Tag Archives: Iraqi army

Growing Support in America for a Ground War in Iraq: Why a Sequel is a Worse Idea than the Original

If you are a regular reader of ours, you are fully aware of our verbose writings regarding Iraq, America’s involvement in the 2003 invasion, our steadfast support of Peshmerga forces and belief in a free and independent Kurdistan, and our disdain of US contractors pilfering the peoples of Iraq to profit from the spoils of an illegal war.

Baghdad on May 28, 2015. Photo via Twitter

Baghdad on May 28, 2015. Photo via Twitter

So it should come as no surprise that we now are horrified to see a growing support for going back into Iraq to “help defeat ISIS.” But we are not alone in our view. In an article published in August, 2014 via The Diplomat, in a piece titled “Iran Didn’t Create ISIS; We Did,” Ben Reynolds write: Continue reading

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Advisors Are Not Troops?

Published on Saturday, November 08, 2014 by Common Dreams.

Belying ‘No Boots on Ground’ Promises, Number of U.S. Troops in Iraq Set to Double

Obama’s authorization would bring number of military personnel and “advisors”  to over 3,000

Further undermining his insistence that the U.S. campaign against Islamic State militants will not involve American boots on the ground, President Obama on Friday authorized the deployment of an additional 1,500 troops to Iraq, a plan that would cost $5.6 billion and would more than double the size of the U.S. force in the nation.

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Honor and Dignity

Exhibit Organizer with photos of Anfal genocide survivors. Photo by Adam Jones, Ph.D. (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Exhibit Organizer with photos of Anfal genocide survivors.
Photo by Adam Jones, Ph.D. (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Iraq Army Day was Monday, January 6. The day was celebrated by the Iraqi military, but a growing murmur filled the air as the people of Kurdistan rejected the holiday and instead honored their own Peshmarga forces by opening a photographic exhibition of anti-Kurdish atrocities committed by the military under Saddam Hussein.

Genocide is the manifestation of hell on earth. Since the 1960’s, the Kurdish people have lived in terror when a systematic and brutal campaign for their extinction began. During the height of Saddam Hussein’s regime, he launched the Anfal campaign, resulting in varied reports of the actual numbers of civilians killed. More than 5,000 civilians were killed in one attack, while hundreds of thousands more are believed to have died throughout the bloody regime of Saddam Hussein. To date, we know over a million people are missing, over 50,000 deaths have been documented by Human Rights Watch and this does not include all of the dead.

Additionally, the Kurdish people have become dispersed when many fled the area as a matter of survival. Of these people, many will not be able or willing to return, taking with them portions of the cultural fabric which has woven the people together. As these people resettle in various parts of the world, they are no longer able to participate in the traditional community appreciated by their ancestors.

Occupy World Writes stands in solidarity with the people of Kurdistan who have suffered beyond measure. Their honor and dignity as a people should remain a lesson to the world that the human spirit will not be defeated.

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