60 Iraqis Killed Yesterday

It is Friday in Iraq. Yesterday, 60 Iraqis were killed as a result of violence. These were deaths that would not have occurred had the US not belligerently and aggressively invaded. The invasion was, and the occupation is, unjustified by national security prerogatives.

There was no WMD in Iraq prior to the invasion. There was no insurgency, no "al-quaeda," and no terrorism. Iraq did not pose a threat to US national security.

The occupation is making the US less safe from global terrorism by fanning the flames of anti-USA sentiment around the world.

Here's a link to a story from Washingtonpost.com about the violence in Iraq and the potential for national collapse.

"Death to America"

"Death to America" - chanted by Iraqis whom America is supposedly liberating from tyranny. Things in Iraq have gone dreadfully awry, as many predicted (including myself) before the invasion.

Here's an article about recently developing instability in the South of Iraq. go to original

Ali al-Fadhily
BASRA, Apr 11 (IPS) - The eruption of demonstrations in the south of Iraq this week could rob the occupation forces of what was considered a critical bastion of support.

The southern areas of Iraq have long been said to be secure, and people there peaceful towards the occupation forces. Iraqis living in the south were also believed to be cooperative with the occupation to the extent that they supported administrative steps taken by successive Iraqi governments.

The majority of the population of the south are Shia Muslims, and Iraq has had Shia- dominated governments under the occupation.

But demonstrations against the occupation and the United States by hundreds of thousands of angry Shias in Najaf, Kut and other cities across the south Apr. 9 mark a sharp break from a policy of cooperation. Protesters demanded an end to the U.S.-led occupation, burnt U.S. flags and chanted "Death to America!"

Brig. Gen. Abdul Karim al-Mayahi, a police commander in Najaf, told reporters that at least half a million people joined the demonstration there.

Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, told reporters, "We say that we're here to support democracy. We say that free speech and freedom of assembly are part of that. While we don't necessarily agree with the message, we agree with their right to say it."

Clashes after the demonstration left at least one U.S. soldier dead and another wounded in Diwaniyah, 180 km south of Baghdad.

...

"We were late to realise that we were wrong about U.S. intentions," Salman Yassen of the Basra city municipality council told IPS. "We waited four years while U.S. and Iraqi authorities kept us busy fighting each other while they were setting the plan of stealing our oil and tearing our country apart so that their allies would feel safe."

Four years of the occupation of Iraq have seen many changes in U.S. strategies, ambassadors and tactics, but the changes may be too little, too late.

"The delay in moving politically has cost Iraq, the U.S. and many other countries a great deal," former Iraqi police colonel Ahmed Jabbar told IPS in Baghdad. "The least to be said is that the world would have been better off without this occupation and the catastrophic security disturbance it has caused."

Great article, important perspectives. After four years of occupation, the Iraqi people hate America.

Way to go George Bush (et al.) That is why I ask you to please resign from office.

Cut The Funds - Stop the Killing - Stop the Occupation

The pin on my chest is of a crossed out dollar sign.

Rest assured, I have not completely disbarred capitalism from my world view. I do however believe that the current capitalism that is being practiced in the USA and exported to the rest of the world is destructive, harmful and violent.

The pin is to say no to further appropriations and war funding.

I heard today that since the Democrats got into office, more money is being spent on the war in Iraq.

There will be no peace - There will be no justice - until capitalism can somehow be made to conform to ethical and moral principles. Killing innocent civilians, as has occurred in Iraq, in order to perform economic expansion - as has (arguably) occurred in Iraq - is tantamount to murder, plain and simple.

I know that this is money (and economic resources otherwise) that could be much better spent and used in our communities here in the USA.

To waste it on an aggressive invasion and in the fighting of a pointless occupation of imperialism (which has only served to exacerbate and promote global terrorism by the way) is an atrocity. The invasion and this ongoing military action in Iraq ranks among the highest of crimes.

Surge Failure Before Full Implementation?

go to original

The president just gave a rosy assessment of his plan, but insurgents have adapted and Iraqis continue to be slaughtered.

By Juan Cole

March 8, 2007 | On Tuesday, President Bush said that "even at this early hour, there are some encouraging signs" that the so-called surge is working in Iraq. In fact, three weeks into what the president refers to as the "surge" and what Iraqis call the "new security plan," it's already clear that Bush's last-gasp bid for victory faces challenges that can't necessarily be surmounted by a few thousand additional troops.

With plenty of warning of the U.S. escalation, the Shiite Mahdi Army is lying low. Meanwhile, the Iraqi army and the much better equipped and trained U.S. military have made no appreciable progress against the real drivers of the country's civil war, Sunni Arab guerrillas, who have so far adapted successfully to the new deployments. And perhaps most important, a new spate of massive and deadly bombings has spread insecurity and further compromised the Iraqi government.
...

Civil war...um, isn't that an oxy moron?

The surge has failed even prior to full implementation. There is no prospect of military victory in Iraq. To send more US soldiers into harm's way is akin to manslaughter. But that hasn't stopped the Bush Administration before. What's to think that they will listen to this argument now?

That is why the people of the USA must enforce accountability on our failing governmental institutions. The federal government is failing the people. In a government of, by, and for the people - it is up to us, the people, to make the necessary corrections.