Progress versus proximate cause.(WAR)

Publication: Kurdish Life

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A martial crackdown on the resistance has led to a police state which



old Saddam could only have dreamed possible. There are more checkpoints, barbed wire and concrete barricades than ever, and every one of Iraq's prisons is bursting at the seams with those suspected of anti-US activities. Scott Taylor, Esprit de Corp, Aljazeera 4.8.05

In a New York Times article titled "Dead Wrong," Todd S. Purdum launched this critique: "The presidential intelligence commission examined each of the U.S. intelligence community's prewar assertions on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and reached these conclusions: "Nuclear weapons: Wrong; Biological weapons: Wrong; Chemical weapons: Wrong; Long-range missiles: Correct; WMD-armed drones: Wrong; Saddam's intentions: Wrong." No wonder he called it "one of the worst intelligence failures of modern times," and raised the issue the Bush administration has thus far deftly managed to evade: "So the latest and, presumably, the last official review of such questions leaves unresolved which may be the biggest question of all: Who was accountable, and will they ever be held to account for letting what amounted to mere assumptions 'harden into presumptions,' as Judge Laurence H. Silberman, chairman of the commission, put it.

"A full accounting awaits the work of historians. But already some people have been judged, albeit it in indirect ways, while others have been rewarded, even promoted. Some who foresaw potential disaster were punished or pushed aside, while the president and vice president were given new terms. George Tenet was one of the favored, given absolution by a newly elected second term president who went even further to confer on him the 'Presidential Medal of Freedom.'"

What about the dead and wounded American troops, the dead and wounded Iraqis? Just three days after the second anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq in March of 2003, the body count of American military dead has reached 1,521. "Two years on, the death toll keeps rising, the size of the 'coalition' keeps shrinking and global public support for this reckless occupation has maintained its downward spiral from a low base," William Rasberry wrote in his column for the Guardian. "Indeed, the only thing that changes is the rationale for starting the war, where the sophistry of the occupying powers keeps plumbing new depths and selective amnesia has attained new highs." (3.21.05)

On March 23rd the Ukraine announced that it would withdraw its troops from the "coalition of the willing." Iraqi "commandos backed by U.S. troops and helicopters" killed some 48 insurgents in their training camp north of Baghdad. Said a ministry official, "There are frequent clashes in the district, but this is a big deal." Another big deal: in Mosul Iraqi forces detained 70 suspects. (Reuters 3.23.05).

One day later Iraqi police "mistook" a group of Iraqi soldiers for insurgents and opened fire, setting off a gun battle that killed 3 soldiers and 2 police. In Baghdad gunmen fired on a truck transporting soldiers, injuring twelve. In Ramadi a blast at a checkpoint wounded 9 Iraqi security forces and 3 civilians. (AP 3.24.05)

Within the next 24 hours, a car bomb killed 11 Iraqi policemen and wounded 14, including 2 U.S. soldiers. In eastern Baghdad 5 female translators working for the U.S. military were found dead in a car. Iraqi army commander Maj. Gen. Suleiman Mohammad was assassinated and 2 of his sons injured. Attacks killed a total of 19 on that day.

On March 26th the Pentagon released documents indicating that the abuse of prisoners in Iraq by U.S. forces "was more widespread than previously reported ... There is evidence that suggests the 311th MI personnel and/or translators engaged in physical torture of the detainees," a memo read. The abuse was said to have occurred in a jail near Mosul. (AP 3.26.05) Interesting. The "Iraqis" keeping the peace in Mosul are largely Kurds. Iraq's prisons--and, no doubt, Kurdish prisons--were as full as a well in spring. The U.S. was holding about 10,500 prisoners, more than twice the number held in October of 2004. (AP 3.26.05)

"We are witnessing a situation in which Iraqi blood is becoming very cheap," said outgoing interior minister Fatah al-Naqub. Still he was confident that Iraqi forces could "secure" the country within 18 months. Meanwhile explosions targeted Shiite pilgrims. A bomber on a bicycle killed 2 policemen, wounded 2, and injured 3 civilians in Musayyib. Another attack near the Imam al-Khedher shrine in Khalis killed 1 pilgrim and wounded 2 others. And 3 Rumanian journalists were kidnapped.

On the 30th day in separate incidents 26 and a US marine were killed, 6 in Mosul alone. Two bodies of men executed were brought to the Mosul hospital. Close to Baiji the corpses of two brothers working for the Iraqi army were found. The British army apologized for bursting into the Basra home of Iraqi parliamentarian Mansur al-Tamimi and arresting his relatives. (Aljazeera 3.30.05)

Now while the Bulgarian government announced it would cut the number of its Iraq contingent and withdraw completely by year end, the Pentagon boasted that March was the "least deadly month in Iraq since February of 2004." Only 35 Americans died.

The Pentagon's rosy optimism was about to wilt. On the second day of April insurgents attacked Abu Ghraib prison wounding 20 American troops and 12 prisoners. Within the next three days one U.S. Marine and five U.S. troops were killed. Brig. Gen. Jalal Mohammed Saleh was kidnapped. In Babil 10 headless bodies were discovered. In Hillah a member of the provincial council was gunned down. In Baghdad Sunni cleric Hilal Karim was killed in a drive-by shooting. In Baquba gunmen wounded a government translator and killed her father. In Basra a policeman was killed and 2 injured. (AP 4.5.05).

On April 7th a U.S. Marine died in a vehicle accident in Fallujah. Hours later 4 children died in a Baghdad explosion. An Army officer was gunned down in Basra. April 9th was a bloody day. 15 National Guard members died on road through Latifiyah; five civilians were gunned down. South of Baghdad four drivers were killed. In Baghdad a deputy of cleric Muqtada al-Sadr was assassinated. In Mosul a car bomber killed 2 policemen. In Masheeda an Iraqi soldier and a civilian died. In Dujail the corpses of an Iraqi contractor and a truck driver were found. In Shurgat 4 U.S. soldiers were wounded.

This chronicle represents only the tip of this deadly drama., and with good reason. A UPI a survey conducted with "the U.S. media censors Iraq reporting." Moreover, "many reporters and editors choose less graphic images and explicit details or make them 'less noticeable.'" Reporters cited "concern for public reaction to graphic images and details about death and torture." In the words of one respondent, "Our community is notoriously squeamish and vocal about it to boot. So, we usually avoid dead bodies if we can." Said another, "The real damage of war on the civilian population was uniformly omitted." (4.5.05)

Much more has been uniformly omitted, not by the press but by the Pentagon. According to Andrew Buncombe of the Independent: "The Pentagon has been smuggling wounded soldiers in the US under cover of darkness to avoid bad publicity about the number of troops being injured and maimed in Iraq ... Records show that flights from military bases in Germany arrive in the US only at night ... Officials have also banned the media from taking pictures of the wounded being delivered to either Walter Reed or the National Naval Medical Center in nearby Bethesda." Predictably hospital spokeswoman Lyn Kurkal denied the charge. But Nancy Lassin of Military Families Speak Out, said quite the opposite: "The entire Bush administration has been trying to keep the cost of this away from the public. The whole issue of casualties and the toll has been very much hidden." (4.11.05)

Casualties are no secret to Iraqis. "Why are they attacking our own people and not killing Americans" one cried. No wonder polls taken in Iraq in the second week of April indicated that "more than 50% of Iraqis wanted the Yankees to go home." (Independent 4.10.05)

On April 11th gunmen assassinated Ajeel Machisin Ajeel, a member of the Mosul provincial council, along with his driver. U.S. and Iraqi forces launcheda huge raid in Baghdad, rounding up some 65 Iraqis suspected of being "anti-US fighters." Two Iraqis were killed and 14 wounded by a car bomb. A pickup truck blew up near a U.S. patrol killing 3 civilians and wounding 20 others. Shortly after a Pakistani and a Frenchman were kidnapped, an American contractor was spirited off. Meanwhile there were "anti-American" protests in Baghdad and Baquba.

On April 12th in Poland, Defense Minister Jazy Szmajdzinsky announced, "We are carrying out an exit strategy from Iraq." In Baghdad militants ambushed the car of Deputy Interior Minister Gen. Tariq al-Baldawi, wounding his son and 2 others. Gunmen in Kirkuk wounded 2 policemen and placed a bomb under the car of a local doctor. At Aim hospital Dr. Hamid al-Alousi said his facility received nine bodies and nearly two dozen wounded in the village of Ish. In Mosul car bombs killed 10 Iraqi civilians. And 20 Iraqis were killed and 22 injured after US helicopters and artillery bombarded a house in al-Rummane village.

Adding dishonor to disgrace, in Washington Senate Republicans "beat back" a Democratic effort to provide almost $2 billion in extra health care funding for veterans, part of an estimated $50.6 billion emergency spending bill for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. "There's a train wreck coming," warned Sen Patry Murray of Washington State, as she pleaded for an additional $1.98 billion for veterans'...

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