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US-Iraq War
Iraq trades one regime of oppressors for another by J. Conrad Guest I did not support the U.S. invasion of Iraq, whether for oil or to liberate the Iraqi people from the iron-fisted rule of a tyrannical despot (although some part of me knew that Saddam Hussein had to be removed from power), but once it became clear that the Bush Administration was going to get its war, I supported our troops, many of whom were too young yet to legally drink. I hoped and prayed that history would show that America’s might was right, that our preemptive strike was justified, that the Iraqi people and the people of the world would see America as liberators of an oppressed people. When the war was declared over, days after I watched happy Iraqis topple several statues of Saddam Hussein, I felt relieved that we’d accomplished our objective with so few casualties. I’d feared there would be far more. But as the days after stretched into weeks that ranged into months, I cringed and bled, red white and blue, each time I read or heard that two or four, or eight or 12 or 17 or more American soldiers, our children, our future, were coming home in body bags. And then I saw the pictures, heard the story on 60 Minutes, on April 25, 2004, and I was sickened. Iraqi people tormented, humiliated, tortured, by their American liberators. This form of abuse can in no way be included as horrors of war even if this war hadn’t been declared over. There can be no reason, no justification for what has happened. No soldier, commander or general can justify it or explain it away as "not in our training manuals," no elected official can shun responsibility for it, no brother or sister or parent or spouse of any American participating in this unmitigated attack against human rights can excuse it—what has been done, what is being done, under the aegis of the Stars and Stripes, to innocent Iraqi people. That a prisoner of war forfeits his liberty but not his rights is not something that should need to be explained to any representative of America or the ideals of democracy. President Bush says these horrific criminal acts against humanity are isolated; Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld claims it’s widespread, there is more, that this is but the tip of the iceberg, that’s it’s going to get a lot uglier. This war isn’t over. It’s just beginning. This country had one chance and one chance only to make this invasion look good in the eyes of the world, to justify our attack against Iraq, and we blew it. America: Land of the free, home of the brave. And now oppressors of the oppressed. I understand now why the Iraqi people view American forces as occupiers and want us to go home. We had a chance to do something truly wonderful for another people, another culture, but we’ve ended up looking no better than the man from whom we were supposed to liberate these people. This is not what my father, a proud Marine who served in World War II, fought for. He was trained such that any one Marine who shamed himself brought shame down upon the entire Corps. I’m sorry, Dad, for the shame that our armed forces has brought upon itself, worse, that it has brought to the very families of those involved in this vulgar, despicable, unforgivable conduct—the parents, the spouses, and the children who’ve lost countless nights of sleep as they worry over the safety of their loved ones—as well as to all of America and to all Americans everywhere. No one, no matter what their crime, no human being, no matter what their nationality or race, deserves to be treated as our American soldiers are treating the Iraqi people. If the rights of but one individual are trodden upon, then the rights of all men are trodden upon. Rush Limbaugh points out that attacks against American soldiers in Iraq have tailed off, suggesting that the release of these photos, the breaking of this story, may have given the Iraqi insurgence pause. Perhaps it has, but at what price? Can the end justify the means? For the first time in my life I am ashamed to be an American. About the Author(s): See under Our Contributors to find out about the Author(s) of this article. |
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