Part I

Now that we know that the case for the invasion and occupation of Iraq was largely based upon a spectacular combination of exaggeration, half-truths, and lies, it's hard to take the fact that on April 2, 2004, UPI's Investigations Editor Mark Benjamin, in an interview with journalist Amy Goodman, reported that over 18,000 Americans have been evacuated from Iraq, to hospitals in Germany and the United States, for "medical reasons." According to the Pentagon, this number includes over 11,700 casualties. Some of the service peoples' injuries are "comparatively minor", while many others are devastatingly severe. To date, officially, more than 700 Americans have died in Iraq. Interestingly, the government often doesn't report the wounding of a soldier unless another soldier involved in the incident is killed. Because most American troops wear high-tech body armor, their injuries often involve damage to or the loss of hands, arms, legs, hearing, sight and so on. This past October, the Boston Globe reported that, "Approximately 20% of the injured in Iraq have suffered severe brain injuries." And though General Tommy Franks has declared, "We don't do body counts", several research institutions and media outlets have reported an estimated 16,000 to 18,000 Iraqi deaths. Included among the dead is an estimated 8,700 civilians. In addition, 8,000 to 10,000 Iraqis are, currently, being held prisoner by US-led forces.

The guerilla cells attacking US and coalition forces are primarily using improvised bombs, rocket-propelled grenades, small arms, and as of late, surface to air missiles and suicide bombers. Because of the way reports of these attacks are being suppressed and manipulated, the casual observer, generally, does not appreciate their frequency or severity. More and more, as Sunnis and Shiites cooperate against the occupation forces, the opposition is taking on the character of a nationalist resistance movement. For American troops, in many ways, America's unjustified and illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq is becoming "a Vietnam in the desert." There are those who fail to see or don't want to admit that this is the case, but many of these same people refused to accept the war in Vietnam was an un-winnable quagmire. Historians will one day liken the massacre in Falluja to the murders at My Lai.

In political terms, now that the United States has gone from its largest national budget surplus ever, to its largest deficit ever, we're being told that we have money for bombs, but not for education, money for missiles, but not for health care, money for unconstitutional detentions and secret war, but not much for the jobless, plenty of time for violence, but none for peace. But Congress, nevertheless, approved $87 billion for war, on top of the $82 billion previously appropriated. The United States' war of aggression in Iraq has little, if anything, to do with protecting the American people. Preemptive invasion and occupation of other countries for the sake of profit and false pride is bad policy. It's illegal policy. It's immoral policy. It's colonialism. It's what the American Revolution defeated.

Part II

The era of drunken pirate "skull and cross bones" gunboat diplomacy is over. And any nation that pins its hopes for the future on such a ruthless and unjust approach will, in the long run, only reap national disappointment, humiliation, and tragedy. America's ruling elite, if they're not too busy handing out reconstruction contracts, should heed the advice of nations that have lost empire, nations that have been there and done that, and know what lies ahead for the United States, if it stays its current global course. They should ask nations like Germany, France, Portugal, Belgium, Japan or the former Soviet Union, about what happens to a nation that arrogantly overreaches its capacity and moral authority. One is pressed to wonder, at what point, if ever, will enough people inside the un-elected clique currently occupying the White House, recognize that colonialism is dead. And to wonder if they will ever accept that young people need not go through psychological trauma or shed more blood in a war, despite all the "stopping terrorism" rhetoric and propaganda, that's not for justice or democracy, but for oil and empire.

No nation has the right, wisdom, or ability to unilaterally run the world. And the lives of our youth, as well as our tax dollars, could be better spent. A nation can defeat opposing armies, but it will never defeat the logic and motion of history. If they so choose, the Iraqi people deserve free and fair, United Nations supervised, direct elections, based on the concept of one-person-one vote. And the United States government needs to be prepared to accept the results of those elections regardless of who wins. The destiny of Iraq should be determined by the people, not a puppet government. America's troops deserve our support. We can best support by bringing them home. END

Sources: US Department of Defense, US Central Command, British Ministry of Defense, Associated Press, United Press International, Boston Globe, Reuters, and Pacifica Network.

Note:
The US government talks a lot about democracy, but what follows is a list of some of the nations whose democratically elected government was overthrown by the CIA: Guatemala, Chile, Nicaragua, the Congo, Liberia, Iran, Indonesia, Brazil, Jamaica, Ecuador, Greece, the Philippines, Honduras, South Vietnam, Ghana, and Haiti.

Editor's Note:
Lloyd Daniel, a former Missouri State Representative, is a writer, educator, and advocate. He's author of the book, "Liberation Education." He's a Founding member of the National Black United Front, a Silver Life member of the NAACP, and 10-year member of the ACLU. His website address is www.lloyddaniel.info He lives in Kansas City.