Six Years of Resistance

The U.S. occupation of Iraq completes its sixth year today without improvement in the security or stability promised by Iraq’s new leaders and their masters in Washington, leaving more than 25 million Iraqis without the bare minimum of either.

The new American President, Barack Obama, during his swift and unannounced visit to Iraq, warned that the coming eighteen months will be difficult and full of violence and instability. This means more spilled blood, death and displacement.

Iraq was an independent country, anchored by strong scientific clout, with a well-respected strategic position in the region. This put it firmly in the general sights of U.S. crosshairs and made it, in particular, a target of Israel.

Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein could have accepted tempting offers of safe refuge in exile with his family members, but his dignity refused to allow him to abandon his country as prey for the U.S. and its forces. He decided to stay and side with the resistance and undergo all the consequences that followed this sacrifice to build a great Iraq.

They [the occupiers] applied a whole host of deceptive names, like ‘liberation,’ to the invasion, and promised Iraqis growth and prosperity. Yet, the anniversary of ‘liberation’ passes without any celebration or, indeed, remembrance, since today is associated with the martyrdom of more than 1.5 million Iraqis and the displacement of more than 3 million others.

When on television, the people of Iraq ask God to have mercy upon the previous regime, particularly on the British Broadcasting Company (BBC) station, and they are expressing their longing for it. This sums up the current situation in Iraq and the sentiments of the crushed Iraqi man towards the occupation, which came to power on the backs of tanks.

The ‘New Iraq’ has become a mass grave for the people of Iraq, both living and dead. The present is a terrifying nightmare whose daily headlines are booby-trapped cars and the absence of basic services from security to water, from electricity to education and from healthcare to jobs. Basically, it is an Iraq without scientists or innovators. Instead, we have a group of hypocrites (in power) who beat their drums to the occupation and its masters.

The virtuous and honorable Iraqi people, known for their mettle, magnanimity and national pride, are the biggest loser, whereas the winner is an elite who plundered the latter’s riches and transferred them outside of the country for their own and families’ enjoyment. We are speaking of a small minority who sold their sense of national responsibility to the occupation and the enemies of Iraq, in return for billions stolen from the sweat of laborers and the tears of widows and orphans.

In spite of our many reservations about the excesses and rights violations of the old rulers, we ask God to have mercy on the ‘Old Iraq.’ The ‘New Iraq’ is drowning in malady, corruption and a lack of basic human worth, without even mentioning human rights.

There will always be those who defend the new leaders of Baghdad, whether out of hatred for the previous regime, out of material or occupational gain, or out of the malicious antagonisms of sectarianism. Yet, supporters of the ‘Old Iraq’ hide out of fear, or duck in the interests of peace. Nevertheless, the truth remains clear and difficult to bury.

The Iraqi people underwent the biggest trick in its history, both ancient and contemporary. Albeit, in the name of honor, they content themselves with their tenacious resistance, the beacon of hope, which has managed to defeat the American project. In turn, this has transformed the alleged ‘liberation’ into a nightmare for the occupier, making it the most expensive occupation in the history of empires.

When Obama decides to withdraw U.S. forces from Iraq after a year and a half, it won’t be out of love for Iraqis or care for them, but as an admission of defeat and a wish to cut its losses.