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We Miss You, Saddam

Saddam, Gaddafi, Mubarak

These dictators are portrayed by the western media as evil demons and madmen, not as funded trained thugs who were put into power by the United States of America.

When the U.S. captured Saddam Hussein, it nailed an ex-employee. Saddam was on the U.S. payroll for nearly a decade. The CIA, in fact, put Saddam in power. This simple fact is never mentioned in the popular press, of course.

Is Iraq better off since the removal of Saddam Hussein? Nope. Will Muslim nations be better off without their US trained/funded dictators? Not a chance!

Demonize to Colonize

Why have Libya's Gaddafi, Egypt's Mubarak and Iraq's Saddam Hussein been demonized and targeted for eviction? Because they refused to surrender the sovereignty and independence of their nation and people to the demands and plans for U.S./British/Israeli global domination.  

What happens to the billions in assets that the evicted dictators have accumulated from their US funders over the years? They've been "frozen" - a nice word for "confiscated".

Saddam Hussein was demonized to justify a regime change in Iraq. Lies and fear mongering by the corporate media painted him as a threat to America. He possessed weapons of mass destruction, supported 9/11, aided al-Qaeda and his WMDs could be launched within minutes of his order. He used WMD's “against his own people” and wouldn't hesitate to use them against America.

In 1991, 88,500 tons of explosives (the equivalent of seven Hiroshima's) were dropped on Iraq by the Pentagon in 42 days. The U.S. used 4,000 tons of WMD depleted uranium super bombs and cluster bombs that savagely killed, contaminated and destroyed everything in their path.

Iraq's infrastructure was demolished - its water systems, power, transportation, communications, manufacturing, commercial properties, housing, mosques, churches and synagogues.  Food production, processing, storage, distribution, fertilizer and insecticide production were targeted for destruction. Nearly 150,000 defenseless Iraqi people were killed outright. The U.S. claimed 156 casualties — 1/3 from friendly fire and the remainder accidents. 

Sanctions against Iraq from August 6, 1990, into 2003 took over 1,500,000 lives, the majority children under age five. By October 1986, 567,000 children under five were dead from sanctions according to a U.N. One-fourth of the infants born alive in Iraq in 2002 weighed less than four pounds, a dangerously low and crippling birth weight — symbolic of the condition of the entire country.

America's Illegal War Continues

The US invasion of Iraq was illegal. Iraq was not at war with America. Iraq was not preparing to go to war with America. Iraq was not a threat to America. Iraq had complied with United Nations resolutions and got rid of its weapons of mass destruction, despite the tsunami of lies to the contrary by the Bush administration.

The trial of Saddam Hussein was also illegal. The law and the courts were set up during the occupational government and the judges were trained by Americans. Saddam was arrested by Americans and held in prison by Americans. It was an American-sponsored kangaroo court.

Yes. Saddam was a killer and a thug who was known as the Butcher of Baghdad even in the days when the United States government supported him. The U.S. government has supported lots of butcherous killers and thugs (like Gaddafi and Mubarak), and if it continues its imperialistic foreign policy, it will keep on doing so because America's foreign policy completely lacks any morality.

We Miss You, Saddam

Saddam was a ruthless dictator but he gave the people stability, food, power, employment and cheap gasoline.

I am an Indian who lived in Iraq for 8 years from 1980 - 1988. My experiences of Iraq were excellent. I think Saddam was a better leader than any of the american Presidents. Look what all you americans have done to that beautiful country. My brother was born in Baghdad in 1985 in the best hospital I have seen in the world. Saddam developed Iraq from a junkyard to a powerful country and you americans had no right to destroy him or that country. My father worked for one of Saddam's Military Technical Colleges in Baghdad. Our army friends never had any problems, everybody look contented and happy. Its because of americans that this planet can never have peace - Anshul sultan@clear.net.nz

I miss the money we wasted getting rid of a guy who had nothing to do with 9/11 and who wasn't developing WMD's. They invaded anyway to line the pockets of their friends in the defense industry. We are still paying. The Bush administration knew the truth. Listen to Powell and rice a few months before 9/11: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1X-I-38l…

I know that if Saddam Hussein was still alive, America wouldn't have to spend trillions of American dollars and tens of thousands of American lives occupying Iraq for the next hundred years.

I've always said in many war posts that I would have much preferred to leave Hussein in power. He did an excellent job of controlling a country which is extremely difficult to keep unified. Say whatever you want about his tactics, but we're killing Iraqi civilians while we're there at lightening speed.

The results of a poll taken in Iraq in August 2005 by the British Ministry of Defense revealed that 82% of Iraqis "strongly opposed the presence of coalition troops". Less than 1% believe Coalition forces are responsible for any improvement in security. 72% do not have confidence in multi-national forces.(Source: Brookings Institute)

US TAXPAYER FACTS

Here's what your labour and tax dollars pay for:

$900 billion of US taxpayers' funds for the invasion and occupation of Iraq have been spent or approved for spending through November 2010.

Lost & Unaccounted for in Iraq - $9 billion of US taxpayers' money and $549.7 milion in spare parts shipped in 2004 to US contractors. per ABC News, 190,000 guns, including 110,000 AK-47 rifles.

Missing - $1 billion in tractor trailers, tank recovery vehicles, machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and other equipment and services provided to the Iraqi security forces. (Per CBS News on Dec 6, 2007.)

Mismanaged & Wasted in Iraq - $10 billion, per Feb 2007 Congressional hearings

Halliburton Overcharges Classified by the Pentagon as Unreasonable and Unsupported - $1.4 billion

Amount paid to KBR, a former Halliburton division, to supply U.S. military in Iraq with food, fuel, housing and other items - $20 billion

$20 billion paid to KBR that Pentagon auditors deem "questionable or supportable" - $3.2 billion

U.S. 2009 Monthly Spending in Iraq - $7.3 billion as of Oct 2009

U.S. 2008 Monthly Spending in Iraq - $12 billion

Cost of deploying one U.S. soldier for one year in Iraq - $390,000 (Congressional Research Service)

DEAD & WOUNDED SOLDIER FACTS

Troops in Iraq - Total 47,000 U.S. troops as of Nov 30, 2010. All other nations have withdrawn their troops.

Dead U.S. Troop Casualties - 4,439 US troops; 98% male. 91% non-officers; 82% active duty, 11% National Guard; 74% Caucasian, 9% African-American, 11% Latino. 19% killed by non-hostile causes. 54% of US casualties were under 25 years old. 72% were from the US Army

Non-U.S. Troop Casualties - Total 316, with 179 from the UK

US Troops Wounded - 32,033, 20% of which are serious brain or spinal injuries. (Total excludes psychological injuries.)

US Troops with Serious Mental Health Problems - 30% of US troops develop serious mental health problems within 3 to 4 months of returning home

US Military Helicopters Downed in Iraq - 75 total, at least 36 by enemy fire

Private Contractors in Iraq, Working in Support of US Army Troops - More than 180,000 in August 2007, per The Nation/LA Times. Journalists killed - 145, 97 by murder and 47 by acts of war, Journalists killed by US Forces - 14

DEAD IRAQI PEOPLE FACTS

Sanctions against Iraq from August 6, 1990, into 2003 took over 1,500,000 lives, the majority children under age five.

A UN issued report dated Sept 20, 2006 stated that Iraqi civilian casualties have been significantly under-reported. Casualties are reported over 100,000 but may be much higher. Some informed estimates place Iraqi civilian casualities at over 600,000 in 2006.

Iraqi Insurgents Killed, Roughly Estimated - 55,000

Non-Iraqi Contractors and Civilian Workers Killed - 572

Non-Iraqi Kidnapped - 306, including 57 killed, 147 released, 4 escaped, 6 rescued and 89 status unknown.

Iraqi Police and Soldiers Killed - 9,830

IRAQI HUMAN MISERY FACTS

Iraqis Displaced Inside Iraq, by Iraq War, as of May 2007 - 2,255,000

Iraqi Refugees in Syria & Jordan - 2.1 million to 2.25 million

Iraqi Unemployment Rate - 27 to 60%, where curfew not in effect

Consumer Price Inflation in 2006 - 50%

Iraqi Children Suffering from Chronic Malnutrition - 28% in June 2007 (Per CNN.com, July 30, 2007)

Percent of professionals who have left Iraq since 2003 - 40%

Iraqi Physicians Before 2003 Invasion - 34,000

Iraqi Physicians Who Have Left Iraq Since 2005 Invasion - 12,000

Iraqi Physicians Murdered Since 2003 Invasion - 2,000

Average Daily Hours Iraqi Homes Have Electricity - 1 to 2 hours, per Ryan Crocker, U.S. Ambassador to Iraq (Per Los Angeles Times, July 27, 2007)

Average Daily Hours Iraqi Homes Have Electricity - 10.9 in May 2007

Average Daily Hours Baghdad Homes Have Electricity - 5.6 in May 2007

Pre-War Daily Hours Baghdad Homes Have Electricity - 16 to 24

Number of Iraqi Homes Connected to Sewer Systems - 37%

Iraqis without access to adequate water supplies - 70% (Per CNN.com, July 30, 2007)

Water Treatment Plants Rehabilitated - 22%