#1. Over One Million Iraqi Deaths Caused by US Occupation

Sources:
After Downing Street, July 6, 2007
Title: “Is the United States Killing 10,000 Iraqis Every Month? Or Is It More?”
Author: Michael Schwartz

AlterNet, September 17, 2007
Title: “Iraq death toll rivals Rwanda genocide, Cambodian killing fields”
Author: Joshua Holland

Reuters (via AlterNet), January 7, 2008
Title: “Iraq conflict has killed a million, says survey”
Author: Luke Baker

Inter Press Service, March 3, 2008
Title: “Iraq: Not our country to Return to”
Authors: Maki al-Nazzal and Dahr Jamail

Student Researchers: Danielle Stanton, Tim LeDonne, and Kat Pat Crespán
Faculty Evaluator: Heidi LaMoreaux, PhD

Over one million Iraqis have met violent deaths as a result of the 2003 invasion, according to a study conducted by the prestigious British polling group, Opinion Research Business (ORB). These numbers suggest that the invasion and occupation of Iraq rivals the mass killings of the last century—the human toll exceeds the 800,000 to 900,000 believed killed in the Rwandan genocide in 1994, and is approaching the number (1.7 million) who died in Cambodia’s infamous “Killing Fields” during the Khmer Rouge era of the 1970s.

ORB’s research covered fifteen of Iraq’s eighteen provinces. Those not covered include two of Iraq’s more volatile regions—Kerbala and Anbar—and the northern province of Arbil, where local authorities refused them a permit to work. In face-to-face interviews with 2,414 adults, the poll found that more than one in five respondents had had at least one death in their household as a result of the conflict, as opposed to natural cause.

Authors Joshua Holland and Michael Schwartz point out that the dominant narrative on Iraq—that most of the violence against Iraqis is being perpetrated by Iraqis themselves and is not our responsibility—is ill conceived. Interviewers from the Lancet report of October 2006 (Censored 2006, #2) asked Iraqi respondents how their loved ones died. Of deaths for which families were certain of the perpetrator, 56 percent were attributable to US forces or their allies. Schwartz suggests that if a low pro rata share of half the unattributed deaths were caused by US forces, a total of approximately 80 percent of Iraqi deaths are directly US perpetrated.

Even with the lower confirmed figures, by the end of 2006, an average of 5,000 Iraqis had been killed every month by US forces since the beginning of the occupation. However, the rate of fatalities in 2006 was twice as high as the overall average, meaning that the American average in 2006 was well over 10,000 per month, or over 300 Iraqis every day. With the surge that began in 2007, the current figure is likely even higher.

Schwartz points out that the logic to this carnage lies in a statistic released by the US military and reported by the Brookings Institute: for the first four years of the occupation the American military sent over 1,000 patrols each day into hostile neighborhoods, looking to capture or kill “insurgents” and “terrorists.” (Since February 2007, the number has increased to nearly 5,000 patrols a day, if we include the Iraqi troops participating in the American surge.) Each patrol invades an average of thirty Iraqi homes a day, with the mission to interrogate, arrest, or kill suspects. In this context, any fighting age man is not just a suspect, but a potentially lethal adversary. Our soldiers are told not to take any chances (see Story #9).

According to US military statistics, again reported by the Brookings Institute, these patrols currently result in just under 3,000 firefights every month, or just under an average of one hundred per day (not counting the additional twenty-five or so involving our Iraqi allies). Thousands of patrols result in thousands of innocent Iraqi deaths and unconscionably brutal detentions.

Iraqis’ attempts to escape the violence have resulted in a refugee crisis of mammoth proportion. According to the United Nations Refugee Agency and the International Organization for Migration, in 2007 almost 5 million Iraqis had been displaced by violence in their country, the vast majority of which had fled since 2003. Over 2.4 million vacated their homes for safer areas within Iraq, up to 1.5 million were living in Syria, and over 1 million refugees were inhabiting Jordan, Iran, Egypt, Lebanon, Turkey, and Gulf States. Iraq’s refugees, increasing by an average of almost 100,000 every month, have no legal work options in most host states and provinces and are increasingly desperate.1

Yet more Iraqis continue to flee their homes than the numbers returning, despite official claims to the contrary. Thousands fleeing say security is as bad as ever, and that to return would be to accept death. Most of those who return are subsequently displaced again.

Maki al-Nazzal and Dahr Jamail quote an Iraqi engineer now working at a restaurant in Damascus, “Return to Iraq? There is no Iraq to return to, my friend. Iraq only exists in our dreams and memories.”

Another interviewee told the authors, “The US military say Fallujah is safe now while over 800 men are detained there under the worst conditions. . . . At least 750 out of the 800 detainees are not resistance fighters, but people who refused to collaborate with occupation forces and their tails.” (Iraqis who collaborate with occupation forces are commonly referred to as “tails of the Americans.”)

Another refugee from Baghdad said, “I took my family back home in January. The first night we arrived, Americans raided our house and kept us all in one room while their snipers used our rooftop to shoot at people. I decided to come back here [Damascus] the next morning after a horrifying night that we will never forget.”

Citation

1. “The Iraqi Displacement Crisis,” Refugees International, March 3, 2008.

UPDATE BY MICHAEL SCHWARTZ

The mortality statistics cited in “Is the United States Killing 10,000 Iraqis Every Month?” were based on another article suitable for Project Censored recognition, a scientific investigation of deaths caused by the war in Iraq. The original article, published in Lancet in 2006, received some dismissive coverage when it was released, and then disappeared from view as the mainstream media returned to reporting biased estimates that placed Iraqi casualties at about one-tenth the Lancet estimates. The corporate media blackout of the original study extended to my article as well, and has continued unabated, though the Lancet article has withstood several waves of criticism, while being confirmed and updated by other studies (Censored 2006, #2).

By early 2008, the best estimate, based on extrapolations and replications of the Lancet study, was that 1.2 million Iraqis had died as a consequence of the war. This figure has not, to my knowledge, been reported in any mass media outlet in the United States.

The blackout of the casualty figures was matched by a similar blackout of other main evidence in my article: that the Bush administration military strategy in Iraq assures vast property destruction and lethality on a daily basis. Rules of engagement that require the approximately one thousand US patrols each day to respond to any hostile act with overwhelming firepower—small arms, artillery, and air power—guarantee that large numbers of civilians will suffer and die. But the mainstream media refuses to cover this mayhem, even after the Winter Soldier meetings in March 2008 featured over one hundred Iraq veterans who testified to their own participation in what they call “atrocity producing situations.” (see Story #9)

The effectiveness of the media blackout is vividly illustrated by an Associated Press poll conducted in February 2007, which asked a representative sample of US residents how many Iraqis had died as a result of the war. The average respondent thought the number was under 10,000, about 2 percent of the actual total at that time. This remarkable mass ignorance, like so many other elements of the Iraq War story, received no coverage in the mass media, not even by the Associated Press, which commissioned the study.

The Iraq Veterans Against the War has made the brutality of the occupation their special activist province. The slaughter of the Iraqi people is the foundation of their demand for immediate and full withdrawal of US troops, and the subject of their historic Winter Soldier meetings in Baltimore. Though there was no mainstream US media coverage of this event, the live streaming on Pacifica Radio and on the IVAW website reached a huge audience—including a vast number of active duty soldiers—with vivid descriptions of atrocities committed by the US war machine. A growing number of independent news sites now feature regular coverage of this aspect of the war, including Democracy Now!, Tom Dispatch, Dahr Jamail’s MidEast Dispatches, Informed Comment, Antiwar.com, and ZNet.

UPDATE BY MAKI AL-NAZZAL AND DAHR JAMAIL

The promotion of US general David Petraeus to head CENTCOM, and General Raymond Odierno to replace Petraeus as commanding general of the Multi-National Force in Iraq, provoked a lot of anger amongst Iraqis in both Syria and Jordan. The two generals who convinced US and international society of improvement in Iraq do not seem to have succeeded in convincing Iraqi refugees of their success.

“Just like the Bush Administration decorated Paul Bremer (former head of the Coalition Provisional Authority), they are rewarding others who participated in the destruction to Iraq,” stated Muhammad Shamil, an Iraqi journalist who fled Iraq to Syria in 2006. “What they call violence was concentrated in some parts of Iraq, but now spread to be all over the country, thanks to US war heroes. People are getting killed, evicted or detained by the thousands, from Basra (South) to Mosul (North).”

Other Iraqi refugees seem to have changed attitudes regarding their hopes to return. Compared to when this story was published in March 2008, the refugee crisis continues to deepen. This is exacerbated by the fact that most Iraqis have no intention of returning home. Instead, they are looking for permanent residence in other countries.

“I decided to stop dreaming of going back home and find myself a new home anywhere in the world if I could,” said thirty-two-year-old Maha Numan in Syria, “I have been a refugee for three years now living on the dream of return, but I decided to stop dreaming. I have lost faith in all leaders of the world after the surges of Basra, Sadr City and now Mosul. This seems to be endless and one has to work harder on finding a safe haven for one’s family.”

Iraqis in Syria know a lot more of the news about their country than most journalists. At an Internet café in Damascus, each of them calls his hometown and reports the happenings of the day to other Iraqi refugees. News of ongoing violence across much of Iraq convinces them to remain abroad.

“There were four various explosions in Fallujah today,” said Salam Adel, who worked as a translator for US forces in Fallujah in 2005. “And they say it is safe to go back! Damn them, go back for what? For roadside bombs or car bombs?”

It has been important, politically, for the Bush administration to claim that the situation in Iraq is improving. This claim has been assisted by a complicit corporate media. However, the 1.5 million Iraqis in Syria, and over 750,000 in Jordan, will tell you differently. Otherwise, they would not remain outside of Iraq.

To obtain updated information on the refugee crisis, see http://www.irinnews.org/IRIN-ME.aspx,http://www.iraqredcrescent .org/, http://www.refugeesinternational.org/section/waystohelp,http://www.unhcr.org/iraq.html, and http://www.dahrjamailiraq.com/.

To obtain updated information on the number of deaths in Iraq see http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/iraq/iraqdeaths.html

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  • Pjwilson

    You sir are a fucking moron.

  • Pjwilson

    You sir are a fucking moron.

  • Pjwilson

    U.S. citizens are idiots that deserve to be rounded up and put away.  You are just one more ignorant fucktard that has no fucking clue.  Informed…ya, informed of all the bullshit the U.S. government feeds ignorant citizens like you.  Piss off dumbass.

  • Pjwilson

    U.S. citizens are idiots that deserve to be rounded up and put away.  You are just one more ignorant fucktard that has no fucking clue.  Informed…ya, informed of all the bullshit the U.S. government feeds ignorant citizens like you.  Piss off dumbass.

  • Pjwilson

    Yes it is and there was no winner.  The U.S. is an efficient killing machine and nothing more.

  • Pjwilson

    You are dumb as a fucking door.  The easiest way to enslave a people is to fool them in to believing they are free…then they kill YOU!  Fucking moron.

  • Pjwilson

    You are dumb as a fucking door.  The easiest way to enslave a people is to fool them in to believing they are free…then they kill YOU!  Fucking moron.

  • Pjwilson

    Seems like all these comments are fucktards that think war results in peace and freedom.  Fucking stupid shithead U.S. citizens.

  • Pjwilson

    Seems like all these comments are fucktards that think war results in peace and freedom.  Fucking stupid shithead U.S. citizens.

  • Nyunt Shwe

    The United States administration headed by its  Presidents are shameless to murder such amount of Iraqis and rob the country. I really can’t understand why Nobel Award Selection Committee awarded President Obama who is also one of the warmongers; see his performance in Afghanistan. 

  • Nyunt Shwe

    The United States administration headed by its  Presidents are shameless to murder such amount of Iraqis and rob the country. I really can’t understand why Nobel Award Selection Committee awarded President Obama who is also one of the warmongers; see his performance in Afghanistan. 

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_HWFNYMOHNFQO63ZYTBBHL37J5M VictoriaL

    Whoever thinks these people hate us because of our freedoms is a dumb moron. They hate us because we kill their family members. Why is that so hard to comprehend?

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  • Anonymous

    “99% of American Soldiers, Airmen, Marines, and Seamen are people of higher moral standing than the majority of civilian Americans. ”

    Professional killers and “high moral standing” in the same sentence. You’ve really swallowed the koolaid hook, line, and sinker.

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  • D.L.Anderson

    The horrible truth is that history is written by the victor, and most Americans idiotically believe that they have solved problems rather than the complete opposite

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  • Jains1981

    Good god and I mean any god ….may we find mercy from our selfs I think I might just puke then cry perhaps a prayer is in order sooooo sad my heart hurt . I only wonder how many people must die before we can stand together as human beings

  • Jrains1981

    Wow how you justify lifes lost is beyond me no one should die for there beliefs no one should kill for them . If you think so than you should go there and take a gun to prove your just as dumb as the people you think are at fault murder isn’t ok from any point of view no one is right when the cost is life defending attacking it is all the same they come to kill they stay to kill all sides.

  • Anonymous

     I wanna paraphrase Jesus Christ here, who after Pontius Pilate assured him of his power of life and death, Jesus replied, he had no power else it was bestowed by Allah .. nor has Obama, and like Jesus decried those who handed him over to Pilate, as “guilty of the greater sin,” so are the Jews who are drawing up the lists.

    911 was an inside job, 60,000 Jews never made it to work at the WTC on the day, the four ATF agents killed at Mount Carmel in 1993, whence eighty eight Branch Davidians died in the ensuing fire, all had nearly identical gunshot wounds to the left temple, and all were former members of Bill and Hillary Clinton’s security detail.

    Past Kennedy house guests Martin Luther & Coretta King, were in one of two snipers nests on the Grassy Knoll, Dallas Texas 22 November 1963 .. Ron Paul’s inaction in the face of hard evidence, that Jews attacked America on 911 is capital treason, the wars against the Moslem world are illegal and unjust .. abortion is genocide!

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  • Tess007

    After reading these post… How many of you live in the US??  If you hate it here so much and believe that America is so evil, why don’t you leave the country and why do so many foreigner’s want to be here????  

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  • http://doomsdayfornyse.blogspot.com/ Christ bearer USA

    God promised to destroy the system which now controls the world in 81 AD. The destruction of the inheritors of the Roman Empire is on tract and on time. Most of the people are as Mr. Get it Right bragging how “correct” his ideas are not knowing he is in fact the most demonized person here.

     Instructions topresident  to prevent one billion needless deaths and stop the murder of 150,000 American service men.
     
     
    Anyone with a Historical background understands Religious leaders are counting on Christ forgiving them for committing crimes against humanity because they themselves did not murder anyone directly they only gained by the murder of mankind then used part of the wealth to give back to mankind what never belonged to them to begin with.
     
    That is Why Christ had me write the Pope’s prayer to Lucifer.
     
    Nicolaitanes’ Prayer: Let the Elocution of my lips dull the illumination of your children grant me all the money they seek to bribe you with O Lord.
     
     Hide from sight the poor starving masses unless I need them for TV props for my show. Forbid the governments from showing my Palaces condemn them that tell the truth about my crimes. Give me the politicians who conspire with me to keep our World in Hell.
     
     Lift up my giving bus fare to the public eye of all those I mugged of the money that was meant for them. Let not the modern robes I wear on Sunday remind the people of the High Priest, who nailed Christ to a tree, for all that I have gained don’t come to prove to the world that I am as those who laughed, jeered as they whipped him 1972 years ago.
     
     Have Ted Turner, Bill Gates silence, who you call Enoch before someone actually hears what he is saying.
     
    In the name of TBN and the “Panzer Cardinal” do I pray using the form of the Bowed Nazi swastika with a dying Jew on it as your proudest moment Lucifer because you have me play a “Holy man on TV”.
     
    The reason they leave the Christ hanging on the cross is because it makes Lucifer look like he was actually winning for the last 1970 years when he was the happiest ghoul in the whole world used the Roman Pagan Pontifcus Maximus glorify his killing the Christ for the last 1650 years.

  • john

    That flag stands for a corporation and its funny how policticians consider the us a humanitarian nation when there involved in the most wars and export the most weapons. They privatize war so haliburton and other companies collect weapon contracts and make billions off people dieing while they use terrorism as an excuse to go to war for resources(oil). I dont pledge my allegience to the flag anymore, only the planet earth because im disgusted in the ponzi scheme(fiat currency being created out of thin air in which they loan out with interest) and the system that uses propaganda and patriotism to keep us blinded from the truth. We the people dont need the governement or other people to rule over us anymore with their bs system of money to control us, in which they create statuses and racism so we eventually become enemies. Lets standup to the system and actually be free, use technology and are brightest minds so we can create a civilized world that lives in harmony with nature and one another insted of being enslaved and never actually finding out who we are and our infinite possibilities. Open your mind, one love and viva la revolution

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  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100004094013967 Stephen Mac Inyre

    shame on you america,can you say genocide

  • Anonymous

    I blame our Government and media. They shield us from these things so we genuinely don’t know. Hate our Government like we do, not our people. Besides the U.S. is basically the world living in the same place, who escape genocides and poverty, to live and create a better life.

  • Anonymous

    “The United States of America has turned killing into a commercial
    enterprise. At America’s family fun vacation getaways, little Johnny and
    Suzi can now buy fun filled times at Disney resorts and dolls
    representing people who kill for a living. Now that’s something I don’t
    think even the Nazi’s would’ve been able to do.”

    Wtf are you talking about? I am not happy about the civilians killed in Iraq and it saddens me and makes me less proud to be an American. We take threats to our people very seriously and War is a result to us being threatened.

  • Anonymous

    I can understand why everyone is so angry at the U.S. War is never a good thing and death is the price. Again I blame the Government who it tainting us and hiding the truth from us. Because this sort of thing disgusts me and makes it hard to be proud to be an American.

  • Anonymous

    I am not condoning the things my country has done, but just think of what it would be like if your enemy was hidden amongst women and children, even the enemy becoming children and women, shooting to kill you. What would you do? Die? or do the instinctual thing that all humans have and kill first? War is never pretty and almost never is right, it is all about survival. There is nothing we can do to change what has happened. We can only hope to become better. Besides America is not all evil. We protect as well, many times engaging in war to protect. The Vietnam war was bad and many people Including me say we should have never been there, but we also saved Hmong people by giving them U.S. citizen ship for fear of possible genocide. Israel a whole country outnumbered 26-1 we trained in the beginning and provided weapons do defend themselves and we still have troops there to protect them from genocide. South Korea… we protect from North Korea, after their civil war to keep them from the oppression they try to escape from. Japan we nuked, but are now our allies who we also protected from invasion from China, after we made them weak in WWII. Kuwait is a country with people almost killed of by Iran and attacked by Iraq… we defended them. Iraq… we tried to help build up a government to try and stabilize their country, though it is very understandable that they don’t want our help. This does not not exempt us of our wrong doings, but does show that we are not just evil. You are spreading more hate and hate leads to violence which leads to war which leads to deaths both civilian and military.

  • Anonymous

    Do you know what Genocide is???? Genocide –
    the deliberate and systematic extermination of a national, racial, political, or cultural group. Basically the goal of genocide is to completely kill off an ENTIRE national, racial, political, or cultural group. We have never done this. Not even American Indians were victims to genocide, though it could have easily and almost did happen… that is the only “Genocide” anyone can ever say that the U.S. ever attempted.

  • Anonymous

    Your dumb. I just have to get that off my chest. Anyone would think that way, including you… so get off your high horse.

  • Anonymous

    You all do realize that the U.S., though my country has killed a lot of people, it’s not nearly as much as other countries. Our country is still young. The British, French, Chinese, Russian and more have killed millions upon millions more than the U.S each. Yet they are still proud. You think that if our country was as old with so much history that we would be like we are and go to war so often? We don’t have a lot of history that we can learn from, from our country. We are in an age where anyone can see what is going on and so it looks like we are so damn bad, but in comparison we are not. Our country does not produce and follow a person who murders hundreds of thousand to millions of our own people. Our leaders don’t put bullets in our families and our heads for not agreeing with them. Our country doesn’t produce addictive drugs that kill thousands of people each year, or if it doesn’t kill them it ruins their lives. War always has civilian and military casualties and has all throughout the history of the world… War is declared, and war is known to be coming in this day and age, it has to be declared before proceeding to attack. That means you need to get ready, don’t fight near your families, that kills them. We do the invading when War is declared so it’s rarely done on our land, this also gives the country we’re at war with the advantage of knowing their home, but also causes casualties to many people of their home. If wars happened here, then you wouldn’t be at us so much. The sad truth is You bombard us with hate and ridicule, but when shit hits the fan your whole attitude will change. If god forbid we see WWIII, most countries will feel relief that we are fighting with them. Also another thing that people don’t think of is when you become a World Power, you can’t show weakness, because everyone is looking for a reason to take you out. Look at all the verbal abuse we receive, if we weren’t a world power it there wouldn’t be so much. Quit hating.

  • Anonymous

    I am not condoning the things my country has done, but just think of what it would be like if your enemy was hidden amongst women and children, even the enemy becoming children and women, shooting to kill you. What would you do? Die? or do the instinctual thing that all humans have and kill first? War is never pretty and almost never is right, it is all about survival. There is nothing we can do to change what has happened. We can only hope to become better. Besides America is not all evil. We protect as well, many times engaging in war to protect. The Vietnam war was bad and many people Including me say we should have never been there, but we also saved Hmong people by giving them U.S. citizen ship for fear of possible genocide. Israel a whole country outnumbered 26-1 we trained in the beginning and provided weapons do defend themselves and we still have troops there to help defend against possible genocide. South Korea… we help defend from North Korea, after their civil war to keep them from the oppression they try to escape from. Japan we nuked, but are now our allies who we also stationed troops in, to defend against possible invasion from China, who think Japan is still their land, after we made them weak in WWII. Kuwait is a country with people almost killed off by Iran and attacked by Iraq… we defended them. Iraq… we tried to help build up a government to try and stabilize their country, though it is very understandable that they don’t want our help, it was our fault it got so bad. This does not not exempt us of our wrong doings, but does show that we are not just evil. You are spreading more hate and hate leads to violence which leads to war which leads to deaths both civilian and military. We get so much grief because all the media we have now a days and it’s the only “war” going on. Never mind the genocides going on in Africa…. America is Satan… wtf? America is a founding country of the U.N. which sets the standard for War. War is declared, so everyone knows it’s coming. We didn’t blind side anyone. It was stated that we “declare war”. We’re coming, So prepare for war… don’t stay in the battle field with your families… get them out of there! Don’t hide behind them or amongst them. It is sad so many civilian deaths occurred, but it isn’t our job to evacuate their civilians and when people all around you are jumping out with guns and people are holding a group of U.S. soldiers down… call in air support and boom that stops it and if there were civilians inside… we’re blamed, but why were they in the same building that your shooting at soldiers from? I’m not looking to justify it, don’t misunderstand me! I’m just stating points that can contribute.

  • Teri S

    US,Israel, France, NATO are in war as a business, an industry. Women and children in countries attacked are spoils of war,raped, kidnapped and sold as sex slaves throughout the organized crime world. Governments of the above countries are one with fascist and organized crime groups which sell sex slaves, dope and weapons. Their bankers and corporations loot countries they devastate for oil, land, slaves and money. There apparently is some design to kill a large part of the civilian population of every country attacked by the above coalition of killers, to augment the TAKE, the payoff in war for profit. Less mouths to feed, less survivors to assert their land rights, file human rights complaint, complain about the disappearance of their family members. Less fear of investigations of genocide and atrocities. Methinks Disqus PROTESTS TOO MUch. This is not the age of the innocence for the US citizen(nor the Israeli, German, French or British citizen.).

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  • Peter

    People who think that 1,000,000 CITIZENS have been killed in Iraq do not understand that number. This is some article on the internet that makes absurd claims and points to books as their sources when those books are highly questionable themselves. If you believe the above story then you’re an idiot who bought into some propaganda you found on the internet. Congrats

  • liberty4all

    [9-27-12 That, I suppose, is true. I’d really like to know. Does our military or anybody have firm
    figures about who counted the Iraqi deaths, and who killed the Iraqi dead, and
    how many Iraqis, military and civilian, were killed. From what I’ve read, I
    believe a million Iraqi deaths, at least, is the valid, minimum number.

    And I keep
    thinking,” Would all this be happening if we hadn’t:”

    1. Invaded their
    country (under false pretenses) in the first place? Or

    2. Had
    invaded with THE POWELL/VIETNAM DOCTRINE’S OVER- WHELMING FORCE AND ENOUGH TROOPS TO SECURE THE COUNTRY, MAKING
    IT QUICKLY PACIFIED AND SAFE FOR
    US AND THE POPULACE, OR

    3. Got in,
    removed Sadaam, and then got out—“liberated Iraq”– like we told the American people
    and the world and Iraqis that we were going to do.

    4. A little historical research and applied intelligence could have told Bush et
    al—America’s highest leadership?– that

    a.) Ambassador’s
    Bremer’s firing the million man military
    and all Bathists (instead of replacing the leadership and letting them help
    secure and protect their country), knowing they had no jobs or means of
    supporting their families, therefore, with plenty of time(24/7) on their hands,
    and access to large caches of Saddam-stored weapons and equipment,
    munitions and explosives, etc. would
    result in two new categories of Iraqis:

    (1) “Insurgents” These persons would have
    to be labeled “insurgents” and then killed, as they would resist and fight,
    like all people (perhaps like you and I?) who oppose being invaded, occupied,
    and controlled by foreigners (especially if they are of a different culture and
    language and religion and ethnic groups than you, who have shown themselves to
    be aggressive and ignorant, arrogant and destructive of buildings, utilities,
    infrastructure and anyone opposing them). These “insurgents,” if not controlled
    or killed, would resist, fight, and seek to drive out the foreigners (that’s
    US) who invaded and poorly-occupied their country and homeland through years of destructive activities that a historically
    dumb U.S. President originally declared to be “a Crusade.” They would notice
    that we protected the oil infrastructure while allowing civilization’s oldest
    and priceless objects and treasures to be looted, saw to it that U.S.-Western Oil
    Corporations obtained lucrative contracts and access to oilfields (from which,
    previously, they were excluded), and
    built sixteen or several massive, military, neocon-desired “bases of influence’
    in Iraq and the world’s largest embassy in Baghdad. They, as we in similar
    circumstances, would have opposed such “impositions.”

    2. And “Terrorists” This category of persons would include anyone
    opposing us and shooting at or attempting to kill the pervasive invading and
    occupying American military and civilian
    horde. And it would include—thanks to our willful and
    arrogant ignorance and
    “removal-of-control”—any of the Shia or the Sunnis who could be counted on to
    start killing us or their “opposition Muslims”( whom they may have considered
    to be infidel—not authentic Muslims—and who, therefore, needed killing, as Catholics and Protestants in
    Europe had once warred upon each other for centuries. For they, too, considered co-existence
    unthinkable and had not yet begun to conceive of anything so wonderful and
    peaceful and liberating as Religious Liberty, freedom of conscience and freedom from
    religious coercion enforced by government, in a society of peace and respect
    for the dignity and rights of every human being.

    So, whether
    they were attacking us as alien invaders or each other as misguided and
    dangerous infidels, we would have to see these persons , to whom we gave their
    new-found freedom, as “insurgents” and “terrorists” who needed to be controlled
    or killed. Because our top leadership
    did not consult (or would not listen to) our military and historical experts,
    they were shocked to discover that they did not let a Genie out of the Middle
    East bottle, but the bottled up fury and hatred of violent members of the Sunni
    and Shia factions, who would pick up on their warring-fighting that had been
    suppressed, thus engaging in an Iraqi Civil War.

    Few of us
    like to consider or accept our guilt or actions taken in our name as violations
    or abuses of freedom. And we can always say, “We are not
    responsible for what others do in their freedom.” I suppose that’s true. On the other hand, it can also be said that
    our intrusive presence and our ill-considered actions had very predictable results
    for which we are responsible. There were
    no or few “insurgents” and “terrorists” there until we decided to go to Iraq and to stay in Iraq. For many years. What led to the creation and then the killings
    of so many “insurgents” and “terrorists,” and Iraqi military and civilians? Arguably, it was our prolonged presence, and including our less than thoughtful
    and constructive and peaceful actions.

    I think,
    related to this, is the fact that our patriotic and courageous veterans are
    committing suicide at unprecedented rates and in unprecedented numbers. Iraqi
    civilians, I believe, have not been the only (to use Secretary of Defense
    Rumsfeld’s phrase) “collateral damage” of our “preventive,” war of choice in
    Iraq.

    Speaking of suicides:
    Researchers have pointed out that the only places where individual “suicide
    bombers” have chosen to make their costly protests (aside from Israel) are the Arab countries in which we have had a
    continuing military presence.

  • http://twitter.com/cyberstreets cyberstreets

    When the U.S. went into German concentration camps did they go in shooting? Germany in general? The U.S. treats non-european people as less-than-human.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1244722549 John A. Drabczyk

    Idiot. 911 was a false flag and those people are hiding amongst their families. Haven’t you even listened to many of the troops crying that they’re told to shoot into a crowd of people if they feel uncomfortable in a situation. You believe our govt like a retard.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1244722549 John A. Drabczyk

    Lets kill each other…now we’re free? Idiot dumb ass fool.

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