Iraq: Five Years of Imperial Genocide

Somewhere to draft a feature article for UK Indymedia for the 5th anniversary of the start of the current Iraq war.

Abstract

The 15th March protests...

Links:

Content

Since the start of the US-led war on Iraq in March 2003, Indymedia UK has been getting numerous posts and reposts about the war and its impacts and the demonstrations and actions against it. Quite a lot of middle column features were also put together by Indymedia volunteers to reflect that. A special topic page was created in January 2007 to collect all these posts and features in one place. As of 12 March 2008, the Iraq topic page had over 110 features and more than 760 newswire posts. Bellow is an attempt to give an overview of what this posts and features were about.

More than a genocide

How many people killed, the Lancet and Orb surveys etc.

Abu Ghraib and Blackwater

Building walls: The Golden Temple and the ethnic cleansing

Destroying future generations: depleted uranium, cancer rates etc

'Rule of the people'

In March 2003, the planet saw the biggest protests ever against the looming imperial assault on Iraq.

Five years on, people are still protesting but Iraqis are still being killed and those responsible still in power.

Weapons of mass deception

What they said it was about and what it is really about, from David Kelly to peak oil

oil privatisation law

Targeting journalists

From 'the cradle of civilization' to a graveyard

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Iraq

Saddam put into power by the CIA, the US funded the war with Iran and them gave him the nod to attack Kuwait.

Failed the Iraqi people uprising in 1991 and turned a blind eye to the genocide of Kurds and Shi'as.

After the war, a similar pattern: support murderers who became rulers as well as terrorist groups to destabilise the country to provide a pretext for the occupation to stay longer.

And more recently, the American support for the Turkish invasion of Northern Iraq

Links to be incorporated

4th Anniversary of Depleted Uranium used in Iraq arriving in the UK - http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/sheffield/2007/03/366338.html

UK Refuses Entry to Lancet Iraq Death Toll Study Author - http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/05/369192.html

Radioactive Ammunition Fired in Middle East May Claim More Lives Than Hiroshima and Nagasaki - http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=7410

Uranium bombing in Iraq contaminates Europe - http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/07/345191.html

Middle East: Cradle or Graveyard of Empire? - http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/sheffield/2006/07/345867.html

At a Downing Street reception not long ago, a guest had the temerity to ask Tony Blair: "How do you sleep at night, knowing that you've been responsible for the deaths of 100,000 Iraqis?" THE PRIME MINISTER IS SAID TO HAVE RETORTED: "I THINK YOU'LL FIND IT'S CLOSER TO 50,000." http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/08/346860.html original source for that quote: http://www.newstatesman.com/200608070017

New analysis \x91confirms\x92 1 million+ Iraq casualties - http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/01/390440.html

The Media Ignore Credible Poll Revealing 1.2 Million Violent Deaths In Iraq - http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/09/381318.html

1.5-2 million TOTAL post-invasion excess deaths, and 0.8-1.2 million or about 50% of these being VIOLENT deaths - http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/11/385440.html

The Faceless and The Dead - The Guardian and Iraq\x92s Refugees - Media Lens - http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/12/387221.html