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Iraq: A Nation Destroyed by American Contempt

#1

Iraq: A Nation Destroyed by American Contempt

Jon Queally, staff writer

Iraq’s dismal health situation is testimony to the invasion of the country by foreign forces, including now the takeover of important parts of its territory by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). The Iraqi people have been the subject of mass executions, rape, torture and, in addition, the destruction of the country’s infrastructure. The international community has been mostly deaf to the needs of Iraqis, who have undergone difficulties much greater than during the regime of Saddam Hussein.

#3

Ever hear about manifest destiny or the trail of tears? Casting stones is a dangerous business when you live in a glasshouse especially if it is a one way mirror. Are contempt and American exceptionalism synonyms?

#4

This post was flagged by the community and is temporarily hidden.

#6

The Iraqi people now know what it is like to live in Hell--and many of them had the hard experience of living under the murderous Saddam Hussein! It says something about the evil criminality of the American invasion and occupation that the time of Saddam' rule is seen by many Iraqis as a sort of paradise lost. Iraq has no real future as a human community, and the great villains Bush and Cheney boast that they would do it all again. Disgusting! Absolutely disgusting!!

#7

"We are facing nothing less than the almost total destruction of a country by an ill-advised invasion whose consequences are still being felt. Some day, somebody will have to respond for it."

The neocons responsible are still driving U.S. policy. Their crimes are being rewarded and their failures lauded as triumphs.

#8

Thank you for condensing the neocon/Fox justifications for our invasion of Iraq into a single convenient post.

After it turned out Saddam didn't have weapons of mass destruction the other justifications, including the propaganda you're employing, were advanced.

Remember the joke about Saddam's poison gas? How do we know Saddam has poison gas? We sold it to him.

And your neocon nonsense about us winning after the surge is despicable. We didn't win anything except filled body bags.

The invasion of Iraq, a country that was no threat what-so-ever to the U.S., was an unmitigated, continuing disaster.

The neocons responsible should be tried as war criminals - instead they're still driving U.S. policy - thanks in part to doctrinaire idiots like you.

#11

I don't think you understand what I am saying. Obviously, Saddam's rule was horrendous. I, for one, would not dispute that. My point is, that things have gotten so bad in Iraq since the invasion and occupation that some Iraqis--if not many--think that they were better off under the dictator. And they may have a point: Iraq is easily one of the most dangerous countries in the world, thanks to the American military and the neo-con lunatics who destroyed everything social and economic that might hold the country together. Sectarian strife existed in Iraq long before the American invasion--no doubt about it. But the Americans made matters far worse by treating Iraq as a colonial possession. Over 1 million Iraqi's dead; the country balkanized and riven with cruel civil war; the government is corrupt; the safety situation is terrible; ecological and health problems are ubiquitous; unemployment is through the roof. Now, what exactly are the positive developments brought about by the genocidal violence of Bush and Cheney?

You seem to be one of those Americans who just cannot accept that the US government does evil things. But you should know the facts are against you. Future people will have no problem recognizing that the destruction of Iraq is already one of the great crimes of the 21st century. I pity you for being so willfully blind.

#12

Left dominated media?

I wish!

Remember 'Mission Accomplished'?

That was as accurate as the declaration the surge won the invasion.

Educate yourself - if you're capable of it:

On Edit: Who benefits from reframing the Bush Disaster as a triumph? Hint: George isn't running for President.

I think MMMimosa is trolling for Jeb.

#13

But, but, but, look at the billions and trillions in profit made by the Military-Industrial-Congressional-Surveillance-Complex!
* Doesn't that count?
;-})

#14

Every time I read about US atrocities in Iraq, I become curious about the following hypothetical question. If the US was to lose the war and therefore be subjected to Nuremberg-type trials that brought our leaders to account and exacted a monetary cost on all of us US citizens to compensate Iraq for ALL the damage done to it, i.e., not only the obvious such as the cost of the infrastructure destroyed but also a quantification (in $) of all the human misery described in the article, what would be the cost to each US citizen? In other words, what would be the dollar cost to me for my failure to stop our criminals-in-charge? Citizens the world over pay a price for their failure to control their elites. That may be ok in many cases because controlling your elites, or attempting to, is likely to be scary and very dangerous. But at some point the hypothetical cost is so large that one may not have a choice, that is, should the hypothetical become real. Docile Germans during the Nazi era may know a thing or two about this.

#15

The contents of this article along with raw footage of all those "left behind" to suffer should serve as the resume for any Bush relative seeking election.

#16

...ha, ha, ha..."rain of terror," the lingo of an individual who gives his illiteracy away in the 2nd sentence of his shoot from the hip, or is it dick (?).. post.

#17

Disinformation all the way. Instead of holding leaders and those with POWER--the same entities that used their German friends imported via Project Paperclip to turn U.S. media into a propaganda chamber indistinguishable from news, and lied about all the evidence THEY could conjure to enact already planned wars, you turn the graft and corruption ONTO citizens.

This mentality blames slaves for slavery.

It would blame the women burned as witches for the institutionalized torture-murder OF the Catholic Church and its various royal state apparatuses.

It blames the poor for being poor.

When people have no agency within a court system; and when they are lied to 24/7; and when their leaders use armed guards of every stripe to intimidate them; and when wages are so low that most must work two jobs to keep a roof over their heads... then it is NOT their efforts, negligence, compliance, or permission that "brought it on."

I have observed the way this forum's paid dis-info specialists take pieces of my comments (along with those of a few others) and use them in frames that work contrary to their intended purposes.

I will continue to expose such efforts. They make excuses for power and PRETEND that ours is a functioning Democracy; that people understand the dynamics of foreign interventions cum wars; and that leaders respond to the public's wishes. And other LIES.

#19

Not sure what you mean about "some people." Almost any social phenomenon involves some people. The only thing that applies to ALL people is death. Actually, I do know people in the military, but so what? That is hardly the issue here. Yes, Iraqis can walk the streets in total safety, just so long as they are not Shiite in a Sunni neighborhood. And, oh yes, there is the small matter of gunfire and bombs. But, hey, a little dangerous mayhem is the price of "freedom," right?! "Free elections" in Iraq?? Please, don't make me laugh. The "surge worked"--where did you hear that? On Fox News? Actually, the violence in Iraq declined as the Country underwent massive sectarian segregation: Shiite with Shiite, Sunni with Sunni. It may surprise you but the world is not a marvel comic in which Capt America always saves the day. The so-called surge was hyped up from the beginning. Where the US military didn't pay Sunni groups to put down their arms, they employed a death squad strategy (similar to Operation Phoenix in Vietnam). The fact that Iraq is under a permanent state of emergency shows that the surge was exaggerated in its effectiveness. One last thing: being willing to criticize the actions of the US government is not the same thing as hating this "great country." Can you understand that?

PS. George Bush hasn't been right about anything in his sorry, stupid life!

#20

That, sadly, is about right!

#21

The best education systems and hospitals in the middle east. A secular society. Yes Saddam was murderous, but Iraq under Saddam was a decent place to live. It became a D.U. ridden hell after the USA invasion.

... using chemical weapons supplied by the USA ... the year before Donald Rumsfield visited in order to sell more weapons. Oh, but he was "our friend", at the time, so it was OK to supply him, and OK to supply him with more after he used them. Why did the USA provide those chemical weapons?

But when those same chemical weapons were destroyed, used, or simply past their use-by date, why is it that those chemical weapons that were gladly supplied were used as an excuse to invade when they no longer existed.

Compare those thousands of Saddam's war dead with the 1.5 million dead due to the USA invasion. and 5 million refugees that were created, two million of those refugees were taken on by Syria with full documentation.

#22

The sad fact is that a country such as Iraq seems to only be held together by a brutal dictator like Saddam, who has no problem with killing tens of thousands of his own people. This article does let him off way too easy. I guess everyone has forgotten the medical technology that his son Oday stole and resold, the dozens of palaces built while "people died from lack of money for healthcare and food" or the two tractor trailers with 4 TONS of US hundred dollar bills he tried to get away with after the invasion. I think the invasion was a mistake, and we probably would be better off with Saddam in charge. That is a pretty sad statement in and itself,

#23

If the Kurds that he warred with are Saddam's own people, then the Palestineans are Israelis own people. This drips with USA propaganda.

Sadam may have had palaces, but people in Iraq were not dying for lack of healthcare or food in the way that the people of the USA are today. You would have to be singing along with USA propaganda in order to believe that one. Social services in Iraq under Saddam before the sanctions were amongst the best in the middle east.

#25

There has been more than one estimate of the Iraqi dead from the invasion, and they hold up well despite determined propaganda assaults from the USA.

And you are right. Saddams atrocities come nowhere near the atrocites or the horror that the USA (you?) has unleashed in Iraq. Take the very sad story of Falujah.

#27

Ok, the Kurds weren't Saddams own people. Or the shiites, . Or the Marsh Arabs. Or the political opposition. Or anyone from anywhere but Tikrit. He built most of his palaces DURING the sanctions. Don't let your hatred of the U.S. get in the way of the fact that Saddam was a tyrant that didnt give a shit about the average Iraqi.That medical machinery hijacked by Oday, during sanctions too...