Apocalypse Again (Vietnam Redux?) - Nat Parry/Consortium News

Apocalypse Again

By Nat Parry
May 4, 2004

A reprise of that tragedy -- a kind of "Apocalypse Again" -- is now playing out in Iraq, with U.S. soldiers sent halfway around the globe to invade and occupy a country supposedly with the goal of protecting the world from violence and introducing democratic freedoms. As in Vietnam, there is a widening gap between the uplifting rhetoric and the ugly facts on the ground.

On April 30, for instance, with previous claims about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction and Saddam Hussein's supposed links to al-Qaeda no longer tenable, George W. Bush touted a humanitarian justification for the invasion. "There are no longer torture chambers or rape rooms or mass graves in Iraq," Bush told reporters as he retreated to this latest line of defense. But now even those minimal standards don't appear to be true.

The year-long occupation of Iraq – like the war in Vietnam – has led some U.S. troops to engage in behavior that much of the world views as madness or war crimes.

More: http://www.consortiumnews.com/2004/050404.html