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2003 Iraq invasion
By Alan Woods, April 9, 2003
Independent media reports indicate that residents of Baghdad are generally giving US troops something other than the warm welcome that is ordinarily extended to an army of liberation. It is unclear at this time whether armed resistence to the American-British occupation will quickly die down. And it should be noted that
"...The contracts for rebuilding what [the US and its allies] have torn down in Iraq were awarded to American construction companies many months ago. The oilfields, which they were quick to grab in the first days of the war, will be divided up among American oil corporations, who will kindly keep them "in trust" for the Iraqi people. The latter will get them back again - once all the bills have been paid. But this will take a long, long time. In the meantime, Iraq's considerable oil wealth will be entirely at the disposal of the Americans."
s.f.indymedia
by Doug Mann, April 11, 2003
by Pauline Rigby, Green Left Weekly, January 14, 2004.
"...Weapons of mass destruction were never found in Iraq, yet the country is
today contaminated forever, because weapons of mass destruction have been
used against it. Thousands of tonnes of radioactive waste were dumped on Iraq
during Gulf Wars I and II and during the intervening years when bombing continued through the use of depleted uranium (DU) ammunition.
"DU is a waste product of the process that produces enriched uranium for use in nuclear weapons and nuclear power plants. Much like natural uranium, it is both toxic and radioactive. This radioactive waste - with a half-life of 4.5 billion years - has been incorporated into missiles and bombs by the United States. The weapons burn and oxidise into microscopic particles that are ingested and inhaled, irradiating the victim from the inside...
"...Cancer rates are up in the local population and also among the United Nations peacekeepers from many countries who were sent in at the close of hostilities. Spanish and Italian peacekeepers have died of leukaemia and Portugal withdrew its personnel to stop any more becoming "radioactive meat"..." [hit the above link for the full article]
From Izvestia - Liberation news, appended to Russian Intel update of 6 April 2003 (morning)
From Liberation News -- with link to the web site where the reports originated
25 March to 6 April 2003 -- The US command's press releases greatly understate the Iraqi military's defensive capacity, which may help to keep combat spirit among US soldiers high and bolster support for the war effort in the US. However, as the war progresses the clash of war propaganda with reality is certain to soften support and harden opposition to the war among the troops and the folks back home. According to a Russian Intelligence report of 29 March 2003,
"...The majority of [US] troops remain confident in their abilities, while maintaining belief in the superiority of their weapons and maintaining reasonable confidence in the way the war is being fought."
"It should be noted, however, that the way the war is being fought did create a certain sense of disappointment in most of the troops. Many are feeling that they've been lied to and are openly talking about the stupidity of the high command and its gross miscalculations. "Those star-covered Pentagon idiots promised us a victory march and flowers on the armor. What we got instead were those damned fanatics fighting for every dune and the sand squeaking in your ass!" said one of the wounded recuperating at a hospital in Rammstein."
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