Baghdad Bureau: The Hangings Of A Girl And A Dictator, And What Happened In Between

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By Marc Santora

Two deaths, the lynching of a 10-year-old girl and the hanging of Saddam Hussein, provide the grim bookends of my time in Iraq.

In March of 2003, the port city of Basra had yet to fall and forces loyal to Saddam Hussein were bitterly determined to demonstrate their power over the largely Shiite population of Iraq’s second largest city.

With Basra encircled by mainly British forces, the end was near. In those last desperate hours, the thugs in charge took a young girl, strung her up from a lamppost and left the body to dangle limply for three days as a message to those who threatened to rise up against the government as they had done a decade ago - only to find themselves abandoned by an American government that had encouraged the rebellion.

After Basra’s fall, scores of Shiites told similarly horrific stories, escorting reporters to the places they said had functioned as torture chambers before the invasion. The hooks used to hang dissidents by the skin of their wrists or necks, still stained red, competed with the revolting stench of the cells for attention.

Yet even then, in what was meant to be a moment of liberation, reaction to the American and British troops was complicated by resentment, fear and mistrust.

The looting was already well under way when the first British tank crossed the bridge into Basra.

That chaotic period is now a blur of images.

A donkey, the cart it pulled laden with copper from a looted building, being beaten by the side of the road for refusing - or being unable - to move.

Wild car rides, fleeing gunfire and angry mobs in towns largely bypassed by the invading forces.

Children with no shoes yelling, “mister, mister,” the English they knew, begging for water and anything else that could be handed out.

Their parents mystified and enraged by what they viewed as the almighty American Army, the machines of war stretching all the way down the main highway from Kuwait to Baghdad, bypassing them, unable to help them meet basic needs.

The lines of cars on the highway on the way to Najaf, coffins strapped to the roof as Iraqis went to bury the dead.

Not being embedded with the military meant that I had some freedom of movement, but even then it was dangerous to linger in any one place.

There were also glimmers of hope.

One month after the first bombs fell on Baghdad, I walked with thousands of Shiites on the their way to the holy cities of Najaf and Karbala. The pilgrimage was the first time in three decades they had been allowed to freely celebrate one of Shiite Islam’s holiest of days.

I went with families to find the remains of loved ones long ago discarded in mass graves that littered the country, finding in a tattered but familiar piece of clothing some kind of closure to their years of wondering and sorrow.

A trip to the fabled land of marsh Arabs, almost destroyed by the Iraqi government, revealed the possibility of a new beginning, with rivers being allowed to run again and a once vibrant culture given a chance to breath again.

But there was always the specter of violence.

It seemed clear the American-led forces had no real plan for securing the country. The utter lack of basic services was already crippling.

But I left that first summer, before the steady rhythm of suicide bombings and sectarian killings turned to a tidal wave with the bombing of the Shiite shrine in Samarra.

When I returned in the fall of 2006, at the height of the sectarian bloodletting, car bombs were as reliable an indicator of sunrise as an alarm clock.

Writing the daily news stories from the capital that winter meant almost obligatory mention of dozens of bodies found in the street. We used the phrase “killed execution-style” as shorthand for the myriad of unthinkable ways those Iraqis met their end. On one patrol with Iraqi and American forces, a photographer, Christoph Bangert, and I saw firsthand what one of the more notorious dumping grounds looked like. One man’s body had been tossed on the side of the road fully dressed - except for his shoes. His head was almost completely cut off, but he had not been there long enough for animals to finish the job.

American troops had all but disappeared from the worst neighborhoods in Baghdad, instead entrenching themselves in megabases.

When they did go out on patrol - dashing in and out of some troubled area - they were met with increasingly powerful explosive devices that caused American casualties to spike.

It was amid this carnage, just after Christmas, that Saddam Hussein met his end.

Maybe it should not have come as a surprise, given all that had come before, but to see the video of him being taunted and mocked on the gallows still had the ability to shock.

In the coming weeks, I watched as the American Army shifted its strategy in Baghdad, reinserting itself in neighborhoods it had long abandoned, and violence began to ebb.

But the scene at Saddam’s hanging, much of it captured in grainy images from cellphone cameras and widely dispersed over the Internet, seemed to me a fitting metaphor for the mind-bending complexity of a country and an occupation that, from my limited vantage point, were defined largely by death and violence.

RE: Contractors & WAR PROFITEERING

I hope for MORE coverage and exposure of Haliburton & Co. and how they seemingly defrauded us out of Billions in Tax Dollars, all the while letting down serving members of the military they are supposedly ’supporting’.

Like the ENRON & Co. scandals, the actions of Haliburton and those types MUST be subject to true Accountability - I can’t imagine living in an America where this simple justice wouldn’t happen. It seems an easy case to follow and prove, and the fraud is so ethically corrupt that it resonates with voters of all kinds.

Did these companies make life WORSE for our soldiers, while Over-Charging the Government and claiming they make soldier’s lives better? If so, what should be the Punishment? It’s up to voters to keep this issue moving.

†Posted by Michael

If we were to have excercised patience and had allowed the UN to complete their work in Iraq, we would not have wasted so much money, time and life on a war that makes no sense.

But guess what? W elected a lemon and we got lemon results.

†Posted by Alan Attuquayefio

This is why George W. Bush and Richard Cheyney should have been Impeached, years ago. They started this war by Lies. Saddam had nothing to do with 9/11, he had no connection with Al-Quida, since he viewed it as a threat to his own power,he did not possess weapons of mass destruction, and he had in fact dismantled his nuclear program as required by the U.N. and the I.A.E.A. To top it off the men who ran the was,like Donald Rumsfield do belong in prison for was crimes. Men like Paul Brimmer who Lost 13 Billion in cash belong in prison. Hopefully,these people, and their associates will in fact go to prison as they so richly deservs for their,Lies,Stupidity, Misfeasance, and Malfeasence

†Posted by James Fox

Frist ,long live with IRAN AND IRAQ and thank God for removing this animal sadam he could stay in power for all of his life and after him one of his son.as long as oil exist for soem company for chian and russian and frence and do not worry about these deaths in iraq. saddm did worse that that one day everything will be ok

†Posted by parvaz

It is very hard for me to believe that we as a people could BE AS WRONG IN SUPORTING WARS AS WE SEEM TO HAVE ALWAYS BEEN OVER THE YEARS.When will we ever learn?

†Posted by ROY L

War is hell. If you didn’t believe it before, surely you believe it now. The one overwhelming thing that absolutely no one in the US understood was the Iraqi’s monumental capacity to murder and maim each other over and over and over again, and in such ghastly numbers. Only the devil himself knew what would happen. Personally, I hope and pray that the Iraqi’s are able to overcome their difficulties and become a truly free people.

†Posted by Richard Kocher

Yup. Familiar. Different story, same reaction. Anyone who’s been in Iraq has something to tell. We’ll be decades piecing together the “history” of this time before people agree on an acceptable story about what happened in Iraq just after the turn of the century. And what we tell one another will probably end up like the story about three blind men trying to describe an elephant, each only able to feel one part of the beast. An approximation. Only that and no more.

†Posted by Phil

Who will held to account for the hanging of that innocent 10 yr old little girl? Will it be the Neocons who signed that now infamous letter, will it be Rumsfeld and Cheney and the policy of “Shock and Awe”? Is any of her family still alive to visit her grave and place flowers in her memory or are they also dead, their lives shrugged off as just the price of oil ? A now famous Reverend Wright once said ” God Damn America “, it puzzles me that anyone would question that feeling, I’m sure there are millions in Iraq that use those words every day as they ponder if and when their occupiers will ever leave them.

†Posted by Sam

the sun is just coming up over the mountains in santiago de chile. the new york times on my laptop each morning reminds me i am an american. i appreciate your superb coverage and photos of the reality of this war. thank you for reporting with photographs that inspire me with the truth and bring tears to my eyes.

†Posted by g.k. gannett

While we have lost almost 4000 American heroes in this useless war, a war that was begun by selling the citizens, Congress, the United Nations, and anybody else that would listen and thought that the leaders of the United States could be trusted on matters as serious as the ones that they were talking about. Having proof of the locations of WMD, terroists training camps etc, all of which were never found to be true. Forget the fact that this is the first time in our history that I am aware of that America went to war as a pre-emptive strike against something that might happen. Forget that Iraq had no air force, no planes that could even fly across their own borders, (military planes) or rockets that could deliver any weapons past their borders. Now five years later, has anyone got any idea as to to the cost in innocent Iraqi lives that have been lost? How many women and helpless children that have been “collateral damage” either from insurgents that did not exist before we got there, or our own “private contractors” that conveniently have to answer to no authority, so they can kill, rape and maime just like Sadam and his sons could. I just wonder what that number is and how much outrage the world in general would have against him if he had caused this much damage to his own people over this length of time. I know what his history was with gassing the kurds, killing Shiites for revolting when we failed to support them when we said we would, but still I find it hard to believe, as evil as Sadam was that he would have caused this much damage to the citizens of Iraq. Meanwhile get Iraqi government that we supported in the first place and still seem to give them all the support they ask for to work together as one country wanting peace for themselves and their citizens seems impossible. I just do not understand where all the progress people are seeing over their. Many places still without electricity on a regular basis, drinking water at a premium and now to find out that the oil that was to be their saving grace economically is not even protected enough to keep insurgents from hijacking much of it to support their fight against us and the excuse of a government that is in place. Granted with the surge they say fewer Americans are losing their lives now, and I am definitely all for that, but I believe the Iraqi government should be held accountable more closely and seriously to stop their segregationalist arguments over who will get more oil rights etc, and work together to form a real country dedicated to unity in the country and adjust oil revenues and other problems after they no longer need Americans to patrol their streets for security. We have liberated them, now it is their job to handle the freedoms they have, if they even want such freedoms, and let our honorable troops who went over there and suffered, died, and sustained crippling injuries to come home to their families. The Iraqui’s at least get to spend their nights at home with family and have that much of a life. It’s time after five years for our heroes to have the same liberties that the Iraquis have enjoyed for years now while using our military simply to do the dirty work that they either do now want to do, or are certainly not interested enough to try hard enough. An army can be trained in five years, no matter how incompenent they are to begin with. Whe have thousands of troops over there with much less than five years training before deployment, and it’s time to bring them home as soon as is pheasible to do so

†Posted by George A

Very gripping and well told. Most of us cannot imagine the horror of the reality in Iraq - I don’t think even the written word can really get the depth of it across. Thank you for such a well written story.

†Posted by Deb

And people hate America?

†Posted by Skell

These are awfully sad stories, and it’s much worse for those who lived through these experiences and have now chosen to share them with us. We must continue to pray for some resolution to this conflict, and pray for some resolution for peace among all those in the middle east and elsewhere in the world where there is conflict. Unfortunately, most Americans have no idea what is occurring in the middle east. They just know it’s a war in Iraq, and the president says he’s there to protect democracy. Having had the leadership of Saddam, then you know that the people can sometimes be misled by their leaders. The american people have and are being misled by Bush.

†Posted by shirley

There is no words!

†Posted by Joseph

One man spends some time with an escort and loses his job on threat of impeachment. His successor admits to an affair, surely a little worse in the hierarchy of wrongdoings as it involves emotional betrayal of his wife as well as sexual.

Another man sends 4,000 US soldiers to die ( plus perhaps 400,000 iraq citizens) in some kind of personal battle between the Bush family and Saddam. He is still in his job - no impeachment.I love America but I reckon it has lost its moral compass. Its too caught up in making money at the expense of all else. Perhaps the coming recession will help Americans to refocus and again to become a force for good in this world.It owes Iraq bigtime.

†Posted by Peter - Dublin

As long as the central “government” in the Green Zone doesn’t offer any genuine reconciliation to the Sunnis, which includes real power sharing, there won’t be any security of any kind throughout the country. Former insurgents and their organizations–who are temporarily allied with the United States today—will break away and resume their operations which will provoke the ruling death squads, posing as security forces, back to their ethnic/religious cleansing in return.

There is every indication that the violence will reach levels of unproportionate scale, and the U.S. military won’t be able to do anything about it.

If that happens, officials and pro-war and occupation “pundits” in the media will then attempt to explain this fall out on the basis that Iraqis or Muslim Arabs are “unable” to live in a democracy.

Too freakin’ stupid to notice that Iraq is under foreign armed occupation. What are you gonna do.

†Posted by Aaron Malcolm

The invasón of Afganistan and the bombing of Irak are two of many mistakes the USA has made in the resent sixty years of american history and all of them in favor of interests that have nothing to do with dose of the vast mayority of the american people. Ignorance is the culprit.

†Posted by ernesto azpurua

yes!I hope the peace come sooner and sooner,which is the thinking of most of the human beeing.

†Posted by peterxiemin

Hey, what do we care. Our president tells us we are winning, have alway been winning; The NYT compares a soft-shoe dance he does at some upscale, social club meeting with the skills of Gene Kelly (surely nobody there, drinks in hand, has bad thoughts); we have no draft; some of us got great big tax reductions; and if the Supremes co-operate we shall have both our guns and butter. Life’s good for many of us. So why does the NYT put out all these terrible, haunting pictures to spoil it?????? Charlie

†Posted by C. Welles

Thank you for your graphic portrayal of the War in Iraq. You make the horror visible. In your future reporting, please include estimates of the total number of Iraqi civilians killed since the U.S. invaded, the number of Iraqis wounded, the number of Iraqis displaced, the extent of their suffering. Most American coverage focuses only on the number of U.S. troops killed, as if that tells the whole cost of this debacle in foreign policy. It does not.

†Posted by Kathy Sharp

Horrendous. Absolutely and stupefying horrendous. All this squarely on the shoulders of Bush and Cheney. God help the innocent Iraqi people whose country we invaded on false information, God help our country and our young soldiers who are dying and being maimed in Iraq, and God help the next U.S. President - let it be Clinton or Obama - who MUST pull us out of this dark and bloody abyss.

†Posted by Mary Garden

after 5 yrs of occupation, i guess the losers are 1- Iraq and the Iraqi people 2- USA reputation, and USA families of soldiers 3- Economy of oil importing countries the winners are 1- Israel 2- Iran

†Posted by nabil marar

Beautifully written with 20 - 20 hindsight. mariana

†Posted by mariana allred

I am constanty amazed by the fact that when hundreds of thousands of innocent human beings were being slaughtered in Rwanda in 1994, the United States of America did virtually nothing to stop the genocide.

Why then, did we rush to establish “democracy” in countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan? If they had been ready for democracy, they would have attempted to establish it for themselves.

†Posted by Nat Solomon

Bush/Cheney and company have murdered thousand’s of innocent men,women and childrwn for which they should be tried as war criminal’s and for crimes against humanity.The United States will never regain it’s place as the home of the brave and the free unless Bush/Cheney are impeached but as long as Nancy Pelosi in Speaker it will never happen. Bush has her in his pocket.Saddam was murdered being a head of state he should have been tried in an international court of law but Bush made damn sure he wasn’t. I’m not taking up for Saddam but what was the difference of what he did and what Bush has done to the Iraqi people.They committed murder one with gas the other with bomb’s but the people died just the same.Crime is crime no matter who commit’s them but for some there is no justice and the others go on their merry way tap dancing and smirking.

†Posted by clyde Paige

The rush to war. What a night mare it has been for the Iraqi people. A war sold to us by lies and main stream media bias. There had to be a better way. I couldn’t help but investigate the forces behind this madness. The Office of Special Plans, The Defense Department, The State Department, The CIA, Presidential Advisors, The President and Vice President, the NeoCon/NeoLiberal cabal, The Military Industrial Complex, etc., all had a hand in selling us the Iraq War. The premiss being that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and that he posed an eminent threat. If the weapons inspectors were to be believed, Americans would have to question everything Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, Tenet, and Powell were saying. Few wanted to appear unpatriotic. Dissent was effectively quashed and a surreal and fictional justification and reasoning for war was maintained. The Downing Street memos exposed the deliberateness of the lies regarding “Weapons of Mass Destruction”. The NeoCons had been planning this war for ten years and they were not beyond lying to the American public, subverting dissent, and rewarding complicity to further their goals of self enrichment and self grandeur. They were even willing to betray an undercover C.I.A. agent. As the recent Army report concludes, there was never any link between Saddam Hussein and Al Queda. That fact shouldn’t have been missed by the MSM. The MSM was totally complicit in the subterfuge. What are the real facts surrounding conditions in Iraq now? Do we not have a deliberate war with no end, and an administration intent on perminent military bases and occupation of Iraq? Are the Iraqi people any closer to self determination? Not as long as we are there will the Iraqi people be able to determine their own fate. Contrary to what we were told, this war was never designed for the Iraqi people to determine their own fate. It was designed to be endless, with the U.S.A. puppeteering the Iraqi Government. The NeoCons never planned on leaving Iraq. They never had an exit strategy and they still don’t. They want permanent US Military bases in Iraq, and an agreement set up between President Bush and Prime Minister Maliki’s Cabinet, tying us to Iraq for decades. The NeoCons insist the American people continue to foot the Bill for the occupation, even though the American tax payer and the U.S. Military are over extended. The NeoCons want a Iraqi HydroCarbon Law that will split the oil revenues with US Corporations. That is not what the Iraqi people want. They want the U.S.A. out! And they want us out soon. After all the deliberate carnage, the four million displaced Iraqis, and the sectarian divide, why shouldn’t they want the U.S. Military out? Peace will never come to the Middle East through U.S. Military occupation. It was never designed to. Peace was not the goal. The War on Terror has turned out to be a War of Terror. Isn’t that usually the case as far as wars for profit go?

†Posted by Bill P

Please comment for clarity that the military forces for the most part sought and engaged para-military forces opposed to a peaceful, prosperous Iraq (unless under their dictatorship), that most of the Iraqi that died had a fellow Iraqi for their executioner.

We didn’t realize at the get-go, and nobody in the Western World would have believed regardless of who prophesied it, how large a portion of the Iraqi people simply prefer to hate and kill their neighbors and fellow countrymen, as talk with them peaceably.

†Posted by Brian Brunner

it is about time to calculate the ‘NET GAIN AND NET LOSS’ in IRAQ WAR for USA, IRAQ, MIDDLE EAST, EUROPE AND THE WORLD in terms of economy,security, peace and democracy. Before war, the price of oil was $30.00 per barrel, more al-quida network, unlimited death in iraq, iraqi refgees all over middle east, taliban/alquida are getting stronger in afganistan, loss of prestige for usa in the world and economy and domestic problems were ignored for 5 years. are we better off today than 5 years before?

†Posted by ASHRAF CHOWDHURY

The image that I recall as most striking, and perhaps as most defining of our invasion of Iraq, is that of American soldiers standing by and watching as Iraqui civilians looted and destroyed property and precious artifacts of the museums in Baghdad. These soldiers were (apparently) under orders not to interfer with the looters. They were combat troops, not military police who would have the training to act in such a situation. The very absence of American military police in Baghdad (as well as the inadequate number of troops in the invasion and occupation forces) charactises the failure of the Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld administration to understand the most fundamental principals of warfare. The abiity to control an occupied country depends on the number of boots on the ground. The generals who favored a larger force were all “retired”.

†Posted by Jack M. Ginsburg

We need more information like this to give us a little encouragement to understand that all our deaths, and theirs, are not in vain. Is there hope for peace? We can only wait and pray. I know a Kurdish lady here in the US. She says things are better for them, which we all know. At least that’s some small reason to support this carnage.

†Posted by Penny Grayson

We shouldn’t be surprised by the Haliburton abuses. They just did what any other unscrupulous company would do if they had the wink and nod of their ex- CEO.

†Posted by Mike Booth

Place the blame on the most hypocritical christian in our government, George Bush, possibly the most despicable president ever.

†Posted by Fred Underhill

Yeah, I thought that was too harsh to be posted. But I still think it’s true, so I’m taking another shot.

Iraq is so hideously violent and deadly because that’s the predisposition of the people inhabiting it. Always has been.

Sam asks “Who will held to account for the hanging of that innocent 10 yr old little girl?”, well obviously the Iraqi fanatics that hanged her, who else?

Those mass graves, torture chambers, and culture of violence and sudden death were there long before the U.S. and will be long after. Which just emphasizes how insanely stupid it was to get involved there at all.

We did not bring the horror to Iraq, we just allowed the chaotic horror to be unleased from the controlled horror of Saddam’s murderous regime. But the fault of all this mayhem is that of the people committing it; by and large the people living in Iraq. Better that we leave them to their own devices until they shape up; from their level it only took Europe about 500 years to establish a fairly peaceful society.

†Posted by Dan Stackhouse

Why have we not IMPEACHED Bush and Cheney?? Arrested them along with Rumsfeld, Rice, and Rove??

†Posted by Andrew B

War profiteering used to be a terrible crime. It seem that,under the present administration, war profiteering is rewarded with more profits. The lies, incompetence, greed, arrogance and unbridled ego remind me of what I have read about Germany in the late 30’s. It’s an absolute shame that I have to wonder if this post will result in my emails and phone calls being tapped…..

†Posted by Al Redlhammer

Not sure why this isn’t printable, but it seems reasonable to say that Iraq is so violent because Iraqis are so violent. The invasion was a mistake alright, but most of the hideous killing there is done by the natives. This all would have happened anyway when Saddam died regardless, so I don’t think the U.S. should feel too guilty about the predisposition of Iraqis to kill eachother.

†Posted by Dan Stackhouse

This “Talented Mr. Ripley” president has proven to be a scourge upon the earth. What a fine Christian he is for damaging the lives of so many and he should be so proud of all the deaths inflicted in the name of America. Those who voted for him once should feel remorse. Those who voted for him twice should feel complete shame and guilt for believing the lies of the morally bankrupt Neo-Cons. He has my vote; for worst president in our history. Impeachment is for sexual transgressions only says the Congress. Crimes against humanity is a pass for a fine Christian like Dubya.

†Posted by Dave

i have 4 year-old daughter myself and the stringing up of a little girl is flat out one of the most horrible and disturbing things i’ve ever read or can imagine. i can only hope that there really is some kind of judgment of the time we all spend here.

†Posted by crow-t-robot

“Why THEY hate us” ?

Americans do not need to look further and ask “Why THEY hate us” ?

Outside the U.S people view Americans as despicable not because of the success or riches we have but because of our inability to chain in our democratic governments from commiting and supporting all sorts of atrocities outside the U.S , whether in Iraq or in Latin America or in Afganisthan.

American people do not to understand that outside the U.S also people need to live free lives and that they only should be deciding their fate and future,be it democracy or dictatorship. U.S should focus on protecting itself from inside, and do anymore circus like this only remotely.Do not be fools anymore,please

†Posted by Mat J,Garden city,New York

One life. One life will never be a justifiable cost in exchange for US control of Middle Eastern oil. G. W. Bush and his entire administration are weeds nursing at the teats of oil interests. Selfish, greedy, and totally immune to empathy. Well, its now evident the destruction of Iraq was just the beginning. He has bullied and lied the country into an Orwellian nightmare whose sole goal is the support of corporate power and protection of same.

The leak of his “comedy” over the weekend only underscores the arrogance of Bush and those who support him. Soon Black Water will be on the streets of America, protecting the rich few while the rest of us wallow in a second depression.

America is not a democracy. It is an Oligarchy.

†Posted by Vincent

If bush is a christian then christianity is despicable-not the presidency…

†Posted by Christopher Flynn

Either we pacify the country with massive amounts of infantry, not only our own but true peacekeeping (not defenseless guys in blue helmets, but enforcers the way it was done in Yugoslavia where British forces shelled the Bosnian Serbs to make them stop killing civilians etc.) and reeducate the populace OR we pull out entirely, blockade the place and leave them to their fate as the sunnia-shia-kurd war continues. Possibly, to the dismay of Turkey, separate the Kurds into their own nation (and try to keep them from starting a war with Turkey and vice versa).

If the former, a massive infusion of troops from the civilized world is required along with civilians to do the work of rebuilding and reeducation. A tenfold increase in properly-equipped and trained troops should suffice. I would expect nothing less than an entire generation, possibly two. We start with the children now in school and it will certainly take until they are grown and their own children are in school. Concomittant is the need to build Iraq into a developed nation for the first time.

The situation in Iraq is perhaps comparable to a post WWII Japan had we not used an atomic bomb on two cities to inflict a “bone-crunching” defeat that seared into the hearts and minds of the entire populate not just a defeat of military forces. Iraqis only know that the monster Saddam Hussein whose government kept the peace with a blood-drenched iron fist.

Unfortunately, the Iraqis have those among them who interpret their religion as one of hatred. Whether this is an authentic interpretation or not, it is the belief of many and they are inflicting the harm on their neighbors — some of whom also hate, and some who do not.

The true Liberal, as opposed to the isolationist, as defined by the philosophy of Locke, must engage this situation and do what is neccessary to save the Iraqis from themselves. Ironically, the Conservative approach would seem to favor disengagement now that there is no longer a military threat to our interests. This latter is in fact the approach of the first President Bush in the first Gulf War: repel the attack on our interests (the occupation of Kuwait, and the ballistic missile attacks on Israel)then contain the threat and leave them to their own internal issues.

Ad hominem attacks on President Bush, Vice President Cheney, comparisons to the fate of ex-Gov. Spitzer — these do not address the issues. Even the question of Haliburton, whether or not there are legitimate questions as to favoritism in contracts, do not address the issue at hand and are off-topic.

†Posted by DH

Per #8, why is it that the U.S. is responsible for the death of the innocent girl? That was an act of barbarism without any military value, committed by hateful Iraqis against their own people.

When the US occupied Germany and Japan, those peoples did not turn upon each other (despite the urging of a few remaining fanactics.)

I susggest #27 sadly but correctly describes the situation in Iraq.

†Posted by Greystone

So the fault is ENTIRELY at the feet of your “Mr.” Bush? (He IS the president, whether we like it or not!)

Haliburton was responsible for the leaders of Iraq making the conscious choice of killing one another? They were “forced” into a singular course of action?

The US occupation of Iraq is 100% responsible for one Iraqi killing another Iraqi because the second Iraqi is not of the same tribe as the first Iraqi?

Even under duress, everyone is responsible for their own actions. If not, then nobody has a right to criticize ANY ACTION no matter how repugnant. The rapist/thief/murderer/embezzler/etc… can blame someone else

Believe it or not, reasoned discourse is NOT a part of the social and political dynamic of The East and The Middle East. Aggregate Power and the exercise thereof - exercised in a physical and mortal manner -is the lingua franca outsize of the so-called “civilized” nations. (Within the so-called “civilized” nations, Aggregate Power is exercised primarily within the Political and Business arenas.) Add into the mix the “separation of Church and State” is also not a part of the lexicon of The East and ESPECIALLY The Middle East.

Various countries in The Middle East have been killing one another fro thousands of years. The pace has picked up since the 1960’s, and while US policies may play a part, simple logic can’t place 100% of the blame on US policies when the problems existed long before we arrived.

US dollars going to corrupt Middle East governments that: A) are intent on killing each other because of the Tribal/Ethnic/Sunni/Shiite divide; B) keep the lions share of the money for themselves and allow their own countrymen to live in squalor and starve; and C) two-facedly take our money while financially supporting Hamas, The Muslim Brotherhood and al-Queda, who state the destruction of the US and all that is non-Muslim by their own admissions… Then maybe we’ll see some tangible changes.

Open ANWR and The Coastal Shelf for oil development, and stop sending our dollars to other countries that are actively trying to subdue us. And don’t give me any lip about bio-fuels and ethanol replacing petroleum anytime less than 50 years. Diverting crop lands to produce fuel instead of food? I’ll drive less, thank you. Why do you think that the price of corn WORLDWIDE has almost tripled within the last two years? Like it or not, petroleum from ANWR and the Coastal Shelf will supply the vast majority if not the entirety of the domestic energy needs - until the alternatives become economically viable within the next 50 years. Let someone else have the monkey on their back that is Middle East Oil.

†Posted by Craig Gorsuch

Like, you know, War is not good for children or, like, other living things.

†Posted by Mike

It would be nice if our leaders could see the future…if the future is so see-able as the above notes indicate (could it possibly be retrospect that gives these critics their omnistic powers?)….We won WWII by luck…Normandy was nearly catastropic with 150,000 deaths in 3 days…and would have been worse except for a sudden break in the weather…And would you not call Nagasaki and Heroshima the original “shock and awe”? ….Viet Nam? ….got our rears whipped, part of the Kennedy legacy…tho Johnson ended up with the heat. If you would like to save lives…speed limit to 50mph,2nd violation loss of license (estimated lives saved..50-60,000 per year. Outlaw cigarettes…even larger numbers…and so on and on. Unfortunately we have elected a government of individuals who do not have workable crystal balls…AND WARS ARE ALWAYS HELL..Sherman was right as he marched through Georgia. Please..wake up and stop playing “woulda, coulda, shoulda” …learn from the past…but never think you can know enough!!!

†Posted by R.A. Naiman

In answer to Nat Solomon, the reason nothing was done about the Rwanda genocide was the obvious - there was no oil! Iraq and Afghanistan is all about oil - it’s as simple as that! Our boys (US and Brits) are dying in Afghanistan to secure the route of the oil pipeline from the Caspian Sea area which has more oil and gas reserves than the Middle East. Not long ago the US (through the CIA and Pakistan intelligence Service) were funding and supporting the Taliban (and, for all we know, still are). Why were hundreds of Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters (together with their Pakistani advisers) evacuated from Kunduz (northern Afghanistan) by an American Air Force air-lift when they were surrounded by the Northern Alliance? These are the people our troops are now fighting and often dying as a result.

Bush (seen by many as a mere puppet) Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz and Co have a lot to answer for.

As for Iraq and all the crap about “liberation”, “peacekeeping”, “regime change” and “restoration of democracy”, several surveys have estimated that between 100,000 and I million Iraqi civilians have died since the US-led invasion in 2003. Is it any wonder they are opposing the occupation and want us out?

If ever the history of US foreign policy during the past few decades comes to be written, it could be summed up in two words: Sanctimonious hypocrisy!!

One hopes that a new president can restore some respect in the world for the United States which must be at an all-time low but will the same puppet-masters be there behind the scenes?

Gordon, Oxford UK

†Posted by Gordon Clack

Rightly or Wrongly, “we broke it, now we have to fix it.” Collon P’s words could not have been more prophetic. Now we have the responsibility to 1. the Iraquis, and 2. the world to make sure that the second largest deposit of oil reserves do not get into the hands of irrisponsible people, or hostile governments. And, everyone knows the minute we leave, the Iranians, or the AlQueda, or Sudan, or some combination of of all, will swoop in, grab the oil reserves, and the free world will be in deep hu-haa. At that point, we will then be back to square one, only to have to go back in and capture the same Iraq back all over again. Best to stay in there now, just like we did in Japan and Germany, and ensure a responsible and stable government is put into place. The oil is a global concern; every economy turns on supply, demand, and prices of the oil. The Iraquis have to learn that they have a global responsibility too, just like we do. But bailing out now is not going to accomplish that goal.

†Posted by kcattabat

Who all are implicated in this Orchestrated mass murder. The media owned my the corporrations who are making the money off this debacle. The neocons/fascist who scare people for the sake of stirring up innocent citizens into supporting the Americn war machine. Why don’t we ask people would they rather die putting out forrest fires to protect the earth or go to a distant land meet interesting people and then kill them. We have a lot of questions that are framed in all the wrong ways. Always framed to build support for war mongering. MAybe we should raise our children to settle their problems like our government does. the chaos that would follow with perhaps a dark age far surpassing the last one. What I read yesterday has this white male ready to vote for a new possability with Mr. Obama. Perhaps we could do the world a favor by sending Mr. Bush, Mr. Chaney and the rest of their gang to stand trial at the Hague for the war crimes they have committed and spend the last of their days making gravel with ball peen hammers and loose all their money paying for their sins.

†Posted by Chris

Led into a pre-emptive war by those whose motives were hidden and who ignored the advice of those who knew the countries best, we have inflicted massive suffering upon the countries we invaded, and played into the hands of the terrorists we are supposedly fighting.

We continue to blindly support Israel in their occupation and oppression of the Palestinians in the face of the rest of the world’s condemnation of these acts.

After 5 years, enormous numbers of the world’s population believe we are on a path to destroy Islam. And after all of that, there is still a large group of US citizens that believes everywhere and always we are and always have been the white-hatted savior and everyone else is the bad guy.

We are a country that is in great danger of being undone by the majority of our citizens following an agenda established by a group they identify with instead of an agenda they arrive at by their own critical thinking.

†Posted by Ed

Most of us are dissatisfied with the Republican administration. Does that mean that we will elect a Democrat administration? I certainly hope so. We need to balance the budget and get OUT of Iraq. Let the Iraqis kill each other with fewer American targets getting in the way. Oh, but who will ensure that Big Oil doesn’t get nationalized? Let Big Oil worry about that.

†Posted by MIKE M

I am from the South and every day I hear comments from people about patriotism, about Bush keeping us safe, and about how we had to go to Iraq to fight the Al Quaida and the terrorists. Unfortunately these people do not have any conception about the truth of the war, why it came to be, the horrors of the war, and the corruption involved in managing the war. People here in the South for the most part proclaim to be Christians, good people, with family values and high moral standards. But is it any wonder with today’s controlled media, controlled by just 6 major corporations, each with political and monetary agends. Many of them only watch FOX, some ABC, NBC, or CNN. They only know what they see. I don’t know how many people have noticed, but in this election year the Iraq war seems to have been forgotten in the Big 6 media outlets. I see probably an average of 5 minutes a week in coverage, including CNN which used to report heavily on the war. Have you noticed that you no loger see Christianne Amanpour and others who used to report daily. Is this by design? I feel pretty sure that the war in Iraq is still going on and our soldiers are still there. Unfortunately America no longer has free and unbiased reporting. Everything it seems is driven by greed and political manipulation.

Everyone here still believes Iraq and Al Quaida were linked before the war, that our Government was only trying to keep us safe and go after the terrorists.

Meanwhile we are nearly 10 Trillion dollars in debt(much of which was money borrowed for the war), our infrastructure is crumbling, our education system is decaying (a Metro Atlanta County just reported the Public School System is no longer accredited), our Social Security System is heading for disaster, many citizens are without healthcare, and the list goes on and on. Our trade deficit is approaching nearly 1 Trillion Dollars per year. Washington seems to be asleep, both democrats and republicans. I had high hopes with the democrats took majority, but have not seen any real results. It seems to be politics as usual.

But you see, people here in the South are brainwashed into believing in Bush’s contrived preimptive War, they believe that it’s teh Patriotic thing to do, that we had to go there to go after Al Quaida.

†Posted by David from Atlanta

I am not surprised that we find ourselves involved in the wars. The people who wage them are the same people we elect to the congress, senate and the presidency. Not since WWII have the people who are trained and educated in waging war been allowed to run the war. Korea, Viet Nam, Afghanistan and Iraq are examples of politicans waging war. They are incapable of running the country as evidenced by our credit collapse, lack of health care, etc. etc. and on and on. I believe had the people who know HOW to wage war had been in charge, this entire situation could have been avoided and American lives would have not been shed for nothing. While I understand terrorism and the world in which we live today, war is not going to be the answer. But if we have to fight, we should let those with the education and knowledge do the fighting not a bunch of politicans. I don’t want my son or daughter dying for the Republicans or Democrats.

†Posted by Bob

‘Comprising 112 billion barrels of proven oil, Iraq ranks second in the world behind Saudi Arabia in the amount of Oil reserves; the United States Department of Energy estimates that up to 90% of the country remains unexplored.’ -US Dept of Energy One can infer the reason why we are there & for how long with the sentence quoted above. So let’s keep driving out to Florida in the middle of summer, drink from plastic bottles, & live in buildings covered with AC units from top to bottom. It’s not like it’s affecting anybody else. There’s nobody to blame but the Obvious Culprits. So while the majority of Americans toil inside industrial buildings making V8 engines for P-Diddy’s latest fleet & market these inside plush Crystal Palaces in cities inhabited only half of the day, let’s blame the ones that We placed in office. Our complacency has finally caught up & the literates are now the new Sages, thanks to these fancy typing machines made out of Conflict Plastic & Desert Sand. So here’s an idea for change: Take Responsibility For Your Own Actions, & Start Walking to Work. Go America!

†Posted by Remat Krahs

“It was the right decision”, says Bush. He shows no respect at all for people. Definetely not for people´s lives, but neither for people´s minds. The world has seen an horrendous, dantesc scenario of death for five years justified with nothing else than lies, and Bush still says it was the right thing to do. Of course, we are all idiots. Outside U.S we don´t hate Americans but I clearly hate U.S foreign bully big brother´s policy. On true justice there should be impeachment for Bush, Rumsfeld, Chenney, Rice, Blair and ridiculous Spanish president Aznar. They all should go to prision for the rest of their lives. But there will not be justice.

†Posted by Miguel, Madrid, Spain

Working backward, a cruel senseless war, entered after deliberate misleading intelligence, after a stolen election, after an announcement by a voting machine manufacturer that the election would be delivered to GW Bush — we need paper ballots all over the country for the 08 election. We need to be delivered from the evil killing Bush.

†Posted by Coral

The fact that Iraq shites and sunnis started immediately killing each other should have been no surprise. It was predicted in every US newspaper, including the NYT in great detail for months before Bush II made his invasion. What came as a surprise to me was how fast BOTH sides turned on US soldiers. There was a very good NYT editorial about military supported inspections to be sure that the Iraqi weapons of mass destruction could not be hidden. What a blessing it would have been had Bush II taken that advice. However he also could have paid attention to his father’s actions and the “Powell” doctrine - “Before starting a war, be certain you know your goal and that it is achievable by war”. We should never again forget this.

†Posted by david E. Harrison

You can view all the government review programs on PBS or HDNet with Dan Rather, and all the “Face the Nation” etc., programs, but you’ll never once hear a discussion along the lines of “Well, if it wasn’t because of the proven absence of weapons of mass destruction, nor the proven non-existence of ties between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda, nor the failure to prove that Saddam Hussein had any link with al Qaeda and was therefore behind the 9/11 attack, then what was the REAL reason for invading Iraq ?”

I myself have thought hard and long for five years and the only true conclusion that makes any sense is that it was all done on the urgings of the Israelis, no doubt through the Zionists who obviously hold an inordinate amount of influence over your government in Washington, DC. Messrs Wolfowitz, Perle and Kristol, to name but a few, were all closely involved in a lengthy concerted effort to move the U.S. government and public towards a war with Iraq, which as everyone knows now was never a threat to the national security of your country.

It is well to remember that during the Gulf War the most U.S. army casualties occurred when the Minuteman missile launchers were transferred from protecting the army barracks in Saudi Arabia to be deployed against the Iraqi Skud missiles when they started to rain down on Tel Aviv. So it is not unusual for the Israelis to assert pressure in seeking assistance from the U.S. while knowingly placing the lives of Americans in jeopardy.

I suppose with all the legislation that has been passed, on the urging of the Israelis, to regard any commentaries on their conduct in a less than a favourable light to be construed as hatred against them is no doubt the REAL reason behind the media being somewhat intimidated to offer as a topic for discussion this scenario as the REAL reason why the U.S. went to war as it did in 2003.

†Posted by Joe, Toronto, Canada

What kind of sick, sick people hang a 10-year-old child? I hope they made Mohammed proud that day. Can we just please get out of there? If they want to kill each other and hang children, we can’t stop them. I’m terribly sorry for the damage we’ve done to the country, but I don’t think the insanity started with us, and it certainly won’t end with us. We just need to stop damaging ourselves now. Get us out!

†Posted by Lorrae

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