We are outraged, to say the least, that George W. Bush, godfather of the war on Iraq, is being named “Father of the Year” today at a benefit for Save the Children. Join us at the Hilton Hotel, 6th & 53rd in NYC at 11am — or, spread the word! This can’t go by without protest & comment.
The ongoing, spiraling damage to Iraq and its people is described in a lawsuit filed last month in federal court:
Sundus Saleh, an Iraqi single mother, is suing members of the George W. Bush administration for their role in the war in Iraq. Saleh has assembled an international team of lawyers, who are requesting the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit hear her claim that the US-led Iraq war was illegal under laws formed from the Nuremberg trials in the wake of World War II.
“The invasion resulted in the total destruction of a beautiful, peaceful country,” Saleh told Truthout. “The invasion didn’t destroy only the country’s infrastructure, buildings and heritage; it destroyed millions of families and their dreams.”
Through her pro bono counsel, Comar Law in San Francisco, Saleh filed papers on May 27 urging the Ninth Circuit to review facts and statements made by high-ranking Bush administration officials – including former President George W. Bush, former Vice President Richard Cheney and former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld – during the lead-up to the Iraq war.
The U.S. Congress voted overwhelmingly yesterday not to vote on whether U.S. troops should be sent to Iraq; thereby taking a stand for endless war as they did all through the Bush and Obama presidencies.
As the war on Iraq escalates — again — people are asking why the U.S. is so intent on controlling the region, now over 25 years since the 1990 Gulf War. 450 More US Troops = More Suffering and Death, originally published in Revolution this week goes into U.S. intentions:
The 2003 U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq was intended to be part of radically restructuring the whole region in the interests of the U.S. empire. But that invasion and other U.S. actions gave new life to the rapid spread of reactionary Islamic jihadist forces, many of which are in conflict with the U.S. The defeats and difficulties the U.S. has run up against in all this have opened up opportunities for regional and global rivals and called into question the credibility of the U.S. to violently enforce its will and rule anywhere and everywhere.
The 450 U.S. troops on their way to Iraq are part of the Obama administration’s plan to respond to the situation. They will become part of, and expand, a network of bases around Iraq. The stated purpose of these bases is to train and direct the Iraqi army, along with other militias, with the idea that these forces can be deployed to kill and die for those objectives of the U.S. empire. Not stated in public pronouncements, but very importantly, this network of bases could serve as an infrastructure and scaffolding that could be quickly built up and expanded if and when the U.S. sees a necessity to send many more troops into Iraq at any point, for any reason.
These bases already exist in the Iraqi cities of Al Asad, Besmaya, Erbil, and Taji, where more than 9,000 Iraqi troops have already been trained, with an additional 3,000 currently in training, essentially under the command of 3,000 U.S. “advisors” (and, according to many reports, about an equal number of “private contractors”).
We’ll be following up with key questions we’re encountering as we go out widely to challenge people to stop the crimes of their government.
Debra Sweet is the director of World Can’t Wait and tweets at @dsweetwcw.