Some claim that “cutting and running” (and by some I mean any Republican not named Chuck Hagel) would lead to severe consequences for the Iraqi people. Chaos and civil war would break out they claim. Iraq would become a breeding ground for terrorists. To which I can only reply, how could things get much worse?
We have detained innocent civilians, tortured many of them, murdered many of them, and used napalm-like and white phosphorus munitions on them. By staying we are providing targets and a justification for foreign jihadists who enter the country and then kill our soldiers as well as (again) more Iraqi civilians. In other words we are fostering a terrorist training ground for future operations against our interests worldwide.
In addition, our American intalled government has followed our lead and created more facilities for the torture of Sunnis, and indeed, if reports are accurate, that torture is even more brutal than what has been discovered at Abu Gharaib. We have trained Iraqi “death squads” who operate in Sunni dominated areas, and our representatives, military and diplomatic, have turned their backs on those whom these “commandos” are selecting for their personal brand of ethnic cleansing:
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Gunmen in Iraqi army uniforms shot dead an aging Sunni tribal leader and three of his sons in their beds on Wednesday, relatives said, in the latest attack to highlight
Iraq’s deep sectarian rifts ahead of a December poll.A Defense Ministry official denied Iraqi troops carried out the pre-dawn slayings in the Hurriya district of Baghdad and said the killers instead must have been terrorists in disguise.
“Iraqi army uniforms litter the streets and any terrorist can kill and tarnish our image, killing two birds with one stone,” the official said.
The Hurriya attack follows the discovery last week of more than 170 malnourished and beaten prisoners, many of them Sunni Arabs, locked in a bunker belonging to the Shi’ite-dominated Interior Ministry. Together, the incidents have ratcheted up fears Iraq is heading for civil war.
Headed for a civil war? Excuse me, this is a civil war. It’s the same thing we saw practiced in the Balkans between Serbs, Croats and Bosnian Muslims. We are way past the “leading up to” stage, in my view. It will continue to worsen whether we stay or not. Indeed, our complicity in training the Badr Brigade commandos makes us an active participant in the sectarian slaughter. We are making the civil war a reality because of the Pentagon’s and Bush administration’s policies, folks. Us, the so-called good guys.
U.S. and Iraqi forces in turn have killed more than 700 suspected insurgents in less than two months during operations in western Iraq which the U.S. military described on Wednesday as “very successful.”
Western Iraq and the Euphrates valley leading from the border with Syria have been the scene of operations against insurgents and foreign fighters which the military says have been aimed at securing the region for the December vote.
The latest and largest of those operations in the mainly Sunni desert province of Anbar, dubbed “Steel Curtain,” ended on Tuesday.
Iraqi doctors and residents say civilians, including women and children, have been among those killed but the U.S. military says it uses precision-guided weapons and only attacks militants hiding out in safe houses.
We only target militants in safe houses? Where have I heard that before? Oh yeah. Fallujah.
Leaving Iraq as soon as possible won’t make matters any better, but let’s be honest with ourselves: they can’t possibly make them any worse.
Excellent work, Steven.
And can I just stop the presses for a minute here, and thank you for doing the heavy-hearted lifting here?
You barrel into those stories, painful as they are, and you take them on and speak about them with a great rational anger that is invaluable to us.
I think you’re grossly underestimating American ingenuity when it comes to making things worse. But that, again, is a compelling reason to get out. We haven’t screwed up as bad as we possibly could yet, but given enough time, we will.
Totally agree! Also with what Susan said. In a heart-breaking way, this is a great read.
My sense is that when Congress reconvenes, the members will have valuable input from home. The majority party will no longer stand together, I’m almost certain. Is it possible the Dems can get it together enough to push Murthra’s resolution or something like it? This blood for oil has got to end soonest.
I think the sooner we just get the hell out and pay reparations (of course we’ll have to call it “the new Marshall Plan” or “Humanitarian aid”), the sooner things WILL get better for Iraqis. Saddam killed hundreds of Iraqis. We killed a hundred thousand and counting.
We heard exactly the same whiny bullshit about Vietnam from the right and and liberals. We couldn’t cut and run, we had to stay the course and fix what we’d started, blablablablabla. Well guess what? Vietnam started getting better as soon as we were gone, despite our attempt to isolate and destroy them economically instead of paying them for our crimes.
Here’s the thing: somebody gets mauled by a pack of rabid dogs, you don’t keep the dogs on the victim because you hope maybe they’ll lick the wounds all better. You haul them the hell away and send the ones who sent them to the pen for the rest of their lives.
You don’t assign the Manson Family to help clean up the scene of their latest massacre and nurse back to health whatever victims haven’t died yet . You get them the hell out of there and prosecute.
If anything has ever been demonstrated beyond the possibility of doubt, it’s that we have absolutely nothing to offer Iraq — or probably anybody else — except money. It’s way past time to just get over ourselves. We’re no more noble or well-intentioned than anybody else. We’ve allowed ourselves to be taken over by a cabal that’s made us, among the industrial nations, the most dangerous rogue state on the planet.
If bleeding heart “moderates” and “liberals” want to really do something responsible and begin to atone for their country’s sins, their opportunity is clear: bring the regime that started it to justice, and send the political party that brought it about into permanent oblivion. If that’s too hard or too mean, just fuggedaboudit already.
I have to say that while I understand the thrust of your argument in this diary, I believe Cheney and his pals will most certainly make things worse in Iraq if they can get away with it. The sickening enthusiasm for torture, for instance, is but one more way to make sure we have a growing enemy in the Middle East for the forseeable future. Even if the torture practises already underway are curtailed, Cheney has signaled the opposition that he has no regard for their rights as human beings at all, even when they’re innocent of anything other than being born Arab or Persian. In short, Cheney wants his :enemies to know he’ll treat them like subhuman animals because he wants to make sure they keep fighting and keep recruiting new followers. This is the onlyway the Cheney gang can attempt to justify the long term presence of a US military presence in the region.
Success for Cheney is not “winning” this so-called war, it’s “perpetuating” it.
The BBC has just broadcast new allegations in a dispatch by its reporter Caroline Hawley from Baghdad. Not on the web site yet, the report was lead in the main 10 [pm, GMT] News on its principle station BBC1.
Hawley was shown round the bomb shelter used to hold the 170 prisoners found last week. She was told they had now been sent to Abu Gharaib as they were “bad people”. The bruises were put down to accidental injury when they were arrested.
She was also shown round an ordinary detention centre where many were held in a large cell. Some had been detained without trial for up to 5 months (only 60 days more than Blair had been proposing after all!!) One interviewed in the presence of guards said he had been there for months and had had a stoke while in there. He claimed to be innocent. Another then spoke to her in English giving his name and the guards tried to stop him, saying he was mad. He claimed to have been beaten, burned with cigarettes and electricity applied to his genitals. He showed the marks of what appeared to be cigarette burns on his wrist. When she asked the group who had been tortured while in detention, virtually all raised their hands.
Will add a link later when one comes up on their site.
In an edition of the Channel 4 documentary thread “Dispatches” broadcast yesterday, the reporter argued very much along the lines you describe. He clearly demonstrated that the elections are not free – voters cast their ballots according to instructions from the likes of Sadr and the other faction leaders. The Shia armed factions clearly have the intent to impose an Iran-like regime. Women in the south now veil themselves for fear of injury or death.
As promised, a link to the BBC story in written form. The report can also be seen as a video on the BBC site. You may need broadband to view it at this link . If that does not work go to the BBC news site front page and click on the “Latest news in video and audio” button on the banner. The video is 3.06 minutes and titled “Fresh Iraqi prisoner abuse claims”
Following has been my take on this for God-knows-how-long:
US has to leave Iraq NOW!!! No one really knows wtf is going on there, due to the censorship of the news in this country. For all we now, Iraq could have fallen, as did Saigon–possible? Only thing is that it is not being reported. What is being reported (although on a limited basis) is the number of US dead, wounded, and disabled due to the US invasion and ocupation of Iraq. And wtf are those who have sustained servere disabilities going to face when they come back to the US? The runaround, by every agency that is supposed to assist people w/disabilities in getting their lives back together.
Hell, I have been going thru it for years and am jsut starting to make a tiny bit of progress. And, w/budget cuts that are going to be on the horizon, wtf are those who are in worse shape than I am supposed to do? It is a fucking nightmare now. Honestly believe that blogging about it is possibly the one thing that is keeping me sane!