Tipping point?

”We can’t kill them. When I kill one, I create three.”

A U.S. officer working with the task force overseeing training of Iraqi troops admitting the difficulty of fighting the Iraqi insurgency.

Are we reaching a tipping point? According to a new study in Australia, 60 per cent of people don’t think the Iraq war has been worth it. In America, the situation is worsening, too. Numerous reports prove that the American military presence in Iraq is fuelling a resistance that, as history proves, will be impossible to beat. This is not to suggest leaving the country to Islamic fundamentalists, but what exactly is the people’s desire? The much praised election in January proved one thing: many Iraqis want “Coalition” forces to leave immediately. What part of “no more occupation” do the Americans, British and Australians not understand?

US public opinion is diving, and for good reason. Iraq is descending into chaos, and the occasional bright areas of peace and stability are far and few between. A number of polls reflect American concerns that the country is falling into the same trap as Vietnam and more US Senators are encouraging a firm timetable for withdrawal.

Independent journalist Dahr Jamail reports that the US-backed Iraqi government is now openly supporting militias to “deal” with unwelcome elements. What this means in reality, as Jamail notes, is the introduction of sharia law in much of southern Iraq. Liberation, indeed.

Jamail: “…We have the US-backed Iraqi “government” overtly (they have been doing this covertly for quite some time) pitting Shia and Kurdish militias against the primarily Sunni resistance. State sponsored/propagated civil war-although most Iraqis continue to fear and loath the idea, and so many Iraqi political and religious organizations continue to work tirelessly to avert the worsening of this now low-grade civil war.”

A number of US soldiers are writing to Jamail expressing their disgust at the bankruptcy of the whole enterprise. A US soldier in Iraq writes: “Do I think it (the war) was started for moral reasons? Of course not.”

Text and images ©2024 Antony Loewenstein. All rights reserved.

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