It will doubtless come as no surprise to readers of the Moderate Voice that people around the world have been outraged by the Bush Administration’s conduct of the Iraq War. But the passing of the fifth anniversary of the war has triggered a particularly strong upwelling of anger, which one can get a sense of by reading this article by Reinaldo Spitaletta of Colombia’s El Espectador.
Spitaletta writes, “Is it worth killing over 450,000 people, mostly civilians? Yes. And destroying a culture thousands of years old? Yes. And as if the matter was of little consequence, torturing prisoners in a jail? Yes, indeed. That’s how the president of the United States, George W. Bush, sees it, now five years after invasion of Iraq.”
As for the Iraqis, Spitaletta writes, “Perhaps it never occurred to the Gringos that their bombers, their infantry, their paraphernalia – yes- of mass destruction, would be unable to overcome an entire people … the Iraqi people, who today are suffering through the most unspeakable criminal invasion, know that never in their history has any foreign occupier triumphed. Neither the Romans nor the British. Today, without jobs, without social security, without tranquility but with the living hope of expelling the invader, they continue their resistance. And for those who have been displaced and mutilated – for the humiliated Iraqis of today – it will all be worth it to reverse the situation and defeat the troops of the superpower.”
By Reinaldo Spitaletta
Translated By Douglas Myles Rasmussen
March 25, 2008
Colombia – El Espectador – Original Article (Spanish)
Is it worth killing over 450,000 people, mostly civilians? Yes. And destroying a culture thousands of years old? Yes. And as if the matter was of little consequence, torturing prisoners in a jail? Yes, indeed. That’s how the president of the United States, George W. Bush, sees it, now five years after invasion of Iraq.
It seems that for the president of a so-called democratic country, going to war based on a lie – like the lies that the imperialist invasion of Iraq were based on – was all worth it. A war, furthermore, that he has lost. The incalculable number of displaced people were all worth it. The three billion dollars “invested” there and the psychological harm done to women and children were worth it. For Bush, who continues to prevaricate, the invasion of Iraq “was worth it.” The bombings, the carnage of defenseless people, the cities under siege, the destruction of infrastructure – all of that was worth it, because of course, that’s what the Gringo transnationals which are responsible for the reconstruction of Iraq are for.
This “hellish disaster,” as Churchill once said of Palestine, is now owned by the Bush Administration. And Europe is an accomplice to that disaster, in terms of the loss of human life, historic monuments and ruins. And for its part, so is the government of [Colombian President] Alvaro Uribe, who supported Bush’s imperial adventure. It was an incursion that violated all the norms of international law and that stepped over the United Nations, which once again turned itself into a pocket tool of the United States.
The “civilized” world swallowed the lies told by Bush and his cronies about weapons of mass destruction and the alleged connection between Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein – once Washington’s ally. Great Britain, Spain and Italy, among others: without ever confirming the evidence assembled by the North Americans, there they were, sponsoring the villainous deed.
In any case, perhaps it never occurred to the Gringos that their bombers, their infantry, their paraphernalia – yes- of mass destruction, would be unable to overcome an entire people. The Empire didn’t learn the lesson of Vietnam.
READ ON AT WORLDMEETS.US, along with continuing translated foreign press reaction to the Iraq War.
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