“How can we thank the Americans?

[Shotgun]

http://messopotamian.blogspot.com/2005_04_01_messopotamian_archive.html#111419341104424499

By Hashim Al-Sudani, anassudani@yahoo.com

Time may be passing and we may forget the calamity in which we were living. And this is what happened to us, we Iraqis. After two years since our delivery from the regime of Saddam the criminal, who was slaughtering us, torturing us and driving us like a herd of cattle to the arenas of his loosing battles, with execution squads behind us; we have forgotten how we used to live in constant terror and how we were afraid to say any word that might lead us to dark torture chambers in the “Department of General Security” or the “Governorate”, or the “Fifth Branch”. And how we have forgotten those who delivered us from the hell in which we were living and from which we did not even dare dream of getting out. Nay, but more than that; we see today Muqtada Al-Sadr and his followers coming out in demonstrations to demand the exit of what they call “occupation”, and burning images of President Bush; when they were meek and humiliated during Saddam time, not daring to utter a single word. And when Muqtada himself received a sum of money from Mohammed Hamza Al Zubaidi during the funeral reception of his father who was murdered by Saddam and his followers; and there was Muqtada receiving money from the killers of his father !!!!

What prompted me to write about this subject today is watching the film that was shown on the “Iraqiya” on the anniversary of the fall of Saddam, that showed the cutting of tongues and heads, the breaking of arms and other fearful tortures in the prisons of Saddam the “Haddam” [the wrecker-translator]. These things would have continued to our present day had the Americans not intervened to depose this savage animal and his criminal Baathist regime.

I asked myself there and then: How can I thank the American liberators who have avenged us and avenged all the victims of Saddam’s regime? How can I avoid being ungrateful like Muqtada and his followers, who are enjoying now the freedom that America brought while at the same time shouting insults at this same America ? I could find nothing in my possession to thank these liberating soldiers except these words:

Thank you, soldiers of the United States of America and soldiers of her allies. Thank you our true friends. Thanks to all your sacrifices that delivered us from the darkness of Saddam to the light of freedom, elections and democracy.

We shall never ever, forget what you have given us, liberators “

That was as literal a translation of the piece as possible. Truly, gratitude is one of the greatest marks of noble souls. And remeber that the piece was written entirely for Iraqi and arab audiences. The writer's name and Email are for all to see.

Regards

 

[Marco]

"How can we thank the Americans?"

How about using some of that oil money to repay to 300+ billion dollars we will spend over there just to see that you can all go to a voting booth?

Nah, just let us spend the highest prices on gasoline that we have ever seen, while the American politicians let you keep your oil fields....we let you keep them a decade ago after liberating Kuwait from Saddam, shouldn't see any change in approach this time......

Counting Gulf War I and Vietnam II, how much money are we going to piss away on these ingrates?

 

[docmercer--banned]

Marco:

The "Great Man" has been allowed to spread democracy in the Mid East!!

 

[Caesar]

joeseph goebbels would be proud, here is an excerpt of what he wrote after invading czechoslovakia:

Do not think that, as we bring about a certain order in Europe, we do it to harm individual nations. Today you have the opportunity of accepting all the advantages that the German Reich has to offer. You have our protection. No one can attack you. You have the opportunity to tell all of Germany of your virtues. You have the opportunity to send your music to Germany, your films, your literature, your press, your radio. You know that the German people have a great interest in culture. We cannot and do not want to change that. We are not dictators, but rather instruments of the will of our people.

 

[Marco]

"....the opportunity to send your music to Germany, your films, your literature, your press, your radio."

More like the opportunity to send Germany your gold, silver, artwork, and anything else of value that we can haul out of your country after killing your males of fighting age.......


"Spread democracy..."

Anywhere I can find some Iraqi civil war props to bet on.....I could use some easy money in my offshores, I'd like to double up on this lock, but I don't foresee making too much money as the books are sharper than Dubya and his crew, and any props of this nature you won't get a piece of for less than -4000

 

[docmercer--banned]

Iraq and the United States Worse Off After Two Years of Occupation

- by Kevin B. Zeese

Both the United States and Iraq have had thousands of casualties as a result of the U.S. occupation of Iraq, both countries are poorer, less safe and less secure. The two year anniversary of the Iraq War should be a time for facing up to the mistakes made and re-evaluation U.S. occupation of Iraq.

In the last week I had the pleasure of interviewing an outspoken and intelligent anti-war activist living in Baghdad, Ghazwan Al-Mukhtar. Democracy Rising will be publishing his interview in the next week. As we were exchanging emails one very basic point became evident: the people in Iraq are clearly worse off today than they were under Saddam Hussein. They are worse of economically, they are worse of politically and they are less safe and less secure.

Regarding day-to-day life, food continues to be in short supply, electricity, even in Baghdad is often only available for two hours at a time, petrol prices have increased ten times and there are lines waiting for the limited supply, the sanitation system and sewage system isn't operating, the health care system is in shambles and most of the destruction wrought by the U.S. invasion has not been repaired. Unemployment has doubled to 60 percent as Iraqis watch U.S. contractors do work they should be doing as part of the U.S. corporate invasion of Iraq. Through our puppet government we've taken over the oil industry and through Paul Bremer's decrees U.S. corporations are taking over virtually all aspects of the Iraq economy. And, the insurgency puts many Iraqis at risk adding to the risks created by the U.S. military. But, there are more newspapers!

On the political side, the Iraqis are dealing with a government that is a puppet of the United States. The government has been falsely legitimized by a phony election - phony for a variety of reasons (see the election section of Iraq War Facts at DemocracyRising.US) - and the same prison Iraq used to torture people the U.S. has used to torture people - Ghazwan calls is "Abu Gulag." Random searches by soldiers at checkpoints and of homes include reports of soldiers stealing from Iraqis. As John Massey a veteran formerly stationed in Iraq reports in an interview with Democracy Rising, U.S. forces kill civilians. And, Iraqis see the construction of the long-term military bases, known as "enduring bases," and realize that the U.S. has no plans of leaving anytime soon.

In Vietnam the ironic statement of our tactics was the U.S. destroyed villages to save them. That irony has become the U.S. policy in Iraq - destroy a country to save it - unfortunately saving it does not necessarily mean making things better for Iraqis. It seems to only mean making it better for U.S. corporations and ensuring that the U.S. military has a base of operations in the Middle East.

Sadly, it is not only Iraq that is worse off, so is the United States. We've appropriated $150 billion for the war and are about to appropriate $80 billion more. The budget put forward by President Bush cuts basic programs at home. More than 1,500 soldiers have died and tens of thousands have been seriously wounded. Vets are not provided adequate health care and other services when they return home. Around the world the U.S. is seeing as acting without regard for international law and our alliances are in tatters. Our intelligence agencies tell the Congress that Iraq has become a magnet for terrorists and a training ground for urban terrorism - as a result we are less safe and less secure. Does the U.S. public know Iraqis are worse off today than before our invasion two years ago? I don't think they do. It is certainly not highlighted in the U.S. media. Already the public is losing confidence in the war. If they knew both countries were worse off as a result support would evaporate

 

[bulldog77]

Iraq can do whatever it wants to do as long as the Bush Regime approves. That is the very definiton of fascism.
Would be nice if W and Rove would spread a little democracy back home.
Everybody in U. S. can go to polls, but only some will be counted!

 

[docmercer--banned]

When ya see Rove walking does anyone else picture him in a Nazi uniform strolling thru Auschwitz??

Human life form does get any lower than Karl Rove

 

[bulldog77]

He's Goebbels without the charisma.

 

[stucco43]

depleted uranuim.....leaving it better than how we found it ....does any of this make since......

 

[Redneckman]

Doc, you're jealous of Rove as a political stragegist. To call him a Nazi proves what an idiot you are.

 

[JDeuce]

Now, now Redneck...

Doc clearly has a much better grasp of the Iraqi situation from Texas than the actual Iraqi in Shotgun's post. Besides, we as liberators are the real bad guys...not the insurgents who are setting off car bombs.

To suggest that a country was much better off under the rule of a tyrant is nothing short of preposterous, Doc. I don't think even one person on this board takes you or the articles you post seriously.

 

[Marco]

"To suggest that a country was much better off under the rule of a tyrant is nothing more than preposterous, Doc."

And we as Americans have the money to spend to make sure that every nation of around 196 on this planet has a fair, democratic leader instead of one that loots the national treasury and tortures anyone who dissents?

Good luck with that one, considering we're already spending money we don't have on the quest in Iraq. And when we leave are we going to go back a month later to take on the next Muslim John Gotti after he puts our weakly installed ruler in for a big dirt nap?

Who died and appointed us the fulltime and permanent job of caretaker of the planet?

All you guys are accomplishing is creating a west version of Israel/Palestine, the only difference is the characters......bomb-a-day remains the same, only the site has changed. Will stay this way for as long as we're over there....the blood will be flowing years from now, (at least until 2008, Dubya painted himself in a corner and won't admit the paint is wet), when we finally get smart and pull up the tent stakes the civil war can begin and Iraq can start it's long way up from the bottom in a depleted uranium wasteland........

Big train wreck and you guys can't see that the train cars are still coming. Just send more cars down the tracks....

 

[stucco43]

hey dipsh*ts what about depleted uranium??????dumb and dumber.....

 

[WHALE]

We'll take your oil ... that's what the government is doing all this for.

 

[stucco43]

hey whale i have seen you post up about the issue of oil...i dont think that is the primary reason.....the fact that we use up a ton of it on our military adventure leads me to believe its about controlling the oil and keeping it priced in $$$$. If you look at the big picture the only way America has been the super power is the fact every country needs to take loans out to purchase oil....

Its going to be interesting in June to see what happens in Iran when they open their oil exchange and price the oil in Euros.

think about it the world needs to purchase in $$$$ close to $4 billion a day just to purchase oil....

 

[TheRightWing]

hey whale i have seen you post up about the issue of oil...i dont think that is the primary reason.....the fact that we use up a ton of it on our military adventure leads me to believe its about controlling the oil and keeping it priced in $$$$. If you look at the big picture the only way America has been the super power is the fact every country needs to take loans out to purchase oil....

Its going to be interesting in June to see what happens in Iran when they open their oil exchange and price the oil in Euros.

think about it the world needs to purchase in $$$$ close to $4 billion a day just to purchase oil....

your right and we buy more from Canada than any middle eastern country