There Is No War In Iraq

There is no war in Iraq.

There is an illegal occupation.

There is criminal profiteering.

There is a sectarian bloodbath.

There is a human, economic and Constitutional catastrophe.

But there is no war in Iraq.

To refer to what is happening in Iraq in terms properly applied to war – “the enemy,” “missions,” “battles,” "combat,” “tactics,” “bases,” and “victory” is to engage in deliberate misdirection.

Or to fundamentally misunderstand what America has done to Iraq.

We are oppressing a civilian population that posed no threat to us and did nothing to us to justify this oppression.

Illegally and in defiance of the specific pleas of our allies around the world to refrain, we launched an unprovoked invasion of a sovereign nation that had made no threat against us, had not even the capacity to threaten us at all.

We are the aggressors.

We are the bad guys.

We are in the wrong.

Any discussion of what to do next in Iraq that does not begin by acknowledging the irrefutable facts above is nothing other than a farce based on lies.

And if you still don't understand that the only terrorists in Iraq are the ones our illegal invasion and occupation created, then you need to put the mouse down and back away from the computer slowly.

Don't come back until you're back on your meds.

For details, here's Fred Kaplan on how Bush is guaranteeing defeat in Iraq, and here's Glenn Greenwald on how the war hawks still haven't learned their lesson.

Cross-posted at Blue in the Bluegrass.