risen, www.nytimes.com Educate! Blackwater, Corporatism, Corruption, Iraq, Wars and Militarism

Just weeks before Blackwater guards fatally shot 17 civilians at Baghdad’s Nisour Square in 2007, the State Department began investigating the security contractor’s operations in Iraq. But the inquiry was abandoned after Blackwater’s top manager there issued a threat: “that he could kill” the government’s chief investigator and “no one could or would do anything about it as we were in Iraq,” according to department reports. American Embassy officials in Baghdad sided with Blackwater rather than the State Department investigators as a dispute over the probe escalated in August 2007, the previously undisclosed documents show. The officials told the investigators that they had disrupted the embassy’s relationship with the security contractor and ordered them to leave the country, according to the reports. After returning to Washington, the chief investigator wrote a scathing report to State Department officials documenting misconduct by Blackwater employees and warning that lax oversight of the company, which had a contract worth more than $1 billion to protect American diplomats, had created “an environment full of liability and negligence.” “The management structures in place to manage and monitor our contracts in Iraq have become subservient to the contractors themselves,” the investigator, Jean C. Richter, wrote in an Aug. 31, 2007, memo to State Department officials.

Pity The Children

July 1, 2014 Chris Hedges, www.truthdig.com Educate! Afghanistan, Children, Iraq, Wars and Militarism

For the United States, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will be over soon. We will leave behind, after our defeats, wreckage and death, the contagion of violence and hatred, unending grief, and millions of children who were brutalized and robbed of their childhood. Americans who did not suffer will forget. People maimed physically or psychologically by the violence, especially the Iraqi and Afghan children, will never escape. Time and memory will play their usual tricks. Those who endured war will begin to wonder, years from now, what was real and what was not. And those who did not taste of war’s noxious poison will stop wondering at all. I sat last Thursday afternoon in a small conference room at the University of Massachusetts Boston with three U.S. combat veterans—two from the war in Iraq, one from the war in Vietnam—along with a Somali who grew up amid the vicious fighting in Mogadishu. All are poets or novelists. They were there to attend a two-week writers workshop sponsored by the William Joiner Institute for the Study of War and Social Consequences. It is their voices and those of their comrades that have to be heeded now, and heeded in the future, if we are to curb our appetite for empire and lust for industrial violence. The truth about war comes out, but always too late. And by the time the drums begin beating, the flags waving and the politicians and press hyperventilating as they shout out their nationalist cant, once again we have forgotten what we learned, as if the debacles of the past had no bearing on the debacles of the future.

US To Deploy More Troops To Iraq

July 1, 2014 Al Jazeera, www.aljazeera.com Educate! Barack Obama, Foreign Policy, Iraq, Wars and Militarism

President Barack Obama has said he will send about 200 more US troops to Iraq to protect Americans and the US embassy in Baghdad amid fierce fighting in the country between government forces and Sunni armed groups. The US is also sending a detachment of helicopters and drone aircraft. Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby said on Monday about 200 forces arrived in Iraq on Sunday to reinforce security at the US embassy, its support facilities and the Baghdad International Airport. Another 100 personnel were also due to move to Baghdad to "provide security and logistics support." "These forces are separate and apart from the up to 300 personnel the president authorised to establish two joint operations centres and conduct an assessment of how the US can provide additional support to Iraq's security forces," Kirby said in a statement. Of the initial deployment to the embassy of 275 troops earlier this month, 100 had been on standby outside the country, but are now moving into positions in Baghdad, the Pentagon said. The announcement will bring to nearly 800 the total number of US forces in and around Iraq to train local forces, secure the embassy and protect Washington's interests.

Congress Demands A Vote Before Bombs Fall On Iraq

June 28, 2014 Win Without War, www.winwithoutwar.org Resist! Barack Obama, Budget, Congress, Iraq, Wars and Militarism

The current situation in Iraq has grabbed the nation’s attention, and President Obama has already deployed U.S. military assets in response to the crisis. The President has also suggested that the U.S. military may take further action, such as drones or airstrikes. Many reports have also suggested that, unlike in the case of Syria last fall, the President may not seek authorization from Congress before bombing Iraq. Thankfully, many Members of Congress are speaking up and calling on President Obama to come to Congress for authorization before using military force. Our best tool to stop this rush to war is to press President Obama to come to Congress for authorization before using military force, as required by the U.S. Constitution. Read what Members of Congress are saying, and then ask your Representative to add his or her name. Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR)- “As broad as it was, the AUMF for Iraq does not cover this instance, and… the president should come to Congress and sketch out a plan [and] ask for authorization. Because I’m not sure what the plan is.” [6/24/14]

In Iraq, U.S. Is The Problem…

June 27, 2014 Dennis Trainor Jr, www.PopularResistance.org Resistance Report Government, Iraq, Syria, Video, Wars and Militarism

The oil rich country of Iraq is facing a possible collapse. Again. Sunni militants, largely shut out of the new government installed by the U.S. after our illegally invasion and occupation are overtaking large parts of Iraq in a quickly developing story. U.S. foreign policy seems to lack the imagination to do anything but intervene militarily. How that intervention takes shape, whether it be in aid, advising, air strikes, boots on the ground, or the kind of shock and awe only a Nobel peace prize winning Commander in chief can deliver remains to be seen. Joining Dennis on Acronym TV this week to discuss the situation in Iraq are Lila Garrett and Dr. Dennis Loo. Lila Garret is a two time Emmy winner for her work in TV comedy as a writer/producer. For her progressive political activism, in 1991 she was the recipient of Senator Barbara Boxer’s WOMEN MAKING HISTORY AWARD. . In 2004 she was So. Cal. Chair of the Kucinich for President campaign. For the last 9 years she has hosted the radio political talk show, “Connect the Dots” heard every Monday morning at 7 on Pacifica’s KPFK in Los Angeles and on line atKPFK.org.

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