Report From Damascus: Iraqi Refugees in Syria Speak Out Against U.S. Occupation
Over four years of brutal warfare in Iraq has spawned a refugee crisis of staggering proportions. Two million Iraqis have been forced to leave their country and are now scattered across Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Iran, Lebanon, and Turkey. There are an estimated 1.2 million Iraqi refugees in Syria. This report was filed by Democracy Now correspondent Jen Utz.
Ref. https://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/08/21/1349247
"Iraq Does Not Exist Anymore": Journalist Nir Rosen on How the U.S. Invasion of Iraq Has Led to Ethnic Cleansing, a Worsening Refugee Crisis and the Destabilization of the Middle East
Nir Rosen is an independent journalist and the author of "In the Belly of the Green Bird: The Triumph of the Martyrs in Iraq." He is a fellow at the New America Foundation and has reported extensively from Iraq since the
US-led invasion in 2003.
Ref. https://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/08/21/1349252
March for Peace: Two Teenagers Walk From San Francisco to Washington D.C. To Protest The Iraq War
Ashley Casale will be a sophomore this fall at Wesleyan University. She came up with the idea of a cross-country march for peace last year and set up a website to invite more people to join her. The only person who stuck it out was Michael Israel, an 18 year old just out of high school. Democracy Now! caught with them last week in Indianapolis.
Ref. https://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/08/21/1349257
France Shifts; Sides with America/Britain and Other Allies in Iraq
France visits Iraq and offers itself to help bring the warring factions of Iraq together, in a major shift in French foreign policy. It also has expressed interest in helping to rebuild Iraq.
https://www.iht.com/bin/print.php?id=7199818
Surge Appears to be Working
Senator Clinton, a Democrat running for President and a recent critic of the U.S. policies in Iraq, has admitted that the surge opposed by Democrats and pushed by President Bush is working. Several other Democrats have agreed with this assessment.
https://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/200.../21/325629.aspx
Rather off topic, but... Certified by JB as Persephone safe... |
U.S. PULLOUT IN IRAQ WOULD SPARK VIETNAM-LIKE VIOLENCE: BUSH
If U.S. troops pull out of Iraq too quickly, it will trigger the kind of violence seen after the American withdrawal in Vietnam, U.S. President George W. Bush said Wednesday.
Ref. https://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/200.../iraq-bush.html
My thought about this is... if the US remain in Iraq two more years or ten more years will a culture and people change? To analyze this I will use Japan during WW2. If they did this with Japan during WW2 would they be experiencing the same kind of trouble? Consider that the Japanese were willing to commit suicide (it is not a new thing). During that period they felt the A-bomb was the answer. What is the answer now? Constant clearing out of insurgents village by village? Only to see that village be re-occupied by more insurgents later?
QUOTE |
NIE: INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY HAS TEPID FAITH IN IRAQI LEADERS Civilian casualties remain high, sectarian groups can't get along, al Qaeda in Iraq is still pulling off high-profile attacks and "to date, Iraqi leaders remain unable to govern effectively," said the declassified version of the National Intelligence Estimate released Thursday. Ref. https://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/08/23/nie/index.html |
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U.S. forces have remained in Japan ever since WWII. They are still there (as well as Germany). Funny that so many expect change of a country's government following war to be immediate.
The difference in Iraq, I believe, is that there are so many who are willing to kill their own people. Terrorists. We didn't have those in Germany and Japan. But they certainly are in Iraq. Which of course is why we should leave Iraq, seeing as how we are engaged in a war on terror....
The irony kills me.
QUOTE (Tortdog) |
I believe, is that there are so many who are willing to kill their own people. |
International Level: International Guru / Political Participation: 3231 100%
Tortdog:
QUOTE |
Which of course is why we should leave Iraq, seeing as how we are engaged in a war on terror.... The irony kills me. |
International Level: International Guru / Political Participation: 1089 100%
I agree - the troops can't just be withdrawn, there is still so much instability and the Iraqi government still not quite able to *govern* when they are being assaulted from every side by car bombings and suicide murders.
It was different in Japan and Germany after WW2 because there weren't pockets of "insurgents" fighting from every shadow. Once the actual war was over, there was a cooperative effort to rebuild.
That's not happening in Iraq. I don't know that there will ever be that collaboration... maybe not until some country or other over there turns the tide. But I'm not very optimistic about that, given the history of the Middle Eastern Region as a whole.
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