Give Iraq Back to the Iraqis!
Bill Hare
It can never be forgotten that the reason why the United States invaded Iraq was a lie involving international criminal conduct for which the perpetrators have not been brought to justice.
It can never be forgotten that Iraq's tyrannical dictator, Saddam Hussein, that George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and others in a neoconservative administration pursuing a New World Order were hell bent on removing since he allegedly posed a "nuclear threat" to America, had been placed in power by the same Central Intelligence Agency that was later run by Bush's father.
It can never by forgotten that Bush's father, George H. W. Bush, in conjunction with the New World Order and Carlyle Group that he has so notably served, launched a war against the same Saddam Hussein that to whom the U.S. provided weaponry and scientific wherewithal so that poison gas was able to be manufactured that had been used to kill Kurds in Iraq's northern provinces.
It can never be forgotten that Donald Rumsfeld concluded one of those agreements for the Reagan administration and was pictured with Saddam Hussein. Both were smiling. This was the same period when genocide was conducted against the Kurds. When it came time for a power grab Bush the Elder referred to Saddam as "worse than Hitler."
It can never be forgotten that war was launched when Saddam Hussein was asking for no more than a fig leaf before withdrawing from Kuwait.
It can never be forgotten that Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait after being assured by U.S. Ambassador to Iraq April Glaspie that any dispute involving the two Middle East nations was an "Arab-Arab" matter. Saddam was asking for no more than assurance that Kuwait would stop slant drilling for oil into Iraq, which was a reasonable request supported by international law.
It can never be forgotten that Colin Powell, when the death toll from the Gulf War was mentioned, indicated that he was not interested. According to figures out of London from international sources released at the time, some 100,000 deaths resulted from a war that never needed to be, and should not, have been fought.
It can never be forgotten that the U.S. government and the mainstream media have been anything but eager to quantify the death toll from the Bush-Cheney New World Order mandated Iraq War. General Tommy Franks explained, "We do not do body counts."
According to the most updated account of Iraq War-related deaths, the prestigious London medical journal The Lancet, as posted on the website Just Foreign Policy, is 1,320,110. Add to that a figure of better than one million refugees. It is no wonder that General Franks and other American figures involved in the war are not interested in body or refugee counts.
It can never be forgotten that numerous polls taken of the Iraqi citizenry as well as figures from the government the United States was taking pride in helping establish have said that they want U.S. troops out of their country.
It can never be forgotten that the U.S. has built the biggest, most expensive, most lavish embassy in the nation's history in Iraq. Does that convey the impression that the U.S. intends to remain in Iraq indefinitely?
It can never be forgotten that the neocons who launched the Iraq War were exerting pressure on Bill Clinton to invade and remove Saddam Hussein. As soon as George W. Bush arrived in office attention was turned toward achieving that objective.
At the time of Bush's "Mission Accomplished" declaration an attack of Iran was openly discussed as well as potential occupation of Syria in a global effort to transport "U.S. style democracy" on behalf of a leader who came to power on one stolen election and solidified it four years later through another. Is this a clue of the kind of "democracy" the neocons and their allies had in store for the Middle East?
It can never be forgotten that Barack Obama was elected in large part because progressives, mainstream Democrats, along with independents and Republicans, believed that he would apply his message of "change" to foreign policy and that America would remove its forces from Iraq.
Now the answer from many is that because conflict still exists in the invaded nation that America needs to remain to protect Iraqis. As Congressman Kucinich said when he was running for president in the 2008 Democratic primaries, if a UN force is needed then it should come from a contingent consisting mainly of personnel from Arab nations.
The U.S. should be ready to supply troops if requested, but as part of a broadly based international force. This force should operate as long as needed, but that objective should be clear from the outset.
That objective should be to restore Iraq to its people. It should not exist to serve the selfish interests of a New World Order that made the neocon Republicans and their international allies salivate, a mandate for a global oil empire.
Author's Bio: Began in the journalism field in hometown of Los Angeles. Started as Sports Editor and Movie Writer at Inglewood Daily News chain after working in sportswriting of high school events at the Los Angeles Examiner. Received a bachelor's in political science with history and English minors at California State University at Northridge. Later received a Juris Doctorate degree from University of San Fernando Valley College of Law, serving as editor of the Law Review. Wrote international historical work "Struggle for the Holy Land: Arabs, Jews and the Emergence of Israel." In the movie historical field wrote "Early Film Noir", "L.A. Noir" and "Hitchcock and the Methods of Suspense." On the political essay front, have done nearly 500 articles, posting at the former Political Strategy which is now Political Cortex along with The Smirking C
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