Ayoon Wa Azan (The Iraq War Is Different)
Jihad el-Khazen Al-Hayat - 27/03/08//
The largest set of lies is said to told before elections, during a war, and after a fishing trip. But the Iraq war is different in this regard, whereby lies preceded the war, accompanied it, and still run rampant. With the collapse of the US economy in consequence of the war, George Bush helped coin the "the war-impoverished" expression after we used to hear of "war profiteers."
Last week, and on the fifth anniversary of the war on Iraq, I wrote three articles in which I did my best to be objective, and I was probably more objective than necessary. For a couple of days now, I have been collecting the material published on the war anniversary in leading American and British dailies, as well as by different research centers. I have found out that the press in both countries, along with experts on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, have been harsher than me on the Bush administration, on the way the war is run, and on the disasters it has brought about. The studies conducted amount to books and special addenda, not just reports or articles.
Today, I have chosen to report some of the material I read, while I am keeping all the original copies. We represent the parents of the deceased Iraq and as such, we might be accused of being a party, but the material I am relying on today comes from the other party which is an insider witness to the war.
An editorial headlined "Mission Still Not Accomplished" is inspired from Bush's declaration on May 1st, 2003 "Mission Accomplished." According to the editorial, "what seemed like a swift victory by modern soldiers and 21st century weapons became a nightmare of spiraling violence, sectarian warfare, insurgency, and …. torture rooms of Abu Ghraib, Guantánamo, and secret prisons."
Bush still claims that the soldiers of the Iraqi army disappeared and then reappeared to perpetrate violence, though the world knows that the American pro-consul Paul Bremer is the one who disbanded the army and unleashed the catastrophe.
The war anniversary was accompanied by demonstrations and protest marches in big American cities, in Europe and the world over. Had the war cabal listened to the millions who demonstrated on the eve of the war, in record numbers in Britain for instance, the United States and Britain would have probably averted the subsequent catastrophe.
President Bush, who declared that he won the war and lived to regret such a hasty conclusion, said in one of his speeches on the war anniversary, that America could win and must win, describing Iraq as the forefront of the war on terror. His first speech came after the killing of eight American soldiers in Iraq. Then, after he made the second speech, four soldiers were killed, and before this article is published the number of Americans killed reached four thousand and even more, in light of big suicide attacks.
In the reports and articles on the Iraqi death toll in the war, I read figures ranging between a hundred thousand and a million victims. The two parties increasing and decreasing the figures exchange accusations on allowing for exaggerations in this or that direction for political reasons. Since the producers of high figures are research institutions, universities, and independent medical authorities of the highest caliber, I tend to believe them. Readers can choose the lowest figures standing at 600,000 people killed, whereas the highest figure amounts to around a million.
The American president takes pride in the work done by Al-Sahwa councils while the militants in such councils state they will give up work if their salaries are not regularly paid. It is known that each militant cashes $300 per month. I personally estimate that around 90,000 men will point their guns at the Americans if they do not pay them.
If lies are not told about the death toll in the war or about the nature of the work done by Awakening councils, then they definitely concern the financial expenditures of the war. When the administration "sold" the war to the Americans, it estimated its expenditures at around $50-60 billion, asserting that the production of Iraqi oil would suffice to cover them. Today, the lowest figure on the war expenditures is $600 billion, while reliable sources suggest they hover around $3 trillion, and others raised them to $5 trillion. As I said at the beginning, all my sources are western and among the most reliable and experienced.
How did the catastrophe take place? Many reports were produced on points that have become self-evident such as trumping up the causes of the war and waging it with a number of troops much smaller than the one required to establish control over the country. Other self-evident points have to do with dismissing Ba'athists from the civil service, disbanding the army, resorting to torture, let alone all the perpetrations that Dick Cheney must be tried for.
If America did not win the war, who scored a victory then? There might not be a clear victor, but the main beneficiaries are Iran and Al-Qaeda. Iran has consolidated its power in the region with the toppling of Saddam Hussein by America, while the Bush administration has been trying to isolate it and even strike it. As for Al-Qaeda, it did not exist in Iraq. Rather, occupation has driven it into a country where it would not have dreamt of operating had Saddam remained in power.
By the way, the fifth war anniversary coincided with the release by the American Defense Department of a detailed study on which work started after the occupation. The study dealt with 600,000 Iraqi governmental documents and concluded that Iraq under Saddam Hussein had no ties to Al-Qaeda, a fact we all know without having to study documents.
A final question: How will the war on Iraq come to an end? I did not find a convincing answer. Some expected an agreement among the Sunnis, the Shiites, and the Kurds and the establishment of a democratic federal regime, whereas others expected the country to be partitioned.
I personally do not have the answer, but I ask for the trial of all the people who have played a role in destroying Iraq and killing its population. There is sufficient and decisive evidence to convict them.
http://www.j-khazen.blogspot.com/
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