21 years now since “Shock & Awe,” the all-out bombing assault which took the already decade-long U.S. war on the people of Iraq to its most lethal level, and people of the region – indeed humanity everywhere – are less safe. Those opposing U.S. imperialist domination are called terrorists and confronted by bombs and drones from U.S. bases across the region.
Speaking on the siege of Gaza, Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said this week, “I am deeply concerned that in this powder keg, any spark could lead to a much broader conflagration.” Israel continues to attack Iranian-connected targets in Lebanon and Syria; the U.S. and UK have repeatedly bombed targets in Yemen. The military power of the U.S. dwarfs the combined power of all the other forces in the region. Yet again, U.S. imperial actions oppress and anger hundreds of millions in the area.
Meanwhile, Biden is dropping crumbs of aid on people in Gaza, while they are being starved. His plan announced last night to set up a temporary port to deliver aid is pure PR posturing.
If the U.S. government cared about Palestinian human beings it would immediately 1) stopproviding billions of dollars of weapons to Israel and 2) act with all humane nations to immediately break down the border walls and deliver the massive amounts of aid needed now.
March 19/20 is the anniversary of the U.S. “Shock & Awe” attack on Baghdad. We appreciate the Merchants of Death War Crimes Tribunal team for reminding us with this video. This looks very much like Gaza today, but please know that the amount of U.S. funded bombs Israel has used on the tiny Gaza strip is MORE than the U.S. used in the whole war on Iraq.
Thanks to supporters for calling this report to our attention:
“A laboratory found a pattern of cell damage that has been seen in veterans exposed to weapons blasts, and said it probably played a role in symptoms the gunman displayed before the shooting.”
During We Are Not Your Soldiers classroom visits, a frequent question asked by students relates to Post Traumatic Stress. Obviously, this is a serious issue which affects so very many veterans, their families and society as a whole. We often discuss this in conjunction with moral injury. Recent reports, such as the one noted here now show the actual physical damage to the brains of members of the military. It is one other horrific example of the way enlistees are treated as disposable objects. Of course, we can extrapolate to how these explosions affect the populations under military attack beyond injuries visible to the eye and death.