Despite what we are being told, most of Iraq is a disaster and in complete chaos.
The security situation is more accurately described as a guerrilla war which has been out of control for over a year. Attacks on US forces average over 70 per day, and are expected to increase.
The US military having control over any portion of Iraq is a myth. Even the "Green Zone" is mortared on a regular basis.Like in Vietnam, planes will be shot down if they don't use the spiral method of taking off & landing due to the miliary's inability to provide adequate security. The infrastructure is in shambles. For the western companies who were awarded the no-bid contracts in Iraq, it's their dream contract. Companies like Bechtel have been paid out in full for their initial contract worth $680 million and awarded contracts totaling over $3.8 Billion. Many of their projects in their initial contract were not even begun. Iraqis suffer and die from waterborne diseases. Child malnutrition is worse than during the sanctions. Unemployment is over 70%.
According to a recent poll commissioned by the British military, 82% of Iraqis want all occupation forces removed from their country. Less than 1% feel occupation forces have improved security. 45% admitted to feeling that attacks against US forces are justified.
There is now a huge number of missing persons in Iraq. Over 100,000 according to two Iraq non-government organizations. Many are believed to be detained by the US. Doctors for Iraq Society estimates that there are 60,000 Iraqis in US military detention facilities in Iraq.
During the November 2004 siege of Fallujah 60% of the city was completely destroyed. Most of the rest of it had severe damage . Iraqi NGO's and medical workers in Fallujah estimate over 4000 are dead, mostly civilians. Over 50,000 residents of Fallujah remain displaced. The US military used cluster bombs, depleted uranium munitions, and white phosphorous (a new form of napalm) during the siege, and appear to have used forms of chemical weapons as well. Fallujah was a massacre rather than a siege. Fallujah is the model of Bush's foreign policy. There has been next to no reconstruction completed inside Fallujah as was promised by occupation authorities. Many of us in the US may not have even heard that Al-Qa'im, Kerabla, Najaf, Haditha, Hit and parts of Baquba, Baghdad, Ramadi and Samarra have suffered large scale destruction by US military operations.
Iraq is already in state sponsored civil war. The puppet Iraqi government is using the Badr Army and the Kurdish Peshmerga militia to battle a primarily Sunni resistance.
The Iraqi people have little hope for a future. Most who can afford it are leaving Iraq. Those who have no choice but to stay can look forward to continued and increasing violence, no reconstruction, a fundamentalist state and an endless US occupation which was failed before it began. The American people are obliged to help the Iraqi people because it is the fault of the American people that Bush was allowed to invade Iraq. Anyone who is not doing everything in their power to end this illegal and immoral occupation is complicit with the war crimes being committed in Iraq.
Many will say that this is anti-American & will argue that they are only supporting the troops by standing behind Bush and his gang of cut-throats. Supporting an unjust & immoral war based in part on lies perpetrated by an immoral administration IS anti-American and goes against everything America was based on. The troops are doing what they are told which is the mark of a good soldier. They are following orders and doing thier job very well. Once they were placed in their current position, they have no choice in the matter. Thier survival depends on the ability to follow orders without question. Supporting our troops is not the question here. Supporting a corrupt administration is!
