Five Years of Iraq Lies
1. Five Years of Iraq Lies
Juan Cole, www.salon.com, March 19th, 2008.
How President Bush and his advisors have spent each year of the war peddling mendacious tales about a mission accomplished.
2. Five Years, and Counting
Dahr Jamail, Inter Press Service News Agency, March 19th, 2008.
With "enduring" U.S. military bases established in Iraq, and an embassy
in Baghdad the size of the Vatican City, there appears to be no end in
sight for the U.S. occupation of Iraq.
3. How to Destroy a Country in Five Years
Patrick Cockburn, CounterPunch, March 17, 2008.
This the fifth of Iraq's blood-sodden anniversaries since Bush invaded,
and the country is now utterly ruined.... "It reminds me of Iraq under
Saddam," said a militant opponent of Saddam Hussein angrily to me last
week as he watched red-capped Iraqi soldiers close down part of central
Baghdad so the convoy of Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki might
briefly venture into the city.
MEDIA & IRAQ
4. Unsung Heroes and Alternate Voices - Some of the Best of Five Years of Iraq War Coverage
Greg Mitchell, CommonDreams, March 19th, 2008.
In
the five years since the tragic U.S. intervention in Iraq began,
contributing journalists for mainstream news outlets have had their
tough and honest efforts negated by a cascade of pro-war views
expressed by pundits, analysts, and editorial writers at their own
newspapers or broadcast/cable networks.
5. So Wrong for So Long: Greg Mitchell on How the Press, the Pundits - and the President - Failed on Iraq
Amy Goodman and Greg Mitchell, Democracy Now! March 24th, 2008.
6. VIDEO: Bush's War
PBS Frontline, March 27th, 2008.
IRAQ EXPLODING
7. Stalled Assault on Basra Exposes the Iraqi Government's Shaky Authority
Patrick Cockburn, The Independent via truthout.org,
Mar 28, 2008
A
new civil war is threatening to explode in Iraq as American-backed
Iraqi government forces fight Shiite militiamen for control of Basra
and parts of Baghdad.
Also includes articles:
Iraqi Police Shed Uniforms, Kept Rifles, Switch Sides,
The Times UK
Shiites March in Iraq to Protest Crackdown, LA Times
8. U.S. Armor Forces Join Offensive In Baghdad Against Sadr Militia
Sudarsan Raghavan and Sholnn Freeman, Washington Post, March 28, 2008.
The
clashes suggested that American forces were being drawn more deeply
into a broad offensive that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite,
launched in the southern city of Basra on Tuesday, saying death squads,
criminal gangs and rogue militias were the targets. The Mahdi Army of
cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, a Shiite rival of Maliki, appeared to have
taken the brunt of the attacks; fighting spread to many southern cities
and parts of Baghdad.
9. Saying that 'the surge is working' ...
Meteor Blades, dailykos.com, March 27, 2008.
LISTEN TO THE TROOPS
10. Winter Soldier
Maya Schenwar,
truthout.org, March 26, 2008.
"To all the men and women of the United States Armed Forces
now in the Middle East, the peace of a troubled world and the hopes of
an oppressed people now depend on you," Bush said. "That trust is well
placed." Five years later, more than 200 of those men and women joined
last week in Silver Spring, Maryland, to reject that trust, to speak
out against that mission and to invest their government with the
responsibility to end it. During the Winter Soldier testimonies, they
told their own stories of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
(See Also: Iraq Veterans Against the War)
11. Body of War
Amy Goodman, Truthdig.org, March 26, 2008.
Dr. Arthur Blank, an expert on post-traumatic stress
disorder (PTSD), estimates that 30 percent of Iraq veterans will suffer
from PTSD.
Tomas Young was one of those injured, on April 4, 2004, in Sadr City.
Young is the subject of a new feature documentary by legendary TV
talk-show host Phil Donahue and filmmaker Ellen Spiro, called "Body of
War." In it, Young describes the incident that has left him paralyzed
from the chest down:
(VIDEO | Body of War)
VISION OF BAGHDAD
12. Back in Baghdad, looking for the normal
Caesar Ahmed, Los Angeles Times, March 13th, 2008.
After
leaving his home in Baghdad for nearly two years, a
physician-journalist returns home to Iraq after hearing the situation
has improved. He describes his experience coming home to "a ghost town"
and getting scolded by friends for returning, only to find the
atrocities haven't changed... and don't look like they're going to.
WAR & PEACE
13. The Wages of Peace
Robert Pollin & Heidi Garrett-Peltier, The Nation, March 13th, 2008.
There
is no longer any doubt that the Iraq War is a moral and strategic
disaster for the United States. But what has not yet been fully
recognized is that it has also been an economic disaster. To date, the
government has spent more than $522 billion on the war, with another
$70 billion already allocated for 2008.
With just the amount of the Iraq budget of 2007, $138 billion, the
government could instead have...
14. End the War: Try Again
Christopher Hayes, The Nation, March 27, 2008
We
are now faced with two problems. One is a war that grinds on, subject
only to its internal logic, each day further embedding an imperial
occupation. The other is arguably even more profound, a terrifying
breakdown in the basic mechanisms of democracy whereby the will of the
majority is transferred into policy. We have two ostensible democracies
(the United States and Iraq), each with a polity that wants an end to
the war (the most recent polling from Iraq shows that 70 percent of
Iraqis favor US withdrawal), yet the war does not end.
IRAQ FOREVER
15. Ensuring Permanence: The Bush Administration Is Negotiating a Long-Term Iraq Occupation
Spencer Ackerman, Washington Independent, March 26, 2008
Another
Bush Administration after the maximum time served? After next year's
election President Bush may not be they physicality of foreign policy
but with the new negotiations between himself and Prime Minister Nouri
al-Maliki, he may be the force that keeps troops in Iraq for years
(decades even) to come. If concluded, a binding agreement for the Iraqi
people and the Presidential Administration may keep our soldiers of
foreign turf.
