GET OUT of Iraq; it's the ONLY answer.

[LynnTheDem]

"Our armies do not come into your cities and lands as conquerors or enemies, but as liberators..."

Then:

Facing calls for a military withdrawal;

"Is it not for the benefit of the people of that country that it should be governed so as to enable them to develop this land which has been withered and shrivelled up by oppression? What would happen if we withdrew?"

We will "not abandon Iraq to "anarchy and confusion".

British officials in Baghdad were blaming the violence on "local political agitation, originated outside Iraq", suggesting that Syria might be involved.

http://www.robert-fisk.com/articles403.htm

Sound familiar? It should. Only that was in the 1920s, during Britain's first attempt to occupy Iraq. Same donkey, different blanket.

Iraqis have lived this lie before.

In Iraq we don't just read history at school - we carry it within ourselves. It's no wonder, then, that we view what is happening in Iraq now of "liberation-mandate-nominal sovereignty" as a replay of what took place in the 1920s and afterwards.

Britain was awarded a mandate over Iraq by the League of Nations to legitimise its occupation of the country. A decision was taken to replace the occupation with a provisional Iraqi government, assisted by British advisers under the authority of the high commissioner of Iraq.

-Sound familiar? It should.

Any protest against the British-imposed monarchy was regarded as the work of "extremists". The British retained their power, through military bases, advisers and control of oil.

-Sound familiar? It should.

Elections were managed, corruption was widespread, bombing and military force was used against popular uprisings...

-Sound familiar? It should. And it will continue to.

Three major events have shaped our national identity. The 1920 revolution, the 1958 coup regarded by most Iraqis as a revolution that finally achieved real Iraqi independence - and the Palestinian cause. At the heart of the three lay the struggle to end occupation. Occupation has always been perceived as a process by which to rob us of our identity and dignity. The British, in the past, failed to understand the depth of the feeling among Iraqis both against occupation and towards the Palestinian issue. Now, in their partnership with the US, they are repeating the same mistakes.

As in the past, Iraqis are denied their natural right to resist the occupier and its imposed form of government. The "extremists" of our history are now called "terrorists".

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1249508,00.html

Britain's first occupation attempt. Guess what? The Iraqis kicked the UK out, and had no civil war.

A Report on Mesopotamia by T.E. Lawrence (August 22, 1920)
http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/iraq/history/1920arabia.htm

Deceit and Duplicity: Some Reflections on Western Intervention in Iraq
http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/iraq/history/2003/0303deceit.htm

Lessons of 1920 Revolt Lost on Bremer
http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/iraq/history/2003/1117revolt.htm

Britain Tried First. Iraq Was No Picnic Then.
http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/iraq/history/2003/0720britain.htm

Postmodern Imperialism
http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/iraq/after/2003/0424postmodern.htm

Miss Bell's Lines in the Sand
http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/iraq/history/2003/0312missbell.htm

Iraq: The Imperial Precedent
http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/iraq/history/2003/0103Tripp.htm

Civil war in Iraq? Bull. There has never been civil war in Iraq. There was no civil war in Iraq after the Iraqis kicked the UK out the first time. And WE CAN'T STOP CIVIL WAR in Iraq anyways.

We can't even guard a 2-mile stretch of highway.

We must rebuild Iraq? Bull. Water, electricity, oil; they're all LESS than the levels under Hussein. He managed to get Iraq levels back up within weeks of the end of the Gulf War. GOING ON THREE YEARS, the world's "hyper-power" can't even get Iraq levels up to Saddam's.

Bush and Blair continue to peddle the myth, beloved of old colonialists, that Iraqis will start a civil war if the "benevolent" presence of the occupation forces is removed.

It is the US-led presence itself which is dividing Iraqis now. The US is deepening a split between a minority for and an overwhelming majority against the US-led forces.

http://www.countercurrents.org/iraq-ramadani030704.htm

The Shia/Sunni rift is largely a CIA generated myth. There are countless tribes and marriages alike that are both Shia/Sunni. There are mosques here where they pray together.

There is the possibility of war if the Kurds go independent, but the more likely possibility of that war would be Turkey invading Kurdistan before any Shia/Sunni action would occur regarding this.

Another Iraqi man pointed out that if there were a civil war, no Shia or Kurdish attack on Fallujah could ever possibly compare to the devastation the US military has caused there.

I think he makes a good point.

http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/20669

The Bush administration has promoted the idea that Iraq will descend into civil war and chaos without the occupation. This argument is no more credible than the “terrorist base” argument.

Unlike the United States, Iraq has never had a full-fledged civil war. There have been various revolts and revolutions, but never a full-fledged civil war on the scale of the American civil war. This propaganda about the inevitability of civil war if the US pulls out plays off stereotypes and prejudices many Americans have about “third world” peoples – that “they” are extremely unstable, have lots of civil wars, frequent coups and major ethnic tensions. Such stereotypes simply do not apply to Iraq.

http://question-everything.mahost.org/Socio-Politics/Iraq.html

We must stay to prevent civil war; we must stay to rebuild what we broke...even though the Iraqis don't want us to stay? So we must IGNORE what the Iraqis want, because ONLY WE are capable of preventing a worse situation in Iraq; we must stay because ONLY WE are capable of rebuilding Iraq?

That's racist, that's "white man's burden", that's ignorant and arrogant...and it's wrong. Want to correct the great wrong bush in our names has done to Iraq? Then GET OUT of Iraq...and leave a blank signed check.

IRAQ FOR IRAQIS; INVADERS GO HOME.

[norml]

1. Yes, get out. Turn it over to the UN on whatever term they'll take it.

Turn it over to the locals on whatever terms they'll take it. Let the government we've set up rise or fall on it's own. If it falls those who staff it can go back to living in London. Whoever does take power locally will eventually tire of people who blow up things. They will want to get back to business, as we have seen with Vietnam, and other formerly hostile places we have left.