Informant38

Babylon Continuity:

I was in Lebanon at the start of the civil war in 1975. Baghdad today resembles Beirut then. People are being murdered solely because of their religious identity. A friend called to say he had a problem because his two half brothers had been born in Fallujah, the Sunni stronghold, and this was on their identity cards. If they were picked up by Shia militiamen, a glance at their place of birth alone could get them killed.
The same friend had taken his mother and two sisters to the passport office in Baghdad so they could leave the country. While they were there a bomb went off killing 25 policemen outside and breaking his sister's leg. Now the family cannot leave the country because his sister is in hospital and his mother is too frightened to return to get a new passport.
George Bush and Tony Blair have for the past three years continually understated the gravity of what is taking place. It has been frustrating as a journalist to hear them claim that much of Iraq is peaceful when we could not prove them wrong without being killed or kidnapped.

Patrick Cockburn/Independent UK/truthout 08.Apr.06
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"I believe that one day an American president will be talking about the world in which he is making decisions, or she is making decisions, and they'll look back and say, 'Thank goodness a generation of Americans understood the universality of liberty and the fact that freedom can change troubled parts of the world into peaceful parts of the world,'" Bush said.
"Is it worth it in Iraq? You bet it is," he continued. "It's worth it to protect ourselves in the short run, but it's necessary and worth it to lay the foundation of peace for generations to come."

John D. Banusiewicz/DoD DefenseLINK 06.Apr.06
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I think most of you know that in any war on a country, women and children suffer disproportionately more than any other section of society. It is absurd therefore to unleash, deadly and new weapons on Iraq, devastate the fragile infrastructure, destroy our cities loot our public buildings and dismantle all government institutions in the name of democracy and human rights.
Even more absurdly in the name of Women's rights!
Where are the values of democracy and civilisation that Bush wants to bring to Iraq?
All we have seen is mass killing, prohibited weapons, imprisonment, abuse and torture, continue unabated.
[...]
As a result of the recent sustained attacks on western Iraqi cities there are 11 women and girls being held by the US military in lieu of their male relative or husband. The youngest is 15 year old.

Hana Ibrahim/Women's Will Association Dec.05
link uruknet