'Entire U.S. Political Class' Now Tarred With Iraq

[unhappycamper]

'Entire U.S. Political Class' Now Tarred With Iraq
EDITORIAL
Translated By Douglas Myles Rasmussen
June 1, 2007


During the month that ended yesterday, the United States armed forces lost 123 soldiers in Iraq. That figure means that May 2007 has been - after April 2004 (with 137 dead) - the deadliest period for the occupiers in the 50 and a half months since President George W. Bush ordered the invasion of that unfortunate Arab country. But unlike that black April - when the invaders took the rebel city of Fallujah by blood and fire and leveled it - there has been no offensive in the last 30 days on a scale that explain this rate of over four deaths per day among the occupying troops - losses that now come to 3,474 for the United States, 147 for England and 127 for the lesser contingents that have gone along with the aggression, all for a grand total of 3,743 fallen invaders.

Other figures that illustrate the size of the military catastrophe confronting Washington in Iraq, are the 34,650 wounded or “medical evacuees” recorded by U.S. forces since the beginning of the war, the 111 soldiers that in the course of the conflict have committed suicide or have inflicted serious wounds on themselves, and the indeterminate number (but much higher than 400 in any case) of “contractors” - the term used by the Pentagon to refer to mercenaries that have died over the course of the occupation.

On the other hand, the circulation of these numbers in the media rests on a flagrant immorality: the silence - on the part of Western governments and media - over the human cost inflicted on the Iraqis themselves because of the war imposed on them by the government of the United States. On this point, the organization Iraq Body Count calculates between 64,000 and 71,000 dead, but other organizations estimate that the figure could be up to 300,000. Nor does the information from what calls itself the “Civilized World” put much emphasis on the 123 informants that have lost their lives during the conflict and who come, predominantly, from Iraq itself or other Arab, Muslim or Asian nations.

Until last November, the main responsibility for this intolerable massacre rested with the governments of Washington and London, the principal promoters of the destruction of Iraq. But, since the U.S. Congressional election late last year, the entire political class of that country has decided to validate the war, death and violence being endured by the occupied nation. In effect, after obtaining majorities in both houses of Congress, the Democratic opposition attempted a few gestures in rejection of foolish, warmongering Bush, but by their actions ended up backing the increased U.S. military presence on Iraqi territory and, with it, the tasks of death, violence and plunder carried out by the invading forces.

~snip~

With its endorsement of the White House's genocidal policies, every substantial difference between the Democratic Party and ruling Republicans, along with their corporate mafia lobby - the only beneficiaries of a war that has offended the rest of the world - have disappeared. This is a war that must be concluded in the only way possible: Washington must accept its defeat and unconditionally remove its forces from Iraq.

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