As I See It: Iraq Exit

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Iraq Exit

The Daily Cartoon, The Independent, August 22, 2010

The last American combat troops left Iraq on August 19, seven-and-a-half years after the US-led invasion, and two weeks ahead of President Barack Obama's August 31 deadline for withdrawal from the country. This illegitimate war that began on March 20, 2003 saw the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, but became increasingly unpopular against a backdrop of heavy civilian and troop casualties and a growing civil war in Iraq that still simmers.

Photo credit: The Washington Times, August 19, 2010

Is this just a phony PR exercise to make Obama look good? Even with this withdrawal, there are 56,000 well-armed troops remaining in the country – until the end of 2011 supposedly – to advise and train Iraqi forces and protect US interests, what else!

But let’s not forget the human costs of war! And I am not talking about the combatants, but the civilians who were sacrificed in the name of Operation Iraqi Freedom! Estimates of civilian deaths vary greatly. Iraqi Body Count (IBC) research group tallied the number of civilian deaths as at 97,361 – 106,245 todate (Webpage http://www.iraqbodycount.org/ as at today, at time of blog posting). The Lancet study put the figure at more than 601,000 civilian deaths (Webpage http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2008/03/counting-the-bo/). UK’s Opinion Research Business Survey confidently estimated the numbers in excess of one million deaths (Webpage http://www.opinion.co.uk/Newsroom_details.aspx?NewsId=120)..

Whatever the numbers, civilian casualties are both objectionable and unacceptable. These photos remind us of the wasted deaths of innocents caught daily in the deadly crossfire. And for those who survived, the injuries and mutilations stayed with them for the rest of their lives.