Iraq

The Ghoulish Face Of Empire

June 24, 2014 Chris Hedges, www.truthdig.com Educate! Foreign Policy, Iraq, Middle East, Wars and Militarism

The black-clad fighters of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, sweeping a collapsing army and terrified Iraqis before them as they advance toward Baghdad, reflect back to us the ghoulish face of American empire. They are the specters of the hundreds of thousands of people we murdered in our deluded quest to remake the Middle East. They are ghosts from the innumerable roadsides and villages where U.S. soldiers and Marines, jolted by explosions of improvised explosive devices, responded with indiscriminate fire. They are the risen remains of the dismembered Iraqis left behind by blasts of Hellfire and cruise missiles, howitzers, grenade launchers and drone strikes. They are the avengers of the gruesome torture and the sexual debasement that often came with being detained by American troops. They are the final answer to the collective humiliation of an occupied country, the logical outcome of Shock and Awe, the Frankenstein monster stitched together from the body parts we left scattered on the ground. They are what we get for the $4 trillion we wasted on the Iraq War. The language of violence engenders violence. The language of hate engenders hate. “I and the public know what all schoolchildren learn,” W.H. Auden wrote. “Those to whom evil is done do evil in return.” It is as old as the Bible.

Call Congress: Stop The New US Invasion Of Iraq

June 24, 2014 Justin Raimondo, www.antiwar.com Resist! Barack Obama, Iraq, Syria, Wars and Militarism

President Obama’s announcement that the US is sending 300 "advisors" back to Iraq to stave off the rising Sunni insurgency was couched in assurances that "American forces will not be returning to combat in Iraq" – but who really believes that? This President has absolutely no qualms about engaging in systematic deception if it serves his purposes. Indeed, his version of the numbers is in itself a blatant lie: in reality, we are sending 625 military personnel into Iraq, including the 325 Marines sent to guard the now-imperiled US Embassy — and that’s just what they’re announcing publicly. God knows what the real numbers are. Furthermore, the President told us "we will be prepared to take targeted and precise military action if and when we determine that the situation on the ground requires it." This will presumably come in the form of air strikes, but the vague wording gives Obama lots of leeway. Americans have had it up to here with Iraq, and want no part of another war in the Middle East. We did it when Obama announced he was going to bomb Syria: the War Party was taken aback by the sheer spontaneous power of the protest. Many thousands called their congressional representatives and made it crystal clear that they opposed any new war in the region, whether it be on "humanitarian" or "strategic" grounds.

The Sectarian Myth Of Iraq

June 23, 2014 Sami Ramadani, www.theguardian.com Educate! Iraq, Religion, Wars and Militarism

Tony Blair has been widely derided for his attempted justification of the 2003 Iraq invasion, and his claim last weekend that he's blameless over the current turmoil. Unfortunately, though, many of his critics have also bought into a central plank of his argument: that Iraqi society is no more than a motley collection of religions and ethnicities which have been waiting for decades, if not centuries, to slaughter each other and plunge the place into a bloodbath. The main difference between the two sides seems to be that Blair believes western intervention is the answer; some of his critics say Iraq needed a dictator like Saddam to hold the nation together. Neither side, though, has yet produced historical evidence of significant communal fighting between Iraq's religions, sects, ethnicities or nationalities. Prior to the 2003 US-led occupation, the only incident was the 1941 violent looting of Jewish neighbourhoods – which is still shrouded in mystery as to who planned it. Documents relating to that criminal incident are still kept secret at the Public Records Office by orders of successive British governments. The bombing of synagogues in Baghdad in 1950-51 turned out to be the work of Zionists to frighten Iraq's Jews – one of the oldest Jewish communities in the world – into emigrating to Israel following their refusal to do so.

ISIS: Unsurprising Surprise Sweeping Iraq

June 22, 2014 Charles P. Blair, www.thebulletin.org Educate! Iraq, Syria, Wars and Militarism

Eighteen months later, as the final US military forces left Iraq, a similarly sanguine US Army Lt. Gen. Frank Helmick reflected on a bright future for the Iraqi security forces. Helmick, who led the attack on Mosul in 2003 before taking other senior US military leadership roles in Iraq, said that when he arrived, “The Iraqis did not have an army. They did not have a navy. They did not have an air force. So we didn't rebuild anything; we built their military.” And what a military it was: According to information released in the March 2013 "Final Report by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction," from the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom until September 2012, the US alone spent $25 billion to equip and train Iraq’s security forces and build and maintain the military installations they needed. These billions represent one-third of all US aid to Iraq from 2005 through 2012. But just two and a half years later, Iraqi security forces have “crumbled in disarray”before the successor group to Al Qaeda in Iraq, ISIS, or the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham.

Despite Propaganda: Americans Oppose U.S. Intervention In Iraq

June 22, 2014 Staff, www.Reuters.com Resist! Democracy, Iraq, Wars and Militarism

The US media has been feeding the American people a steady diet of commentary by war hawks, the neocons and humanitarian war mongers from both parties who got the United States into the Iraq War and have kept the United States in Afghanistan. The media has been aggressively highlighting the violence and brutality of ISIS. Despite all of this the American public is saying 'no' to war. Only 20% favor military intervention according to a Reuters/ISPOS poll. These figures cross the political spectrum and are the same for people who say they are Democrats, Republicans and independents. And, antiwar activists are organizing opposition and speaking out throughout the country. Call Congress 202-224-3121 or find your representative here and let them know they should be doing their job and telling President Obama he cannot commit an act of war without congressional authorization.

Activists’ Quick Opposition To War In Iraq

June 22, 2014 Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, www.alternet.org Strategize! Empire, Iraq, Wars and Militarism

Perhaps this is the President’s desired purpose. The goal of having US military bases in Iraq to control the region, which is the center of the Middle East at a time when oil is desperately needed, has not been achieved. A justification for intervention would provide an excuse to re-occupy those bases. If we re-occupy Iraq, we can expect a long-term presence. The (currently) most likely next president, Hillary Clinton, has a track record as a hawk. She has already signaled to the military-industrial complex that she is open to more war. Clinton recently said she was even open to staying in Afghanistan beyond President Obama’s already-too-slow exit from that country. Opponents of war organized opposition quickly.

Revisiting Iraq

June 22, 2014 John Zangas, www.dcmediagroup.us Educate! Iran, Iraq, Wars and Militarism

When we were teenagers, my brother and I lived in Iran for three years and traveled throughout the Middle East. We went to high school in the city of Shah-in Shah, and we enjoyed a great educational experience at the International School. We traveled to Afghanistan and other countries with the photography club and to Cairo with sports teams. There we had opportunities we never would have had in the US, to learn about ancient languages and cultures. Most importantly, we learned to respect the different cultures and beliefs of the people there. On one photography trip through the city of Yazd in the Southeast region of Iran, we came upon two groups of people fighting in the street. They were attacking each other with rocks and sticks.

Harsh Realities Of The Iraq War

June 20, 2014 Robert Brune, www.dcmediagroup.us Educate! Iraq, Wars and Militarism

Americans have grown weary of backing a war predicated upon a lie. In an op-ed, former congressman Denis Kucinich pulled a red flag on the Obama administration for failing to keep the promise to deal with the misdeeds of the prior administration. “The unwillingness to confront the truth about the Iraq War has induced a form of amnesia which is hazardous to our nation’s health. Willful forgetting doesn’t heal, it opens the door to more lying,” he wrote. Many lives have been lost, billions of dollars if not trillions have been squandered or poached in the pursuit of war oil in Iraq. Halliburton continues to fight the federal government to clear their alleged role in overbilling for services during the Iraq war.

IVAW Statement On The Crisis In Iraq

June 19, 2014 IVAW, www.IVAW.org Resist! Crisis, Iraq, Veterans, Wars and Militarism

Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) – an organization comprised of individuals who served or continue to serve in the US Military following September 11, 2001 – calls on Congress, the President, and his administration to reject the use of violence and militarism in response to the current outbreak of violence in Iraq. Many of our members deployed to Iraq during the recent US occupation. Those of us who were there know first hand that US military solutions in Iraq do not serve the interests of the Iraqi people. We advocate for the self-determination of all people, in this case the people of Iraq. Any solution to this crisis must come from them. When the United States invaded and occupied Iraq, the formerly secular country was destabilized. The United States and the Department of Defense intentionally created and agitated sectarian divisions that would not have otherwise existed. The result of this is what we see today, and Iraqi civilians are paying for it.

The ISIS War in Iraq Has Deep Roots

June 17, 2014 Dennis Trainor Jr, www.PopularResistance.org Resistance Report Government, Human Rights, Iran, Iraq, Resistance Report, Saudi Arabia, Wars and Militarism

Joining Dennis on the show today to make sense of all this is Mnar Muhawesh. She is the founder, CEO and editor in chief of Mint Press News, and also a regular speaker on responsible journalism, sexism, neoconservativism within the media and journalism start-ups. Episode breakdown| As the world watches Iraq quickly descending into a failed state status under the brutal onslaught from fighters in the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, pundits, representatives form congress and no doubt members of Barack Obama’s inner circle are wondering if it is not time to put together another coalition of the willing and re-engage the US Military in Iraq. Before you dust off your yellow ribbons to tie round your oak tree’s though, remember: in 2003 The United States invaded Iraq after lying to the world and the American people saying that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and was connected to Al Qaeda- and therefore connected to the 9/11 attacks.

No Military Intervention In Iraq

June 16, 2014 Staff, www.veteransforpeace.org Resist! Iraq, Wars and Militarism

How do we know U.S. intervention is not a solution? We have seen it before. The U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq brought a cost of $1.5 trillion and counting, thousands of service members killed with tens of thousands wounded and maimed with physical and psychological scars, hundreds of thousands of Iraqi deaths and wounded with millions displaced from their homes as refugees. Why would this time be any different? War is clearly not the answer. It is time for the U.S. to use its power for a peaceful means to bring an end to war.

Chelsea Manning: The Fog Machine of War

June 15, 2014 Chelsea Manning, www.nytimes.com Educate! Chelsea Manning, Iraq, Media, Wars and Militarism

If you were following the news during the March 2010 elections in Iraq, you might remember that the American press was flooded with stories declaring the elections a success, complete with upbeat anecdotes and photographs of Iraqi women proudly displaying their ink-stained fingers. The subtext was that United States military operations had succeeded in creating a stable and democratic Iraq. Those of us stationed there were acutely aware of a more complicated reality. Military and diplomatic reports coming across my desk detailed a brutal crackdown against political dissidents by the Iraqi Ministry of Interior and federal police, on behalf of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki. Detainees were often tortured, or even killed.

Hawks Push For Iraq War, Rule Of Law Prevents It

June 14, 2014 Kevin Zeese, www.PopularResistance.or Educate! Iraq, Wars and Militarism

The same people who got the US into the mistaken Iraq War are now urging President Obama to use military force in Iraq again. Republican hawks are using the violence in Iraq as a political tool that is escalating pressure for US military intervention. But, if the US follows the rule of law -- both US and international law -- the president does not have the authority to attack Iraq without Congressional and UN authorization. . . . It is evident to all, except those who want to go to war and refuse to follow domestic and international law, that President Obama needs the US Congress to act to authorize military force; and the United Nations needs to approve military intervention. If President Obama acts without these, he will be acting in violation of established law. Following the 'rule of law' may prevent the United States from involving the country in another illegal war and may prevent further destruction and chaos in Iraq.

The Iraq Invasion Has Led To Bloody Chaos

June 14, 2014 Owen Jones, www.theguardian.com Educate! Iraq, United Kingdom (UK), Wars and Militarism

I have encountered no sense of vindication, no "I told you so", among veterans of the anti-war protest of 15 February 2003 in response to the events in Iraq. Despair, yes, but above all else, bitterness – that we were unable to stop one of the greatest calamities of modern times, that warnings which were dismissed as hyperbole now look like understatements, that countless lives (literally – no one counts them) have been lost, and will continue to be so for many years to come. In July 2002, the Guardian warned that Britain was "sleepwalking to war". Blair's commitment to invade come what may – which the Chilcot inquiry (when it is finally published) will either confirm or whitewash – is now established. By September 2002, the inevitability had sunk in. In the first demonstration, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets in London on 27 September – me and my grandfather among them – full of determination and foreboding. Three weeks earlier, Amr Moussa, then-secretary general of the Arab League, warned that the Iraq war would "open the gates of hell".

Blackwater Guards Face Trial In Iraq Shootings

June 13, 2014 AP, www.AP.org Educate! Blackwater, Iraq, Trial

Four former Blackwater Worldwide security guards went on trial Wednesday in the killings of 14 Iraqis and the wounding of at least 18 others. Over the next few days, a jury of 12 residents from the District of Columbia will be chosen from a pool of 111 people to decide the guards' fate. The trial is expected to last months. The judge overseeing the trial, Royce Lamberth, has been a U.S. district judge for more than 25 years and he has a military background. He served as a captain in the Army's Judge Advocate General's Corps from 1968 to 1974, including three years at the Pentagon. The prospective jurors filled out 26-page questionnaires that delved into whether they had any personal experience with excessive use of force by security guards; whether they would be able to follow testimony from Arabic-speaking witnesses through a translator; and whether they have strong feelings about the war in Iraq or the prosecution of American citizens for acts committed in a war zone .

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