THE NEVER ENDING GENOCIDE- US and UK OCCUPATION OF IRAQ

[Orwellian_Ghost]

History of US and UK Intervention in Iraq
By Larry Everest

During the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, US government officials and establishment pundits turned into self-proclaimed Middle East historians, energetically exposing the record of Saddam Hussein's crimes - many real, some imagined. But mysteriously, these same experts studiously avoided examining the well-documented history of US and British actions - and crimes - against Iraq and its people.



No one knows precisely how many Iraqis died or were permanently injured as a result of the 1991 Gulf War and 12 years of sanctions. In 2002, the Iraqi government stated that 1.7 million children had died from disease or malnutrition since the imposition of sanctions in August 1990. A 1999 survey by UNICEF and Iraq's Ministry of Health reported that had sanctions not been imposed and infant mortality trends during the 1980's continued through the 1990's, "there would have been half a million fewer deaths of children under-five in the country as a whole during the 8-year period 1991 to 1998." So roughly 5,000 Iraqi children under five were dying each month thanks to US actions - more than a World Trade Center catastrophe every 30 days.



The New Millennium: Invasion, Conquest, Occupation

The Bush administration offered so many rationalizations for its 2003 invasion, from links to al Qaeda to WMD to spreading democracy - that it was difficult to stay current with their "pretext du jour." None, however, explained why the US was hell-bent on war. But the sweep and enormity of its global and regional agendas did. The swift and brutal stroke of war in 2003 was an attempt to resolve the Iraq "problem" that had plagued America's rulers throughout the 1990s. Its policy of punitive containment through sanctions, subversion and military strikes was fraying, and the toll it was taking on Iraqis had become, in the words of former CIA analyst Kenneth Pollack, "a major irritant US relations with the Muslim world in general." Meanwhile, other powers had strengthened their ties with Iraq, and US power and "credibility" in the region were being challenged.



So the problem was not that Iraq "threatened its neighbors," as Bush II charged. The problem was that the Hussein regime's survival could "threaten" to erode US regional hegemony. If sanctions were lifted US "credibility" could have been undercut. Baghdad might emerge with its regional ambitions intact and possibly enough oil wealth to pursue them. The US could end up with less control than before the 1991 war.



http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/WTI062405V.shtml

More than 1,000,000 Iraqis murdered

In the week in which General Patraeus reports back to US Congress on the impact the recent ‘surge’ is having in Iraq, a new poll reveals that more than 1,000,000 Iraqi citizens have been murdered since the invasion took place in 2003.

...

http://www.opinion.co.uk/Newsroom_details.aspx?NewsId=78

[Mike03]

1. You are right. It's just to hard to face, for many of us.

How can we ever, ever make things right or repay those we have harmed?

We can't.


And our only option is self hatred and self destruction, which is getting to be fine by me.

[Orwellian_Ghost]

2. Media Silence about the Carnage in Iraq

Media Silence about the Carnage in Iraq

Killing 10,000 Iraqis Every Month

By Michael Schwartz

July 5, 2007

A state-of-the-art research study published in October 12, 2006 issue of The Lancet (the most prestigious British medical journal) concluded that--as of a year ago--600,000 Iraqis had died violently due to the war in Iraq. That is, the Iraqi death rate for the first 39 months of the war was just about 15,000 per month. That wasn't the worst of it, because the death rate was increasing precipitously, and during the first half of 2006 the monthly rate was approximately 30,000 per month, a rate that no doubt has increased further during the ferocious fighting associated with the current American surge.

The U.S. and British governments quickly dismissed these results as "methodologically flawed," even though the researchers used standard procedures for measuring mortality in war and disaster zones. (They visited a random set of homes and asked the residents if anyone in their household had died in the last few years, recording the details, and inspecting death certificates in the vast majority of cases.) The two belligerent governments offered no concrete reasons for rejecting the study's findings, and they ignored the fact that they had sponsored identical studies (conducted by some of the same researchers) in other disaster areas, including Darfur and Kosovo. The reasons for this rejection were, however, clear enough: the results were simply too devastating for the culpable governments to acknowledge. (Secretly the British government later admitted that it was "a tried and tested way to measuring mortality in conflict zones"; but it has never publicly admitted its validity).

Reputable researchers have accepted the Lancet study's results as valid with virtually no dissent.

...

http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/iraq/media/2007/0705silence.htm

[patrice]

3. I still can hardly believe that this means little or nothing to so many Americans.

And, apparently, most of the rest have some rationalization: "It's horrible, but necessary, because _________________________."

I want to be "Patriotic" and there are many things about the U.S. that I love, but it's impossible to forget that sooooooooo many people find Death and Destruction in our name acceptable, and some of them even think it preferable for a variety of reasons.

[lonestarnot]

I don't believe that. I think that they really do not know how to shove that cog in the machine.

No one that can do anything is listening or cares to act to stop it. :shrug:

[lonestarnot]

4. double post delete

:hi:

[fed-up]

5. here is the website for 1st pic "The Unseen Gulf War"- Peter Turnley-Highway of Death

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highway_of_Death

Highway of Death
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Highway of Death
Part of the Gulf War

Fragment of the "Mile of Death" in April 1991
Date February 26 - February 27, 1991
Location Between Kuwait City and Basra
Result Decisive U.S. victory
Belligerents
United States Iraq, PLO
The Highway of Death refers to a road between Kuwait and Basra on which retreating units of the Iraqi army were attacked and completely destroyed by American aircraft during the United Nations Coalition offensive in the Gulf War, on the night of February 26 - February 27, 1991.
It is known officially as Highway 80, and it runs from Kuwait City to the border towns of Abdali (Kuwait) and Safwan (Iraq), and then on to Basra. The road was repaired during the late 1990s, and was used in the initial stages of the 2003 invasion of Iraq by U.S. and British forces.

...snip





the link to the horriffic images from the first Gulf War are at the bottom of the page

http://digitaljournalist.org/issue0212/pt_intro.html

The Unseen Gulf War

BY Peter Turnley
December 2002

Dirck-

As we approach the likelihood of a new Gulf War, I have an idea and it occurs to me that the Digital Journalist may be the place for it. As we all know, the military pool system created then was meant to be, and was, a major impediment for photojournalists in their quest to communicate the realities of war (This fact does not diminish the great efforts, courage, and many important images created by many of my colleagues who participated in these pools.). Aside from that, while you would have a very difficult time finding an editor of an American publication today that wouldn't condemn this pool system and its restrictions during the Gulf War, most publications and television entities more or less bought the program before the war began (this reality has been far less discussed than the critiques of the pools themselves).

I refused to participate in the pool system. I was in the Gulf for many weeks as the build-up of troops took place, and then sat out the "air war", and flew from Paris to Riyadh as soon as the ground war began. I arrived at the "mile of death" the morning the day the war stopped. It was very early in the morning and few other journalists were present. When I arrived at the scene of this incredible carnage, strewn all over on this mile stretch were cars and trucks with wheels still turning, radios still playing, and there were bodies scattered along the road. Many people have asked the question "how many people died" during the war with Iraq and the question has never been well answered. That first morning, I saw and photographed a U.S. Military 'graves detail' bury in large graves many bodies.

I don't recall seeing many television images of the human consequences of this scene, or for that matter many photographs published. A day later, I came across another scene on an obscure road further north and to the east where, in the middle of the desert, I found a convoy of lorries transporting Iraqi soldiers back to Baghdad, where clearly massive fire power had been dropped and everyone in sight had been carbonized. Most of the photographs I made of this scene have never been published anywhere and this has always troubled me.

As we approach the distinct possibility of another war, a thought comes to mind. The photographs that I made do not, in themselves, represent any personal political judgment or point of view with respect to the politics and the right or wrong of the first Gulf War. What they do represent is a part of a more accurate picture of what really does happen in war. I feel it is important and that citizens have the right to see these images. This is not to communicate my point of view, but so viewers as citizens can be offered a better opportunity to consider the whole picture and consequences of that war and any war. I feel that it is part of my role as a photojournalist to offer the viewer the opportunity to draw from as much information as possible, and develop his or her own judgment.

..snip

[Orwellian_Ghost]

7. Thank you

for putting that in

for not editing history

for remembering

[malaise]

6. They will pay

One day.

[bdamomma]

13. or sadly we will pay.

we are now through economic downfall of this country.

[Orwellian_Ghost]

8. Wrecking Iraq: One Million Dead, 2 Million Wounded, 3 Million Displaced

Wrecking Iraq: One Million Dead, 2 Million Wounded, 3 Million Displaced
MIKE FERNER


Two elements are necessary to commit the crime of genocide: 1) the mental element, meaning intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, an 2) the physical element, which includes any of the following: killing or causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the group's physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent births; or forcibly transferring children to another group. Considering that such clear language comes from a UN treaty which is legally binding on our country, things could start getting a little worrisome -- especially when you realize that since our government declared economic and military warfare on Iraq we've killed well over one million people, fast approaching two...

http://rebellenation.blogspot.com/2007/05/wrecking-iraq-one-million-dead-2.html

[Orwellian_Ghost]

9. The Iraqi Displacement Crisis

The Iraqi Displacement Crisis

One in five Iraqis have been displaced.

According to the UN Refugee Agency and the International Organization for Migration in 2007, almost 5 million Iraqis had been displaced by violence in their country, the vast majority of which had fled since 2003. Over 2.4 million vacated their homes for safer areas within Iraq, up to 1.5 million were living in Syria, and over 1 million refugees were inhabiting Jordan, Iran, Egypt, Lebanon, Turkey and Gulf States. Most Iraqis are determined to be resettled to Europe or North America, and few consider return to Iraq an option. Iraqis have no legal work options in most host countries and are increasingly desperate and in need of humanitarian assistance. They face challenges in finding housing, obtaining food, and have trouble accessing host countries’ health and education systems. Their resources depleted, small numbers of Iraqis have returned to Iraq in the past few months – between 28,000-60,000 people – but Iraq’s struggling government recently warned that it can’t accommodate large numbers of returns. Most of those who returned were subsequently displaced again.

The violence in Iraq has reached a deadly tipping point.

"Iraqis who are unable to flee the country are now in a queue, waiting their turn to die," is how one Iraqi journalist summarized conditions in Iraq. Refugees International has met with dozens of Iraqis who have fled the violence and sought refuge in neighboring countries. All of them, whether Sunni, Shi’a, Christian or Palestinian, had been directly victimized by armed actors. People are targeted because of religious affiliation, economic status, and profession – many, such as doctors, teachers, and even hairdressers, are viewed as being “anti-Islamic.” All of them fled Iraq because they had genuine and credible fear for their lives and the lives of their loved ones.

Neighboring countries are overwhelmed by the massive influx of Iraqi refugees.

Iraqi refugees are overwhelming the basic infrastructure of Iraq’s neighbors, in particular Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, raising concerns over further destabilization of the region. Jordan, Lebanon and Syria consider Iraqis as “guests” rather than refugees fleeing violence. In October, Syria ended its open-door policy and imposed visa restrictions on Iraqi refugees. In Jordan, where 70 percent of the population is of Palestinian origin, Iraqis have to pay for the most basic services. In Lebanon, Iraqis live as outlaws, hiding from arrest, detention and even deportation. Egypt, the most populous Arab country, hosts 130,000 Iraqis, but has closed its borders to additional Iraqi refugees.

...

http://www.refugeesinternational.org/content/article/detail/9679

[Orwellian_Ghost]

10. A lesson in how to create Iraqi orphans

Robert Fisk: A lesson in how to create Iraqi orphans. And then how to make life worse for them
Thursday, 24 January 2008

It's not difficult to create orphans in Iraq. If you're an insurgent, you can blow yourself up in a crowded market. If you're an American air force pilot, you can bomb the wrong house in the wrong village. Or if you're a Western mercenary, you can fire 40 bullets into the widowed mother of 14-year-old Alice Awanis and her sisters Karoon and Nora, the first just 20, the second a year older. But when the three girls landed at Amman airport from Baghdad last week they believed that they were free of the horrors of Baghdad and might travel to Northern Ireland to escape the terrible memory of their mother's violent death.

Alas, the milk of human kindness does not necessarily extend to orphans from Iraq – the country we invaded for supposedly humanitarian reasons, not to mention weapons of mass destruction. For as their British uncle waited for them at Queen Alia airport, Jordanian security men – refusing him even a five-minute conversation with the girls – hustled the sisters back on to the plane for Iraq.

"How could they do this?" their uncle, Paul Manouk, asks. "Their mum has been killed. Their father had already died. I was waiting for them. The British embassy in Jordan said they might issue visas for the three – but that they had to reach Amman first." Mr Manouk lives in Northern Ireland and is a British citizen. Explaining this to the Jordanian muhabarrat at the airport was useless.

Western mercenaries killed their 48-year-old Iraqi Armenian mother, Marou Awanis, and her best friend – firing 40 bullets into her body as she drove her taxi near their four-vehicle convoy in Baghdad – but tragedy has haunted the family for almost a century; the three sisters' great-grandmother was forced to leave her two daughters to die on their own by the roadside during the 1915 Armenian genocide. Mrs Awanis' friend, Jeneva Jalal, was killed instantly alongside her in the passenger seat.

...

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/fisk/robert-fisk-a-lesson-in-how-to-create-iraqi-orphans-and-then-how-to-make-life-worse-for-them-773166.html

[wtmusic]

11. Sponsor an Iraqi orphan

http://www.lifeusa.org

[bdamomma]

15. thank you that site is excellent.

I feel as though something as to be done to help Iraqi civilians who were so outrightly targeted.

One question though, is this a reputable site, I would like to make sure my donation goes to those who are affected.

[wtmusic]

16. I'm sponsoring two

As with any site like this you never know how legit they are. But maybe it's helping someone who needs it.

I did all the research I could on them, and came up with a couple of rightwing hit pieces which had no substance ("donating money to terrorists", that kind of thing).

[bdamomma]

18. what about agencies such as UNICEF or Save the Children.

[wtmusic]

19. Those are probably more trustable

but I wanted one that specifically helped Muslim children, as they seem to be the victims of much of US foreign policy.

[bdamomma]

20. true,

I will take another look at the site. I feel the same way, beautiful children aren't they?

[wtmusic]

21. Yes, they are. nt

[Orwellian_Ghost]

12. What the Bush Administration Has Wrought in Iraq

What the Bush Administration Has Wrought in Iraq
By Patrick Cockburn

At 3 am on January 11, 2007 a fleet of American helicopters made a sudden swoop on the long-established Iranian liaison office in the city of Arbil in northern Iraq. Their mission was to capture two senior Iranian security officials, Mohammed Jafari, the deputy head of the Iranian National Security Council, and General Minojahar Frouzanda, the head of intelligence of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. What made the American raid so extraordinary is that both men were in Iraq at the official invitation of the Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, who held talks with them at his lakeside headquarters at Dokan in eastern Kurdistan. The Iranians had then asked to see Massoud Barzani, the president of the Kurdistan Regional Government, in the Kurdish capital Arbil. There was nothing covert about the meeting which was featured on Kurdish television.

In the event the U.S. attack failed. It was only able to net five junior Iranian officials at the liaison office that had existed in Arbil for years, issuing travel documents, and which was being upgraded to a consular office by the Iraqi Foreign Ministry in Baghdad. The Kurdish leaders were understandably furious asking why, without a word to them, their close allies, the Americans, had tried to abduct two important foreign officials who were in Iraq at the request of the Iraqi president. Kurdish troops had almost opened fire on the American troops. At the very least, the raid showed a contempt for Iraqi sovereignty which the U.S. was supposedly defending. It was three months before officials in Washington admitted that they had tried and failed to capture Jafari and General Frouzanda. The U.S. State Department and Iraqi government argued for the release of the five officials as relative minnows, but Vice-President Cheney's office insisted fiercely that they should be held.

...

http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/174781/patrick_cockburn_iraq_dismantled

[Bandit]

14. Everything is okay now Iraq just signed a deal with major oil companies

They finally gave the oil companies their oil so it was all worth it..What is the death of a few million people as long as Exxon does not lose it's Net Profits of Over One hundred million dollars a day. NET PROFIT

[Jeffersons Ghost]

17. K&R...

"the toll it was taking on Iraqis had become, in the words of former CIA analyst Kenneth Pollack, 'a major irritant US relations with the Muslim world in general."