Article: Just When You Think It's All Over

Just as Americans are beginning tothink that the war in Iraq is all but over, think again. It is not, not by a long shot.

I read the solemn words of an Iraqi journalist named Raed Jarrar. The picture in Iraq is far different from that perceived by Americans at home, mostly because Iraq has fallen below the radar of theMSM. It is rare to hear anything in the news about Iraq, and that in and ofitself is a tragedy. Americans may be dubious of an Iraqi's account, but they should not be. While reading the sad and ominous words of Mr. Jarrar, I found it difficult to believe he was a terrorist or a member of the insurgency. He is just a "regular guy," a civilian, caught up in a devastating war and seeing before his eyes the destruction of his beloved country. The reader is advised to at least consider this man's thoughts.

Mr. Jarrar recalls, "On April 9, 2003, exactly seven years ago, Baghdad fell under the US-led occupation. Baghdad did not fall in 21 days, though; it fell after 13 years of wars, bombings and economic sanctions. Millions of Iraqis, including myself, watched our country die slowly before our eyes in those 13 years. So, when the invasion started in March of 2003, everyone knew it was the straw that would break the camel's back."

He adds with lament that can be seen between the lines, "I still remember the day of the fall of Baghdad very clearly, as if it happened yesterday. My family and I had fled to my uncle's home in southern Baghdad because our neighborhood, located near Baghdad's airport, was bombarded by US airplanes in the days before. I remember the first US tank rolling down the street with a US soldier, wearing black gloves, waving his hand and some people waving back. That was one of the sadist day of my life, not only because Baghdad fell under a foreign occupation, but also because I knew it would be the beginning of another disastrous chapter in Iraq's history. Now, when I look back at all that happened under the occupation, I find that I was, unfortunately, right."

I, too, can remember thingswith a regret that cannot be quantified. They were words spoken seven to eight years agothat I will never forget as long as I live. Tragically, the statements made were from the leaders of our great nation. As a consequence, those words were a precursor to devastating events. As one reads the statements below, consider this: In the last seven years, one million Iraqis have been killed and millions more injured and displaced from their homes. The country's infrastructure was destroyed and Iraq's civil society has beenmarginalized.

William Rivers Pitt of the N.Y. Times reports, "The final nail in Iraq's coffin was hammered in by George W. Bush during his State of the Union address on January 20, 2003. This was a presidential act of terrorism against the American people, make no mistake, for its purpose was to frighten the citizens of this nation into following a course of action that was against their best interests and would come to no good end for anyone except the few who would prosper financially from the war to come. Mr. Bush, in the most ominous tones, told the American people that Iraq was in possession of 26,000 liters of anthrax; 38,000 liters of botulinum toxin; 500 tons - which is one million pounds - of sarin, mustard and VX nerve agent; 30,000 missiles to deliver the stuff; mobile biological weapons labs; al-Qaeda connections and uranium from Niger for use in a robust nuclear weapons program. This monstrous, outrageous lie was followed and preceded by many like it."

"Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction."
Dick Cheney, vice president
Speech to VFW National Convention, 8/26/2002

"We don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud."
Condoleezza Rice, US national security adviser
CNN "Late Edition," 9/8/2002

"Right now, Iraq is expanding and improving facilities that were used for the production of biological weapons."
George W. Bush, president
Speech to the UN General Assembly, 9/12/2002

"We've also discovered through intelligence that Iraq has a growing fleet of manned and unmanned aerial vehicles that could be used to disperse chemical or biological weapons across broad areas."
George W. Bush, president
Speech, Cincinnati, Ohio, 10/7/2002

"If he declares he has none, then we will know that Saddam Hussein is once again misleading the world."
Ari Fleischer, press secretary
Press briefing, 12/2/2002

"We know for a fact that there are weapons there."
Ari Fleischer, press secretary
Press briefing, 1/9/2003

"Intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised."
George W. Bush, president
Address to the nation, 3/17/2003

"We know where they are. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat."
Donald Rumsfeld, secretary of defense
ABC interview, 3/30/2003

"I'm absolutely sure that there are weapons of mass destruction there and the evidence will be forthcoming. We're just getting it just now."
Colin Powell, secretary of state
Remarks to reporters, 5/4/2003

"But for those who say we haven't found the banned manufacturing devices or banned weapons, they're wrong, we found them."
George W. Bush, president
Interview with TVP Poland, 5/30/2003

"No one ever said that we knew precisely where all of these agents were, where they were stored."
Condoleezza Rice, US national security adviser
"Meet the Press," 6/8/2003

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