What was one of the worst tragedies about the invasion of Iraq?

Question

Apart from the terrible loss of innocent life, I mourn for the relics of one of the oldest civilizations on Earth. Museums with pricelss and irreplacable treasures were sacked. When I heard that the US army had scraped the top off the unexcavated site of ancient Babylon to build a helicopter pad, I realized the barbarians had arrived in the Cradle of Civilization. In the first Iraq war, they bombed the oldest Christian church in the world.
And it was all so needless.

Answer 1

Don't worry ,it is normal.
It is an American tradition to destroy and trash monuments.They did it all over Europe also ,trying to "liberate" it in WW2.They needlessly destroyed everything they could.
And i am talking about allies - not the Germans.
What is Babylon compared to a helicopter pad?

The worst tragedy about the invasion of Iraq is that the Americans want to "liberate" it.

Mac
A European

Answer 2

The biggest mistake was of course invading Iraq in the first place. But before the invasion began, at least one top general said we needed to deploy between 200,000-300,000 troops. And that dumbass Rumsfield instead sends a paltry 150,000. And looked whats happened since. Had the proper amount of soldiers been deployed, the borders would have better protected and thus less terrorist would have able to flood into Iraq. How anybody can support this clown Rumsfiled is beyond me.

Answer 3

The things you mention are tragic.

For me, the worst tragedy is the number of American servicemen who have died.

The 2nd worst tragedy is that respect for the USA has plummeted worldwide. Our president is seen as a loose cannon, elected by an undereducated society.

Saddam Hussein is evil. However, he was not associated with 9/11 in any way. The excuse at the time was WMD's, which he did not have. People are crazy on this subject.

Answer 4

Everything about the invasion was and is wrong. The motives are wrong, the action is wrong and the results are wrong. The U.S. government has squandered American money and resources on a totally unfounded lie. It is about Bush and his cronies wanting to favor the Saudi royal family by destroying Iraq for them. The fact that the Saudi royals were appraised of the imminent invasion before the secretary of state was proof of that.
I am embarassed and ashamed of our current administration for the lies and propaganda they have brainwashed the American public with. I am with Neil Young. Let's impeach the President!

Answer 5

The only thing I care about is the troops that died. The invasion didn't destroy anything cultural. That was all destroyed by arabs fighting arabs.

And it's all for a good cause. The first time was to free Kuwait after Iraq invaded them. The second time was part of the war against terror. Now all the terrorists are coming out and getting caught.

Answer 6

The under paid pounding the streets while the overpaid flyhigh above.

Answer 7

You do understand that we are at war, right? Things get destroyed and people die. We didn't start this you know. Have you forgotten 9/11 already?

Answer 8

The tradegy is that some folks don't know what is really at stake here.

Answer 9

needless!!

Answer 10

The abuse the iraq prisoner get from the US army

Graphic photographs showing the torture and sexual abuse of Iraqi prisoners in a US-run prison outside Baghdad emerged yesterday from a military inquiry which has left six soldiers facing a possible court martial and a general under investigation.
The scandal has also brought to light the growing and largely unregulated role of private contractors in the interrogation of detainees.

According to lawyers for some of the soldiers, they claimed to be acting in part under the instruction of mercenary interrogators hired by the Pentagon.

US military investigators discovered the photographs, which include images of a hooded prisoner with wires fixed to his body, and nude inmates piled in a human pyramid.

The pictures, which were obtained by an American TV network, also show a dog attacking a prisoner and other inmates being forced to simulate sex with each other. It is thought the abuses took place in November and December last year.

The pictures from Abu Ghraib prison have shocked the US army.

Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, deputy director of operations for the US military in Iraq, expressed his embarrassment and regret for what had happened. He told the CBS current affairs programme 60 Minutes II: "If we can't hold ourselves up as an example of how to treat people with dignity and respect, we can't ask that other nations do that to our soldiers."

Gen Kimmitt said the investigation began in January when an American soldier reported the abuse and turned over evidence that included photographs. "That soldier said: 'There are some things going on here that I can't live with'."

The inquiry had centred on the 800th Brigade which is based in Uniondale, New York.

The US army confirmed that the general in charge of Abu Ghraib jail is facing disciplinary measures and that six low-ranking soldiers have been charged with abusing and sexually humiliating detainees.

Lawyers for the soldiers argue they are being made scapegoats for a rogue military prison system in which mercenaries give orders without legal accountability.

A military report into the Abu Ghraib case - parts of which were made available to the Guardian - makes it clear that private contractors were supervising interrogations in the prison, which was notorious for torture and executions under Saddam Hussein.

One civilian contractor was accused of raping a young male prisoner but has not been charged because military law has no jurisdiction over him.

Hired guns from a wide array of private security firms are playing a central role in the US-led occupation of Iraq.

The killing of four private contractors in Falluja on March 31 led to the current siege of the city.

But this is the first time the privatisation of interrogation and intelligence-gathering has come to light. The investigation names two US contractors, CACI International Inc and the Titan Corporation, for their involvement in the functioning of Abu Ghraib.

Titan, based in San Diego, describes itself as a "a leading provider of comprehensive information and communications products, solutions and services for national security". It recently won a big contract for providing translation services to the US army, and its involvement in Abu Ghraib is believed to have been to provide translators.

CACI, which has headquarters in Virginia, claims on its website to "help America's intelligence community collect, analyse and share global information in the war on terrorism".

Neither responded to calls for comment yesterday.

According to the military report on Abu Ghraib, both played an important role at the prison.

At one point, the investigators say: "A CACI instructor was terminated because he al lowed and/or instructed MPs who were not trained in interrogation techniques to facilitate interrogations by setting conditions which were neither authorised [nor] in accordance with applicable regulations/policy."

Colonel Jill Morgenthaler, speaking for central command, told the Guardian: "One contractor was originally included with six soldiers, accused for his treatment of the prisoners, but we had no jurisdiction over him. It was left up to the contractor on how to deal with him."

She did not specify the accusation facing the contractor, but according to several sources with detailed knowledge of the case, he raped an Iraqi inmate in his mid-teens.

Col Morgenthaler said the charges against the six soldiers included "indecent acts, for ordering detainees to publicly masturbate; maltreatment, for non-physical abuse, piling inmates into nude pyramids and taking pictures of them nude; battery, for shoving and stepping on detainees; dereliction of duty; and conspiracy to maltreat detainees".

One of the soldiers, Staff Sgt Chip Frederick is accused of posing in a photograph sitting on top of a detainee, committing an indecent act and with assault for striking detainees - and ordering detainees to strike each other.

He told CBS: "We had no support, no training whatsoever. And I kept asking my chain of command for certain things ... like rules and regulations."

His lawyer, Gary Myers, told the Guardian that Sgt Frederick had not had the opportunity to read the Geneva Conventions before being put on guard duty, a task he was not trained to perform.

Mr Myers said the role of the private contractors in Abu Ghraib are central to the case.

"I think it creates a laissez faire environment that is completely inappropriate. If these individuals engaged in crimes against an Iraq national - who has jurisdiction over such a crime?", Mr Myers asked.

"It's insanity," said Robert Baer, a former CIA agent, who has examined the case, and is concerned about the private contractors' free-ranging role. "These are rank amateurs and there is no legally binding law on these guys as far as I could tell. Why did they let them in the prison?"

The Pentagon had no comment on the role of contractors at Abu Ghraib, saying that an inquiry was still in progress.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1206725,00.html