U.S. troops pose on Baghdad's Hands of Victory sculpture, modeled
on
those of Saddam Hussein. Does America owe Iraqis reparations and
a
public apology for the series of errors that led to the Iraq
invasion?
Iraq: The Invasion of Our Nation Goes Unpunished
(Al-Iraq News, Iraq)
"Iraq's new power elite gets annoyed by any
American or British investigation, independent or official, into the reasons or
justifications for the invasion. Because such inquiries expose the lies and
fabrications that were utilized at the time, and uncover their miserable roles
in enticing the occupiers by pledging Iraq's wealth in return for speeding the
invasion. They take umbrage at Obama’s statements condemning the Iraq War as a
strategic mistake, and become dispirited by any action, even symbolic, to bring
Bush or Blair to trial for the crime of waging an illegal war."
To turn the page on the past, the least America and Britain can do
for the Iraqi people is apologize and compensate them for the catastrophic material
damage inflicted on themselves, their natural environment and their infrastructure.
This is damage that will leave its mark for a century. The most practical
punishment would be to see the U.S.-British agenda for which the invasion and
occupation were carried out - thwarted. That would be the only reasonable punishment
for a crime unequaled by any in the world.
On the anniversary of the invasion, the above suggestion seems like
some kind of dream or small talk between acquaintances, since the people who currently
rule Iraq consider the invasion and occupation to have been necessary to
liberate the country from those that used to rule! According to them, the
Americans and British deserve thanks, gratitude, and sometimes compensation for
what they lost in Iraq during the invasion and occupation. This is understandable
coming from a group that collaborated from the beginning, and for which the
invasion and occupation are the reasons for their hold on power. Naturally they
owe everything to the occupiers and will inevitably stand against any of the
above-listed demands. In any event, we're not counting on those appointed to
govern by the occupiers, but on all free patriots who are organizing themselves
and shifting from armed resistance to political and legal resistance. And thanks
to Allah, they are many!
Iraq's new power elite gets annoyed by any American or British investigation,
independent or official, into the reasons or justifications for the invasion,
and the crimes and abuses committed. Because such inquiries expose the lies and
fabrications that were utilized at the time, and uncover their miserable roles
in enticing the occupiers by pledging Iraq's wealth in return for speeding the invasion and toppling of the regime. They take
umbrage at Obama’s statements condemning the Iraq War as a strategic mistake,
and become dispirited by any action, even symbolic, to bring Bush or Blair to
trial for the crime of waging an illegal war on a country that is a founding member
of the United Nations!
The deaths of 5,000 U.S. troops, the wounding of 35,000 more, or
the waste of $4 trillion are not punishments for the crime of invasion and
occupation, which resulted in, according to U.S. reports, the deaths and injury
of 500,000 Iraqi civilians and military. They are the logical costs of the
occupation, and they not only made resistance inevitable, the inflicted damage
on the country estimated at $100 trillion.
The complications of this crime against Iraq and its people are
still going on, because the invasion and occupation led by America and Britain
without any legal cover from the international community, represented by the U.N.
Security Council, compounded on several levels the danger done to the fabric of
a country in which so many cultures and ethnicities coexist. The occupiers
pitted these groups against one another by engineering a fractured isolationist
system rather than a democratic one of unifying citizenship. On top of that,
Iraq is no longer safe to live in because of high levels of radiation and
chemical pollution, after America dropped a hundred times more uranium on the
country [depleted uranium munitions] than were present in the atomic bombs it dropped
at the end of World War II on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The rates of cancer and
congenital malformations of newborns have doubled, and especially in areas like
Basra and Fallujah, there is evidence of the offensive use of internationally
banned weapons!
They stole, looted and raped - and killed of thousands innocent and
defenseless people in cold blood. They committed the crimes of Abu Ghraib, Haditha, Nusour Square and left no place safe. The level of criminality
amounts to genocide, and the number of refugees and displaced people is
horrifying.
After destroying the country and oppressing its people, leaving
millions of orphans, widows and disabled, the Americans pulled out. Unemployment
is up to 30 percent, 8 million people are illiterate, and the poverty rate is 25
percent. Iraq has become a country that imports everything but oil!
After booby trapping the country with a system and a constitution that
partitions rather than unites, the Americans pulled out. It is a constitution
that favors some rather than being inclusive of all. The sectarian and ethnic
militias seem as if they are equipped with explosive vests timed to explode and
divide the country into three or more parts!
The Americans pulled out with their hands on Iraq’s throat - even if
at a distance. Oil revenues, still subject to American supervision, end up in
special fund from which payments and investment checks are drawn. And Iraq remains
under Chapter
VII sanctions. Now that the gate of privatization for prospecting,
extracting, exporting, and refining Iraqi oil has been opened, the latest
development is the return of the U.S. oil majors.
[Editor's Note: Under Chapter VII of the U.N. Charter, the Security
Council authorized military action against Iraq and imposed punishing
sanctions, which include reparations to be paid by Iraq to Kuwait as a result
of its 1991 invasion].
The American pulled out after signing a long term strategic framework
with the people they left in charge, which makes America the de-facto guardian
of the political process.
Did the Americans withdraw or flee Iraq? Whether they lost or ran
away, their will continues to be exercised by proxy, since the people they left
in charge continue to follow their script. The outcome will be decided in the
coming days and years, because the battle goes on in non-military forms!
America entered Iraq based on a three-pronged approach, being
exhaustion, shock and awe, and creative chaos. In other words, its entry began with
an embargo, followed by invasion and occupation, and finally sponsoring continue
disruption.
The scheme took more than two decades to fully implement and its
effects go on. One wonders how long it will take Iraq to recuperate and
completely liberate itself from the claws of the occupation and its hand-picked
regime, agreements and remnants? The only ones qualified to answer that question
are the Iraqi people and their valiant resistance, which will have to adapt to
the strategic and tactical variables both home and abroad.
