Out of Iraq!
In the first month after the war on Iraq’s fourth anniversary, the war and occupation enters its fifth year with more disinformation continuing to come to light (testimony of Jessica Lynch; Pat Tillman killed by “friendly fire”) and Bill Moyers PBS documentary ‘Buying the War‘.
Meanwhile, the Senate’s number two Democrat Dick Durbin admitted he knew that the American public was being misled into the Iraq war but claimed that he was compelled to remain silent because as a member of the intelligence committee, he was sworn to secrecy: “I was angry about it. [But] frankly, I couldn’t do much about it because, in the intelligence committee, we are sworn to secrecy. We can’t walk outside the door and say the statement made yesterday by the White House is in direct contradiction to classified information that is being given to this Congress.” Someone please send him a whistleblowers manual: his silence has cost lives and revealed a corruption of accountability, to say the least.
And George Tenet, who headed the Central Intelligence Agency in the run-up to and after the March 2003 invasion of Iraq, has released his book At the Center of the Storm, in which he says there was never a real debate in the White House about Saddam Hussein’s regime and whether the war war warranted. In the book he writes: “The true tragedy of Iraq is that it didn’t have to be this way. We were dismissive about the capacity of Iraqis to control their own future. We have struggled ever since.” While the book provides another damning indictment of the administration, one should also be mindful that Tenet went along with cooked intelligence and that the motive of the book is to hit back at the administration and attempt to absolve his own involvement in the criminal actions of the lead-up to the invasion (see this video clip arguing that Tenet’s complicity must also be recognized — thanks Fanonite).
I have plucked this month as another stocktaking point, with representative references from various MSM and alternative press sources to reflect upon these past four years since the awful Anglo-American invasion. Lest we let up our efforts to help end this war, to expose disinformation, to forget the destruction of lives and of a whole country on neocon lies.
In April, there is also some springtime hope. As the Congressional Democrats continue to slither and slide on representing the will of the American electorate (and more importantly, the will of Iraqis), perhaps the least known Democratic president candidate, Mike Gravel, made the best showing in speaking up about the war against Iraq (see video below) and has been the most noticed n the blogosphere, while fellow contender Dennis Kucinich bolstered impeachment proceedings by introducing House Resolution 333 for the Impeachment of Richard Cheney, amid the impeachment movement gaining ground and grassroots support.
6 minutes:
April Press Picks
- Don Monkerud, We’ve Been Surging For Years: More troops in Iraq than reported, TomPaine, 6 April 2007
- Robert Scheer, Iraqis Finally Unite—Against the U.S., Truth Dig, 10 April 2007
- Robert Fisk, Divide and rule – America’s plan for Baghdad, Independent, 11 April 2007
- Dahr Jamail, Refugees Speak of Escape from Hell, IPS, 11 April 2007
- BBC, Iraq policy ‘spawned new terror’, BBC Report on Oxford Research Group findings, 11 April 2007
- Patrick Cockburn, Under siege: A special report from war-torn Mosel, Independent, 12 April 2007
- Matthew B. Stannard, Anna Badkhen, Tour extension hits families, soldiers hard, San Francisco Chronicle, 12 April 2007
- Haifa Zangana, The Iraqi resistance only exists to end the occupation, The Guardian, 12 April 2007
- Pepe Escobar, The Baghdad Gulag, Asia Times, 13 April 2007
- Dilip Hiro, Sadr’s Rising Star to Eclipse Bush’s Surge?, TomDispatch, 15 April 2007
- Keith B. Richburg, Iraqis Say Lynch Raid Faced No Resistance, Washington Post, 15 April 2007
- IRIN, Thousands without food and supplies due to failing distribution system, 16 April 2007
- IRIN, Thousands Missing Since War Began, 18 April 2007
- Ed Crooks, Iraq may hold twice as much oil, Financial Times, 18 April 2007
- IRIN, Walls will increase violence, specialists say, 23 April
- German Press Agency, Work on Baghdad wall continues despite premier’s opposition, dpa, 23 April, 2007
- Saul Landau, The Courage to Withdraw: Axis of Cowards – Bush, Congress and the Media, Counterpunch, 23 April 2007
- Nir Rosen, Security Contractors: Riding Shotgun With Our Shadow Army In Iraq, Mother Jones, 24 April 2007
- Mark Tran, ‘Little girl Rambo’ [Jessica Lynch] decries US propaganda, Guardian, 24 April 2007
- Vivienne Walt, Iraqi Oil: More Plentiful Than Thought, Time, 24 April
- IRIN, Decline in municipal services boosts violence and disease, 25 April 2007
- Riverbend, The Great Wall of Segregation, Baghdad Burning blog, 26 April
- IRIN, “Last chance” for gov’t to restore order, 26 April
- Bill Moyers, Buying the War, PBS, transcript; video; Democracy Now! interview
- Felicity Arbuthnot, Ghettoizing Baghdad, Uruknet and PeoplesVoice, 26 April
- Mike Gravel, Democratic Presidential Candidates Debate in South Carolina, 26 April 2007 (6 minutes)
- Sean Lengell, Durbin kept silent on prewar knowledge, Washington Times, 27 April 2007
- Terri Judd, Serving British soldier exposes horror of war in ‘crazy’ Basra, Independent, 27 April 2007
- Nancy A. Youssef, U.S. officials exclude bombs in touting drop in Iraq violence, McClatchy, 27 April 2007
- Scott Shane and Mark Mazzetti, George Tenet, in book, denounces Cheney over Iraq, IHT, 27 April 2007
- Joe Lauria, After debate, little-known Democrat draws a crowd, Boston Globe, 28 April 2007
- Angus Reid, Support for Iraq War Timetable Hits 64%, Angus Reid Global Monitor, 28 April
- Mark Hosenball, Mythmaking (lying about Jessica Lynch), MSNBC, 28 April 2007
- AP, Tenet Says CIA Warned White House Seven Months Before Iraq Invasion That Anarchy Could Ensue, Frankfurt Times, 28 April 2007
- Karen DeYoung, Tenet says Cheney had eye on Iraq long before 9/11, Houston Chronicle, 28 April 2007
- Kurt Nimmo, Corporate Media Ignores Durbin’s Admission Iraq Invasion was Predicated on Lies, ADE, 29 April 2007
- Robin Wright, Saudi King Declines to Receive Iraqi Leader, Washington Post, 29 April 2007
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