[Stuff, New Zealand]

La Jornada, Mexico

'Get Out of Iraq Now': End the Occupation

"It's fitting to recall that the presence of the United States military in Iraq emerged from a criminal and illegal invasion. … It's necessary at least to attempt to try Bush, his Vice President Dick Cheney and the U.S. secretary of defense at the time of invasion, Donald Rumsfeld, before an international tribunal, for being responsible for the massacre perpetrated against Iraqis since 2003 until now, and for the devastation suffered by that Arab nation."

EDITORIAL

Translated By Halszka Czarnocka

November 18, 2008

Mexico - La Jornada - Original Article (Spanish)

In Baghdad yesterday [Nov. 17], after months of negotiations, the United States government signed an agreement with the authorities in Iraq which stipulated that the withdrawal of U.S. troops that Washington has deployed for the past five years in that unfortunate Southwest Asian nation will begin by December 31 at the latest. The document further stipulates that U.S. soldiers are guaranteed immunity from the Iraqi courts, except in cases of "serious crimes" committed while off duty or outside military bases.

It's fitting to recall that the presence of the United States military in Iraq emerged out of a criminal and illegal invasion by the White House and Pentagon, which never had as its objective "fighting international terrorism" or eliminating non-existent weapons of mass destruction, but securing the economic and geostrategic interests of the United States within the region. Those include the opening up of business opportunities for the political and industrial mafia surrounding the still-President George W. Bush. The unjustifiable war launched by the Texas politician over five years ago has substantially worsened global security, has led to the destruction, suffering and destabilization of Iraq and has cost the lives of over 4,000 U.S. soldiers and hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians. Moreover, American troops in Iraq, far from contributing to security and stability, constitute an ongoing grievance to the local population as well as a potential incitement to violence and insecurity in that country.

Given these considerations, there is no justification - and there never was - to allow U.S. forces to remain in Iraq, much less through the end of 2011, as the above-mentioned agreement purportedly calls for. It appears as if, rather than recognizing the need to end the occupation, the pact intends to legalize it for another three years, guaranteeing impunity for soldiers involved in mass killings and acts of humiliation perpetrated against the Iraqi population.

'MCCAIN: THE ULTIMATE VICTIM OF IRAQ'

[El Heraldo, Honduras]

Given the current circumstances, it's necessary that Washington immediately withdraw its forces and cede authority to the United Nations over those swaths of Iraqi territory that it now controls, so that the multinational body can undertake an effective process of pacification and oversee the normalization of the institutional life of the country. Moreover, given the magnitude of the human and material devastation suffered by Iraq, the United States has an international obligation - as the aggressive power - to repair, at least to some extent, the catastrophe that it visited upon a nation which, although it was subject to a horrific dictatorship, was at least at peace and had living conditions far more acceptable than those prevailing today. 

Posted by WORLDMEETS.US

It's therefore necessary for Washington to financially contribute to the reconstruction of Iraq and accept - and even encourage - trials for the multiple crimes against humanity perpetrated by its soldiers during five years of occupation. Moreover, it's necessary to at least attempt to try Bush, his Vice President Dick Cheney and the U.S. secretary of defense at the time of the invasion, Donald Rumsfeld, before an international tribunal, for being responsible for the massacre perpetrated against Iraqis since 2003 until now, and for the devastation suffered by that Arab nation.

Last July, significantly, the president-elect of the United States, Barack Obama, said that in the event that he should win the election, he would put an end to the war in Iraq "in a responsible manner," and he acknowledged that "the central front in the war against terrorism is not in Iraq - and it never was." In accordance with those words, the new U.S. president should assume as one of his first responsibilities an end as soon as possible to one of the most shameful colonial adventures that the government he is about to lead has ever undertaken.

CLICK HERE FOR SPANISH VERSION

[Posted by WORLDMEETS.US November 21, 2:40am]