Covering the Middle East

It is absolutely incredible that somebody can do what is had done in Iraq, on behalf of a supposed liberation of that country. To free them of who? The Irakis are entitled the whole of fighting for their earth, and United States should leave of there the fastest possible. Iraq didn't have weapons of mass destruction, that we can see, now, that United States are that are using them against the Iraquian army and against the civilians. Napalm bombs, bombs of poisonous chemical gases, would not weapons of mass destruction be? Until when will the humanity attend scenes as those without it can make anything against?

Mr. Omar Khan showed, in a convincing way, full and profusely documented , the real face of the invasion of United States against Iraq.

Dear Omar Khan and Dahr Jamail,

I wanted to thank you for your very important contribution in exposing the truth about what is happening in Irak. I am an american who lived all his life in Europe and today I am so deeply disgusted by my fellow US countrymen, that I wish but one thing. May the american empire fall. I am not thinking about terrorist acts, which just keep worsening the situation, but about economic actions like boycotts. I think it is time for the European people to distanciate themselves from america by more than mere words. May peace come to Irak and the imperialists be punished...

I thankyou for the opportunity to see things in iraq from a local perspective.
The media in the west has lost the ability to conduct true journalism and report the cold facts and make the occupiers accountable for thier actions.Instead they are a propoganda tool for the American Military.
The Fall of Falluja, the total death and destruction is still being reported as a liberation against the terrorists and welcomed by the residents. Yet i see and hear through other media the true scope of this tragedy. I dont see how the US or Allawi can see this as a victory.. I dont see how the US can call themselves honorable.... They are as bad as the Terrorists.. To me the honourable are the average man willing to defend his home and family against certain death...

I don't think there is anyway out for any of us it is the Pax Americana accept it or face the consequences which was the message given to us on the Bush speech when he said "you are either with us or against us". Lets face it this is the new Roman empire..remember how Gaius Julius used to boast about killing a million "barbarian" Gauls?
There is even another video of marines killing a man on a roof top who was also wounded but I haven't seen that reported any where outside independant media websites there is a video of it too and the marine who shot the wounded said "it feels great" now what does that tell you about American view on non-American lives?

I'm not one bit surprized first they want to install a defacto government and force an election with American chosen candidates now they are slaughtering anyone who opposes this "democracy" which is really ironic!

Iraqis are seething because America is blowing them up, killing their innocent women and children with conventional, as well as chemical weapons (according to Dahr Jamail) all under the guise of "spreading democracy" (an American synonym for terrorism and/or overt aggression), and none of this is being reported in the Western media. The estimated civilian death toll in Iraq ranges from 30-100,000+ people (at least 10 times the totals of the 9/11 attacks). But they are getting democracy, you say, and it's a tradeoff, a few eggs for an omelet? Although we Americans got the side-benefit of realizing that at least some people in the Middle East truly despise our support towards Israel and their murderous ways, do we write off 9/11 as a tradeoff? No, we started two wars, and that's what Iraqi rebellion had done in turn.

Dahr Jamail and all involved with this site should be praised for giving the world some real insight into the reality of the war the Bush administration has perpetrated onto the Iraqi people. We need this reporting, which is done at great personal risk to those who are courageous enough to do it.

I just want many of those from around the world who visit this site (and thus read a more true account of what is happening in Iraq than we get from the American media) to know that millions of Americans are ashamed of our government's actions. Our hearts go out to the thousands of innocent people who have had their lives terrorized by this illegal and immoral war. America has truly become a beast hiding behind a veil of lies and disinformation which millions of Americans don't take the time and effort to look behind. So caught up are we here in the west with our jobs, our families, our purchases, our recreation; we do not take the effort to care about the slaughter and enslavement of people's all over the world; all perpetuated for the greedy pursuit of money and power. Shame on the powers that are ruining our world, and shame on us for letting them get away with it. My tears are for all of you whose lives have been harmed by this evil power. I wish I knew how to do more than just cry.

I think you're doing a great job. WE need more independent reporters in Fallujah and Iraq covering the criminal atrocities committed by this U.S. nazi like occupation. The world owes you a great deal of graditute for exposing to us at your own risk the true reality of this horrible occupation.

Has it always been the policy in war to not reveal the numbers of civilians killed? And these dead should be returned to loved ones for proper burial, right? Or will they be piled in mass graves? Probably not. They could be dug up. They'll likely be burned or dumped into the sea.

Dear readers,

There is a saying in Somali Language "Dabkaan kulaykiisa lagu guban dambaskiisa lagama leexdo" meaning can be in English "The fire that its heat does not burn you, you will not faer its ash". Arabs are powerless today, although they used to be the rulers and great thinkers of the world, Bush government has realised that Arabs cannot at least retaliate for know and do not have nuclear power or effective governments, and decided to butcher them for the interest of Isreal. Bush government is waking up the sleeping Arabs into life and soon Arabs will fight back firstly removing the Crusade installed kings and will gain their dignity back.

Dear Mr. Jamail,

I live in Washington state and yesterday I went to your website for the first time and read the stories and saw the pictures and all I could do was cry. I am so ashamed of what we are doing in Iraq and things we have done in other countries. Mainstream media is complicit in this crime of humanity for not reporting the truth--but then they are owned by corporations aren't they who want to keep the status quo. I wish there was some way we could let the Iraki people know that at least half of America and probably more feel that this is a war crime and an unspeakable act of aggression towards an innocent people. I think of the Iraki families everyday who are losing loved ones because of our greed and because of a leader who has obviously lost his mind and his heart. For any who would like to see Bush Impeached and the soldiers brought home go to www.votetoimpeachbush.org. We need to do something. Why we are not all out in the streets in an outrage is beyond me, but it is because we are not being told the truth. May God forgive us.

I live in Canada. I am aware of the barrage of lies and propoganda fed to us by the media, and appreciate this opportunity to read the truth of the matter, in all its horror. It is nearly impossible to find any first hand information of what life is like for the people of Iraq. How we in the West can look ourselves in the mirror, I do not know.

Given that the neocon philosophy is "think out of the box, take what you can, the time is now" it is only a matter of time before they start doing to US citizens within the borders of the US what they are doing around the world. Everything that the CIA has taught the torturers and death squads someday awaits US citizens who dissent. I'd rather die than shut up.

The future of this planet hangs in the balance! Sadly much comes down to the citizens of the US to get out into the streets and passively resist supporting their military industrial complexes in what ever way individuals can. It will only end when the people retake their capital hill... and parallel to this the military lay down their arms and refuse to murder anymore for profit for sodding nationalism and slanted agendas and rationale.

We on the sidelines also must lobby furiously our pathetic governments to take a stand instead of this wimpy crap and silence. A life saved is worth more than all the gold materialism and wealth in this beaten up planet
ross
dublin

Where are you Dahr? With all the reports of the US military attacks on objective journalists, I hope you're allright. It's been 3 days. Where is Dahr?

If I didn,t know better, I might believe Sharon was in command in Iraq. Giving our history since the blowing up of the Maine, nothing the U.S. does anymore surprises me. I would not be at all surprised if we begin giving out blankets laden w/the typhoid virus.

Bismilaahir-ArRahmmaanhir-ArRahiim

How typical of a 'patriotic' American to ignore the fact that his/her country is using chemical weapons while simultaneously targeting and killing the citizens of another country because of non-existent chemical weapons that they supposedly had.

Young Americans are dying because of the hypocrisy of so many of their 'patriotic' U.S. counterparts; patriots, who, apply one law to themselves and a completely different law to others.

you guys are nothing but leftist muzzy lovers maybe you should join dahr in iraq

'Muzzy' lover? Does that mean that you are a 'muzzy' hater? Fascinating. The ignorance of such a comment as the above is appalling...but the comment serves to typify a frightening trend with the 'religious' right in the United States, and it is therefore very important to read - Not for the comment's hate and anger, but to better understand the ignorance and delusion that so many Americans suffer from. If only the 'religious' right were to study their religion more closely, there would be the possibility to move beyond such terribly destructive predudice and hate. I think that Jesus would have been appalled at a comment like the above. He would have thought that he had a lot of work and teaching to do.

i am disgusted taht after all the CIVILIZATION AND DEMOCRACY steps we have taken human beings can resort to such violent levels and barbaric killings of innocent people .DONT TALK ABOUT SADDAM HE WAS A GREEDY DESPOTIC CRAZY TYRANT who has been out of the picture for 16 months plus . WHY R WE ALLOWING THE USA TO commit such atrocities on a soverein nation NOBODY LIKES OCCUPATION I WILL RESIST EVEN IF MY NEIGHBOURS CAT CAME AND TOOK RESIDENCE IN MY HOMe its and impostion SO I UNDERSTAND WHY THE IRAQIA DONT WANT THE AMERICANS

THE WAR WILL STOP WHEN AMERICA TAKES HIS MAD SOLDIERS HOME AND THE PRESIDENT OF AMERCAI STOPS PLAYING WAR GAMES AND KILLING PEOPLE TO GAIN SUPREMACY AROUND THE WORLD . MY HEART BLEEDS FOR THE PEOPLE OF IRAQ AND THIS WILL BE ANOTHER LONG FIGHT LIKE THE PALESTINIANS LETS TRY AND HELP BY GETTING THE UN TO STOP THE CARNAGE AND GET AMERICANS BACK TO AMERICA

I am surprised that anyone could ask what Iraqis want. Think of the expression - "Walk a mile in the other man's shoes."
Imagine China invading our nation pre-emptively -- which means we didn't do ANYTHING to cause it -- and our cities are destoyed, our capital monuments reduced to rubble, our water supplies destroyed, electricity gone, employment gone, and our resources stolen while the world is told we will have a new -- fairer -- government, and the slaughter continues as some people fight for the integrity of our nation. Our patriots would be called "terrorists." After all that destruction, think of the invader saying no one gets any economic benefit from reconstruction except the invader.
Unless you are a brain-dead couch potato, it is easy to see that we would not personally want to experience such circumstances, so why is it so difficult to understand the Golden Rule, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." If you fail that test, the other side of the coin is, "What you sow, so shall you reap."
The Iraqis want their country back, and they want possession of their own oil. It is their major source of revenue for their nation. America has oil, and coal, and timber, and corn, and wheat, and, and, and. We have been blessed, but we are now being victimized by the greed of OIL tycoons who want to privatize Iraqi and Middle East oil for their personal profit. It would be far more prudent to find alternative sources of energy, especially solar, and its abundant by-product, hydrogen.
Bush has proven to be every bit as "evil" as Hussein -- from prison abuse to massive slaughter of innocent citizens -- now over 100,000 innocent citizens, mostly women and children.
Let us pray that our nation wakes up and demands justice for the crimes that have come out of the White House.

All I can do is thank you from the bottom of our collective, broken hearts for revealing what we already suspected about what US forces are really doing in Iraq, subjugating a whole people for narrow political and economic purposes. I only hope that your shining the light of truth on this outrage awakens people everywhere, especially in the US, so that we can stop this horror and reverse this nation's direction before more hundreds of thousands of innocents are maimed or killed.

I am grateful that there are a few people like Dahr to report the facts Of the US seditious occupation. We in Hawaii understand perfectly what it is to be under unlawfully belligerent occupation of the USA. If the USA had the weapons of today, we would have experienced the same attrocity. What saved us was our most civilized Queen who decided to go through lawful channels to have our country restored without bloodshed to either side. She was a Christian woman and a peacemaker while the barbaric Americans bore their shame and dishonor with pride and arrogance. Too bad the Queen stopped us from slaughtering the criminal American assailants, we would have preserved our liberty and freedom. Like in Hawaii, the invasion is for corporate enrichment. The US troops are not fighting for their country but for the protection of big American corporations. Many US Americans are aiding and abetting in the criminal massacres by approving this holocaust; while many other US american patriots have been attempting to stop this immoral attrocity. This is a modern-day WASP Holy War Crusade of perverse pseudo-American Christians who burned witches at the stake in the 1600s and have found modern methods to repeat the heinous acts. I pray for the innocent bretheren who are being murdered by the covetous USA government and their oligarchy of corporate manipulators. Their justice is waiting for them with damnation in Hell. Iraq should be freed as Hawaii should be freed from the belligerent occupation of the USA.

Dear Mr Jamail, Pardon my ignorance,but our young men and women are risking life and limb in Iraq and Afganistan, they may have had a future here at home, an education, a family and friends that love and care about them mutually.I'm not that sure about the reason for this war,but I do know our "allies" and the Iraqi people themselves have done little to help our people or to make them think of them as any thing other than insurgents.I have heard and read all sorts of anti American gibberish, SOME of which MAY be true, but most of it appears to be propaganda aimed at causing discord and rebellion here at home, and around the world, against our own government and our military.I know we are Not perfect, but as compared to other countries, how much have we done to feed,clothe and defend others? Everyone always has their hand out,they take what we have to give then turn on us. I resent very much our giving all those fickle and back-stabbing nations our food, etc., while we have hungry,homeless people here at home, then those "other" people get angry with us because we didn't give them enough, or what they wanted.Look at "our friends" in France, for example. I'm sorry for any wrongs our soldiers may have done, or are doing,but who was it that said "War Is HELL"? Our soldiers want to come home alive too. I personally do not believe wars should be necessary. Others do not agree with me obviously.I think if diplomacy does not work,the parties, usually the Presidents, kings, etc., should put on boxing gloves and settle it between themselves first, before involving whole nations in their disagreement. And ALL of them should try being honest for a refreshing change. I am so sick and tired of all the lying and greed wrongfully called politics.If there is to be blame, I'm sure there is enough to go around, probably most of the world.Just as in most countries, we Americans, most of us, are good people that wish no harm,ill-will or anything bad or negative on anyone else. During a war, how can you take a consensus of who is for us and who is against us, when there are bombs going off - killing our soldiers, same with gun shots? Are you brave enough to stand up and say "OK, who did that"?, and only shoot at that person or persons? I don't think so. I know our military people have been through hell over there, and most of them think they are helping those people that ARE NOT shooting at them. Why don't those people that are complaining show us they are not insurgence by helping themselves and our troops? If I were in their shoes (or sandals)I would. That is if I wanted what was being offered,like freedom.Where do they get the idea that they can just sit on their "tunics" and let all our soldiers get killed protecting them,that we (The Americans), are supposed to build and or repair any and all damage done to their country during this war, and that they and or the rest of the world can just sit back on their "tunics" and be armchair quarterbacks? You know what they say about opinions? They are like (to be polite)belly-buttons, everyone has one. I am sorry for any country/people that has to go through what the Iraqis are going through, who will there be to come to our aid should we need it? I don't hear any one!!! I have some other questions and comments, but I'll wait for another time for all but this one question: Why does the military take our brightest young people to war? You know they have to be able to rate above average on the IQ test they are given pre-induction. If they are going to use gas and other chemicals and other weapons, any retard could do the same thing, any criminal of the thousands incarcerated could do it, WHY our brightest young people? Why the ones with their whole futures ahead of them? Ones that have never been in serious trouble,serious debt,etc.? Don't we need them here at home? I have some thoughts on that too, but I want to see what others have to say about it. These wars are not of our choosing, nor are they of most of the rest of the world's choosing, these are planned and put into play by the puppet masters, do you know who "they" are? THINK!!!!

I'm glad to have found a free voice from Falluja. The closing down of Al Jazeera, kidnapping of another Arab journalist by US forces as well as the restrictions of aid workers have clearly shown how the US sees freedom as a relative term. People all around the world should be defending preservation of free speech on the internet and finding more alternatives to corrupt corporate media that are narrowing journalist's freedom of expressing.
Thank-you.
Daniel (Tokyo)

Carol, if you gave these same high IQ kids an opportunity to work in a civilian capacity, even within Iraq, it'd be a whole different story. What's happening is USA TV viewers are being sold on military operations as a spectator sport, right up there with the NFL. A new 24/7 'military channel' is soon to start (a repurposing of the Discovery 'Wings' channel).

The military is not in the business of building democracy, never has been. That's a job for civilians. The military is a demolition team, which brings about death and destruction in its wake. That's not a put down, it's a job description.

The problem here is civilians have decided to abrogate their responsibilities, and make the situation in Iraq a military problem. The more they do this, the more it actually becomes a military problem, because the military shapes the scene into a battlefield. It needs an enemy. The enemy appears, right on cue.

It doesn't have to be this way, but it's unclear whether the TV viewers in the USA will be awakened from their trance. The Internet, ironically a military invention, is our best hope. At some point, our creative and intelligent young people may get an opportunity to actually assist a needy world, in ways that would indeed earn Americans credit and respect. But right now, the machine insists on casting this us a military superpower. That's what the political egos want to see: power, might, the ability to have one's way. It's the old "manifest destiny" thing. It goes like this: "what good is it being the last, only superpower, if we can't now enforce our will on everyone else?" It's a stupid mindset, but it's also very infectious/contagious within Washington DC.

In an interview with Charles Shaw posted Dec. 4 at Alternet, Dahr Jamail makes the statement: "I do envision a deepening of the clampdown we are now experiencing. We're watching this in the US media now, with NPR having even jumped on the propaganda bandwagon."

Having worked on newspapers for many years, I am painfully aware of the media's shortcomings, especially in their overseas coverage, as are many reporters and editors. Can you elaborate on what NPR has done? What about the BBC, Reuters and other overseas media outlets? How do you rate them? Which media outlets do you recommend for reliable and accurate coverage from Iraq and elsewhere? Thank you.

Is this website a ba'athist propaganda tool?

To Imanali O'Hara: Yes. And the dead children with amputated limbs are just baathist movie props. Some of them even showed up in "The Sound of Music". Santa really exists. And the tooth fairy. The word in the streets in Hollywood it's that YOU are getting a SECOND brain-cell for Christmas! Go figure!

Those who see this, or ANY other journalism as "objective" are fooling themselves. You can only believe what you see with your own eyes in its own context. What you see in these pictures and the words that you read here are all those of the author, which by definition are subjective. If you haven't been to Iraq, you don't know anything about what's going on there and your opinion is as meaningless as your life if you're crying over this man's words and pictures. EVERY journalist wants you to believe what they believe, not the real and complete truth. Stop believing that "100,000 people, mostly women and children" have been killed by the U.S. invasion, just as you have stopped believing that weapons of mass destruction existed in Iraq. According to the average Iraqi, the biggest weapon of mass destruction, the true killer of 100,000 people by way of chemical weapons, is now in custody. Maybe he should be put back in power to remind the world of the true definition of evil. By reading most of the above, one could reasonably believe that this would make most of the commenting viewers of this site happy. I wonder if it would do the same for the Iraqi people (other than the Sunni, that is).

Who said anything about 'objective'? Of course any journalism is subjective....as we've witnessed in the biases of US mainstream news. A study conducted by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Columbia University School of Nursing and Al-Mustansiriya University in Baghdad found nearly 100,000 Iraqi War Deaths since the US invasion. The leading author of the study, Les Roberts of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, stated in the study, "Most individuals reportedly killed by coalition forces were women and children." This report was hardly even a blip on the radar of the US mainstream news. This fact seems to suggest that another subjective news outlet is needed in the US. WTFO?, you can "Stop believing that 100,000 people, mostly women and children" have been killed by the war in Iraq, but you would be denying the scientific research done and published by The Lancet Medical Journal. This denial of science, this refusal of fact, is the exact Orwellian phenomenon that we are witnessing in America today. Get your facts straight.

Ray suggested that Dahr is an objective journalist on November 19, 2004 at 08:54 PM. My facts are quite straight, and I do deny this so-called "science" as misleading and intentionally inflamatory. Obviously you haven't read the study. "We estimate there were 98,000 extra deaths (95% CI 8000-194 000) during the post-war period". This means that the authors are 95 percent certain that the number of war-related deaths (not necessarily caused directly by coalition forces - bear in mind how many deaths insurgents have caused) is somewhere between 8,000 and 194,000. 98,000 is the halfway point between these two broadly dispersed numbers. This is why it was hardly a blip on the radar of US mainstream news - it's self-aggrandizing and by and large bogus. Want a more accurate count that will make you look less like a moron when trying to make ridiculous points? Try iraqbodycount.net. Want a better representation of the study you hang your beliefs so perilously upon? Try slate.com/id/2108887. This blind attraction to the "information" most fitting one's peacenik prejudice, this unwillingness to accept that utopia isn't possible in a world full of selfish human beings, that war is sometimes necessary, is the exact kind of crap that has intelligent Americans shaking their heads in disgust. So, Spoken Freely, try reading the studies you quote and getting YOUR facts straight before busting out your thesaurus again and spewing crap at me, however eloquently.

Thanks for doing the homework and writing such a well thought out response. Iraqbodycount.net and the study we are discussing use different methodologies. Iraqbodycount.net depends on media reports of civilian casualties alone. They are doing very important work, but it is unclear how accurate their estimates can be when the US and Iraqi interim government is involved in media censorship, and when, war being what it is, the media cannot be expected to report on all casualties. We have seen blatant examples of the US limiting the media’s ability to report on civilian casualties. Take for example the recent attack on Falluja. One medical clinic was bombed and another captured in an attempt to prevent the ‘propaganda’ that came from the hospitals during the raid in April. In April, photographs of dead and maimed civilians, along with pictures of ambulances that had been intentionally targeted and shot at by US forces, all helped to create a PR fiasco for the US. This time around, the US simply removed the hospitals. Surprisingly, the US mainstream news reported the control of information as the reason the US targeted the hospitals. Such honesty we rarely hear in the US. As another example of the control of the media in Iraq, the Aljazeera office in Baghdad was bombed by the US despite precise coordinates given to the US, and Aljazeera reporters have been banned from Iraq, arrested and detained. In an environment of such hostility towards the media, can we actually expect Iraqbodycount.net to be representing the number of civilian casualties? Given that iraqbodycount.net is grossly underestimating the number of Iraqis killed, the data are still extremely important; when we contrast iraqbodycount.net data with other studies - such as the Les Roberts study - we will eventually be forced to face conclusive evidence for what we all know: The media by and large is failing to represent the terribly tragic extent of what the US is doing in Iraq.

WTFO?,
I'd like to hear a bit about your perspective on why you clasify the US invasion of Iraq is as a 'necessary war'....and I don't want the rhetoric about Democracy, freedom, liberation and the like, but the actual reasons for the war....the reasons that the smart people in the CIA and in Washington discuss, and then try to figure out later how to sell to the US populace. Please help with this.

Back up, SF - speak for yourself, because "what we all know" is, I feel safe saying, far different for you than me, having spent a fair amount of time on the ground in the region. While I wonder what happened to your support of this report as "science" and "fact", your point is valid and well taken that the media's access is not unfettered, but neither was unfettered access provided to the Johns Hopkins researchers. I don't believe I stated that IBC was unquestionably accurate, only that it was more accurate, which it is. The methodologies ARE different - IBC counts confirmed deaths, which will natuarally be on the low side of the truth, but this is still far more reliable than the JH study, which chose a "random" sampling of households within a "random" sampling of cities. The nature of war prevented them from accessing many of these proposed households, destroying the sampling's random nature. Additionally, insurgent / civilian deaths do not occur randomly throughout the country, making a truly random sample nearly impossible to obtain. Now, how about the validity of the data gathered from families who aren't happy about having their country occupied? Would you tell the truth about deaths in your family if you thought inflating the numbers would influence public opinion and ultimately get the soldiers out of your country sooner? From this flawed sampling, they provided a spectrum of possible deaths so broad as to be useless. I can say with 95% certainty that the temperature outside tomorrow will be somewhere between -10F and 110F, but how useful is it to say that? Furthermore, how accurate will it be to say that it will be 50F, the midpoint of the figures? It's far more accurate, despite not having all of history recorded, to report a forecast based upon historically recorded temperatures. I'm denying neither "science" nor "truth". I wouldn't say that there exists hostility towards the media in Iraq, but I would say that there exists hostility toward's the media's misrepresentation of the war in Iraq for ratings and self-aggrandizement because it undermines the ability to bring Iraqis together and allow them to create a secure democracy of Iraqi design. You yourself wrote of "the biases of US mainstream news" with contempt in the tone of your writing. Again, Les Roberts' study is bogus, which is why I originally encouraged readers here to stop believing that 100,000 have been killed. ANY death is "terribly tragic" if you ask me, but let's at least try to get as near to the truth as possible and avoid blindly believing only what supports our prejudice. This being said, SF, I'd like to thank you genuinely for your intelligent posts as well. They're quite refreshing compared to "let's put the first family in a tent and bomb them" fare that is so prevalent here.

I'll not be fooled into believing that you are actually asking for help understanding anything or that what I write will change your mind James, particularly when you refer to democracy and freedom as rhetoric. If you believe that democracy is rhetoric, then please don't take part in the process whose name you disparage by refraining from voting. I'm neither a CIA operative nor a D.C. politician, so I can't speak for them. I do know that, whether there were WMDs or not (please ignore the activity behind the curtain covering the Syrian border prior to the war), whether you believe it or not, WMDs were the original rationale, and given that Hussein ordered the mustard gassing of more than 100,000 Kurdish Iraqis, I think it was a reasonable assumption. Personally, I believe it was intended to be the world's largest rat trap. Rather than having all of the Jordanians, Saudis, et. al. currently in Iraq attacking the U.S. they're planting roadside bombs and killing more Iraqis than Americans while their numbers and strength dwindle at the business end of M16s, JDAMS and their own bombs. Whatever the original rationale was, it no longer matters. It's done and we have to provide the security and freedom that we promised. I'm certain you still think it rhetoric, James, but living up to this promise makes this necessary.

It has been said that history is written by the victors of war. Yet I ask Who are the victors in the current war in Iraq? It was supposed to have been over and won. Well I think not. War is continuing and all sides are losing out. US and UK troops are dying, all of whom are people with families and friends; Iraqi civilians are dying; costs are being incurred in all the countries involved, especially the USA (tax dollars).

Who is benefiting? There are some, there must be. Find who is getting a benefit from this terrible situation and you will have the cause.

WTFO, I see you refuse to believe the figure of 100,000 deaths of civilians in Iraq as a consequence of the invasion, yet are easily ready to agree with the figure of 100,000 dead Kurds by mustard gassing under Saddam's orders. I post here a link to a sample of a Pentagon report, Iraqi Power and U.S. Security in the Middle East. You will see therein that even the US does not agree with your own assertions.

You write well, and I liked your reference to the outside temperature as analogy of sampling error. I think the total numbers of casualties in Iraq due to the invasion and occupation are not clear for more reasons than one. Firstly, the extensive damage caused to the power supplies in many areas, including Iraq's second largest city, with a population of 2 million, has caused the deaths of many more than all of the cluster munitions, gunships and napalm, etc.. The destruction of water treatment plants ability to opperate has caused epidemics which have taken a huge toll on the weak and weary, namely the young and old and sick. Sewage flowing untreated into the river from which people were forced to take water for drinking is bound to have an effect. Imagine that happening in say Los Angeles, or London?

Fallujah is a hole into which such madness has descended it is hard to even hold the thought of how bad life must be like there right now. My biggest concern is that despite a basic media block on the manner of portayal of what is the truth of what has happened and continues to happen in Fallujah may be, the sealing off from public viewing by US forces tells me that they have something to hide. I have seen mainstream news showing film where miniguns have been used in Fallujah, which is itself a very dodgy practice in such close confines of a city. At 100 rounds per second, the minigun is NOT the kind of weapon which should employed in such a situation. Yet this has been openly accepted. What goes on behind the scenes is another matter. Napalm has been used in Iraq recently by the USA, despite a world ban on its use, and also despite an earlier denial by the USA. I guess that one day we will be hearing and reading of what actually did happen, and I am certain it will be quite awful. Perhaps we can try to justify it as a 'means to an end'? I say not. I say that if 'we' hold any moral high ground (and I doubt that very much) 'we' should abide by certain principals such as international agreements/laws. To ignore and break these laws is at best hypocritical.

I have no doubt at all that the invasion itself was illegal, and I am not alone. Even Richard Perle has accepted and spoken out on this matter. For such a hawk as Mr Perle to announce this adds weight to the idea of inviting Messers Bush and Blair to attend the ICJ to answer some pressing questions. I hear that Mr Hussein's lawyers are pressing for this to happen, and I can hardly await the time.

One thing I find particularly troubling about your photos is that you find it necessary to ask people to keep their comments respectful.

The following was apparently censored. I wonder if my comments would have been deleted if I had written something like, "The word in the streets in Hollywood it's that YOU are getting a SECOND brain-cell for Christmas!", or "Their justice is waiting for them with damnation in Hell". Oh, wait - these comments are considered "respectful" as long as the writer hates President Bush and buys into even the most ridiculous of anti-war propaganda.

I agree that someone is or will be benefiting from this war. I’m optimistic that the Iraqi people will one day be the beneficiaries, but given that I’m paying nearly twice as much for a gallon of gas than I was a few years ago, I can tell you it isn’t me.

GB, I appreciate your challenge of my belief (and it is merely a belief, as I was not present during Iraq's attacks on its own people) as it is always beneficial to look more closely at one’s beliefs to confirm or modify them. The U.S. does not disagree with my assertions, only Stephen C. Pelletiere, Douglas V. Johnson II, and Leif R. Rosenberger, and let us be clear about this – it is not a Pentagon-supported paper, as evidenced by the fact that Pentagon officials supported the invasion of Iraq, merely a study done by these men during their tenure at the Army War College. The paper was written in 1990, and even then was not without its detractors. Author Edward Mortimer refuted this study (http://www.nybooks.com/articles/3441) on the basis that it suggests Hussein never used chemical weapons against the Kurds. Human Rights Watch did as well (http://www.hrw.org/reports/1991/iraq), stating that the attack on Halabja was, in fact, performed by Hussein’s Air Force. Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, Saddam’s top aid stated, “If you have forgotten Halabja, we are ready to repeat the operation” to Kurdish Iraqis, reminding them of the fate that the residents of Halabja met at the hands of an Hussein-controlled military. Further, the war college study suggests that Iran was to blame. This doesn’t stand the test of common sense – why would Iran gas Kurds who, during their uprising against Hussein sided with Tehran? Further refutation can be found here (http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?020325fa_FACT1), here (http://www.iraqwatch.org/perspectives/hughes-rotavirus-070302.htm) and, in a more personal context, here (http://www.kdp.pp.se/chemical.html). I refuse to believe that 100,000 civilian Iraqi civilians have been killed by coalition forces because the study that states this figure is severely flawed. If it doesn’t bother you to base your beliefs on fiction, or at best faulty logic, then, by all means – believe that it’s true. What’s disturbing is that you’re trying to convince me that Saddam Hussein and his regime did nothing wrong, nothing evil. This is not something that an excerpt from a 14-year-old paper can so easily dissuade me of. Hussein, his sons and his party were vicious destroyers of human life in numbers similar to the ones we see in Roberts’ study. I find your final remark very disturbing, as it seems to suggest that you support Hussein and wish a positive outcome for him at his trial. Anyone deciding to believe that he is not a murderer is truly a fool.

Fallujah IS a dark place right now – of this, I can personally attest. I’m quite happy to be back in the U.S. for now, as the bulk of the Middle East (not only Iraq) wasn’t much more hospitable. You wrote of the deaths caused by lack of electricity and water treatment. I do not deny that this might be true and I’d be interested to know how many deaths have been caused by these – please bring my attention to a credible study. Without credible information, it’s irresponsible and inflammatory to suggest that the number is large. What are British and American soldiers to do when, during the opening of a new water treatment facility, insurgents staged an attack that killed, among others, dozens of children early in 2004? Efforts are being made at reconstruction, even in the midst of battle, while insurgents kill Iraqi cops, coalition soldiers and, in far larger numbers, Iraqi civilians in attempts to thwart reconstruction projects. I’ll agree that napalm should not have been used. I don’t believe I ever stated otherwise or that its use was an appropriate mean to an end. If you want to argue with yourself, feel free, just don’t drag me into it. As far as the minigun’s use, I have seen no evidence of its use nor lack or use, but I’d like to know what qualifies you to condemn its employment. I can think of no credential sufficient save for putting your breathing body in harm’s way, and I’d be willing to bet you lack this qualification.

Sorry, I remain unconvinced by your "facts."
You know what? Propaganda used to combat propaganda is still...propaganda.

Funny...the only fact that I recall attesting to in my last post was that the Pentagon supported invading Iraq, which I suppose you don't believe. Anything else was merely my belief. So I've failed to convince you (of what - that Hussein is not a murderer? Surely YOU jest...). I'm truly devastated by this revelation, because really, it was my sole desire to change YOUR mind.

WTFO,
"What are British and American soldiers to do when, during the opening of a new water treatment facility, insurgents staged an attack that killed, among others, dozens of children early in 2004?"

Interesting event that was. What were so many children doing at an event that was very likely to be targeted?

To answer your question, maybe the US and British forces should consider not using children as human shields as it appears that they were doing.

I wish. Instead you just continue to intimidate the good people who comment on this site and use it as a resource with talk of your experience "on the ground" there, doin God knows what.

At 2,057 words (and counting), I think it's time you censored yourself dude.

WTFO,
I, for one, welcome your responses. It is not often that one gets the opportunity to discuss the war in Iraq with a willing US military officer who was just in Falluja and witnessed the events there first hand. I imagine that you know the full extent of what happened in Falluja. You have experienced the carnage first-hand. You saw the weapons used and can attest to the 'mistake' of Napalm. You witnessed the slaughter....perhaps you had something to do with causing it. Some in the US depend on any real information that we can gather from the web or the media in this atmosphere of censorship. But you saw the actual events.

I wonder how it feels for you, having knowledge of what actually transpired, to watch the TV news or read a paper in the US. Is it satisfaction you feel? Are you satisfied that the US government has succeeded in keeping the US citizens largely ignorant of the events in Falluja? Is there any sorrow or frustration? Are you sad that the citizens of our democracy are so easily deceived? You write, “when you don't allow your reporting and beliefs to be put to the scrutiny of different views, your objectivity no longer exists, and with it goes your credibility.” I wish that the US government would allow actions to be brought forth for scrutiny. Instead our government has enveloped all it can in deception and secrecy. Because of this, our democracy and our government is sustaining an enormous, and perhaps unrecoverable, blow to its credibility. If only the US government would be willing to courageously stand up and disclose the actuality of the motives and events behind the war in Iraq...

And in the spirit of disclosure, I challenge you to disclose your motives in writing on this blog. Is it really just you writing and researching, trying to change minds one blog at a time? And that after all you’ve seen in Falluja? Is your fervent defense part of the process of reconciling the horror that you were involved in with your return to the US?

Or are you another piece of the US information team, paid and supported to publicly defend the US actions in Iraq?

Let us know. Democracy in America depends on its transparency.

After the fact they told the world that this was a war of liberation. You cannot liberate a people you do not love. You cannot liberate a people you have no shared history with. You cannot liberate a people you have no religious, cultural, philosophical, or political common grounds with. This was a war for America's interests. No preparations were ever made or announcements to the rest of the world stating that the U.S. would send her sons and daughters into harms way to "liberate" the people of Iraq and thus sought to build a legitimate and internationally recognized partnership to isolate the criminal regime of Saddam Hussein. Instead this was a war conducted under dubious declarations that were rejected by millions on this planet. Unfortunately, many in America have sought to support Bush to further his narrow and arrogant of American dominance at any cost.

Iraq has very complex problems that require political solutions and NOT more blood shed. It is clear that America is the elephant in the room that everyone in the U.S. media is avoiding talking about. America no longer has any say in what happens in Iraq. It has botched everything it touched.

If Osama bin Laden had a gripe with the U.S. then he lost all legitimacy the instant he and his gang decided to blow up people. Why should the measure of legitimacy be any less for George Bush? Are Iraqi lives that cheap?

14.12.2004

Can only read a little bit of this detail at a time. It's too painful.

Thank you for making this available.

Fritz_Schaedel@yahoo.com

I think it is quite simply actually: if a foreign force came and "liberated" us from the rule of our "president" bush, even those of us that would be grateful would take up arms against any power that stayed. Since george invaded for reasons that have now been shown to be false most of the world sees it for what it is, an oil grab or illegal war at the least. Who would not fight when they see their family and neighbors blown to bits daily? With all the despots in the world how can we just decide who we want to remove? Are americans worth more than the rest of the worlds people? I think not.

The US was slower to rebuild Iraq than was at first realised and the Iraqi took from this that they where not going to and statrted a rebellion which stopped all reconstruction of the country by killing and scaring off those who wished to help. The US is literally dying to rebuild Iraq but cannot while there are those who wish anarchy on it.

How long do you estimate it will take for the US armed forces to get to the liberation of Los Angeles? What do you estimate the casualty figures will be in a city the size of Los Angeles?

It's amusing to read teh human rights watch report, which basically says that both sides are lying through their teeth.

The US said the crowd shot at tehm in Fallujah, when there's no evidence to back up that claim. The protesters say they had no weapons, and they were attacked by a tank, when they clearly DID have weapons, and were clearly NOT attacked by a tank.

Ugh. Both sides are a disgrace. What a pointless waste of life.

And don't worry. We Canadians are working on liberating our friends down south.

There's a reason we've cultivated the world's longest, undefended border. There's a reason why our country is so enormous with so very few people (so few VISIBLE people). And there's a reason why we have a long-time domestic energy program but have never SHOWN any interest in developing a weapon.

We're biding our time until the last of your American soldiers is either maimed, stuck in Iraq, or psychologically unfit for combat....

Then, freedom will be on the march.

One does not kill the people they feign to protect. It's the same for the head of the family; you wouldn't kill you family to protect them and save them from injustices. The idea that young americans are dying so Iraqis can be free is preposterous and perverse. That is not why young Americans are dying there. They are only protecting the interests of US corporations. To believe otherwise is foolhardy and delusional. We of the Hawaii Kingdom understand fully what is going on. The leopard hasn't changed its spots. Americans have been victimized by their own nefarious government. The perverse US Christian fundamentalists are mere pawns to promote the agendas of the snollygosters of corporate America. The USA is lead by and oligarchy that is creating a police state much like Hitler did. Soon Americans will understand that they do not have a democracy and freedom; some of which they have already voluntarily given up. Both sides are suffering from these seditious acts committed by the top one percent of the rich in America and their agenda to steal democracy and freedom. US troops have been given orders to shoot everything that moves in a genocidal fashion without thought or conscience. Token underlings are prosecuted to dispell the common actions of the military controled autocrats. It's time Americans realize atrocities are being committed in their names.

First off I would like to thank all of you who are voicing your opinions. It's great to see there are people out there who do feel the same way about this war as I do.

I am an Army contractor but I am pretty much a hippy liberal. Not an extreme liberal but I lean more towards the liberal side of government. I work with American soldiers on a daily basis and most of the soldiers I work with support President Bush and the war but everyday more and more soldiers are starting to question this war and the reasons for being there. I feel most of the soldiers who are there to protect our American freedoms believe they are doing a good thing in Iraq. The way this war is presented to the soldiers is just as misleading as the media presenting the war to the people. Soldiers do what they are told to do and are not supposed to question authority. The high officials of our nation want soldiers to be mindless robots and a lot of them are because the minute you speak out and protest you are instantly labeled as un-American or you are committing treason. There are the soldiers who refuse to be mindless robots as well. The soldiers who return from Iraq and refuse to go back because they see what's going on and it makes them question their own morals. There are also the soldiers who love war. It doesn't matter how it is presented, the meaning or the outcome, they just want war. They believe war is their destiny. I support our soldiers and want all of them to return safely, mindless or not they are still our brothers and sisters in harms way.

I feel so bad for the Iraqi people. They were terrorized for years by Saddam and now they are terrorized by American bombs. How do you tell a people "You will be liberated or we are going to bomb you?" How do you ask a four year old child, who's mother was killed by an American bomb, if they feel liberated by the Americans? We are our own enemy in Iraq. We are defeating our own purpose. The War on Terror with Terror. The Muslim world is not democratic, never has been and never will be. A democracy is for the people, Muslims do not believe in 'for the people', they believe in 'ONE god'. You cannot take thousands of years of culture and force it to be how you want it. It is what it is and we are fighting a lost cause.

The Chinese fought for over 30 years when they were occupied by a foreign power, Vietnam fought for over 20 years. The higher powers of our own nation want us to believe that after the Jan. 30th "Free" election that the insurgency is going to stop? PLEASE...if anyone actually believes that then the Morphine is working! I think Jan. 30th will be the most brutal day since this war started and it will only get worse from there. Is America prepared to be an occupying nation for 20 or 30 years? We are occupying Iraq which is a Muslim nation. They see us as a Christian Occupier which is feeding the rest of the Muslim world with more reasons to hate our nation. America is very lucky the Muslim world doesn't have the technology we have because if they did this would be WWIII. We are giving the religious extremist more fuel for their fire.

I hope to god that the Iraqi people can forgive America for the decisions our leaders are making. I am ashamed of our leaders and their misleading war. The majority of Americans are starting to wake up and see this is a huge mistake, now it is time for us to demand that it stops. Where do we start? I talk about it all the time but nothing ever changes. How do we make this stop?

Not quite sure where I was leading with this. I guess I was excited to see more people with the same feeling I had so I decided to voice my own so, here it is!

The evidence is overwhelming and quite horrifying. That war is hell is indeed an understatement for those who have to live the rest of their life in hell. The hell of no hope, crushed dreams, escalating violence, wayward and lost youth. That is what Iraq has inhereted from this disgusting so-called civilization. We took our hate, our twisted views of everything Arab and Muslim and made their lives a raging hell on earth. Every American soldier had the option not to go and not to be included in Bush's sickening agenda. Those who will live through this will not forget.

Dr. Henry Stone
Retired Professor of Middle Eastern Studies

It is great to see people sharing information, waking up and realizing some of the realities of "Dubya's Quagmire". Too many Americans above, however, say that they wish they could do more about it. You have a choice and you can do something about it. Get out in the streets, get active in your local organizations, share this information with everyone you know, confront people with the truth. The Democratic party is weak and disorganized and is in a crisis of trying to redefine itself. If we get active and make ourselves heard, we can avoid the current trend of a one party system. If you don't like the Dems, fine, contact the Greens or Libertarians. It doesn't matter, just quit making excuses and make yourself heard. The violence will only end with action. If we want democracy we have to act like it!

You are right Dr. Stone. Every soldier had the right to refuse to go to Iraq, although by doing so you are commited with treason and tried in a military court. Or they could have ran to Canada and faced being a deserter. Did you know it is totally leagal for a soldier to shoot another soldier if he is a deserter? The soldiers were presented with the same lies for this war as we were. President Bush told the soliers and the American people that they would be seen as liberators and the soldiers believed him, which you should be able to believe your Commander in Chief. Bush tells them they are defending freedom and the democratic way. Should we hold it against the soldiers for believing the president? More and more of them are seeing the truth and are refusing to go and taking the risk of being thrown in a military prison. When you sign the paper to become a soldier, you are now property of your goverment and you do what you are told to do, whether you believe in the cause or not, period. Personally if had to chose between going to fauls war or going to prison, I would chose the later. But not being a soldier it is easy to say what you\I would do in their shoes.

This war sickens me. I am ashamed of our government. I applaud soldiers who refuse to go back and act as underpaid, glorified security guards for the overpaid security guards for Halliburton, et al. I am hoping that the neocons will bring back the draft for EVERYONE. Maybe then people will finally wake up in this country. This war is not affecting the average Joe. Look at who the economically disadvantaged soldiers are who are enlisting at the moment, and enlisting is down. I don't think the so-called religious right and the Bush supporters get it that they are pawns, except for the elite few in the inner circle of profiteering. After Vietnam I thought we could breathe and that there was hope for the American consciousness.

Bush has now admitted that after spending two years scouring Iraq, no WMDs, or even programs to manafacture WMDs have been found, and in all likelihood, will never be found. To refresh our memories – Iraq’s alleged possession of such weapons was the foundation on which the US administration built its case for war against Iraq.

I find the mental contortions of those who continue to maintain that invading Iraq was 'the correct thing to do' quite intriguing. As it has become abundantly clear that Iraq did not possess nuclear or chemical weapons, a number of ex post facto rationales for the invasion have emerged.

The most popular one, which crops up on just about every discussion forum about the invasion and occupation, is that Saddam was an evil dictator who oppressed his own people, even employing chemical weapons against them. This, in itself, is deemed sufficient justification for invading Iraq and overthrowing the government.

There is no doubt that Hussein was a despicable and bloodthirsty tyrant, but then, the USA has had a long history of supporting and arming despicable and bloodthirsty tyrants.

During the 1980s, the USA supported the regime in El Salvador, which at one point, was killing civilians at the rate of 13 000 a year. During this period, the Reagan administration increased military aid to the Salvadorian regime. In Guatemala, the carnage was even more horrific, with an estimated 200 000 civilians, mostly Mayans, murdered under a succession of brutal, USA backed military dictatorships.

What made Hussein worse than the murderous dictators that the USA supported in the past, and in some instances, continues to support until this day? The “Saddam was evil and had to be removed” rationale is merely an example of the lying hypocrisy which has come to characterise the Bush administration.

The clue to all that is happening is that the US is being ruled by modern versions of Leninists. They care not for nation or tradition; they only care for power for its own sake.

See it; get rid of them; and start rebuilding the America that scores of people around the globe have always admired and respected.

This is specifically addressed to my fellow US citizens, and generally to any Europeans who may read this.

You sheep need to read a book and a couple of monographs. The book is "Beyond Terror" by Ralph Peters, and be sure to pay special attention to the second chapter, "When Devils Walk the Earth". The two monographs are "The Clash of Civilizations" by Samuel P. Huntington and "The Roots of Muslim Rage" by Bernard Lewis. Maybe, just maybe, you will then begin to comprehend the nature of the threat against the US and what Dr. Thomas P.M. Barnett calls "...the Integrating Core..." of nations.

You've got to understand the enemy and why they want to destroy you; you've got to understand the operational environment that you're in, even when attending your local ACLU or Amnesty International Chapter meetings. The fact remains that both Afghanistan and Iraq supported terror and were havens for terrorists.

The world is filled with sheep, predators and sheep dogs; which are you? I know what I am because I've spent my entire adult life training and serving as a warrior - a sheep dog - protecting you from the predators. At present, they are of the Islamic apocalyptic terrorist breed.

What really galls me is the fact that you despise those of us that have the will, guts and skill sets to serve and protect you from the predators. You have no concept of what goes on in a war and what the costs are. You're unwilling to accept the gift that your warriors give you because you apparently don't think that your lives, your freedoms, our nation's very existence are worth spilling blood over. Yet, you cannot deal with the absolute fact that you are incapable of protecting yourselves from so much as some crack head mugger in the mall parking lot; pathetic, isnt' it?

Well, go ahead and just say "Baaaa", and continue to post your drivel on a progagandist's blog. I'll just keep spending time in the gym, on the range, training and studying the enemy and the art of conflict because I know who he is and what he wants.

Oh yeah, some of you are right; part of it is about our economic stability and our need for petroleum. Look up the defintion of "Vital National Interests" and the circumstances under which a nation will commit military force to ensure them.

Quit wringing your hands over the fact that "...no body likes/loves us...everyone hates us and is afraid of the United States". Remember what Nicolo Machiavelli said in "The Prince": "...it is far safer to be feared than loved".

In closing, I just want to say that I'm ready - I always have been. You're not, never have been, never will be and your helplessness makes me want to puke. Good luck, you're going to need it.

How big is the gap bezween the average us citizen who is extremely ignorant, arrogant, racist, religious and believes to belong to the elected people like in the bible and... the rest of the world.
I boycott your country and its products. I am sorry but I cannot be without hate when I hear, see or read what most us people think (or don´t think).
It is clear that the war in iraq has only 1 aim : the domination of the usa in this part of the world, politicaly and by controling oil which will be useful in 20-30 years when the new giant china will need it fot its huge population.
but it´s no use to talkabout the reasons of the war it´s just crazy to see that the most powerful country in the world elected bush again. why? How can this people be so stupid and ignorant ?

Education is the key... but not in the us

It is unfortunate that Saddam Hussein was so obstinate about not marketing his oil - it has had the effect of sitting on buried treasure in a room full of pirates. Iraq, with about 100 BILLION BBLS of reserves represents the only "easy" major source of oil available to the west today. To put this in perspective Iraq alone has enough oil to supply the US and Europe for about 20 years, assuming we continue to import the percentage of oil we do today and downward pressure on consumption from higher prices. This is a powerful economic incentive for companies like Halliburton that would go out of business if we switched to renewable energy. No wonder Halliburton was willing to give up their CEO to get the war going.

The sheepdog, sheep, predator world-view is certainly interesting by Mike Spight above.

I wonder what an Iraqi considers the US military after it has destroyed his home, or killed one of his familly or perhaps one of his friends. Could this Iraqi consider the US a sheepdog? Certainly not. He most likely has his own "sheepdogs" to protect him from the US "predators".

The simplistic analogy Mike Spight uses only works in a mental framework of us and them.

And this us and them framework is easy. It is sort of the default delusion for all people. It is the same illusion our population practices and strengthens over and over watching football or baseball on ESPN. But the games are just a warm-up and soon we are expected to pick teams in a game where cluster bombs replace footballs and the losers are buried in mass graves.

Rather than splitting the world into dogs, sheep and predators, I think that there is a far better way to categorize the people of the planet:

There are those who will endlessly, fanatically, selfishly and arbitrarily take sides, and there are those that have woken up to see that all of humanity is in fact on the same side and that the only goal is to wake all the others as quickly as we can.

I felt sorry that family lost their love ones in the war with Iraq. We didn't have to go to war. We need to impeach George Bush.

I noticed that in one of the above posts it was mentioned that 'Saddam Hussein, his Sons and Party were vicious destroyers'. I wonder if Donald Rumsfeld knew aboutthis when he was pictured shaking hands with this despicable tyrant? Was the US government not aware that he was such a despicable human being? The citizens of Salvador and many others who lost relatives to the US trained 'Death Squads' will, I am sure, believe that they were.
It is unfortunate that the majority of 'thinking Americans' are probably headed for the new concentration camps being built by the American government, on charges of sedition and treason.
The American government is the BIGGEST threat to world peace since the Nazis( also the Israelis, who have turned into that which they fled from in the 1930's and 40's)
My heart goes out to the resistance fighters and the people of Iraq.
When will there be a reckoning?
Doug Holland, Wales UK.

Common Americans are to blame for this. They are just as guilty as Bush & Co. All they want to do is drive around in SUV's, fill their fat asses with junk food and watch cable. A dumbed , down stupid people indeed. Americans should be out on the streets revolting and raising hell. At the very least Bush should be impeached. Will this happen-No,NEVER! Americans are too busy doing the above. They are too busy waving flags and taking their kids to soccer games. They are too busy watching Fox and that other corporate shit you call 'news'. Remeber though-what goes around comes around. There will be hell to pay-sonner or later..............

there is no word to say about all this atrocity,for me inhuman,im crying actually when im writting.thanx for open my eyes more in the reality,i knew something wrong was happen but i will never imagine to this point,thats the reallity of this war.here in usa we dont see all this truth on the tv or newspapers.they hidding so much things.i pray the almighty to give strenght,courage,patience to the irakian people.god will make justice on it,but i feel like the man have to make this justice,cuz we know what they doing actually isnt god will,but evil.help u first and the sky will help u.but i blem the arab communuty to let their brother diying suffering with not reaction,its looks like nobady care or dont know what really going on in irak.in this earth we all god chidren,we all come from him,no matter what is the color the religion in front god we are all the same brother and sister.but there is no more love,the hell is here,so many pain around the world,all that for the riches,thats really sad,some people controle this world for their own benefits for that they liying killing steal with no piety,no heart,even for women and children,thats the way of the satan.i think irak need the help from all the world not only from the muslim but everybody on this earth,if we dont do nithing irag will just disapear from the map.

I pray for the soldiers over in Iraq. Bush has not led this country to where we need to be today. This is one of the riches countries in the world, and yet we have so many hungry people,and Iraq get to have all our hard earn tax money. Jobs is one of the major issues in the world today, and yet he stands up on national T.V. and say United States is making progress.(Where?). Our poor men and young children are fighting a war that should have never been.United States have been a country that have been blessed and what we do? We let somebody like bush run our country, and run it down hill.Why he can't go over to Iraq and fight this war? He don't care about our soldiers, they are not none of his kids. How can you tell a parent or a love one your sorry about their loss.I'ts easy for him to say cause it's not his family. What was the people of the world thinking letting Bush back into office! Bush is the TYRANT! in this situation.This war should have never been. How did we go from hunting Osama to Saddam Hussein. Think about it, this is a grudge that has gone on to long.I think this grudge has been going on since his father was in office.I hope Bush be held responsible when i'ts time to answer to God for all these lives that have been taken from all of this.The people in Iraq don't want United States over there. How can Bush try to help another country, and can't do a damn thing for his own.I think Bush is the bloodthirsty TYRANT!,and needs to be Impeached!It hursts me so dearly that young men between the ages of 25-42 aree dropping like flies over in Iraq. They have not even had a life yet. Some of our young men have not started a family,and some had to leave a family. Is Bush going to support the family who lost their father or son or a daughter. Our soldiers are already under paid.I'm so glad I did not sign up for the United States Army like I started to. I'm not going to war for a shit talking president like Bush himself.He need to send his daughters over to Iraq, and let somebody tell him they are sorry for his loss.I bet the TYRANT won't like that one bit.He needs to be in one of our shoes who lost a love one. He needs to suffer our pain. My brother had to have his life taken for nothing. This war kills me in a worse way. Bush is killing our men and country in a worse way. IMPEACH HIS ASS!

After viewing the images presented on your site and reading the commentary of site guests I am nothing short of totally dismayed at the one sidedness of your reporting. You should be ashamed for giving only half the story. What about the Sunni Iraqis, and foreign insurgents who kill and mame innocent Iraqis on a daily basis. Are these people freedom fighters or cold blooded murderers? Whether or not the United States had the right to invade this Country ran by a Dictator who brutilized his own countrymen for decades is another story. He violated 16 United Nations resolutions and thumbed his nose at the international community for over 10 years. Does he get a pass? The so called Muslims killing innocent Iraqi's in the name of God, do they get a pass? What religion on this earth condones killing? Your site leaves much room for improvement. Real Journalism is impartial to sides and tells the events of history based on all the facts, not just the facts that you want to present because you have an axe to grind with President George W. Bush. You should be ashamed to call yourself's journalists. I am dismayed by the one sidedness of your web site. Equality can never be attained without impartiality. Perhaps it's time to tell the world the entire story of Iraq. There was a name for this type of Journalism at the turn of the century, I think it was known as "Yellow Journalism" LOOK IT UP!

James Benson's criticism of the reporting on this website as being "Yellow Journalism" uses a phrase so antiquated as to sound ridiculous. In fact, given the current media climate in the US, Dahr Jamail's reporting can be criticised for its *lack* of "Yellow Journalism" by the actual meaning of the phrase.

The term "Yellow Journalism" came into vogue when publishers William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer battled for the public's attention toward the end of the 1800's by using lots of comic strips ("The Yellow Kid" comic strip's name was borrowed for the phrase "Yellow Journalism") and turning news into melodrama in order to entertain and entice their audience into buying a paper, rather than relying on good reporting to sell papers.

The people in the US using the phrase over one hundred years ago would certainly call today's entertainment/news industry "yellow" because of the extreme sensationalism, melodrama and tactics of entertainment that are used. I imagine that these people would be floored at what we've come to consider "news" in the US...and how we consume it. If Hearst's paper a century ago was called "Yellow" what would one call Fox TV?

The reason Dahr Jamail's reporting isn't "Yellow Journalism" is because it does not seek to entertain. Just inform. The competition between Mr. Jamail's reports and the mainstream news lies in the debate of facts and history, not entertainment value.

Now as to whether or not Dahr Jamail's reporting is biased....that is another debate entirely.

I am sorry not to give my real name or address. I am so encouraged by so many people who are aware of the real situation in Iraq. From my prespective, a muslim, arab woman, I want to remind the readers that it is not only death and killing of people that they should cry about and remember in their comments. What about the living Iraqi's? Think about 70% unemployment?. How do you think these people are living. Some of them are lucky they have relatives abroad and they can rely on them for all living support. Million of families are living in the most humilated conditions becasuse they have to wait for the money they can get from their relatives abroad, when they are well educated and well equipped to work and earn their living. 500,000 Iraqi military personal were let go in a second after Baghdad fell to the envading army. Everyone of those people has a family to support. If the immediate or extended family. At least, a minimum, 4 other persons were supported by each soldier. That is a minimum of 2 millions became without support immediately. How many ministries were dissoved?. Another few millions suddenly without any means of financial support. I can talk hours. A family needed only $50.0 to live reasonably during the sanction. Now, to find an appartment to live, a family needs, at least, $200 to $300. If the head of the family does not work, from where would he support his/her family?. To get support from family abroad is getting more difficult now because the Dinar is inflated and everything, while may be available in Iraq, is becoming extremely expensive that the $50.0 are no longer enough!!. So, the people of Iraq are having a tougher life now that they had, even during the sanction. Think of an Iraqi family with young men and women sitting at home unable to work after having their higher education?. Think of them living in the hot summer conditions with a temperature that is 45oC to 55oC without electricity and without water for weeks?. Big technology such as Cell phones and Internet access are available to them !!!. They are free to talk and speak against the old regime now without being persecuted!!!. Are they free to speack about the new Iraqi government?. Soory, this is a stupid question. What Iraqi government? I do not think that any member of that government can walk the street to hear or see what people need or what they are saying.

As a arab muslim woman, I also want to tell the few people who spoke about Muslims not wanting freedom etc.. That this is really nonsense and it is amazing that they think that more than one billion people do not want freedom and follow a faith that do not give them freedom!!!. Let me just give them my example. I am a woman who was refused to get married before finishing her college education. Whay? because her old fashion muslim parents beleived that women need to be educated in orde to live their lives decently and freely from the dominance of a husband or a brother or even the father. My father told me that when I get married I must have the means to leave him if our marriage fails. In such a case I will be free to decide because I will have the means to support myself. He told me that I would always have a home in his house but what if he was dead? Where would I go?. This was in the sixities. Does anyone ever think that this would come from a muslim parents who were borne early 1900?. Are my parents unique? No they are just simple middle calss parents who are honest and good people who happened to be muslims. I know of other arabs from same or other faiths who have thought the same and
did the same. I obtained my Ph. D. in Physics from England and during my stay there I had not seen a single English woman in that field. I wanted Physics because I loved it and, also, because the head of the physics department in my original arab country was a woman!!!. A muslim woman!!!. People here and in the west do not know much about Muslims and about Islam. Most of all, about how women are treated in the arab countries and in islamic countries. They have a stereo type that they cling to and it always easy to do that instead of trying to know about them from them. Not all muslims are the same and not all arabs are the same. Exactly like not all christians or jews are the same.

Another important point I noticed people do not know is that, we Muslims, are not Muslims if we do not beleive in Chtist or Moses. i.e., If I do not respect Judism and christianity, I would not be a Muslim. I beleive that most people who are afraid from Muslims do not know this fact.

All this violance attriputed to fanatic Muslims, and unfortunately, to Islam and all muslims, is because of the political situation around the world and, particularly, in the middle east. This is a long stroy that will need a long debate. Not a single decent human would agree to violance and killing people innocent or not. A criminal should be treated humanely even after proven guilty. He/she should have the punishment given to him by law and by the civilised society. So, vilance is not accepted, weather by individuals, a dictator or by the state. Wars are the most violent means of action that should only be accepted when the nation is attacked. Before that happens, peaceful negotiations and faire politics (if any) should be used to resolve the conflict.

All the issues above are so deep that I can't discuss in one long email. I hope that you do not mention my real email address because I am afraid of hateful reaction. I am an older person with an important position and a lovely contributing family. I have nothing to fear and I do not say anything to be ashamed or afraid of. However, I am afraid because others like me have had their lives ruined becasue they spoke their minds. I am no longer sure how people can twist words and miss the point. Like someone who posted his opinion here, he missunderstood people opinions very badly and assumed they mean something else they did not say!!!. I do not want anyone to missunderstand my opinion that I post her. But I do not garuntee that at all!!!.

Muslik Arab woman

Sad how middle-east news groups try to make the U.S look so bad.Have they forgot the days when they cry for American help? how fast they forgot how bad their leader was sad, sad,sad

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