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Al Jazeera (English)
    Baghdad Burning Blog (by Riverbend, an Iraqi civilian girl)
            Dahr Jamail's Blog from Baghdad
                Imad Khadduri's blog "Free Iraq" (scroll down for English version)

Iraqi Civilian Deaths ... caused by Bush's unprovoked war

 

The Incident
Be on the lookout for an "incident" (or smoking gun) that President Bush can use to justify an invasion of Iraq. He needs to have some act of provocation to point his finger to, in order to rally support for his war.

Let's Not Forget...
A short history lesson:
In 1939 England and France went to war with Germany. Franklin Roosevelt assured Winston Churchill privately that the United States would join England in its war, even as he reassured Americans publicly that their sons would never fight and die in a foreign war. Americans were strongly opposed to getting into the war. So strongly that it was obvious to Roosevelt that he could never fulfill his promises to Churchill unless someone attacked the United States....The Pearl Harbor attack — caused the anti-war movement in America to collapse.
The Americans had broken the Japanese diplomatic and military codes and knew the Japanese intentions. The American military had made a secret agreement with the British and Dutch to go to war with Japan. Roosevelt had told his cabinet prior to Pearl Harbor that "we are at war; we now have to maneuver the Japanese into firing the first shot." The American Chiefs of Staff had misled the Pearl Harbor commanders about the possibility of an attack on Pearl Harbor.

After World War II and the Korean War stalemate, the American people were in no mood to go to war again. However, the American government had been engaged in a war against Vietnam — both overtly and covertly....In August 1964 an incident occurred: The American navy was covertly aiding South Vietnamese troops making commando raids in North Vietnam. The destroyers Maddox and C. Turner Joy were in the Gulf of Tonkin providing support when they reported being attacked by North Vietnamese torpedo boats. The U.S. retaliated with air strikes against North Vietnamese Naval bases and oil storage areas. Lyndon Johnson also used the incident to gain support for a Congressional resolution authorizing him to use "all necessary measures to repel any armed attacks against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression." No one seemed interested in asking what "the forces of the United States" were doing in North Vietnam in the first place....Needless to say, it turned out that there had been no attack against the American destroyers, that the Johnson administration already had plans to widen the war, and that administration officials had used hazy, ambiguous reports from the Gulf of Tonkin to do what they had wanted to do anyway. (In 1970 Congress repealed the Gulf of Tonkin resolution.) The incident had served the purpose of the American politicians who wanted to escalate the war.

Iraq
If an incident against America occurs — a chemical attack in the U.S., a building destroyed, American troops attacked somewhere — the odds are 1,000 to 1 against the possibility that Saddam Hussein caused it, no matter what "evidence" is asserted or even presented publicly. If an incident occurs, it will be an answer to George Bush's daily prayers. If an incident occurs, we most likely won't know the truth behind it until years later — long after the American people have lost interest in the subject, just as with the previous war-inspiring incidents.

Power
The problem isn't George Bush. The problem is that American Presidents have too much power. See the Peace Amendment.

posted by Hal 5:23 AM