The devastation of Iraq

By Dahr Jamail

Jan 11, 2005


The devastation of Iraq? Where do I start? After working seven of the past 12 months in Iraq, I'm still overwhelmed by even the thought of trying to describe this.

The illegal war and occupation of Iraq was waged for three reasons, according to the administration of US President George W Bush. First for weapons of mass destruction, which have yet to be found. Second, because the regime of Saddam Hussein had links to al-Qaeda, which Bush has personally admitted have never been proved. The third reason - embedded in the very name of the invasion, Operation Iraqi Freedom - was to liberate the Iraqi people.

So Iraq is now a liberated country.

<snip>

In December 2003, for instance, a man in Baghdad, speaking of the Abu Ghraib atrocities, said to me, "Why do they use these actions? Even Saddam Hussein did not do that. This is not good behavior. They are not coming to liberate Iraq." And by then the bleak jokes of the beleaguered had already begun to circulate. In the dark humor that has become so popular in Baghdad these days, one recently released Abu Ghraib detainee I interviewed said, "The Americans brought electricity to my ass before they brought it to my house."


more....


http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/GA11Ak01.html


This report and the report in the Guardian today are both most reads. What Bush and the US military are doing to Iraq is called Genocide. It is wrong and it is way past time to make them stop.


City of ghosts
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1387460,00.html

I really hope the insurgents or the U.S. doesn’t get to him before he leaves the country. Keep it up Dahr, don't let the Military intimidate you!

one of the most important correspondents in Iraq over the past year or so, writing for The New Standard.