Shell, the other U.K. “super-major” oil company, also re-entered Iraq in 2009 after an invasion in 2003 that was widely denounced at the time as a war-for-oil on the part of the U.S. and U.K., Matt Kennard reports.
Source: BP Extracted £15 Billion of Iraqi Oil After British Invasion
What happened on March 20, 2003 wasn’t a “mistake.” It wasn’t well-intentioned but “unwise.” It was a calculated, premeditated crime perpetrated on a massive scale. Thousands of Americans and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis died in a war premised on transparently nonsensical lies.
Source: The Invasion of Iraq Wasn’t a “Mistake.” It Was a Crime.
Among the lying liars who lied the U.S. into invading Iraq, Joe Biden stands out as a big reason why the lies swallowed the culture, becoming a damning indictment of a society that would elect him president.
Source: IRAQ 20 YEARS: Sam Husseini — The Lies, and Lies About the Lies, About the Invasion
The making of ISIS
The looming US war on Iraq may or may not go well militarily, but the US does have the advantage of overwhelming military superiority. The real question is whether it can successfully wage a war of public opinion during and after the military conflict. Iraq is a minefield of religious sensitivities because of the Shiite shrines. Unless the Bush administration is very careful, the 1920 great rebellion could be repeated, this time against an American Mandate. Worse, we could return to the bad old times of the 1980s when it was Shiite radicals who attacked Marines, blew up our embassy in Beirut, and took US hostages. We should be careful not to create allies for al-Qaeda from among its natural enemies.
Remember Bush Blair and Howard and the “Weapons of Mass Destruction” Putin figures he’s justified do the same in the Ukraine and not be charged with war crimes. He’s not invading Finland a Democracy that’s promised not to be a part of NATO. He can turn to history and America’s Monroe Doctrine Cuba and a number of countries whose governments they have tried to change or made fall over the years simply because they were seen as a danger to American interests. Cuba stands out with the Russian missile crisis only 90 kms off their coast. They have been punishing Cuba ever since. Nothin is ever simple. Zelensky is prepared to negotiate.
Bush’s willful act of aggression, his invasion and eight-and-a-half-year military occupation of Iraq, has deeply hindered effective policy-making by the U.S. regarding Russia’s attack on Ukraine. Here are some of the ways it matters:
Source: How Bush’s Iraq Fiasco ruined US Credibility and Enabled Putin’s Invasion of Ukraine
I am struck by the irony that if only the US had invested massively in renewable energy and electric vehicles right from the 1970s when the climate crisis had become clear to scientists, Washington may not have felt the need to invade Iraq to unleash its hydrocarbon resources. When Ronald Reagan took back down Jimmy Carter’s solar panels off the White House, he was symbolically committing this country to generations of energy wars.
Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s death at 88 is an occasion for me to recall some of my own writing on his sinister role in the Iraq War. Rumsfeld wanted to invade Iraq so badly he just made up shit to justify that action. In a Salon article I noted that the day after 9/11, [anti-terrorism czar Richard] “Clarke reveals that Rumsfeld was already, on the afternoon of Sept. 12, “talking about broadening the objectives of our response and ‘getting Iraq.’”
Source: Donald Rumsfeld, Torturer, Serial Liar, Butcher of Baghdad, dies at 88
Joe Biden is still bombing Iraq in 2021, and Iraq is still supporting the Palestinians, and refused to join Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates in recognizing Israel. Iraq is now so firmly an ally of Iran that its leaders have to do photo ops with Arab leaders to try to escape the perception that Baghdad is too tightly linked to Tehran. Neoconservative fail.
American Occupation of Iraq (ODT)
Hassan al-Kaabi, the deputy speaker of the Iraqi parliament, called on Washington Thursday to accelerate its preparations to pull US troops out of Iraq, and to leave Iraq’s affairs to the Iraqis. Al-Kaabi was nominated to his position by the Sairun Party of prominent Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
Al-Kaabi’s ire against the US was further provoked by secretary of state Mike Pompeo’s condemnation of the Iraqi security forces for violently repressing a demonstration in the holy city of Najaf on Wednesday, leaving dozens wounded and some dead.
via Has Trump lost Iraq to Russia over his Drone Strike on Baghdad Airport?
Is the US puppet show over? (ODT)
via Iraqis Rise Up Against 16 Years of “Made in the USA” Corruption | The Smirking Chimp
Can you believe this?? Should any Kurd??(ODT)
“Between 2005 and 2017, the finance ministry has taken in $706.23 billion dollars in foreign exchange” from oil, it said in a statement.
According to parliament the equivalent of $227 billion in public funds in Iraq, OPEC’s second largest crude exporter after Saudi Arabia, has gone missing through shell companies.
via Broke: US-Installed Iraqi Elite Spent or Stole all $700 bn in Oil Revenue since 2005
Angelina Jolie visits Mosul and cries. However what happened in other sites like Falluja
” LNP Senator Jim Molan’s name rings alarm bells for many thousands of people. He is known colloquially as “The Butcher of Fallujah” for his time leading the Coalition assault in Iraq against that and several other Sunni cities, including Najaf and Samarra.” Jim Molan: Australia’s newest Senator has blood on his hands?
In an exclusive, Reuters reports today that the Trump administration is going into the Iraq reconstruction conference in Kuwait next week with no plans to contribute a dime to the effort. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will attend.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haydar al-Abadi estimates that Iraq needs $100 billion to rebuild. The country is still devastated from the 2003 US war of aggression and 8.5 year military occupation, which spurred Sunni insurgencies and led to the collapse of the US- and NATO-trained military in 2014. The past 3.5 years have been spent attempting to recover the Sunni Arab areas of the country from ISIL, which involved destroying most Sunni Arab cities in the country.
Donald Trump ran on a platform of “no more nation building.” (He needn’t have bothered to articulate it. What nation has the US built recently?)
In Australia we don’t hear Senator Jim Molan fighting for the restoration of towns he helped destroy either in fact he’s been heard arguing for even a more aggressive approach to destruction called defense. (Old Dog)
via US, having Destroyed Iraq, won’t give a Dime to Reconstruction
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The “Voice of Iraq” reports that last night artillery duels broke …
Source: In Absence of US Leadership, War Breaks out between Kurds and Baghdad | Informed Comment
By Tom Engelhardt | (Via Tomdispatch.com ) | – – You remember. It was supposed to be twenty-first-century war, American-style: …
Source: Empire of Destruction: Mosul reveals Myth of Precision Bombing | Informed Comment
Surviving ISIS: Mosul and its people may be free of Islamic State for now but their troubles are far from over.
The only pattern in the American “war on terror” is disaster.
Source: The US Military ‘Liberated’ Mosul—by Destroying It | The Nation
Iraq’s abuse of civilians will make it easy for the next version of the extremist group to recruit.
Source: The Fall Of Mosul May Not Be The End Of ISIS But The Beginning Of ISIS 2.0
The fall of Mosul is a moment to consider the wider state of the Middle East since the threshold moment when the US-led coalition invaded Iraq.
Source: Iran and Saudi Arabia, not democracy, the winners from the invasion of Iraq
Condoleezza Rice, Admitted in an interview that the goal the United States pursued during the 2003 invasion of Iraq was toppling of President Saddam Hussein
Source: Condoleezza Rice Destroys The Official Narrative, Admits “We Went To Iraq To Overthrow Saddam”
Trump war on terror in the Middle East has killed over 1,000 people in the month of March in Syria and Iraq, less than 90 days Trump took office
Source: Trump Expands War Terror, kills over 1,000 Syrian, Iraqi Civilians in Single Month [Video]
Civilians trying to flee the besieged Isis-held enclave in west Mosul are being shot dead by Isis and Iraqi army snipers as they try to cross the Tigris River, says an eyewitness trapped inside the city with his family. In an exclusive interview with The Independent, Jasim, a 33-year old Iraqi Sunni living in west Mosul near the 5th Bridge, said: “I want to rescue my mother and take her to the eastern part, but it is dangerous. Three people were killed in our neighbourhood trying to cross the river to the eastern side. They were shot dead by the snipers.”
Source: Civilians in western Mosul are being shot at by Isis and Iraqi forces alike | The Independent
“Of course I would fight the Americans if they came for the oil,” one Iraqi told BuzzFeed News a day after Trump at CIA headquarters suggested someday taking Iraq’s oil.
Source: Iraqis Are Pissed That Trump Said The US Might Try To Seize Their Oil, Again – BuzzFeed News
The Iraq Inquiry Report (2009-2016) documents how Tony Blair committed Great Britain to war early in 2002, lying to the United Nations, to Parliament, and to the British people, in order to follow George Bush, who had planned an aggression on Iraq well before September 2001. Australian Prime Minister John Howard conspired with both reckless…
The Iraq Inquiry Report (2009-2016) documents how Tony Blair committed Great Britain to war early in 2002, lying to the United Nations, to Parliament, and to the British people, in order to follow George Bush, who had planned an aggression on Iraq well before September 2001. Australian Prime Minister John Howard conspired with both reckless…
The Iraq Inquiry Report (2009-2016) documents how Tony Blair committed Great Britain to war early in 2002, lying to the United Nations, to Parliament, and to the British people, in order to follow George Bush, who had planned an aggression on Iraq well before September 2001. Australian Prime Minister John Howard conspired with both reckless…
The Iraq Inquiry Report (2009-2016) documents how Tony Blair committed Great Britain to war early in 2002, lying to the United Nations, to Parliament, and to the British people, in order to follow George Bush, who had planned an aggression on Iraq well before September 2001. Australian Prime Minister John Howard conspired with both reckless…
The Iraq Inquiry Report (2009-2016) documents how Tony Blair committed Great Britain to war early in 2002, lying to the United Nations, to Parliament, and to the British people, in order to follow George Bush, who had planned an aggression on Iraq well before September 2001. Australian Prime Minister John Howard conspired with both reckless…
The Iraq Inquiry Report (2009-2016) documents how Tony Blair committed Great Britain to war early in 2002, lying to the United Nations, to Parliament, and to the British people, in order to follow George Bush, who had planned an aggression on Iraq well before September 2001. Australian Prime Minister John Howard conspired with both reckless…
The Iraq Inquiry Report (2009-2016) documents how Tony Blair committed Great Britain to war early in 2002, lying to the United Nations, to Parliament, and to the British people, in order to follow George Bush, who had planned an aggression on Iraq well before September 2001. Australian Prime Minister John Howard conspired with both reckless…
The Iraq Inquiry Report (2009-2016) documents how Tony Blair committed Great Britain to war early in 2002, lying to the United Nations, to Parliament, and to the British people, in order to follow George Bush, who had planned an aggression on Iraq well before September 2001. Australian Prime Minister John Howard conspired with both reckless…
The Iraq Inquiry Report (2009-2016) documents how Tony Blair committed Great Britain to war early in 2002, lying to the United Nations, to Parliament, and to the British people, in order to follow George Bush, who had planned an aggression on Iraq well before September 2001. Australian Prime Minister John Howard conspired with both reckless…
The Iraq Inquiry Report (2009-2016) documents how Tony Blair committed Great Britain to war early in 2002, lying to the United Nations, to Parliament, and to the British people, in order to follow George Bush, who had planned an aggression on Iraq well before September 2001. Australian Prime Minister John Howard conspired with both reckless…
The Iraq Inquiry Report (2009-2016) documents how Tony Blair committed Great Britain to war early in 2002, lying to the United Nations, to Parliament, and to the British people, in order to follow George Bush, who had planned an aggression on Iraq well before September 2001. Australian Prime Minister John Howard conspired with both reckless…
The Iraq Inquiry Report (2009-2016) documents how Tony Blair committed Great Britain to war early in 2002, lying to the United Nations, to Parliament, and to the British people, in order to follow George Bush, who had planned an aggression on Iraq well before September 2001. Australian Prime Minister John Howard conspired with both reckless…
A CIA analyst, who interrogated the despot, just set the record straight about Saddam Hussein, WMDs, and the failed and deadly invasion of Iraq.
Source: CIA Analyst Who Interrogated Saddam Hussein Just Blew the Lid Off the US ‘Official Story’
The Iraq Inquiry Report (2009-2016) documents how Tony Blair committed Great Britain to war early in 2002, lying to the United Nations, to Parliament, and to the British people, in order to follow George Bush, who had planned an aggression on Iraq well before September 2001. Australian Prime Minister John Howard conspired with both reckless…
The Iraq Inquiry Report (2009-2016) documents how Tony Blair committed Great Britain to war early in 2002, lying to the United Nations, to Parliament, and to the British people, in order to follow George Bush, who had planned an aggression on Iraq well before September 2001. Australian Prime Minister John Howard conspired with both reckless…
The Iraq Inquiry Report (2009-2016) documents how Tony Blair committed Great Britain to war early in 2002, lying to the United Nations, to Parliament, and to the British people, in order to follow George Bush, who had planned an aggression on Iraq well before September 2001. Australian Prime Minister John Howard conspired with both reckless…
The Iraq Inquiry Report (2009-2016) documents how Tony Blair committed Great Britain to war early in 2002, lying to the United Nations, to Parliament, and to the British people, in order to follow George Bush, who had planned an aggression on Iraq well before September 2001. Australian Prime Minister John Howard conspired with both reckless…
The Iraq Inquiry Report (2009-2016) documents how Tony Blair committed Great Britain to war early in 2002, lying to the United Nations, to Parliament, and to the British people, in order to follow George Bush, who had planned an aggression on Iraq well before September 2001. Australian Prime Minister John Howard conspired with both reckless…
The Iraq Inquiry Report (2009-2016) documents how Tony Blair committed Great Britain to war early in 2002, lying to the United Nations, to Parliament, and to the British people, in order to follow George Bush, who had planned an aggression on Iraq well before September 2001. Australian Prime Minister John Howard conspired with both reckless…
The Iraq Inquiry Report (2009-2016) documents how Tony Blair committed Great Britain to war early in 2002, lying to the United Nations, to Parliament, and to the British people, in order to follow George Bush, who had planned an aggression on Iraq well before September 2001. Australian Prime Minister John Howard conspired with both reckless…
The Iraq Inquiry Report (2009-2016) documents how Tony Blair committed Great Britain to war early in 2002, lying to the United Nations, to Parliament, and to the British people, in order to follow George Bush, who had planned an aggression on Iraq well before September 2001. Australian Prime Minister John Howard conspired with both reckless…
The Iraq Inquiry Report (2009-2016) documents how Tony Blair committed Great Britain to war early in 2002, lying to the United Nations, to Parliament, and to the British people, in order to follow George Bush, who had planned an aggression on Iraq well before September 2001. Australian Prime Minister John Howard conspired with both reckless…
The Iraq Inquiry Report (2009-2016) documents how Tony Blair committed Great Britain to war early in 2002, lying to the United Nations, to Parliament, and to the British people, in order to follow George Bush, who had planned an aggression on Iraq well before September 2001. Australian Prime Minister John Howard conspired with both reckless…
The Iraq Inquiry Report (2009-2016) documents how Tony Blair committed Great Britain to war early in 2002, lying to the United Nations, to Parliament, and to the British people, in order to follow George Bush, who had planned an aggression on Iraq well before September 2001. Australian Prime Minister John Howard conspired with both reckless…
olddogthoughts 