Iraq on the Brink of Collapse

Those who have been here since 2003 know that I predicted exactly what's happening now (and there wasn't anything psychic about it). George W Bush said the fighting would be over in two weeks. I told you, right here, that the fighting would still be going on in ten years, and that the country would end up in the hands of Islamic militants. I was accused of being "anti American".

So let's recap. The US illegally invaded Iraq supposedly in retaliation for the 911 attacks, even though Iraq had nothing whatsoever to do with 911 and no Iraqi had ever carried out a terrorist attack against the US.

Iraq was a pro-American country which had one of the highest literacy rates in the world, and the highest number of women university graduates. Despite being ruled by a dictator who dealt harshly with his enemies, Iraq was a relatively civilized, progressive and secular country, with almost no violence, and zero tolerance of religious radicals.

After the US intervention, Iraq is in the hands of Islamic jihadists. Militant Islamists who want to destroy the US.

Before the invasion of Iraq, al Qaeda was a tiny group of radicals (numbering between 50 and 200, depending on the source) with no support at all from ordinary people. Today it has thousands of trained and dedicated fighters.

The invasion - in which US forces killed three quarters of a million civilians - radicalized thousands of Iraqis who previously had had no interest in politics.

In order to get support for the illegal invasion from the American people, George W Bush and his cohorts claimed, falsely, that Saddam was close to developing nuclear weapons (he was only six months away from having nukes), and was preparing to attack the US. This was complete baloney. Oil was the real reason for the invasion.

Colin Powell appeared before the UN Security Council to "prove" the urgency of the situation, and presented the "evidence" against Saddam. This consisted of satellite photos of "chemical bunkers" (which didn't exist), "centrifuges for enriching uranium" (which didn't exist), "mobile biological-weapons labs" (which didn't exist), "chemical weapons factories" (which didn't exist), "Iraqi air force planes specially adapted to carry chemical weapons" (they didn't exist), photos of a "poison and explosives training camp" (which didn't exist). He also played what he claimed were taped telephone conversations between Iraqi military commanders in which they discussed concealing evidence from the weapons inspectors, and making a decision to "remove the expression 'nerve agent' wherever it comes up in wireless communications". Powell also claimed that Iraq harbored a terrorist network headed by al-Qaeda (there was no truth whatsoever to this claim, and no evidence was ever found linking Saddam to al Qaeda).

Not one word of Powell's "evidence" had any substance.

During his election campaign, Barack Obama claimed to be opposed to the invasion, and pledged that he would withdraw American troops as soon as he was elected. In fact he followed the timetable for withdrawal that had been negotiated by George W Bush.

Obama also pledged to "take action" against Bush and members of his administration for war crimes. When he was elected, however, he gave Bush and his administration a pardon and immunity from future prosecution for any crimes they may have committed while in office.

So now al Qaeda is fighting against US forces in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and elsewhere, and they are armed with state-of-the-art weaponry. Where did they get these weapons? From the US, to assist them in overthrowing the government of Syria!

George W. Bush - and his accomplices - lied to the people to get support for an illegal invasion in which 750,000 innocent civilians were slaughtered. Over 4,000 US soldiers were killed. Iraq is in ruins, and it's in the hands of anti-American Islamic militants.

Bush and his administration, who represented only the interests of big oil (every member of his administration was on the board of an oil company) cynically exploited the victims of the 911 attacks, using their deaths as a pretext for invading Iraq and Afghanistan (for oil).

If there was any justice, Bush and his accomplices would be on trial for mass murder and treason.