Do You "Support The Troops"?
By Ghali Hassan
13 November, 2004
Countercurrents.orgOf course you do. They are your countrymen and women. They are your loved ones. You "support the troops" because you think they are doing honourable duties, defending America against attackers and aggressors. You have a duty to ensure their sacrifice wouldn't be in vain.
Since president Bush ordered the invasion and occupation of Iraq, many soldiers have needlessly died and many have been wounded. The official US figure estimated that 1,300 soldiers died and 25,000 have been wounded, may be more. Many more Iraqi civilians have been killed. Many more Iraqi civilians have been imprisoned, tortured and murdered by US forces. The recent scientific report by a group of US and Iraqi medical scientists which have been published in an article in the top British medical journal The Lancet estimates civilian post-war "excess deaths" in Iraq at about 100,000 (a very conservative estimate), half of them children. And this is not included the atrocities in Fallujah. In 18 months of violent Occupation, the Bush Administration has killed more innocent Iraqis than Saddam regime in 24 years. This is many times the number of civilians killed in 9/11 attacks, of which the former Iraqi regime was accused of involvement. Why?
There is no evidence that the former Iraqi regime was involved in these attacks. George Bush and Donald Rumsfeld have acknowledged this recently. They stated: "there is no evidence of Iraq involvement or connection with terrorist groups, or involvement in 9/11 attacks". Furthermore, Iraq was not and never could have been a threat to the US. Iraq was a defenceless nation.
Nothing has been found to connect al-Qaida with former Iraqi regime. The al-Qaida group of extremists was very much welcomed in the US (by the Republicans Administration) than in Iraq. The Bush Administration has also accepted that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction (WMD). All evidence revealed now that Iraq was disarmed since 1991, and that there are no WMD found in Iraq. In other words, the pretexts for the US War on Iraq were fabricated lies. The War was an act of unprovoked armed aggression, and in violations of international law.
Furthermore, Mr Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the UN acknowledged that the War on Iraq was "illegal" and contrary to UN Charter. After World War II, the Nuremberg Tribunal in Germany called Hitler's war "a supreme international crimes [which] contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole". Similarly, the US War on Iraq is a war crimes and crimes against humanity. Under international law, any person (including soldiers) who knowingly participated in such criminal deeds might also be liable for war crimes.
Former Iraq veteran Staff Sergeant Jimmy Massey, who is now an outspoken opponent of the war, said recently, "As far as I'm concerned, the real war did not begin until [Iraqis] saw us murdering innocent civilians," he said. "I mean, they were witnessing their loved ones being murdered by US Marines". He added, "It's kind of hard to tell someone that they are being liberated when they just saw their child shot or lost their husband or grandmother." No one wants to see friends and relatives committing crimes against innocent and defenceless people. When I see the banner of "support the troops" on US TV screens, I am struck by the meaningless of its expression and the hypocrisy of America.
US forces are murdering Iraqi civilians en masse and the Bush Administration "guarantees" them immunity from prosecution. More than 1000 civilians died in last April assault on Fallujah, before the US forces retreated temporarily.
More than 15,000 US Marines, supported by artilleries and aerial bombardments wreaking havoc on Fallujah. Many innocent civilians, including large number of children had died in indiscriminate bombing of the city of 300,000 people. The people had resorted to burying their dead relatives ingardens. Many houses have also been destroyed. The city hospitals and medical centres have been either destroyed or occupied by US forces. Almost half of the mosques in the city have been destroyed.
Recent reports by the French daily Le Monde estimated that US Marines have slaughtered more than 500 civilians in Fallujah. The Washington Post reported that, "US occupation troops are gassing resistance fighters and confronting them with internationally banned chemical weapons [of mass
destruction]". The report confirmed that US troops are firing white-phosphorous rounds that produce fire not distinguishable with water in densely populated areas. This constitutes war crimes by any definition.The number of US troops killed and wounded in this latest act of unprovoked aggression is unknown. The US army is preventing independent media from Fallujah. Only 'embedded' mainstream media is allowed, "to normalise [and sell] the unspeakable and unthinkable [atrocities] for the general public".
Using the same rhetoric of the invasion, Mr. Rumsfeld spoke of "freeing Fallujah" by assisting Iraqi troops against "insurgents". Nothing could be further from the truth. The people of Fallujah are resisting US Occupation and boycotting a fake election. The 1000 Iraqi "troops" are remnants of the
Kurdish militias, who dare not to show their faces to the Iraqi people. Iraqis called them the "dogs of the Occupation". Their main use is to shield the Occupation forces and put Iraqi flavour in Mr. Rumsfeld mouth.Most Iraqis (92%) want US troops out of their country. The new pretext that the troops are "bringing democracy" to Iraq is a fantasy created by the Bush Administration for domestic consumption. The Bush-appointed Occupation spokesman, Iyad Allawi, has no legitimacy and no support among the Iraqi people. Recent poll taken in Baghdad revealed that Allawi had only 5% support, mostly from expatriates, only 1% of Iraqis thought the US bringing democracy, and 5% said the US may help Iraqis. The rest said, the US is only interested in controlling Iraq's oil resources and support Israel's interests. The Bush Administration aims have been "to stifle, repress, delay, manipulate and otherwise thwart the democratic aspirations of the Iraqi people", wrote investigative reporter Naomi Klein. The US has much homework to do on democracy before starts selling it to other nations.
As former Marine Jimmy Massey said, "Hindsight is 20/20 and this is a war that should have never been fought. As a Navy veteran with more than 20 years of service, I would be the first one to step forward in the defence of our country. This is not the case here. We need to get our troops home now".There is no alternative. Iraqis do not like to be occupied by foreign invaders.
If you really "support the troops", and want Americans to be seen as a civilised nation in the eyes of the world, ask your president to "bring the troops back home". They do not deserve to die or wounded in a war of naked aggression. You put Bush and his cabal in power. You can force them to change the way they use power. If you relax your vigilance to "support the troops" and failed to bring them home soon, their sacrifice will be in vain.
Ghali Hassan lives in Perth Western Australia: He can be reached at e-mail:
[email protected]
