If all of America were to hear these voices, the occupation of Iraq would already be over.

[Fireweed247]

...The soldiers and veterans explained how trickle-down abuse starts at the top ranks of the military hierarchy with institutionalized racism, sexual harassment, and assault on the lower ranks. They talked about their complete lack of training in Iraqi culture and language and their conditioning before leaving U.S. soil to think of Iraqis as "less than," as "Hajis;" a term once reserved for pilgrims to Mecca, now turned inside out to demean and dehumanize. "Haji" has become to the Iraq occupation what "Gook" became to the Vietnam and Korean wars. When people are dehumanized, it becomes easier to kill them.

We could not listen to the four days of accounts and imagine our country invaded Iraq to export the American dream of freedom and democracy. Even the ultraconservative former Federal Reserve chairman, Alan Greenspan, declared that "the prime motive for the war in Iraq was oil." It didn't take long for the soldiers and vets who spoke to come to the same conclusion once they experienced the reality on the ground.

As in all wars, if you haven't experienced it, it's hard to grasp the white-hot frustration, anger, and vengeful wrath that results when our soldiers have no reliable way to discern friend from foe and are under extreme duress at virtually all times in a near-country-wide combat zone. As the disillusionment over the injustice and the impossibility of the mission grows, so does the abuse of civilians. When soldiers, deployed two, three, four, and even five times, experience more and more casualties in their units-people with whom they share a bond that can be even stronger than family-their rage understandably erupts and they need to blame someone for their grief. Similar circumstances produced similar results in the jungles of Vietnam....

more
http://www.alternet.org/story/82556/


www.peacecandidates.com

[BlueCaliDem]

1. Pro-Iraqi war Dipsh*ts don't care about any voices. After all, it's an all volunteer army...

...so these yellow-belly warmongers believe soldiers need to suit up and shut-up. These pro-Iraqi war dumb-bells tell me this every time I bring it up.

They just don't give a good g***amn.

Even the ultraconservative former Federal Reserve chairman, Alan Greenspan, declared that "the prime motive for the war in Iraq was oil."

Strange that it's the ex-chair of the Federal Reserve saying this since, well, he was head of this very private bank and according to this one guy I've heard speak, the prime reason why we had to invade Iraq was because Fort Knox is empty; the gold long gone by the elite in this country and the dollar hasn't been back by gold - as it originally was - for decades now.

Saddam had announced that, in light of the European Union creating a single currency, the now powerful Euro, he would sell his oil not for dollars, but for Euros. Not even a year later, some 9-10 months actually, Dubya sent the U.S. into war against Iraq using 9-11-2001 as the excuse.

It seems that this loony Texan was right after all...

[leftchick]

2. same shit different decade

:(

K&R!

[indepat]

3. What's so hard to understand, with big oil about to receive 88% of the proceeds from trillions of

dollars of Iraqi oil revenues, that it was all about oil: and maybe empire and regional hegemony as lagniappe for good measure. Surely even 1st-graders have no problem grasping a concept so simple. :D

[Fireweed247]

4. I know, it is so obvious!

And who believes that Halliburton hasn't been able to fix the oil meters during the entire course of the war?

[indepat]

5. Naw! Surely they would not fuck the Iraqis out of their oil revenues, like killing a million Iraqis

is one thing, but stealing their oil, never! Junior's minions would never do such as that! :D