October 18, 2006.
From the New York Times.
An escalation in the deaths of American soldiers once again brings concentrated attention to the Iraq War. While I apprecate all the efforts such as made by The New York Times to; at the very least; 'remind' us of our losses, some of the exacerbations of deaths then accompanied by declines are irrespective of the fact no matter the number of deaths they are still people we value caught up in an illegal war that is out of control at the hand of an administration mired in affiliations of corruption.
The mean per month in Iraq is about 70 deaths per month. That isn't reflecting the deaths of civilians and members of the coalition in Iraq. Doesn't even speak to the concerns about escalations of violence in Afghanistan or the mimicking of truck/car bombs globally by militant groups.
In many ways, the escalations followed by declines were not 'reaction' followed by success so much as a 'slow down' of violence while the rebel forces in Iraq simply learned more about the tactics to defeat the US Coalition and then conducted those techniques against them. I don't believe the declines in American deaths are reflective at all of an Iraq resistance ready to capitulate authority.
The news this week is grim from the stand point that nothing much is new. There is some reporting on the reality some of us knew has existed all along or at least strongly suspected:
New groups appear more ruthless in use of violence
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15322218/
BAGHDAD - The young Shiite men, some wearing black masks, glided from house to house in search of Sunni Muslim men. They arrived at the two-story dwelling of Mohammed Hussein clutching a bomb, neighbors said. As his mother stood at the front gate, they detonated it. Shrapnel and glass flew, sending her to the hospital. A wall fell on a neighbor, sending him to his grave.
Additionally and more disturbing in some ways is the 'death of democracy' in the USA. Last night Keith Olberman gave a rather compelling "Special Comment: Beginning of the end" on Countdown, his hour news program.
Olbermann addresses the Military Commissions Act in a special comment
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15321167/
This type of legislation is the kind of thing that causes escalation in violence globally. The USA has become a threat to most nations on Earth. They witness the loss of civil rights in the USA and see their own governments affiliated with the USA and well, the rest is obvious. It is one of the reason that Iraq won't be turning away from violence in the near future, if ever.
The Shi'ite Majority in Iraq has been under seige for decades if not longer. That majority of Shia extends from Iraq into Iran. It is what Saddam Hussein battled against chronically. It is why Don Rumsfeld took Saddam Hussein as an ally initially and for so long. Hussein was a 'wedge' against a population of people with little regard for America and it's military.
The Shi'ites of Iran over threw the government there. What ensued was hostage taking of people in the US Embassy for over a year. Using the Iranian Hostage Crisis as a political platform the Reagan Administration never had to deal with Iran directly as it ended just about election time. Instead Mr. Reagan engaged in other scandalous issues with Iran called "The Iran - Contra Affair."
The Iran-Contra Affair
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/reagan/peopleevents/pande08.html
... In 1985, while Iran and Iraq were at war, Iran made a secret request to buy weapons from the United States. McFarlane sought Reagan's approval, in spite of the embargo against selling arms to Iran. McFarlane explained that the sale of arms would not only improve U.S. relations with Iran, but might in turn lead to improved relations with Lebanon, increasing U.S. influence in the troubled Middle East. Reagan was driven by a different obsession. He had become frustrated at his inability to secure the release of the seven American hostages being held by Iranian terrorists in Lebanon. As president, Reagan felt that "he had the duty to bring those Americans home," and he convinced himself that he was not negotiating with terrorists. While shipping arms to Iran violated the embargo, dealing with terrorists violated Reagan's campaign promise never to do so. Reagan had always been admired for his honesty....
... While probing the question of the arms-for-hostages deal, Attorney General Edwin Meese discovered that only $12 million of the $30 million the Iranians reportedly paid had reached government coffers. Then-unknown Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North of the National Security Council explained the discrepancy: he had been diverting funds from the arms sales to the Contras, with the full knowledge of National Security Adviser Admiral John Poindexter and with the unspoken blessing, he assumed, of President Reagan....
... Speculation about the involvement of Reagan, Vice President George Bush and the administration at large ran rampant. Independent Counsel Lawrence Walsh investigated the affair for the next eight years. Fourteen people were charged with either operational or "cover-up" crimes. In the end, North's conviction was overturned on a technicality, and President Bush issued six pardons, including one to McFarlane, who had already been convicted, and one to Weinberger before he stood trial....
THE POINT IS that while Bush sends troops into Iraq to continue the conflict that is decades old and doesn't really affect the National Security of the USA; he is also acting in legislation against the US Constitution and opening up dangers to Americans Civil Rights by their government with the understanding that all legislation starts out with the understanding of 'necessary and urgent' but becomes an instrument of paranoya and political scare tactics.
I don't feel much like conducting an audit of zoo articles or pursuing news information to enhance the understanding of a global dynamics of violence that has escalated beyond just Iraq due to the policies of the Bush Administration and it's rubber stamping House and Senate. It seems ludicrous to me that this week, when the American Democracy is dying at the hand of an openly confrontational and aggressive government that I conduct myself as if nothing happened yesterday.
Something did happen yesterday. It was profound. It was "W"rong. Every American should be concerned.... about the legislation .... about the escalation of dead American soldiers in Iraq ... and about the denial by this country of it's grossly unsuccesful meddling in the Middle East while nuclear proliferation globally is taking on a characteristic of 'irreversible' more and more everyday.
We have been here before. It's time to take by our country once again from greedy men and incompetent leadership.
We don't belong in Iraq.
We never did.
