As we approach the fifth anniversary of the monumentally illlegal, brazenly imperialist, inherently mass-murderous (some estimates put the number of Iraqis killed by "Operation Iraqi Liberation" [O.I.L.] at or above 1.3 million),  significantly oil-driven, significantly racist, and richly bipartisan U.S. occupation of Iraq, I have some Iraq-war related materials and links for readers' consideration:

First, a link to the Iraq Veterans Against the War  (IVAW) WINTER SOLDIER hearings, where vets are  testifying abut what they did or what they personally observed (it's not a pleasant story) in-country:  http://ivaw.org/wintersoldier/howtowatch.  As one comrade tells me in a note sending this link, the new Winter Solider hearings are "an effort to rip the scab of indifference off of the American people" regarding a monumental crime being inflicted in their name and with their tax dollars and with their sons and daughters.

Second, a link to a You Tube video recording activists' recent role disrupting U.S. Senate proceedings with haunting statements from "Ghosts of the Iraq War" - see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8BsJdy11Fc&eurl=http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=

Third, a quote from the respected journalist Nir Rosen in an article published in the December 2007 issue of the important monthly journal Current History:

"The US surge is merely a way to kick the problem of Iraq down to the next administration, but the truth is that American soldiers will never leave Iraq. The large bases in Anbar province, such as Al Assad and Taqadum, are built to last - 'an enduring presence,'  as one Marine officer told me...."

"There is only ignominy left for the Americans. and slaughter for Iraqis.  Iraq has been killed, never to rise again.  The American occupation has more disastrous than that of the Mongols, who sacked Baghdad in the thirteenth century...Only fools talk of 'solutions' now.  There is no solution now.  The only hope is that perhaps the damage can be contained."

The title of Rosen's essay is "The Death of Iraq."

Fourth, a quote from the supposed antiwar peacenik, the great and imperial Obama, the official "dove" in the narrow spetcrum presidential race, speaking to General Motors workers and supervisors in Janesville, Wisconsin on February 13, 2008: "It's time to stop spending billions of dollars each week trying to put  Iraq back together and start spending the money putting America back together." (see http://www.wifr.com/morningshow/headlines/15618592.html)

Oh Great One, we certainly do need to put America back together, but is that really what you think "we" (well the imperial ruling class of which you are now a leading part) are doing in Iraq..."trying to put [it] back together?" You are either a complete fool or a crass deceiver to say something like that. The second characterization is the most likely accurate one.

And tell us, oh great wizard Obama, do you really think none of us out here know precisely who TORE IRAQ APART in the first place ....and who continues to do so...and who who will continue to do so under your rule as well as under John McCain or Hillary Clinton? (You know, but you figure we have no clout and can be safely taunted with such comments as you made in Janesville)

Fifth, an interesting quote from Jeremy Scahill (pasted in from a recent "Democracy Now" interview) on imperial Obama and imperial Hillary's shared determination to sustain the ongoing U.S. murder of Mesopotamia: 

“Both of them intend to keep the Green Zone [the giant American military and diplomatic section of Baghdad] intact.  Both of them intend to keep the current US embassy project, which is slated to be the largest embassy in the history of the world…it’s 500 CIA operatives alone, a thousand personnel.  And they’re also going to keep the Baghdad airport indefinitely.  And what that means is that even though the rhetoric of withdrawal is everywhere in the Democratic campaign, we’re talking about a pretty substantial level of US forces and personnel remaining in Iraq indefinitely." See www.democracynow.org/2008/2/28/jeremy_scahill_despite_anti_war_rhetoric

(I am putting in the links in the textt of this post because my last effort to use the ZNet blog linking funition  failed and for some reason sent readers to the ZNet/ZComm. top page).

The ongoing criminal U.S. assault on Iraq and the inability and/or unwillingness of so many of my "fellow Amercans" to give a damn about it has combined with my-up close observation of many "progressive" (United States of) Americans' inability and/or refusal to subject the Great One's supposed "antiwar" position to elementary critical scrutiny to lead me to wonder like never before if I am in fact becoming an "anti- [US of] American."  Sometimes I think I would leave the United States if I could swing it, but I can't right now and besides it wouldn't help anyone but myself. I am not a good American.