When President Obama declared the withdrawal of troops from Iraq a few weeks ago, I posted that it was small comfort given the history of the war and the situation in the region and the world.
This Christmas morning, my brother Mike responds to those who say we should celebrate Obama’s actions and call it a victory for a peace movement.
It is an important post.
In the pit of my stomach I know that any anti-war celebrations are premature and just plain wrong, considering the death and devastation our retreating troops are leaving behind. I mean –thousands of U.S. soldiers and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis killed; the cradle of civilization bombed, battered and bleeding with little left of infrastructure, torn by sectarian violence which was inflamed by the U.S. 10-year occupation. A corrupt, anti-democratic, U.S.–installed but pro-Iranian regime, in Baghdad sitting next door to the world’s largest embassy, guarded by mercenaries from the murderous group of thugs and assassins formerly known as Blackwater. Their main job, it seems, will be to protect the western oil profiteers from tripping over each other for a shot at Iraqi oil.
Fred Klonsky 