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Subscribe to RSSEditor's note: Photojournalist Kael Alford spent 10 months covering the invasion of Iraq and its immediate aftermath in 2003-2004. She returned this summer to report this Photoblog series. (This post includes a graphic image)
By Kael Alford
The question Americans ask me most often about Iraq is how have the lives of Iraqis changed due to the war? Have we helped them? Are they enjoying more freedom of expression, more security, more prosperity and a brighter future thanks to the U.S. intervention?
Those are tough questions that defy “yes” or “no” answers. But over the next seven days, I will offer some insight into the status of Iraq and its people through a series of vignettes, profiles and photos that I reported in June and July of this year.
Kael Alford / Panos Pictures
Smoke from burning oil drifts over the Euphrates River as seen from the Highway to Falluja. Shortly after the U.S. invasion, oil pipelines and infrastructure became targets of sabotage by Iraqi insurgents.
There are many ways to quantify the price the U.S. paid for the invasion and occupation of Iraq:
• Nearly 4,500 Americans killed and scores of thousands of veterans’ lives forever transformed by lost limbs, traumatic brain injuries and life-changing psychological impacts.
• The financial costs: more than $800 billion and counting for the U.S. war itself, and a huge burden on the veterans’ health-care system for many years to come.
But those calculations only begin to tell the story, and they don’t take into consideration the flip side of the equation: What about Iraqis?
A conservative estimate is that 100,000 Iraqis have been killed as a result of violence since the invasion and some informed estimates put those numbers much higher. The civil war that followed the invasion has abated though lower levels of sectarian and politically motivated violence continue.
Since the American deposition of Saddam Hussein indicators of Iraqi well-being show some improvements but paint a mixed picture. The future of democracy in Iraq is tenuous and much depends on what happens next. I reported in Iraq this summer seeking a more nuanced perspective from Iraqis themselves.
Courtesy of Ghaith Abdul-Ahad
Photojournalist Kael Alford in Najaf, Iraq, August 2003, during battles between U.S. forces and the Jaish Al-Mehdi.
When I left Iraq in 2004, foreign journalists and aid workers were being targeted by groups ranging from nationalist militias to home grown groups affiliated with al-Qaida.
The violence later expanded to include Iraqi journalists, politicians, doctors, college professors and professors and everyday citizens, who were subjected to kidnappings, sectarian murders and massive bombings.
When I returned this summer, the violence had diminished but was once again climbing. On the morning of my arrival in Baghdad, a loud explosion shook me awake. At first I thought it was a nightmare, but a characteristic second explosion a few minutes later confirmed I wasn’t dreaming. The target was a Turkish restaurant across the street from the compound where I was staying. No motive was known, and luckily no one was injured at that early hour. A week later, even the shattered glass of the nearby windows had been replaced and life returned to normal.
There were other incidents during my stay, including the murder of an American professor who was contracted by USAID to cultivate entrepreneurial education at Baghdad University. He was killed when his convoy was struck by a car bomb. And the violence has increased steadily since I left Iraq in July.
Sami, a veteran of the Iran-Iraq war who drove me while I reported, never left his car unattended for fear that an infamous “sticky” bomb might be placed under the carriage. I limited my time in each location and didn’t return to the same place often or follow any discernable routines. Taking photos on the street usually brought the attention of Iraqi police, who -- anxious about any form of surveillance -- detained me and pored over my documents.
I rarely walked outdoors in public except in areas we knew well, and could count the number of western journalists in Baghdad on two hands. Other than journalists and one freelance human rights observer I knew, no foreign diplomats or aid workers ventured outdoors without heavily armed escorts. A young American embassy worker I met in the “Green Zone” -- the heavily fortified village of bureaucrats and politicians where the remaining American officials reside and the Iraqi government does its business -- called all of Iraq outside the fortified compound the “Red Zone.” I never ran into trouble, but each journey felt like a safari into unknown territory because security in Iraq is always in flux. You’re safe, until you’re not.
But in the midst of this troubled landscape, I also was met with kindness and hospitality.
I can’t count the number of times Iraqis welcomed me into their homes, offices, conferences, shops and restaurants and told me their stories. With only a few exceptions, people were eager to share their experiences with an American journalist and to host a foreign guest. These visits always happened behind closed doors, away from the watchful eyes of the street.
Kael Alford / Panos Pictures
Pilgrims pass through Firdos Square, Baghdad, June 2011, as viewed from the Palestine Hotel. Firdos Square was where U.S. Marines famously toppled a statue of Saddam Hussein with the help of a tank on the day they arrived in central Baghdad on April 9, 2003. The Palestine hotel stands behind blast walls. The hotel housed foreign journalists during the U.S. invasion of Iraq. The hotel became a target for terrorist attacks in the years during the U.S. occupation when foreign journalists and contractors stayed at the hotel which was struck by a massive bombing in 2007. The hotel has recently been renovated in the summer of 2011 and is now open for business.
One family I most wanted to find again, I had never spoken to. All I had was a photograph I’d made in March 2003, in the neighborhood of Shoala on the outskirts of Baghdad, during the initial American air campaign. In the picture, three men cried over the body of an 8-year-old girl lying on a slab of marble in the back room of a mosque. She had been killed when an explosion ripped through a market where she was shopping with her family –apparently caused by an American missile gone awry.
I returned to the Shoala market on the last day of my trip and showed the photograph to the first person we saw, who happened to be the doctor who pronounced the girl dead. Hours later I was sitting in the living room of those men in my picture. We looked at each other as if we all might be ghosts. They begged me for copies all the images I had of that day. They wanted to know, did I have any photographs of their mother? She was also killed in the attack, along with a sister-in-law.
Kael Alford / Panos Pictures
Ahmer, Ali and Mohammed Al-Mousewi with the body of their 8-year-old sister Zahra who was killed in a missile strike on an outdoor market in Shoala, Iraq, March 28, 2003. The brothers' mother and sister-in-law were also killed. The attack left more than 50 people dead, according to Iraqi officials. Journalists for the Independent Newspaper in the U.K. have uncovered strong evidence that suggests the bombing was a U.S. missile gone astray during the U.S. air campaign that preceded the American invasion of Iraq.
They brought a 9-year-old into the room, their niece who had survived the blast as an infant, sheltered by the body of her dead mother. The girl’s ice blue eyes tore the fabric of time, her young body counting the years that had passed since that day.
One brother asked if I could help find a doctor who might treat his daughter with a speech defect caused by a palate malformation that no doctors in Iraq could repair. “She is a girl, and in Iraq girls with defects do not find husbands,” he said. Before I left their house, the men asked Sami if he’d make a photograph of me and the family together, in a gesture that said our lives, however distant, are connected.
In the week ahead I will share other scenes like this, drawn from a tenuous, hospitable and resilient country. As the last American troops leave Iraqi soil, the future of our relationship with Iraq begins a new chapter.
Editor's note: This project was supported by a Knight Luce Fellowship for Reporting on Global Religion.
More from the series:
Introduction: As U.S. withdraws, the people speak
For 'the Sheik,' U.S. pullout is cause for alarm
Patchwork electrical grid a symbol of country's disconnects
A new day for culture and consumer goods
For women, freedoms under fire
Suspicious minds in a squatters' camp
Colonel helped with the ‘Surge,’ then his past came calling
Related stories:
Koppel: Is the U.S. really leaving Iraq?
Engel: A look at the US bases, Iraqi troops and other legacies of the US presence
Leave a Comment:
they are worse off ,such a waste of money ,time ,& life ,10 years ,billions of dollars & thousands of life's
Both the people of Iraq and the people of US were better off when Saddam was in charge. The US war was a total scam and a huge fraud, only benefiting the US industrial military complex and Israel. The war only created instability in the region, huge loss of life, and rise of Islamic terrorism.
I agree with Max. Sure Saddam was a bad guy, but he kept the region stable. Maybe it takes a bad man to run Iraq.
Yes, it takes a brutal dictatorship to keep such a diverse population from turning on each other. It is not pretty, but that is real-politik. Bush Senior was smart enough not to fall for the Israeli and industrial military complex lies. Bush Junior was just a spoiled brat who did not give a hoot about the true cost of such a war and it's consequences. Weak Iraq only created another monster: strong Iran. It takes a total moron (or a traitor) not to see that coming.
I hope the people of Iraq are better off without Saddam. Iraq's neighbors, including Kuwait, are probably much better off without him.
UDunnoBro & Max - Do you call invading another country keeping the region stable??
I agree. Prior to the US invasion there religious violence was not tolerated, Iran was kept in check, we had a cushy "oil for food" program and a no fly zone. Now---4400+ American service member are dead, 66,000 Iraqi civilians died and the living have electricity for 6 hours a day. We're having to repair what we blew up, also.
Thanks to President Cheney and his stooge, Dubya.
No more wars!
JK - if you are talking about Iraq invading Kuwait you should know that it was a reaction to Kuwait stealing Iraqi oil using horizontal drilling performed by US oil companies. What would US do if Mexico started stealing Texas oil by tapping into their fields in the same way?
Max, do you have evidence of this horizontal drilling? an article link?
I suppose the US government has become to theses Iraqi’s like the one guy at the party who just doesn’t quite grasp the meaning of “The party is over”.
Every time you explain it, the last guy just keeps sitting there.
Why the US Government has built an embassy 10 times bigger than all of the White House, and Congressional area in Iraq, and intends to keep … I think it was like 16,000 contractor/embassy workers there is just mind boggling.
The US taxes payers are humping this on their backs even as the hill to economical recovery in the USA and Europe gets steeper.
When you ask anyone in the United States to pay a dime for this monstrosity, without any common sense reason, in a country that would wave good bye if you would just go away, this is what leads to wild over the top guessing, and conspiracy theories.
As I watched Ted Koppel’s story today, I see the Iraqis have been sold 50 of our most modern effective pieces of hardware … 50 … M1 Abrams Tanks.
How many Tank battles did our marines and soldiers conduct while in Iraq?
Very few and they were at the beginning of the conflict 10 years ago.
The United States government has been slaughtering light armored US foot soldiers in Humvee’s fighting gorilla tactical engagements for 9 years, afraid to open up on them with air support and tank fire for fear of civilian casualties, but sells the Iraqis tanks.
At least the Iraqis are supposed to pay for this ultra modern technology, the US government for totally unknown reasons even the Iranians can’t figure out, flew our most high tech spy drone into Iran, landed it softly for them with a great big red bow on it.
The complete utter stupidity of US leadership has become a constant, so rampant and inclusive at every level I don’t see a reasonable way to repair it in a free society.
Even if you were crowned King of the USA today with total power these *&^% ups create so much confusion you would not be able to find the start point to begin correcting this.
So off with their heads …
Which ones?
I don’t care just start chopping.
Kuwait Stealing Iraqi Oil
In 1990 Iraq accused Kuwait of stealing Iraq's oil through horizontal drilling. Iraq's Oil Ministry officials claimed that Kuwait was stealing 300,000 barrels of oil per day through the practice of underground horizontal drilling into Iraq's oil fields from Kuwait. That much oil would be worth $3 billion over a year. http://www.warriorsfortruth.com/iraq-attacks-kuwait-april-glaspie.html
Was the American Revolution a waste of time, money and lives? If you think so then America would never have been the free country that it is today but would still be ruled by a monarchy.
Hopefully when Iraq begins purchasing U.S. made weapons that it will signal to the terrorists in the Middle East that Middle Easterners have had enough of their camel dung on their doorsteps and will fight back to protect what they have won.
I believe that a monument to those who have died fighting on both sides, both sides meaning American,British,etc. and Middle Easterner needs created where everyones names are on the same monument that way the terrorists will always remember that when they came together the Middle East came together with its allies and fought back.
9-11 was intended, in Osama Bin Laudin's words, to get the US in a war and bleed us dry financially....and we played right into his game. He wrote the story line...and we became the actors. General George Armstrong Custer-Bush, rode into the "Little Big Horn (Araq)" waving the flag, and expecting to waste a bunch of savages using his superior tactical knowhow. Too many good men died so that a few men to put their notch on the pistol grip of history. War is ugly....really, really, ugly. Too many armchair patriots think its cool to send the military might of America into action. But before anyone stands up and declares themselves to be a "hawk", they should spend a week in a VA hospital. Only then will they understand the meaning of "Ugly, really, really, ugly". Long Binh, Vietnam 1969
Apples and oranges. If the Iraqi people would have started a revolution to overthrow Hussein that would be a whole different situation. As it is the US invaded Iraq on false pretenses, to impose the US' will on that country. Get it??
The top comments above really loves to give a finger to the Iraqi people and the American troops.
I think America gave the finger to the Iraqi people when it invaded, and killed Iraqi civilians. The Iraq war was never about helping the people of Iraq. The American people were fed a pack of lies. No WMDs.
Certainly its a sad situation. A mixed result is being generous.
Unfortunately, we had no business in Iraq, just like we had no business in Viet Nam.
Some things are better, but not for the 1000s that were killed, or families of those 1000s who were forever changed. This wasnt a war of necessity. Even if Sadaam had WMD, which he didnt, he had very limited ability to deploy it, and threaten our soil.
Sadly we continue to spend unlimited amounts on our military, which saps our wealth at a time when our earning our in recession. It is foolish and unwise, but for many it feels good.
Without our military, you could not be writing the garbage you do without paying a price.
The great and powerful US military did not protect our constitutional rights by being erroneously deployed in Iraq by civilians. Our rights never were in danger. The military could get by on half of its bloated budget.
“She is a girl, and in Iraq girls with defects do not find husbands,” he said.
and THAT'S what he cares about, not the quality of life or pain or shame (probable) that she feels, nooooooo he cares that she won't get a husband one day. fantastic.
I think it's implied. For a lot of people, getting married and having a family is one of the most important things in their life. I do agree that "not having a husband" alone isn't the worse fate and he should have expanded but I don't think it's the same sentiment as admonishing a career woman because she hasn't found a spouse.
“She is a girl, and in Iraq girls with defects do not find husbands,” he said.
and THAT'S what he cares about, not the quality of life or pain or shame (probable) that she feels, nooooooo he cares that she won't get a husband one day. fantastic."
~I think that he is concerned for her because in their culture no husband means, you will end up a woman with little or no livelihood. He is concerned of her quality of life and shame. You have to think outside of your culture.
Since you do not know anything about their culture, who are you to judge what this man said. If you bothered to look at the picture with half a heart, you can see the pain in their faces. People like you sicken me because you are so vindictive towards people you know nothing about.
I agree with you on a societal level. I don't blame him so much as I do society. The reason why it is such a concern is because women in that society who are not married will not advance in life and will end up poor and likely die young.
Impatient girl: Maybe you should read up on the reason for a husband and how valuable it is to be married in a country where marriage is obeying their god. Marriage is a moral safeguard, as well as a social building block to Islam. Through marriage, families are established and families is considered to be the fundamental unit of their society. Further more marriage between a man and a woman is the only valid way of intimatcy. All else is shunned. The general purpose of marriage is so that men and women can love one another, provide company to eachother, procreate and live in peace and tranquility to the commandments of their god.
I was deployed to Iraq three times after the invasion. I worked closely with the Iraq people being a female Marine. My interpreter taught me many things as I would search female Iraqi's as they would come into Fallujah, Iraq.
Maybe next time you should hold your tongue and pick up a book and read you ignorant ass.
Not too far from the American conservative's point of view, either..
SanDiego10: The name calling really undid your whole comment.
Maybe you should all take your own advice and try and see it from impatient girls view.
Maybe I do not, me calling her an Ignorant ass my opinion of her lack of knowledge before she speaks. And that goes for anyone who wants to speak on behalf of a countries culture that isn't too far off from our own marriage beliefs. Would you like it if an Islamic person was on here speaking incompetently of our beliefs as a culture? No you would be probably emailed MSN right now asking them to remove his/her post because your scared for your life, or that they may try to radicalize you and your family. Get over it. America needs thick skin, and THEY need to think outside their box of what they consider NORMAL. Consider it a constructive critisism, don't like being call ignorant ass then become a smart ass and you wont have to worry about someone elses feelings towards you.
LOL Sammy is obviously a liberal hack trying to sound ignorant. Never heard anybody say suddam ordered 9/11 before. As for this article I can say he gets it down pretty good. I know when we would go off base we were treated very good by most of the Iraqis. It was definitely not a nice place though. In some ways it was worse off then when Saddam was in power and other ways it wasn't. Suddam was a butcher-er who had his people raped, tortured and murdered. I think over time the Iraqi people will be better off. Of course there will be set backs as democracy is not a easy thing.
SandDiego most people who have not been there really have no clue. I think we as Americans can be guilty of judging other cultures by our standards. Most people in the world are not as lucky as us. Here there is help if there is a single mom. Other places chances are she is in extreme poverty. Things we enjoy are a luxury that we may not always have. What will this girl do when she has nobody to care for her? Mom and dad will only be alive so long.
They could have an entire country that looks like Disney World if they were civilized , from all the money they wasted on fighting , steeling and building palaces for a leader or dictator......
I hope their country pursues the path to peace, as any loving God would have wanted, and look to the future, as there is no changing the past, but we can set the direction for what is to come.
And we think we have it bad here when we have to pay 2% more in tax. My heart breaks for this family and everyone in the World that has to live this way. I fully support families like this that want to relocate to America for a better life. Nowadays, its so easy for anyone to come to this Country and claim hardship for any reason. But this family truely needs a way out. With the father gone and the sons, who are just children themselves, trying to take care of the family and hold it together, it is hearbreaking. In this World of Gods and Monsters!!
''life has changed''? yeah,I'll bet, like there are 500,000 less people thanks to Bush's lies.I guess you'd notice it too if you lived there.
Ha. You are a moron.
Hey Jihad Joe, what trigger wire are you sportin' there son?
who helped you two idiots with the big words, mommy?
i agree with Joe
I agree with Joe, too.
Much of the "reduced" violence, compared to the early days after the invasion, comes from the ethnic cleansing of neighborhoods. Add to that the "conservative" 100,000 dead and the two millon who left the country as part of the cleansing. The irony is that it may well be, in any forseeable future, the best option for Iraq would be for a Strong-Man like Sadam to suppress the ethnic hatred and to mitigate the threat of Iran's meddling. Added to the losses of blood and treasure, Iraqi and American, is more uncertainty for a secure future in Iraq.
It is just wrong to go in and destroy this country and not try to at least fix some of the damage we did. I hope these people find the will to rebuild their lives in a much happier and safer environment.
OKAY, you really need to stop talking because you have NO IDEA how much money was put into that country to help build it. I have been there when their "belongings" or property we destroyed and have personally seen with my own two 20/15 eye sight, BAGS of US money being divided up to give to them in exhange for the damage our military forces caused. Do you understand how much a dead goat would pay out in US $$$?! A lot!!!! They'd bring a dead carcus to a certain Camp, ran by US Marines and we would freakin pay them out the butt for it. ALL THOSE BARRIERS YOU SEE AROUND THAT HOTEL?! THOSE ARE OUR TEXAS BARRIERS THAT WE PUT UP. THEY ARE 5,000 LB BARRIERS, THEY WENT UP EVERYWHERE to protect US and THEM!!. All the vehicles we didn't want OR NEED BECAUSE WE DO NOT USE HUMVEES ANY MORE... YEAH THEY ALL BELONG TO THE INA NOW, DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH A MILITARY GRADE HUMVEE COSTS?! DIDN'T THINK SO. The PAINT THEY USED TO PAINT THAT MOSQUE?! YEAH THATS OUR PAINT WE PAID FOR AND GAVE IT TO THEM!!!! ALL THE JOBS ON THE BASES THAT HAD FOREIGN NATIONALS WORKING IN THEM, YEAH IT'S ALL THEM, WE GAVE THEM JOBS, BEST PAYING JOB IN THAT COUNTRY AT THE TIME! School educational books?! Yeah our DIME, libraries and hospital supplies... YEAH OUR $$. All those streets you see paved in the picture... Which by the way THEY CAUSED THE BOMBS, they burried the damn things, they destroyed their own roads, killed military forces and themselves BUT YEAH WE PAVED THEM WITH OUR MONEY every time a bomb went off we would take our engineers and go fill the whole with concret, next day or so it would be dug up again with another bomb. That hotel that was remodeled?! YEAH OUR MONEY!!! You see that green grass? You think it was green during the invasion? Your out of your MIND!
SanDiego10 Thank you for posting and setting the record right. This and every other "reply board" is filled with people who have not been there nor done that" and they are the biggest experts of all. But in support of the lady who brought up the point of the girl not being able to get married I think she meant well but just had no idea. Thanks John Viet Nam, 1967, 1969 and Viet Nam evacuation in 1975.
While the loss of life is devastating, the war did serve a valuable purpose, as long as we were over there fighting the terrorist, they were not here in our backyards killing Americans. We should all hope and pray that in time their lives will improve because they are now free of a dictatorship. They can for now live freely just as we do here, maybe with some different customs but hopefully with a freedom they have never known.
God bless all those who died in this war and may he watch over their families, no matter what side of the war they stood for.
Yes, and the horrific Vietnam War prevented all of Southeast Asia from falling like dominoes to Communism. President Nixon ended that war with peace and honor according to his secret plan.
President Ford prevented the demise of the U.S. Presidency by pardoning Nixon for his criminal acts.
President Reagan destroyed the evil empire of the Soviet Union all by his lonesome.
President Bush 41 laid all of the ground work for the greatest economic recovery in U.S. history. How dare that nasty and perverted Bill Clinton try to take credit for it while spending both terms in the Oval Office closet with Monica!
I tell you if Santa Clause and the Easter Bunny would only become registered Republicans, we could give them all of the credit for Christmas and Easter.
Heart transplant what Disneyland loony bin did you escape from. Saddam would never terrorist operate in Iraq.
I guess that would be the FOX-Lies loony bin.
Many of these Muslim theocracies are the scum of the earth and deserve very little except a hard time from people. Our goal in invading Iraq was primarily to attack terrorism and this terror state. I could care less about whether they are better off except if it would lessen the chance they would attack us. Unfortunately, these animals will attack whether they are well off or not. Iran is, of course, even worse.
Watch out that your huge heart don't burst out of your chest.
James, the only animal here is you.
James u need to get out of virginia mountains and widen your horizon. U need to see the world a little.
I am with James, forget "the world". The rest of the world is only looking for a handout from the U.S. anyway. I see no benefit dealing with other cultures of the world as they dont care about us only as far as we can help them. You go ahead libs, go to other cultures. Just dont come back, we can run the U.S. fine without you.
Stpn2me,
spoke like a truly close minded individual. America is not the be all end all nation of the world. We may be the strongest per population and capita but there are other nations that have a far richer history.
Essentially you want us to become like China was, and still is somewhat, in the past. They used to have a closed borders immigration and trade policy. They kept to themselves and blocked all communication whatsoever from the rest of the world from their citizens. They still do have these things to a degree by personal freedom has been chipping away at China's iron fists for a while now.
Isolationism will get you nothing but a stagnated and bigoted society.
James..
Let's see...
You're a terrorrist, but you're concerned that your targets aren't just military targets, but ordinary civilians..
Then you read comments from people like you and Uncle Samuel and you see the Red smeared electoral maps and think......
You figure it out, genius.
You wonder why there's such ill sentiment towards us..
Have a nice day.
Listen Libs,
When Saddam Hussein ordered the attack on 9/11 and Osama Bin Laden carried them out, we had to respond. If the Iraqis did want us to bring peace the old fashion way, well, they should have removed Saddam from power before 9/11 so that the attacks would never take place. By my point of view, these Iraqis have it made because of us. But unfortunately, this board will be filled with liberal propaganda and defamation of one of the greatest, no non-sense commander-in-chiefs that we ever had. Wake up people, these Islamo-fascist want to spread Sharia law all over the world and won’t be happy until the crescent moon is flying over the White House and Obama is providing them a fast-track path to it!!!
How do you figure Hussein ordered the attacks?
Whoa there Sammy, did we forget to take our meds today?
Are you being serious??? Iraq had nothing to do with 911! The terrorists came from Saudi Arabia. Saddam did not order 911. Bush wanted to find a link, but there was none. The 911 Commission looked for it and found nothing.
Uncle Samuel's comments reflect just how ignorant many Americans are about this horrific and unnecessary war.
Oh, my f'in goodness, ha, ha.
Uncle Samuel. You are piece of work.
I imagine YOUR words from the perspective of those who attacked us to sound something like this:
.."If the Americans did want us to bring peace the old fashion way, well, they should have removed George Bush from power before 9/11 so that the attacks would never take place"...
See how it works, genius?
And by what evidence did you discern that it was Saddam that Bin Laden took orders from? Oh, I forgot. You're a righty. You don't need EVIDENCE. You just need a "feeling" and a few blathering radio and tv personalities to reach the "truth."
And, while you're shivering in fear of world wide Sharia law down in your bunker, the fools you'd make president are trying to figure out how to constitutionally mandate Christianity - even if they, themselves don't like to practice it.
In addition, just in case you missed it, Obam killed Bin laden and a number of other high ranked terrorists, severely weakened al Qaida beyond any dream of CheneyMcBush and reestablished ties with our allies.
Thanks for the glowing tribute to George Bush, though. I'm sure I'll awaken laughing about that for years to come.
Have a nice day.
Again Uncle Samuel is talking out his blow hole, the one that never sees the light of day. Actually presenting real facts to these uneducated and closed minded ignoramuses will just irritate them. They are unable to grasp facts.
The Bush and Cheney wars destroyed Saddam who was an enemy of Iran and replaced him with a leader that seems willing to build a friendly relationship, the opposite that Bush Cheney would desire. The control of oil resources in Iraq was the prime reason for the invasion, yet Iran may be the eventual victor and may have more control over it than we in this country.
Anyone who looks down on others is the real scum in this world.
Funny you should say that Antone,
Islam looks down on every person who does not submit to "allah". What do you think of that? I bet nothing. Libs such as yourself have been kissing the butt of Islam for a while. It will serve you right when your wife cant wear normal clothes, walk outside barefoot and you have to wear a beard and bow to the east 5 times a day.
Islam has just as much right to look down on non believers as Christianity does, buffoon.
Neither has the right to use the government to mandate it, here.
Have a splendid day.
Corporate greed is becoming the worst enemy of this country, not some foreign country.
well, any time we can help out just give us a call. its true that it will cost US tax payers a trillion dollars (not paid for) and about 500,000 deaths of those we help and 5000 deaths of our troops but what the hell you can't make an omelet. lets face it, those neocons know what their doing. a cheer for bush and Chaney and rummy and Gingrich and Krystal, fox news, Bolton, and many more who support mass murder and mass insanity.
Thank you Florida, Ralph Nader, Bill "I can't control my libido" Clinton, and George Bush for this continuing disaster that has destroyed so much and will allow religious hardliners and Iranian agents to control Iraq.
Both the people of Iraq and the people of US were better off when Saddam was in charge. The US war was a total scam and a huge fraud, only benefiting the US industrial military complex and Israel.
Why are we spending Billions of dollars to rebuild a country which is sitting on one of the largest oil reserves in the world. There would be plenty for everybody in their country if they would just get their act together. But they never will.
we will relieve them of that oil whilst re-building of course :)
Which part of "it is a scam" you do not understand?
Remember the neocons like Wolfowitz promising the war to be a cakewalk paid for with Iraqi oil revenues? These con artists knew exactly what they were doing, benefiting their sponsors in Israel and industrial military complex, funneling trillions of dollars of taxpayers money into this industry. The people who got us into that war deserve to be tried for treason.
I agree they should be criminally tried for what they did. I hardly consider it treason though. Theft on a massive scale definitely though. This war was paid for by Social Security and now when we get old, there won't be jack left!
Praz - in order to understand the treason angle you have to understand the involvement of pro-Israel forces in starting this war. When a US citizen does something to benefit another country at the great expense to US, it is called treason.
Regardless of -why- we were over there, the fact of the matter is we went over there, we INSURED there were no WMD hell it was worth a look see right? Anyway fact of the matter is, we took the war to their ground, had we not it may have taken them this long but eventually someone would bring it to our doorstep, by the time they do that it'd be too late. We are Americans, we stand together, we fight together, we fall together, but only FAIL when we're divided. I am not particularly fond of this POTS or the administration at large but as an American I will fight, and die to support those policies so long as our liberties remain in tact. I believe a lot of our other soldiers feel the same way. All those who say we had no business over there, maybe. However, think of what could have or may happened in nine years if we didn't take the war to them?
Praziain,
Liberals dont care about what you just said. They only care that the rest of the world loves us. We as a nation are divided because everyone is waking up to understanding that we dont want to live like the other guy. I know I dont want to live in a liberal world, so I support those who are against everything liberals are about. Liberalism is taking this country down ever so slowly and they are destroying everything we hold dear simply because they dont hold our values dear.
Get rid of liberals and this country will be great again.
Please US Government - Do Not do a President Gerald Ford. One of the worst slaps in the face for me as a Viet Nam Veteran was seeing the 36 year open immigration of Vietnamese, Laotians, Cambodians (2011-1975) into the US. A constant reminder to almost all of us.
Dated a laotian girl whos dad fought with us in Vietnam. Great program letting them come here.
I feel sorry for the Iraqis but we never should have been involved in the first place. Whether things are better for them now or not is mostly irrelevant - question is what will happen once we leave? Who knows, maybe they will join together and make Iraq a great place, but somehow I doubt that will happen. I expect that the various factions will kill each other for a while until one becomes dominant, and they'll be in pretty much the same situation they were before we invaded.
Regardless of what the future holds for the Iraqi people, the citizens of the U.S. should not be ashamed. We gave them an opportunity which our founders never had. The hardest part in being free is keeping it. Freedom probably meant more to out forefathers since they paid dearly for their freedom in their own sweat and blood. The U.S. invested much blood and treasure to try to help a neighbor. Regardless of which side of ideology you fall on, the damage is done. The Iraqi's have reached the point where they need to " fish or cut bait". We should encourage them to cherish freedom. If they decide to go backwards, that's on them. Our fight is done!
^
Surely you can't be serious? Your whole statement is ridiculous!
mikey221-3551840, you missed the point. Our founding fathers wanted it bad enough to fight for it. They initiated the fight. France only came to our aid AFTER they witnessed our dogged determination to fight to the death for our freedom.
The yearning and fight for freedom must come from the heart and soul. It can never be forced on a stranger to freedom by an invading neighbor. Such an invasion is the antitheses of freedom itself. That's why our failure in Iraq is doomed to reach epic proportions in the near future. The United States will go down in history as the terrorists that destroyed the Iraqi people. They will most likely become part of the new Republic of Iran.
To Kael Alford and NBC News:
Did you put operationsmile.org in touch with the family and provide the family with pictures?
I imagine there are thousands of very sad stories similiar to this all over Iraq. Unfortunately these tragic events can not be reversed. But the girl's palate can be repaired so that she at least has the opportunity for a reasonable life according to their country's culture. May peace now be with them.
The world is a much better place without people like Saddam Hussein, however for much of these ungrateful fuks who are use to having an iron fists up their a s s to survive of course it's better under Saddam, you give them all the tools to be better, to fight off all the scum that is infiltrated in their own government and they wont, they will sooner or later create another Saddam, which is exactly the same, in fact even worse in Afghanistan, was this a waste of life and money, yes it was, but I would say even worse in Afghanistan, I am not looking at this and choosing which political party I could make look better by saying which war was the right war, neither was period! If you can't admit this your just an idiot, that being said, both of these places needed to be carpet bombed 24 hours a day as we did, going in there afterwards was a huge mistake!
Just kill all the innocent women and children, not to mention some innocent men. Kind of like ya'll did to the American Indians when you stole their land from under them?
Moshuluu the Muslim is similar to the American Indian.. His Ancestors were part of a tribe and use to fighting and killing off of members of opposing tribes.. Muslims killing Muslims is an everyday occurrence...
How many suicide bombers in crowded markets or in front of Police stations will there be as soon as the last American soldier leaves that sh!thole of a country?... Enough to show how barbaric those Muslim scumbags really are.. Good riddance to all of them, only their fleas will mourn them...
Mosh what are you some kind of idiot? we used small pox on the indians you fool!
We didn't use small pox on the Indians as small pox at the time was not treatable.