Occupiers

Can Never Be

Liberators

It becomes clearer every day that the U.S. claim to be liberating Iraq is an ugly lie. Pres. Bush's claim about Iraq getting uranium from Niger to build nuclear weapons is in tatters, one lie surrounded by an entire bodyguard of lies. Resistance in Iraq to U.S. occupation has turned into what even U.S. generals have admitted is a guerrilla war. As veterans who have been occupiers in the past, it's a crucial time to speak the truth. We oppose this occupation. As veterans who have been the enforcers for U.S. imperialism, we stand with the Iraqi people and support those troops who courageously are speaking out in opposition to the occupation.

From the first days of the occupation, U.S. troops have targeted the Iraqi people for brutality and murder. On April 14th, U.S. Marines fired on a political protest in Mosul, killing 13 people. On April 28th, U.S. paratroopers opened fire on a crowd of 200 people in Fallujah killing 18 and wounding 78, including children.

U.S. troops have blown away whole families at roadblocks and vehicle checkpoints. Units have been ordered to "take out" anyone who moves around them. British writer Robert Fisk reported that, on Sunday July 27th, "American soldiers turned a botched raid on a house in the Mansur district of Baghdad into a bloodbath, opening fire on scores of Iraqi civilians in a crowded street and killing up to 11, including two children, their mother and crippled father. At least one civilian car caught fire, cremating its occupants."

U.S. soldiers have been trained to see the Iraqi people as the enemy. As a Pentagon official commented, "Everyone is now seen as a combatant until proven otherwise." By their own admission, U.S. soldiers have killed civilians without hesitation, shot wounded fighters and left them to die in agony. U.S. forces are refusing to treat wounded and sick Iraqis if their injuries are not directly caused by the U.S.-a violation of the Geneva Conventions. "Our whole job is to kill people," Spec. Eric Foster said. "It's what we're trained to do."

One of the worst crimes of the occupation is what is happening to Iraqi women. The U.S. military presides over a new Iraq where rape is rampant. In many parts of the country women are afraid to leave their homes. Meanwhile male U.S. soldiers regularly frisk women, and prostitution, which didn't exist before the occupation, is now flourishing around U.S. military barracks.

Tanks and Humvees stopped along the road to Nassiriyah are emblazoned with American flags and slogans such as the Sept. 11th catch phrase "Let's Roll" stenciled on the side. One Sgt. said: "They hit us at home and now it's our turn." But there has been not one shred of evidence to back the Bush administration claims of a link between the Iraqi regime and Al Qaeda. In fact the new 9/11 Commission report which the administration sought to suppress, says no connection has been found. It's hard to imagine a greater crime than that of this gov't cultivating professional killers who feel no remorse at killing civilians and encourage them to see this war on Iraq as part of the "war on terrorism" and payback for Sept. 11th.

U.S. troops were told that they would be welcomed by cheering Iraqis. In some areas crowds initially welcomed them with hopes of self-rule. This hope was quickly exploded by the reality of U.S. domination. Now life is worse than ever. While the U.S. seized the oil fields and key gov't. institutions, the infrastructure of the country was destroyed or collapsed, bringing on a public health crisis. There is no electricity, phone service or gasoline in most areas. Raw sewage is contaminating drinking water causing a cholera epidemic. Hospitals are barely operating and people are dying from lack of medical care. Most factories remain closed. Many people have no jobs or money. In the midst of all this, U.S. troops moved into neighborhoods of Iraqi cities, setting up road blocks, shooting protesters, outlawing opposition, tracking down opponents, reorganizing the old Saddam police force, and building encampments.

Baghdad families thought they would never again fear the midnight knock at the door. However now, Iraqi men, women and even children are being dragged from their homes at night by U.S. patrols. Some have been snatched without charge, hooded, manacled, and taken to prison camps. Children as young as 11 are among those locked up for 24 hours a day in rooms with no light, or held in overcrowded tents in temperatures approaching 122û. On the edge of Baghdad Airport, the U.S. has built a tent city that human rights organizations have compared to the detention camp at Guantanamo Bay.

The Iraqi people's response to the horrors of occupation is resistance. And despite U.S. claims, the resistance seems to come from many sectors of society. There are religiously led protests in both the Shi'a and Sunni communities-with some bringing both together. There are reports of Kurdish opposition to the U.S. occupation. And there are rising armed attacks on occupation forces. U.S. troops have repeatedly been shot by Iraqi men who simply walk up to them and open fire. Mines have been planted along convoy routes. Organized ambushes are being launched. Snipers shoot into U.S. camps and roadblocks. In some daring operations, Iraqis stand up in open cars to fire rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) at passing U.S. convoys. In one attack, four mortars landed in the heart of an U.S. airbase near Balad, north of Baghdad, injuring at least 18 U.S. soldiers.

Attacks against the occupation forces occur daily, as anti-American sentiments are on the rise among local inhabitants demanding an end to the occupation. Vicious and bloody U.S. campaigns to stomp out resistance have targeted the population more broadly and inflamed their anger. More than 80 U.S. soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Bush declared an end to major hostilities on May 1st. 28 U.S. soldiers died in Iraq in June, more than twice the death toll for May. U.S. forces are being hit by between 10 and 25 attacks a day.

U.S. troops are not coming home any time soon. It has been announced that the U.S. will be building permanent housing for at least 100,000 U.S. troops at about 20 bases across Iraq. These will not be moveable tent cities but permanent barracks. Currently, there are some 230,000 U.S. troops serving in and around Iraq, including 150,000 inside Iraq.

Troops face extended deployment and there are growing morale problems. Recently a number of troops have spoken out to the press against their commanders. One noted that if Donald Rumsfeld were in front of him, he would demand his resignation. Many were reportedly furious when George Bush's response to the guerrilla attacks that killed U.S. soldiers was "bring it on." The U.S. has not mounted an occupation of this type since Vietnam and the reality of what role they're playing is hitting some troops hard. Large numbers are suffering from combat stress. There are reports of a number of suicides among U.S. occupation soldiers. One sergeant said: "For me, it's like snap-shot photos. Like pictures of maggots on tongues, babies with their heads on the ground, men with their heads halfway off and their eyes wide open and mouths wide open. I see it every day, every single day. The smells and the torsos burning, the entire route up to Baghdad, from 20 March to 7 April, nothing but burned bodies."

Many of us know about these "snap shot photos". If you take a look at what these troops saw and participated in then it makes sense that any moral person would be suffering. On the other hand there are troops who are actually enjoying themselves in what they do. "I don't want to go home," says Cpl. Tiffany Carlson, "I like it here. I'm having fun." Carlson fires the M240 Gulf machine gun, the biggest weapon on a six-person security team. Commenting about her aiming the gun at Iraqi children along the route to Baghdad, she says: "I'm at war. I don't want to shoot kids, but I think it's better them than me."

This war on the people of Iraq can in no way be called liberation. The reasons for the war and the actions of the U.S. military in Iraq are neither justified nor honorable and have nothing to do with defending the U.S. It is about the rape of a country and the slaughter of its people for the control of oil and the region. And it's one campaign in a broader U.S. government war on the world. In the middle of all of this, it is hard to see anything good but there are several: the growing resistance by the people of Iraq and the growing resentment and resistance within the U.S. military.

The only way that the Iraqis can achieve real freedom is by doing what they've been doing: making imperialist occupation costly and difficult. The only way that those stuck in the U.S. military and ordered to fight this illegal war can come home for good is to increase their resistance and opposition to this war. We say that all resistance to the imperialist occupation of Iraq by the Iraqis and within the military is justified and should be supported. And we welcome those troops who dare to join the opposition. We call on those within this country to oppose the government's war of terror against the people of Iraq and the world. We must stand up and clearly say: Not In Our Name.