Time to listen to Iraqis

http://media.www.dailytexanonline.com/media/storage/paper410/news/2007/06/27/Opinion/Time-To.Listen.To.Iraqis-2918889.shtml

As long as the U.S. occupies and exploits the Iraqi people to meet its own ends, life for the Iraqi people will not improve. Every day the occupation continues, Iraq's situation worsens.

The second bombing of the Shiite shrine of al-Askari in Samarra, Iraq, last week brought reprisal attacks, but it also brought solidarity against the occupiers, reported Inter Press correspondent Ali al-Fadhily. Ever since the start of the occupation, the coalition of the willing is not stabilizing Iraq, but provoking violence, and Iraqi opinion polls reflect the discontent of the people.

Most Iraqi cities have an average of one hour of electricity and water per day. Iraqi summers, where temperatures often exceed 120 degrees, are excruciating without air conditioning. Iraqis wait in lines at gas stations for hours or even days to be charged exorbitant prices for imported gas, a laughable proposition in a country with the second-greatest amount of oil on the planet. The U.S. occupation force, which harasses civilians randomly with violence, arrests and torture, only compounds these daily problems. Since World War II, 90 percent of war casualties have been innocent civilians, more than half of whom are women and children, according to the Emergency USA program. The Iraq War is no exception. According to the 2006 Lancet Report, 654,965 Iraqis have died thus far as a consequence of the invasion. By far, the highest costs of war continue to be the lives lost.

What does the U.S. plan to accomplish in Iraq? Pro-occupation proponents argue that the U.S. should stay in Iraq "until the job is done." They argue that if the U.S. were to "cut and run," the U.S. would look weak and would invite terrorist attacks. The U.S. administration addresses the issue in vague terms - giving freedom and democracy to Iraqis, getting rid of the "evil-doers," and securing safety for the United States.

Iraqis and Americans are dying while a puppet government, not democracy, has been installed. Journalist Phyllis Bennis of the Transnational Institute writes that the 2005 Iraqi election "was held under conditions of a hostile military foreign occupation. The Hague Convention of 1907, to which the U.S. is a signatory, prohibits the occupying power from creating any permanent changes in the government of the occupied territory. These elections were arranged under an electoral law and by an electoral commission installed and backed by the occupying power. They took place in an environment so violent that voters could not even learn the names of candidates, and the three days surrounding the vote included a complete lock-down of the country, including shoot-to-kill curfews in many areas."

God instructs Bush & Dick daily...