In case anyone has forgotten, we are
still averaging over two U.S. dead each
day. That is 901 Americans dead, 121 allied, and countless Iraqis. And who can forget the 5,394 wounded and maimed, not to mentioned the psychologically scarred?
And now we find out that British and US claims of mass graves were dramatically overstated.
Downing Street has admitted to The Observer that repeated claims by Tony Blair that '400,000 bodies had been found in Iraqi mass graves' is untrue, and only about 5,000 corpses have so far been uncovered.
Of course, there's no doubt that Saddam was a brutal despot, and we're introducing freedom and democracy in Iraq?
Right?
After 15 months of chaos, Iraqis are desperate for someone who will impose order. Allawi knows that, and plays on it. Only weeks after taking office, he is already flirting with dictatorship. That would be a terrible irony for the U.S. officials who chose him for his seven-month-long mandate. Fortunately, he's not there yet. First he suggested elections might have to be postponed if the security situation didn't improve, but he backtracked quickly. Soon after the June 28 handover of sovereignty to his regime, Allawi's government assumed martial-law powers--though it has yet to use them. The government also agreed to reinstate capital punishment. "We need sanctions that are up to the scale of the crimes," Allawi says. Yet no one has been executed so far.
Then there's the stories circulating about Allawi's personal hand in several summary executions, though those may very well be disinformation designed to buff up his "strongman" reputation.
So let's recap -- we invaded Iraq to prevent it from using WMDs it did not have. Then we invaded Iraq to stop a genocide (400,000 in mass graves!) that was not happening, even while we continue to ignore genocides in places were it IS happening (Dafur). Then we invaded Iraq to deliver freedom and democracy, yet we have installed a strongman-in-waiting former Baathist who has imposed martial law on the country.
And we invaded Iraq to guarantee George Bush's reelection. But just like the other rationales, things don't seem to be going according to plan.