The world really is a strange and amazing place:
BAGHDAD — One by one, the Marines sat down, swore to tell the truth and began to give secret interviews discussing one of the most horrific episodes of America’s time in Iraq: the 2005 massacre by Marines of Iraqi civilians in the town of Haditha.
“I mean, whether it’s a result of our action or other action, you know, discovering 20 bodies, throats slit, 20 bodies, you know, beheaded, 20 bodies here, 20 bodies there,” Col. Thomas Cariker, a commander in Anbar Province at the time, said to investigators as he described the chaos of Iraq. At times, he said, deaths were caused by “grenade attacks on a checkpoint and, you know, collateral with civilians.”
The 400 pages of interrogations, once closely guarded as secrets of war, were supposed to have been destroyed as the last American troops prepare to leave Iraq. Instead, they were discovered along with reams of other classified documents, including military maps showing helicopter routes and radar capabilities, by a reporter for The New York Times at a junkyard outside Baghdad. An attendant was burning them as fuel to cook a dinner of smoked carp.
One wonders what other dinners have been cooked using evidence of some of our worst war crimes. Could it be that the prospect of justice for the people who started this war rests on such bizarre twists of fate?
I wanted this war to end for so long, and it’s finally here.
I thought I’d be happy. I was happy when the Democrats took Congress in 2006. I was happy when they passed the funding bill with timelines, even though Bush vetoed it. I was happy when Bush signed the SOFA. I was happy when Obama won. I was happy when he announced his timeline. I was happy when the troops were pulled out of the cities. I was happy when the combat units came out in July 2010. I was happy when we got down to 45,000 troops.
But today, when we’re not about-to-leave, but now that I’m looking back at the whole thing, I’m not feeling happy. I’m more sad about it ever happening in the first place, than happy that it’s over.
I thought I’d be happier today.
It’s not over, it has just moved on to the next stage.
Nope. It’s over.
The war is over. That doesn’t mean you’re going to get precisely the Kucinich-ite foreign policy towards Iraq you want, but it means the war is over.
The difference between the state of war that has existed for the past nine years, and the situation that will exist next year, is going to be GREATER THAN the difference between what we were doing in Iraq in 1999, and the state of war that began with the invasion.
No air patrols. No striking targets in the country. No military enforcement of sanctions. No Navy personnel boarding Iraqi shipping to inspect it.
It’s going to be a country with which we have a diplomatic and security relationship. sort of like Itlay, except we have military bases and military units in Italy.
No, it is NOT over. And what you have in Iraq now bears no resemblance whatsoever to a “diplomatic and security relationship, sort of like Italy”, unless you are suggesting that in Italy you have an enclosed, isolated, fully-self-contained citadel the size of Vatican City with its own water, power, and missile defense system, a “diplomatic” staff of thousands, not to mention 10-15,000 armed mercenaries to “protect U.S. interests in Italy”.
In fact, your “just like Italy” is one of the more ridiculous statements I have heard regarding Iraq in a while.
You clearly have no idea what kind of military presence we have in Italy, which renders your fulminations useful only as a measure of your loyalty to a narrative.
http://www.google.com/url?q=http://militarybases.com/overseas/italy/&sa=U&ei=gmbqTvntJYXL0QG
ctIDmCQ&ved=0CCcQFjAG&usg=AFQjCNGovxE3cdq6i9NaMN9yQZsFmuij4g
We have more than 15,000 active duty military personnel in Italy – just active duty military personnel, not counting diplomatic staff, diplomatic security, intelligence assets, and other government installations.
We have seven bases, each one of which is larger than the Green Zone.
This is really basic, easily-found information. You know, even though you are ZOMG SuperLeftist, it is possible for to take a reality-based attitude towards questions involving the military. You can start by subjecting statements of fact, like mine, to a more objective analysis than checking your gut. Like, for instance, Google.
As opposed to zero bases in Iraq, with zero active-duty military on them.
So, through blind luck, you’re right. There is a big difference between our relationships with Italy and Iraq: we have a much, much more significant military in Italy, one capable of projecting military power throughout the region.
You are determined to miss the point. The United States’ relationship with Italy bears no resemblance to its relationship with Iraq, and I think you know that very well.
The United States’ relationship to Iraq bears a hell of a lot more resemblance to our relationship to Italy than to a war, which was your quite-easily-understood point at the beginning of this.
“One wonders what other dinners have been cooked using evidence of some of our worst war crimes”
Well, there was that “one” time a man was boiled alive & his mom got the pictures.
This done by a US friendly country (at that time) where a large supply base was & possibly a black site rendition destination.
On the other hand, there`s been enough info out there to make sure some of the responsible would have their gooses cooked, but nobody wants to even set the table.
I`d love to get the call saying,”guess who`s coming to dinner”.
“Could it be that the prospect of justice for the people who started this war rests on such bizarre twists of fate?”
When the President and the Attorney General can unilaterally decide not to investigate or prosecute crimes, including war crimes and crimes against humanity, not to mention crimes that resulted in crashing the world’s economy (a process that has far from ended), there really is no such thing as justice, only impunity and privilege.
And no prospects of justice.
“justice” hahahahahahahahahahaha.
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.
yeah. “justice”. hahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaaaaa ha.
hitttin’ the sack now, “justice”, good one.