The abandoning the main missions, reason for and the promises of the country to the people, after they've lived under war and control for decades, for why we even sent our military into that region, Afghanistan, and with cheers by the greater majority as the drums beat louder and louder till 'shock and awe' and then beyond till the public served totally lost interest while occasionally waving their flags! Not paid for by their own sacrifice that they demanded of the very very few and families of and especially not as to the results of, DeJa-Vu, of previous decades and wars from, all over again!
March 15, 2013 - Neocons who played key roles in the Iraq War – like Douglas Feith and Stephen Hadley – are using the tenth anniversary to continue lying about why the invasion was ordered in the first place. Thus, they are still avoiding an examination of how the U.S. lurched into the disaster, says ex-CIA analyst Paul R. Pillar.
Documentaries, commentaries and forums marking the ten-year anniversary of the beginning of the Iraq War have been so numerous that they already have become tiresome, even though the actual anniversary of the invasion is not until next Tuesday. The repetition would nonetheless be worthwhile if it helped to inculcate and to reinforce lessons that might reduce the chance that a debacle comparable to the Iraq War will itself be repeated.
Maybe some such positive reinforcement will occur, but a problem is that the anniversary retrospectives also give renewed exposure to those who promoted the war and have a large stake in still promoting the idea that they were not responsible for foisting on the nation an expedition that was so hugely damaging to American interests. read more>>>
15 March 2013 - March 19 will mark the tenth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. While it is still far too soon to truly assess the impact that it had and will continue to have on the world, a decade is still long enough to at least reflect on an awful war and occupation that is surely one of the most memorable events of my generation.
Although it has now largely faded from Americans' short-term memories, the Iraq War is a great microcosm for the follies and horror of aggressive war, a policy of military interventionism, and the domestic politics that allow both to thrive.
The roots of the war can be traced back to at least 1991 and the end of the Cold War. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the entire justification for an imperial position around the globe by the U.S. vanished overnight. In Iraq and Saddam Hussein, a former ally of the U.S., the Pentagon found its next target. read more>>>
click on image to visit the Brit Iraq War Inquiry pages. Final public report to be released later this year.
15 March 2013 - Backbench MPs hit out at the government today for apparently blocking a debate on marking the 10th anniversary of the 2003 Iraq war.
A group has written to parliamentary authorities, saying the public has a right to hear from MPs on the controversial decision to take the country to war in March 2003.
MPs including the Green Party's Caroline Lucas, Tories Rory Stewart and Colonel Bob Stewart, Labour's Paul Flynn and John McDonnell and former Lib Dem leader Charles Kennedy said they had called for a debate via the Backbench Business Committee.
But although it was agreed in principle, the government has refused to make the necessary time available, the group said. read more>>>
March 15, 2013 - Nearly ten years since the United States invaded Iraq, researchers at Brown University are assessing the cost of the war.
The report, from Brown's Watson Institute for International Studies, is comprehensive, taking a look at the direct and indirect costs of war, but from the university's press release, here is bottom line:
"According to the report, the war has killed at least 190,000 people, including men and women in uniform, contractors, and civilians and will cost the United States $2.2 trillion — a figure that far exceeds the initial 2002 estimates by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget of $50 to $60 billion."That 190,000 people were killed directly by the war and includes 4,488 U.S. service members and 134,000 Iraqi civilians. The total of indirect deaths — due to disease or injury, for example — could be "several times higher." read more>>>
Birth defects and cancer rates are rising in Iraq after the 2003 invasion, immediate environmental clean-up is needed.
War zones are heavily polluted with a variety of contaminants, and toxic metal mixtures are routinely found in these areas. Metal contaminants in war zones originate from bombs and bullets as well as from other explosive devices. Metals, most importantly lead (Pb), uranium (U), and mercury (Hg), are used in the manufacture of munitions. Their purpose and utility have been repeatedly described in US military manuals and bulletins (Departments of the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, Joint Technical Bulletin 1998; US Department of the Army Technical Manual 1990).
In addition, the US armed forces have used depleted uranium (DU) weapons in recent wars. DU weaponry was first extensively used in the US invasion of Iraq and Kuwait in 1991. At that time, an estimated DU expenditure of 320 to 800 tonnes was mainly shot at the Iraqi troops who were withdrawing from Kuwait to Basrah. read more>>>
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