2006-05-26

Murder in Babylon














"A military investigation into the deaths of two dozen Iraqis last November is expected to find that a small number of marines in western Iraq carried out extensive, unprovoked killings of civilians, Congressional, military and Pentagon officials said."

Meanwhile Bush and Blair admit to "some mistakes" in Iraq. The truth is the entire exercise has been an ill conceived imperialist excursion that has not been worth the cost in money, resources or lives. Bush, Blair, Cheney, and Rumsfeld should be indicted before those marines are sent to trial. They are the real criminals.

5 comments:

Paul Hue said...

Nadir, you can call the action "imperialistic" a million times, but unless you change the definition of the term, it is not... so long as the US govt does not install its own leaders who follow orders issued by the US govt. This does not appear to be the case.

What is your point here? Some US soldiers appear to have committed an atrocity. We all oppose that. An earlier post by makes a pretty convincing case that Bush's invasion and reconstruction of Iraq constitutes a Big Stupid Government Program, and as such, causes more problems than it solves, which creates the enviornment wherein that makes a critical mass of Iraqis homicidially psychotic, and that this in turn transforms some of the US troops as well.

To the extent that your previous post is correct -- and I do not inherently doubt it -- I will blame Bush's decision to create a Big Stupid Government Program as the cause of this attrocity, as opposed to blaming the thugs, islamic retards, and baath fascists who have chosen to work against democracy.

But I also realize that this conquest of Iraq is the tamest one ever, compared to those of the Mongols, Sunnis, Persians, Asyrians, Greeks, and Turks (ignoring the countless bloody intra-regional tribal conquests that culminated in the bloody unification of these peoples into perhaps the world's first civilization), and the first effort ever to provide a framework by which all Iraqis have respected personal liberties and a government that derives its powers from them, and which contains checks and balances.

Any other form of government will surely lead to much greater attrocities than those committed by US forces. As this incident shows, the US forces punish those within their ranks who behave like this.

Nadir said...

The US attempt to conquor Iraq has not succeeded. The US DID change the governmental structure and it DID install a government that is more sympathetic than Saddam was after he ran afoul of his American allies. It IS an imperial maneuver. Of this there is no question.

Your contention that Iraqi civilians are better off now than they were before the US invaded is hogwash. US troops are losing and are now lashing out at civilian targets.

This is YOUR war, Paul. I will keep posting these articles until you call it off.

You should support the US troops by demanding their immediate withdrawal and you should support the rest of America and the world by calling for the impeachment and indictment of the entire Bush administration.

Paul Hue said...

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/26/world/middleeast/26cnd-iraq.html?hp&ex=1148702400&en=242c9b133f9a8e5e&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Here the Iraqi leaders have sided with the Iranian dictators in opposition to the US position on Iran's nuclear program. Is this the act of a "imperialist" puppet? You having "no question" doesn't make your answer correct.

The Iraqi people are not yet better than they were, any more than the black slaves in Alabama were better off in 1864 than they where in 1859, or Germans were in 1946 compared to 1939. The tyrants in Iraq may indeed win, but their victory will not vindicate your opposition to those who tried to erect a democracy there.

If Bush indeed is running a war that destroys much more than is neccessary, and that fails to rebuild due to massive curruption and incompetence, then I will stand against his efforts, and blame him for the failures.

I agree with you that if the US govt has sent its troops to fight an unjust war that "support" for them at home would include calling for their recall. However, I do not consider the war unjust, though I may be convinced that its execution is too retarded to succeed (destroying more than is neccessary, rebuilding projects that serve only as corprate welfare projects). If this is the case, I would support withdrawl if Bush can't fix its execution.

I also agree with you that the US military efforts have not yet resulted in a victory.

Paul Hue said...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/27/AR2006052700846_pf.html

Perhaps a rush to judgement?

Paul Hue said...

A news report on MSNBC last night, which included interviews with surviving civilians, made a convincing case that the soldiers responded to a roadside bomb by launching a massacre against the two houses and a parked cab (with four young men inside) that the soldiers probably thought were populated by people who knew about the bomb, and some that even may have planted it.