Anti-war demonstrators outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, March 18.

El Espectador, Colombia

For Iraq's People, the Defeat of the 'Gringos' Makes Up for a Lot

"For Bush, who continues to prevaricate, the invasion of Iraq 'was worth it.' The bombings, the carnage of defenseless people, the cities under siege, the destruction of infrastructure - all of that was worth it. … And for those who have been displaced and mutilated - for the humiliated Iraqis of today - it will all be worth it to reverse the situation."

By Reinaldo Spitaletta

Translated By Douglas Myles Rasmussen

March 25, 2008

Colombia - El Espectador - Original Article (Spanish)

Is it worth killing over 450,000 people, mostly civilians? Yes. And destroying a culture thousands of years old? Yes. And as if the matter was of little consequence, torturing prisoners in a jail? Yes, indeed. That’s how the president of the United States, George W. Bush, sees it, now five years after invasion of Iraq.

It seems that for the president of a so-called democratic country, going to war based on a lie - like the lies that the imperialist invasion of Iraq were based on - was all worth it. A war, furthermore, that he has lost. The incalculable number of displaced people were all worth it. The three billion dollars "invested" there and the psychological harm done to women and children were worth it. For Bush, who continues to prevaricate, the invasion of Iraq "was worth it." The bombings, the carnage of defenseless people, the cities under siege, the destruction of infrastructure - all of that was worth it, because of course, that’s what the Gringo transnationals which are responsible for the reconstruction of Iraq are for.

This "hellish disaster," as Churchill once said of Palestine, is now owned by the Bush Administration. And Europe is an accomplice to that disaster, in terms of the loss of human life, historic monuments and ruins. And for its part, so is the government of [Colombian President] Alvaro Uribe, who supported Bush’s imperial adventure. It was an incursion that violated all the norms of international law and that stepped over the United Nations, which once again turned itself into a pocket tool of the United States.

The "civilized" world swallowed the lies told by Bush and his cronies about weapons of mass destruction and the alleged connection between Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein - once Washington’s ally. Great Britain, Spain and Italy, among others: without ever confirming the evidence assembled by the North Americans, there they were, sponsoring the villainous deed.

In any case, perhaps it never occurred to the Gringos that their bombers, their infantry, their paraphernalia - yes- of mass destruction, would be unable to overcome an entire people. The Empire didn't learn the lesson of Vietnam. The resistance has defeated the North Americans, and the people of the United States are now more aware of the mistakes of their rulers. And I say that Empires learn little from history. Perhaps the Gringos forgot the days of the 1920 Iraqi insurgency against the British Empire.

The people of the United States - in particular their arbitrary president- believed that the invasion would achieve victory in a month. The arrogant declarations of Donald Rumsfeld, "The war in Iraq might last six days, six weeks, but never six months," have been shredded by the people of Iraq. Five years later, operation "Shock and Awe" has shocked the movement of Gringo neo-conservatives to death.

Of course for Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, who observe the war from their offices while drinking whiskey or orange juice, the matter remains at a comfortable distance. As a historian might observe, "these people - oddly the most bloodthirsty - never once fired a shot in defense of their country when they were young enough to do so. Now they send others to destroy a sovereign nation. The control of markets and the search for oil are reasons enough to commit the most bone-chilling atrocities.

The U.S. invasion razed Baghdad, a city that was the cradle of civilizations, old libraries, irreplaceable documents, and the testimony of 5,000 years of science and the arts. As one reporter stated: "Baghdad has been destroyed by the true forces of evil in this world: those led by Bush, the same man who, according to Hugo Chavez, "smells like sulphur WATCH ."

Today the nation which, according to the Imperial verse, we were going to bring democracy and freedom to, now lives under a reign of terror. Moreover, the invasion showed that international terrorism is more than anywhere else in Bush’s head, and that the real "Axis of Evil" has its epicenter in the United States.

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Washington’s mad rush into Iraq has already taken on the character of a genocide, which had begun before the invasion when the United States imposed an embargo that caused thousands of deaths, particularly of children, from starvation and a lack of medicine. Despite the "triumphant" statements of Bush, the Empire is on trial in Iraq.

The Iraqi people, who today are suffering through the most unspeakable criminal invasion, know that never in their history has any foreign occupier triumphed. Neither the Romans nor the British. Today, without jobs, without social security, without tranquility but with the living hope of expelling the invader, they continue their resistance.

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And for those who have been displaced and mutilated - for the humiliated Iraqis of today - it will all be worth it to reverse the situation and defeat the troops of the superpower. And then history will say: the defeat of Bush and company was altogether worthwhile.

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[Posted by WORLDMEETS.US April 2, 9:27am]