Daddy George H.W. Bush; Bill Clinton; W. Bush and now Barack Obama have an unbroken streak of bombing Iraq.
Let us say as strongly as we can, that the bombing begun overnight in Kurdish areas — no matter who “asked” for it to be done — is outrageously dangerous, will not “save civilians,” but instead will endanger them further. Rather than protecting people in harm’s way, US bombs and secret operations are a message to other powers that no one else will be allowed to run Iraq.
The U.S. always says it’s bombing/selling arms/torturing to “keep us safe” from whatever group it identifies as the most dangerous target of the “war” on terror. Each time a US president bombed Iraq, from 1990 on, whether the stated reasons were removing Saddam Hussain, breaking a fabricated connection with Al Qaeda, or finding weapons of mass destruction, the actual national security need was always keeping control of that strategic, oil-rich region.
This time, it is complicated. US military domination of the region, from Afghanistan across a sweep to Egypt, has increased the attraction of Islamic fundamentalism as a way of resisting western empire. US occupation in Iraq and support for the murderous, torturing Maliki regime created the conditions by which Iran has been strengthened in the region, and ISIS has gained a following.
But US re-intervention in Iraq will only create more instability.
Thanks to World Can’t Wait activists in Chicago, San Francisco Bay area, and Seattle, who have gotten right out on the streets to protest the US bombing of Iraq.
Above: Chicago World Can’t Wait, Gay Liberation Network and other organizations quickly organized an emergency response demonstration this afternoon. Watch video.Chicago Tribune coverage.
Watch San Francisco NBC coverage.
Debra Sweet is the Director of World Can’t Wait.