Obama's Message to American Troops : You Got The Job Done
Fom Liveleak Feb 28, 2009
President Obama in this speech seems to have been drinking the Bush/Cheney Kool-aid on Iraq- A disappointment to many of Obama's supporters.
Does this mean there will be no investigations into the lies and propaganda by the Bush Regime which led to this unnecessary war. Does this mean there will be no serious investigations into the mishandling of the war. Does this mean there will be no investigations into the Billions lost in no bid contracts for work which was to be done in Iraq which was either never done or for which contractors over charged besides the billions just misplaced. Many corporations such as Halliburton, Kellog, Brown and Root and Mercenaries made a fortune on the war.
Will these War Profiteers be investigate and where necessary indicted. Given that Obama is surrounded by people who themselves may have benefited financially fro the Iraq War there is little chance of Obama taking serious actions against them . This Americans are told is just business as usual and that Americans are just supposed to go along with such corruption since it is just part of the American way of doing things.
Further Obama in this speech has indicated that he is giving a general pardon to all of those American soldiers, contractors or Pentagon or CIA personnel who have committed various crimes in Iraq from fraud to killing innocent Iraqi citizens to torture and abuse of Prisoners of War (AKA by Bush & co. as Detainees ) So where does Obama stand on the question of justice for the Iraqi people or has he just written them off and told them to be thankful that the US forces didn't kill them all.
US forces are responsible for over one million Iraqi deaths .Where 's the fair compensation for the families of those who were killed. Where is America's commitment to funding Iraqis to rebuild their own country. And where is the apology to the Iraqi people from Obama and the US government and the US Media and the American people for screwing up their country and turning much of it into rubble due to America's Massive bombing campaigns in Iraq as in Fallujah and other destroyed cities.
According to the United Nations and International Human Rights organizations the US did not fight the Iraq War in an honorable or moral or legal manner. The United States to begin with lied to its own people and to the United Nations why Iraq was an imminent danger and had to be attacked WMDs , ties to Al Qaeda etc.
During its Shock and Awe attack on Iraq the US forces and commanders and the White House permitted the bombing of non-military sites and densely populated areas. Once the US forces took control of Iraq they began an illegal occupation of the country. While doing so American troops were permitted to commit more atrocities on the civilian population - massive round ups of suspects who were then held indefinitely and never charged and were then abused and tortured by US personnel. This has continued up til the present time.
Obama has done little to insist that US soldiers and other personnel in Iraq treat the Iraqi people according to International Law and the Geneva Conventions that is treat them with respect and not ignore their basic human rights. An occupying army has obligations under international law which the American military and government have shown by their actions that they are not bound in any way shape or form by such agreements. This was the Bush/Cheney argument and it still holds today in Iraq.
Top U.N. Official Accuses U.S. of Inhuman 'Atrocities' in Iraq, Afghanistan Fox News March 4, 2009
A top U.N. official accused the United States of committing inhuman "atrocities" in Iraq and Afghanistan during a speech Wednesday to the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva.
"The aggressions against Iraq and Afghanistan and their occupations constitute atrocities that must be condemned and repudiated by all who believe in the rule of law in international relations," said U.N. General Assembly President Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann.
The following is an excerpt from speech by Miguel D'Escoto Brockman of March 4, 2009. Here he discusses the War Crimes committed by the US in Iraq and Afghanistan. Of course much of the Mainstream Media didn't bother to report on this speech or claimed it was just a lot of nonsense and the rhetoric of those people who are jealous of America's power or just hate America. But these are serious accusations which President Obama should address and do what is necessary to bring to justice those who permitted or ordered that these crimes take place. But Obama either doesn't see that these were crimes who is afraid of the political and media back lash if he actually investigates these crimes and hands out indictments where necessary. Or is President Obama just a typically deluded American when it comes to supporting the US military and that he believes it can do no wrong.
ADDRESS BY H.E. MIGUEL D’ESCOTO BROCKMANN,PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY,
TO THE HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL GENEVA 4 MARCH 2009
Finally, I urge the Council to focus on the profound
problems that have been created by the massive violations
human rights in Iraq. Even as the world absorbs the
inhumanity of the recent invasion of Gaza, we see Iraq as a
contemporary and ongoing example of how the illegal use of
force leads inexorably to human suffering and disregard for
human rights. It has set a number of precedents that we
cannot allow to stand. The illegality of the use of force against
Iraq cannot be doubted as its runs contrary to the prohibition
of the use of force in article 2(4) of the UN Charter. All
pretended justifications not withstanding, the aggressions
against Iraq and Afghanistan and their occupations, constitute
atrocities that must be condemned and repudiated by all who
believe in the rule of law in international relations.
26. Reliable and independent experts estimate that over one
million Iraqis have lost their lives as a direct result of the
illegal invasion of their country. The various UN human rights
monitors have prepared report after report documenting the
unending litany of violations from crimes of war, rights of
children and women, social rights, collective punishment and
treatment of prisoners of war and illegal detention of civilians.
These must be addressed to bring an end to the scandalous
present impunity.
What can the Council do? I urge you to put the
questions of the situation of human rights in Iraq on your
agenda. You might discuss the appointment of a special
mechanism to report on the situation of human rights there.
You also might consider the reports of the Office of the High
Commissioner on Human Rights that are prepared by the
United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI). It is ironic
that for almost 20 years before the U.S. led invasion and
occupation, there was a Special Rapporteur on Iraq. Yet
precisely when the largest human catastrophe on earth began
to unfold in Iraq in 2003, this post was eliminated. Reliable
sources estimate there are over one million civilian deaths in
Iraq as a direct result of the U.S. led aggression and
occupation, and still there is no Special Rapporteur. This is a
serious omission that should be corrected.
Iraq War Veteran Speaks Out Against Iraq Occupation and U.S. Foreign Policy
April, 11, 2007-Killing innocent civilians and turning the city of Fallujah into rubble in response to the deaths of four mercenaries-
"A soldier who served in Iraq speaks out against the endless occupation of Iraq and the atrocities he and his fellow soldiers committed there."
Also see article analyzing the Myth of success in Iraq. Is a million dead Iraqis a sign of success. Is the destruction of Iraqi cities also a sign of success.Will the continued occupation of Iraq contribute to peace in Iraq or will the presence of 50,000 or more troops be seen as an insult to Iraq's future autonomy as a state.
U.S.: Military Dominance in Mideast Proven a Costly Myth Analysis by Gareth Porter Information Clearing House
WASHINGTON, Mar 5 (IPS) - The arguments for maintaining a major U.S. combat force in Iraq at least through 2011, escalating U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan and assuming a confrontational stance toward Iran appear to assume that the United States remains the dominant military power in the region.
But the pattern of recent history and current developments in the region has not supported that assumption. Not only has the United States been unable to prevail over stubborn nationalist and sectarian forces determined to resist U.S. influence, but it has not been able to use its military supremacy to wage successful coercive diplomacy against Iran.
Furthermore, even the ability of the United States to maintain troops in Iraq and Afghanistan turns out to be dependent on regimes which are by no means aligned with the United States.
Six years ago, after the United States had removed the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and Saddam Hussein in Iraq, the U.S. appeared to be militarily dominant in the region. Apart from its nearly 200,000 troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, the United States had surrounded Iran with a network of airbases scattered across the region from the Persian Gulf sheikdoms through Iraq and Afghanistan to the Central Asian republics of Kyrgystan and Uzbekistan, along with aircraft on U.S. ships in the Persian Gulf.
...The evolution of Iraqi politics belies the popular narrative that Gen. David Petraeus miraculously rescued the U.S. war from a bad strategy and ultimately prevailed over U.S. "enemies", including Iran
Are these the American Values promoted in the video below that Obama wants to spread to Iraq and Afghanistan and the rest of the Arab and Muslim world. These guys are racists sadistic SOBs. Are these the soldiers that Americans must support no matter what. Spreading American values from MyLai to Fallujah to Abu Ghraib and Bagram.
The " Ugly American " Praised By The American People
Disturbing video US troops insane: American Hypocrisy-March 6, 2008
Even now with Obama as president millions of Patriotic Americans see nothing wrong with this outrageous behavior. Is this part of the training of the US soldiers to hate and demean a whole people and their religion. The War on Terror is just another excuse for American expansionism and the defense of its racist Empire.
Is this operation freedom?
American soldiers shooting civilians-July 17 2008
There seems to be no apparent reasons for all the shooting they shoot at anything that enters the intersection . Were there signs posted telling Iraqi citizens not to enter the area or you will be shot and your car destroyed. Ah well its just good old holier than thou Christian Americans having fun. Are these the actions which Obama is now defending or will he insist that the military investigate such incidents or better still have an impartial outside group investigate all of these incidents. The problem is that there are so many such incidents that it appears as a pattern of abuse which was allowed to take place by those higher up that includes commanders in the field and those closest to Bush /Cheney inner circle. Besides all of Obama's reassuring rhetoric is he willing to commit himself to a course of action which will lead to justice.
Lying over Iraqi Genocide " By Gideon Polya at Media With Conscience, March 4, 2009
The core messages from the WW2 Jewish Holocaust are surely “zero tolerance for racism”, “never again to anyone”, “bear witness” and “zero tolerance for lying”, injunctions ignored by Mainstream media and by Obama in relation to the ongoing Palestinian, Iraqi and Afghan Genocides.
Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) Radio National recently reported thus from Mainstream media sources and a Washington correspondent:
“More than 4,200 Americans have been killed, tens of thousands of Iraqis have died and the conflict has cost hundreds of billions of dollars …
...However expert observers have a completely different view of the “reality” presented by the ABC as outlined below.
1. “More than 4,200 Americans have been killed” ignores other US Alliance deaths and huge numbers of wounded.
According to Iraq Casualties 4,253 Americans have been killed and 31,010 have been wounded (such as not to return to duty within 3 days); US and US Alliance deaths total 4,571.
2. “Tens of thousands of Iraqis have died” is a 100-fold lower estimation of the reality of about 2.3 million violent and non-violent Iraqi post-invasion excess deaths.
Just Foreign Policy (an organization of eminent US scholars and US elected representatives) says 1,311, 696 Iraqis have been killed post-invasion, this regularly updated figure being based on the survey data published in the top medical journal “The Lancet” by distinguished US medical epidemiologists from Johns Hopkins and Columbia Universities and corroborated by an independent survey by the top UK commercial polling organization ORB.
However those dying avoidably since the US Alliance Occupation include not only those killed violently but those killed non-violently through deprivation and deprivation-exacerbated disease. These non-violent avoidable deaths can be estimated from comparative UN Population Division mortality data. As of March 2009, the post-invasion non-violent excess deaths (non-violent avoidable deaths) total 984,000 (1.0 million).
The report also ignores the 630,000 post-invasion Iraqi under-5 infant deaths (about 0.1 million every year, 270 daily, largely avoidable and due to egregious US Alliance war crimes and equivalent to the 9-11 death toll every 11 days according to the UN Population Division, plus an estimated 6 million refugees (as estimated by the eminent, international BRussells Tribunal.
3. “The conflict has cost hundreds of billions of dollars” underestimates the real accrual cost of $3 trillion by a factor of 10.
2001 Economics Nobel Laureate Professor Joseph Stiglitz (Columbia University) and his Harvard University colleague Professor Linda Bilmes have estimated that the accrual cost of the Iraq war has been $3 trillion.
Of particular interest to the million of newly unemployed around the world (and potentially hundreds of thousands of Australians losing their jobs because of US-caused economic recession) is the expert view of 2001 Economics Nobel Laureate Professor Joseph Stiglitz that the Iraq war has bankrupted America. [7].
4. Obama’s “by August 31st 2010 our combat mission in Iraq will end“ is an outright Obama lie according to “35,000 and 50,000 American troops will stay behind after August next year to help train the Iraqi forces and to undertake counter terrorism missions“
5. “He's [Obama’s] praised the efforts of the US military” means Obama accepts complicity in the Iraq War, the Iraqi Holocaust and Genocide.
The invasion was illegal under International Law and based on egregious falsehood. According to a News.com article re US Center for Public Integrity: “US President George W Bush and other top officials issued almost one thousand false statements about the national security threat from Iraq following the September 11 attacks, according to a study by two not-for-profit organisations”. Outstanding writers referring to the Iraqi Holocaust and/or Iraqi Genocide include Dr Mark Weissbrot (Just Foreign Policy), Dr Paul Craig Roberts (conservative Father of Reaganomics), John Pilger (Australian-UK writer) and Tariq Ali ( Pakistani-UK writer). [8].
6. “He's [Obama’s] also promised to have all US troops out of Iraq by the end of 2011” is contradicted by US military who have foreshadowed endless involvement.
and for another critical view of Obama's speech at Camp Lejeune in which the author is surprised how far Obama goes in defending the unnecessary US invasion and occupation of the Sovereign Nation of Iraq:
Obama’s jejune comments at Camp Lejeune by Bob Boldt at Media With Conscience , March 4, 2009
Our soldiers are still suffering from an unbearable level of cognitive dissonance unparalleled from any other conflict in our history, save only Vietnam. The war and the quality of service of our military in Iraq is nothing to be proud of by any stretch of the imagination.
According to a strict definition of Geneva (one that I would never advocate) every volunteer in the coalition forces could be brought up on war crimes charges. Admittedly our troops in Iraq were lied to and brainwashed as to the history of American/Iraqi relations as well as the true reasons and goals of the conflict. They are more deserving of our pity than our honor.
They did not fight “against tyranny and disorder.” They brought tyranny and disorder to a country that, while far from a model democracy, had one of the highest levels of literacy in the mideast. It was a country that, in spite of our enforcement of crippling sanctions, still had a degree of freedom, infrastructure comfort and opportunity that, since our invasion, has all but ceased to exist.
I have no idea what the hell he is referring to in his thinking that the Marines’ burden of sacrifice has brought some “precious opportunity to the people of Iraq.” With careful, judicious effort on our part, including the payment of billions in reparations, Iraq may barely be able to return to the level of status it was enjoying on March 19, 2003. And this precious, mythical opportunity will never be realized by the million dead Iraqis whose blood will remain on our hands for all time. I think that all these statements indicate is that President Obama has been smoking Bush’s old press releases—and inhaling.
... What we did in Iraq violated all the established standards of civilized behavior and the canons of international law, not that that has made much difference to our government in its past history. His statement appears to endorse this kind of illegality. Does he really mean that? Is that going to be his policy in Pakistan? Will he continue to ignore the democratically elected government of Haamas?
Does it even bear repeating once again that what we really told our troops and the country was: the reasons for the war was the removing of weapons of mass destruction, to make the mideast safe for US gunboat diplomacy, to swell the pockets of Dick Cheney’s partners in crime, and as payback for Saddam’s role in the destructions of 9/11?
I wish I could honestly say that I was shocked—shocked to hear that Obama is shamelessly kowtowing to the military-industrial complex. As one of Obama’s campaign workers, I cautioned my fellow progressives not to think he would substantially change US foreign policy or the primacy of military solutions over diplomatic ones. I hope that subsequent events will prove these predictions wrong.
This speech with its wholly unnecessary justification of Bush’s policies and lies in Iraq make me wonder if we may not have elected a kinder, gentler despot when it comes to international diplomacy.
and so it goes,
GORD.
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