Ayoon Wa Azan (We Are All Paying The Price).

Byline: Jihad el-Khazen

When President George Bush opted for the advice given by the war cabal and increased the number of American troops in Iraq instead of with withdrawing them gradually, I wrote in this column that the terrorists would retreat in the face of the additional forces since they know they will not stay for ever, and once those forces leave they will return.

The first part of this analysis has come true. Killing has declined in Iraq, especially in Baghdad, and the second part will come true when the additional forces withdraw.

The American party is like the drowning person who clings to a straw. The president keeps saying that the troops increase has produced positive results, and the American commander in Baghdad General Joseph Fil held a press conference in which he congratulated himself and announced that killing in Baghdad dropped by 80%. Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki also boasted of the decline in suicide operations.

I will overlook the doubts cast by European analysts on the information available to the American general and say that killing has actually dropped in the last months. I content myself with incontestable information and note that the press conference was held last weekend after the week started with the killing of seven American troops in one day, Monday. Thus, the number of American troops killed this year has risen to 853 men and women, a record number that outdoes the previous 2004 figure of 849, knowing that this new figure will considerably augment when we add the number of those murdered in the last two months of the year. After the killing of the American troops in Iraq last week, seven soldiers were killed in Afghanistan in a single day.

And yet, General Fil says 'we won', as if he were an Arab general fighting in wars for the liberation of Palestine. I fear that a war that was built on lies and is still going on the same basis, will not end up in positive results. If the Americans and their allies have lost over 4000 men and women so far, the Iraqis have lost a million while 2,5 Iraqis have left the country and 2,3 have been displaced in their country, and the Iraqis will continue to be killed and displaced as long as lies persist.

Now there is sufficient evidence that the war was altogether fabricated and there are no mistakes about engaging in it. The cabal behind it is well known: Vice-President Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Douglas Feith, and others. The cabal lied about minor and major issues. Everybody remembers the story of the soldier Jessica Lynch who was rescued in a heroic operation that was about to become a musical play and a film. But it turned out later that Iraqi doctors delivered her to the American forces so that she is provided with better medical care. The operation took place without a bullet being shot, and this lie was probably justified to lift the morale of the troops that must have lowered when Jessica firmly denied the myth of her rescue. What is much worse than this is lying about the death of the football American star soldier Pat Tillman in April 2004. At the time it was said that he was killed in a battle with Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. George Bush lamented him and granted him a medal, and after his death he promoted him to corporal. Thus, the picture of the handsome hero became a symbol of the War on Terror. However, in less than a month following his 'heroic' death, investigations revealed that he was killed by what is killed 'friendly fire', i.e. his colleagues killed him by mistake. Tillman's family revolted and the anti-war advocates revolted with them. Everybody wanted to know if the White House and the Pentagon lied deliberately while explaining Tillman's death. If the above is bad, the next developments seemed a million times worse after the spread of information on Tillman's killing or assassination by the bullets of special American forces. In fact, after he went to war as a volunteer, he discovered how it was based on lies and he witnessed its horrors. He became an anti-war advocate who incited his colleagues to vote for the Democrats and their candidates John Kerry. He even called the thinker Noam Chomsky, the prominent anti-war advocate, and invited him to join his anti-war campaign. If this theory proves to be true, then killing him is a crime whose price has to be paid by those who gave the order and carried out the murder.

Between lying about major and minor issues, there are lies about everything that has to do with the war. Last week, we heard that the American Forces released 500 Iraqi prisoners. The figure has been used as an indicator of the improvement in the security situation, but according to the figures, there are 25,800 Iraqis imprisoned by the American Forces. This year alone, 17,000 Iraqis have been arrested out of whom over 6,000 were released, of course without apology or compensation.

In Guantanamo, the number of arrested men reached over 700 at some point. Now there around 300 men out of whom only 80 are expected to be tried, which means over 600 innocent men were arrested for over six years. According to American information, torture has been practiced even if President Bush denies it. Official reports leaked out to the media reveal the practice of threats with water drowning, hitting on the head, tight chaining with shackles, and imprisonment in frozen cells. Consequently, there have been 41 suicide attempts by 25 detainees, and four have indeed succeeded in killing themselves.

Imprisonment, even for years, remains easier than killing. The American Forces have killed civilians in most of their military operations, especially air raids, and so have the private security guards. Why should they abstain from doing it when the Bush administration has granted them immunity from prosecution? My question is what would have happened had the American Forces and private security guards killed any other people, such as Christians or Jews? It seems that killing is legitimate only in the case of Muslims. I blame them, along with the murderers, because their laxity has facilitated aggression on them. Had they resisted the terror of the devious party, we would not have reached these conditions.

What I am concerned with regarding the issue of lying that has pervaded the war preparations, waging the war, managing Iraq after the occupation, and the daily killing, is that the persistence of lies means the persistence of the problem. As lies are on the increase, instead of decreasing, the problem will persist and will exacerbate while we are all paying the price.

http://www.j-khazen.blogspot.com/

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