Tag Archives: Iraq

Wrong About Iraq, Wrong About Iran – R. Greenwald

This post was originally on CommonDreams and reposted here.

The framework agreement that the U.S. and its international partners reached with Iran that blocks Tehran’s pathways to building a nuclear bomb is barely a week old, yet the usual suspects have already denounced it as a “bad deal.”

Former George W. Bush administration official John Bolton called the agreement “a surrender of classic proportions,” and for Bolton, war is the only answer.

“The inconvenient truth is that only military action … can accomplish what is required,” Bolton wrote in The New York Times last month.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opposes it too. “I think this is a bad deal,” he said on Sunday, adding, “I think there is still time to reach a good deal, a better deal.”

How do we get a “better deal”? Netanyahu doesn’t have an answer.

U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) also criticized the agreement on Sunday, but he went a bit further than Netanyahu. “I don’t want a war, but…,” Graham said. But what? The South Carolina Republican said that Iran would have to completely capitulate and agree to dismantle its entire nuclear program and address other issues that weren’t part of the nuclear talks or face war.

What do Bolton, Netanyahu, Graham and a whole host of others in Washington opposing this deal have in common? They were passionate supporters of the Iraq war and continue to hold that view today.

Here’s what Netanyahu told Congress in September 2002, five months before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq: “If you take out Saddam … I guarantee you that it will have enormous positive reverberations on the region.”

And here’s what the Israeli Prime Minister told Congress just last month: “The agreement … would all but guarantee that Iran gets nuclear weapons.”

Graham said in 2003 that Saddam Hussein “is lying … when he says he doesn’t have weapons of mass destruction.”

And here’s Bolton in late 2002: “The Iraqi people would be unique in history if they didn’t welcome the overthrow of this dictatorial regime.”

Of course, we all know how this played out: no WMDs, tens of thousands of Americans killed or wounded, countless Iraqi civilians dead, nearly $4 trillion spent, and ISIS on a rampage throughout the Middle East.

Why should we listen to these people again?

The reality is that there is no better Iran deal, and those calling for one never offer a viable plan on how to get there. In fact, the real alternative is war, which will come at tremendous cost.

“After you’ve dropped those bombs on those hardened facilities, what happens next?” former commander of U.S. Central Command Gen. Anthony Zinni (ret.) once wondered. “[I]f you follow this all the way down, eventually I’m putting boots on the ground somewhere. And like I tell my friends, if you like Iraq and Afghanistan, you’ll love Iran.”

 

Back to Iraq Is a Deadly Mistake, Déjà Vu

Re: 1500 more troops to Iraq
 
November 8, 2014
 
Letters Editor (submitted to Newsday)
Newsday
 
Dear Editor:
 
Last time, when the Bush administration sent U.S troops to Iraq, we now know it was based on a lie and had deadly consequences.
 
This time, the public is being told we must stop ISIS  because it is an imminent threat. 
 
Back in June,  the President sent 275 troops and more in August with another 1100 in September. Now he is doubling down sending another 1500 to Iraq as advisers and trainers. Remembering Vietnam, we know all too well about mission creep. We also know that these advisers, trainers and pilots flying airstrikes are already boots on the ground. The generals are telling us that we will need boots on the ground to win.
 
Back in August, the President said there was no military solution to the conflict in Iraq. There are alternatives. What is needed is a political solution among all the factions and negotiations that address their grievances. What is needed is an arms embargo.
 
Instead of airstrikes, the United States should be providing humanitarian assistance with food, shelter and healthcare. Bombing will result in more civilian casualties and will be a recruitment tool for ISIS. 
 
The U.S. is once again embarking on a disastrous path that claimed over 4,000 American and over 100,000 Iraqi lives. Why do we think military force is the solution this time?
 
The American people need to weigh in on this decision and make their voices heard. We cannot afford another decade of war.
 
Sincerely,
Margaret Melkonian
Executive Director 
Long Island Alliance for Peaceful Alternatives