Hundreds of Thousands of Iraqis Were Killed in the War. One Was My Brother.

The Free Press ^ | March 21, 2023 | Faisal Saeed Al Mutar

[lump in the melting pot]

But I don’t share the conventional wisdom that the U.S. invasion, which began 20 years ago this week, was a colossal failure.

...

My brother’s murder led me to start fighting against al-Qaeda in West Baghdad—as much as a 15-year-old could. Sunnis, in close conjunction with U.S. forces, had organized a small army called Awakening Forces, and a friend recruited me. They gave me a cell phone, which I used to send coordinates of al-Qaeda forces to our commanders. I was part of a larger operation to rout al-Qaeda from the city. We succeeded.

...

This is why, despite everything, despite all of the experts and the conventional wisdom and the unpopularity of my views, I remain optimistic that one day, I will be able to travel back to my old neighborhood. To go back to my old home. To revel in the memories I shared with my family there. Especially with Samir.

[lump in the melting pot]

Interesting perspective on the 20th anniversary of the start of the Iraq War, from someone who had a front-row seat.

[nwrep]

Sorry, I cared about this 20 years ago, but don’t any more. This was a mistake, and it made the conservatives take their eyes off the ideological battleground inside the US at the crucial moment when liberals were ramping up their institutional infiltration.

[laconic]

In balancing the lives lost (8,000 American service and contractors; 280,000 civilian Iraqis); the immense cost (at least $ 3 billion); the disappearance of the 10 percent of the Iraqi population that was Christian; the reorientation of the country from an enemy to an ally of Iran; and for many other reasons, I really don’t believe it was at all balanced or justified by the fact that this individual can walk back to his home again in West Baghdad without fear. Try to say that about now living in NYC, SFO or Chicago.

[PGR88]

I remain optimistic that one day, I will be able to travel back to my old neighborhood. To go back to my old home.

He never explains why he can't travel back home after so many years.

[Leaning Right]

> the reorientation of the country [Iraq] from an enemy to an ally of Iran <

That is a very important point. We will pay for Bush II’s mistake for many years to come.

Please permit me to add one more thing to your list. Bush’s invasion turned western Iraq into a lawless area. From that region insurgents were able to spark the Syrian civil war. And from that war there was a mass Muslim migration to Europe.

So it can be fairly argued that the Muslim problem in Europe is partially Bush’s fault. The law of unintended consequences strikes again.

[allendale]

Bush made a huge mistake when he invaded Iraq at the behast of the 9/11 Saudis. At the time Iraq and Saddam Hussein was the greatest threat to the existence of the Saudi ruling class. The Bush family got rich “dealing” with the Saudis.

Also ISIS was a creation of the 9/11 Saudis. They hoped to create a radical Sunni state carved out of Syria and Iraq to confront Iran on its border. The medieval mullahs of Iran had succeeded Saddam as the greatest threat to the 9/11 Saudi ruling class.

The destabilization of Western Iraq and eastern Syria, the elimination of Christians and the migrations to Europe was the result of this Saudi funding and creation of ISIS. The Saudis were outraged when the Russians entered Syria in force and decimated ISIS in conjunction with Iran and Iran organized Iraqi Shi’ite militias.

Never trust the 9/11 Saudis or for that matter the Bush family.

[circlecity]

If I knew then what I know today about the deep state and the utter corruption of the US government I would not have supported this.

[Zhang Fei]

You have to be impressed at the resilience of Saddam’s regime in the face of external, then internal attack. It morphed into al Qaeda for recruitment purposes, and is still populated with many of Saddam’s senior people. (Izzat Ibrahim al Douri survived until 2020, when he was killed in an Iraqi government operation). 4 of Saddam’s key people remain at large 20 years after the invasion was mounted, likely at the head of AQI.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Most-wanted_Iraqi_playing_cards#List_of_cards

However, it has to be said that one big difference between the Iraqi occupation and the post-WWII occupation is the way the regime’s soldiers had died by the millions in Germany’s and Japan’s cases, and only by the tens of thousands in Iraq’s case. That is the politically-incorrect reason for why the insurgency stayed alive for so long in Iraq, and isn’t completely extinguished. Unlike in Germany and Japan, Iraq’s dead-enders were mostly still alive. And when the political rationale for an invasion is in part to liberate the population, you can’t exactly exterminate the army on the way in.

Another politically incorrect bit of information? The aftermath of the Korean War might have been fairly peaceful for one key reason. During the war, a hundred thousand suspected communists and communist sympathizers were summarily killed.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodo_League_massacre

This foreshadowed a similar mass killing a decade later in Indonesia that followed a Communist insurrection that kicked off with the assassination of 6 generals.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/30_September_Movement

The counter revolution and massacres to follow, immortalized in a Mel Gibson movie, killed 500,000 suspected communists and sympathizers in months. That was the end of the communist movement in Indonesia.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indonesian_mass_killings_of_1965%E2%80%9366

[dfwgator]

Especially considering that the only winner out of the whole thing was Iran.

[Zhang Fei]

[Also ISIS was a creation of the 9/11 Saudis.]

---

I’d disagree. ISIS was the creation of the remnants of Saddam’s regime, who needed something stronger than Baathism, both as a recruitment tool and to motivate men to die in their behalf. Baathism is great when you are the government and have a nation’s resources at your disposal. When you’re on the run and in fear for your life daily, you need something stronger, more spiritual, that offers in the next life something that the bleak and dangerous present does not.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faith_Campaign

Of the original deck of cards, 4 key figures remain at large. All are suspected to have rebranded themselves as warriors for ISIS. Whether they’re true believers or scammers, they’re formidable men, having evaded capture or death for 20 years in the face of hefty bounties placed on their heads.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Most-wanted_Iraqi_playing_cards#List_of_cards

[Forward the Light Brigade]

Ukraine’s are white so they count—so it seems. Arabs don’t count—they dress funny and are easy to kill. We may discover that Russians are not so easy to kill in battle.

[logi_cal869]

I got my 2nd zot over heated questions regarding the Bush-Guard memos. I was vindicated when GW bent over and took it up the backside over the P3 incident. Then came the Patriot Act, Curveball and nonexistent chemical weapons. All distractions at far greater expense than demonstrated on a balance sheet.

GW was part of the plan, which is why I despise his supporters who are, without a doubt, functional idiots.