Iraq: The ‘Liberation’ Neocons Would Rather Forget

According to press reports last weekend, Fallujah is now under the control of al-Qaida affiliates. The Anbar province, where Fallujah is located, is under siege by al-Qaida. During the 2007 “surge,” more than 1,000 U.S. troops were killed “pacifying” the Anbar province.

Yep, almost a carbon copy of Vietnam. Face it, there is some sort of perverted pleasure in being able to say, “I told you so.” All of the Vietnam veterans that I talked to, tried to tell the world what was going to happen from the get go. But, that “don’ mean nuthin” (as we used to say). There was a hell of a lot of money to be made. (It was NOT an accident that Dick Cheney was a former president of Halliburton.) War is good business. Invest your son. — jtl, 419

by Ron Paul   via Personal Liberty Digest

Remember Fallujah? Shortly after the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the U.S. military fired on unarmed protestors, killing as many as 20 and wounding dozens. In retaliation, local Iraqis attacked a convoy of U.S. military contractors, killing four. The U.S. then launched a full attack on Fallujah to regain control, which left perhaps 700 Iraqis dead and the city virtually destroyed.

FOLLOW FLYOVER PRESS ON FACEBOOK

According to press reports last weekend, Fallujah is now under the control of al-Qaida affiliates. The Anbar province, where Fallujah is located, is under siege by al-Qaida. During the 2007 “surge,” more than 1,000 U.S. troops were killed “pacifying” the Anbar province. Although al-Qaida was not in Iraq before the U.S. invasion, it is now conducting its own surge in Anbar.

For Iraq, the U.S. “liberation” is proving far worse than the authoritarianism of Saddam Hussein, and it keeps getting worse. Last year was Iraq’s deadliest in five years. In 2013, fighting and bomb blasts claimed the lives of 7,818 civilians and 1,050 members of the security forces. In December alone, nearly 1,000 people were killed.

I remember sitting through many hearings in the House International Relations Committee praising the “surge,” which we were told secured a U.S. victory in Iraq. They also praised the so-called “Awakening,” which was really an agreement by insurgents to stop fighting in exchange for U.S. dollars. I always wondered what would happen when those dollars stopped coming.

Where are the surge and awakening cheerleaders now?

One of them, Richard Perle, was interviewed last year on NPR and asked whether the Iraq invasion that he pushed was worth it. He replied:

I’ve got to say I think that is not a reasonable question. What we did at the time was done in the belief that it was necessary to protect this nation. You can’t a decade later go back and say, well, we shouldn’t have done that.

Many of us were saying all along that we shouldn’t have done that — before we did it. Unfortunately, the George W. Bush Administration took the advice of the neocons pushing for war and promising it would be a “cakewalk.” We continue to see the results of that terrible mistake, and it is only getting worse.

Last month, the U.S. shipped nearly 100 air-to-ground missiles to the Iraqi air force to help combat the surging al-Qaida. Ironically, the same al-Qaida groups the U.S. is helping the Iraqis combat are benefiting from the U.S. covert and overt war to overthrow Bashar Assad next door in Syria. Why can’t the U.S. government learn from its mistakes?

The neocons may be on the run from their earlier positions on Iraq, but that does not mean they have given up. They were the ones pushing for an attack on Syria this summer. Thankfully, they were not successful. They are now making every effort to derail President Barack Obama’s efforts to negotiate with the Iranians. Just last week, William Kristol urged Israel to attack Iran with the hope we would then get involved. Neoconservative Senators from both parties recently introduced the Nuclear Weapon Free Iran Act of 2013, which would also bring us back on war-footing with Iran.

Next time the neocons tell us we must attack, just think “Iraq.”

——————————————————————

Books by Dr. Jimmy T. (Gunny) LaBaume

The Betrayed: On Warriors, Cowboys and Other Misfits.  Click here to buy the paperback version from Land & Livestock International’s Rancher Supply aStore.

Digital media products such as Kindle can only be purchased on Amazon.com. Click Here to buy the Kendall Version on Amazon.com

To purchase an autographed copy of the book Click Here

Planned Grazing: A Study Guide and Reference Manual by Jimmy T (Gunny) LaBaume.

This guide is a detailed book review of sorts, but perhaps it would be more accurately described as an abstract that condenses 864 pages of detail into 189 pages of concentrated information. No more excuses for failing to properly plan your grazing. The booklet is available from Amazon.com in both soft cover and Kendall versions. Click here. 

——————————————————————-

A Handbook for Ranch Managers A Comprehensive Reference Manual for Managing the Working Ranch. Click here to buy the paperback version from Land & Livestock International’s Rancher Supply aStore.

Digital media products such as Kindle can only be purchased on Amazon.com. Click Here to buy the Kendall Version on Amazon.com

To purchase an autographed copy of the book Click Here