IRAQI FREEDOM

Since the U.S. and U.K. led invasion of Iraq began last year there have been regular fatalities as everyone knows. Latest fatality numbers that I could find have the Americans on top of the military league table with 872 deaths, the U.K. is second with 60 deaths, then in descending order we have Italy with 19, Spain with 11, the Ukraine with 7, Bulgaria and Poland tied on 6, Slovakia on 3, Thailand on 2 and bringing up the rear Estonia, El Salvador, the Netherlands, Latvia and Hungary all on 1, for a total of 992 soldiers killed. On top of this we have had the truly appalling spectacle of brutal beheadings and killings of civilian contractors and military personnel by militants.

All this pales however in comparison to the 11,000 Iraqi civilians who have been killed by coalition and/or militant actions over the last 15 months (and I do realise that some of these “civilians” were probably evil bastards from Saddam’s regime who deserved everything they got, but 11,000 is still a big number).

And the justification for the invasion? The infamous and invisible Weapons of Mass Destruction.

To be fair, perhaps there were some and they were hidden or destroyed before the invasion, and even if not perhaps there was intent to create them. But even if neither of those is true then it’s all still justified because it got rid of an evil dictator right?

As of 10 days ago Iraq now has a representative government and will be moving towards free elections and democracy.

So what is the first act of the new government?

“Iraq brings in tough security law”

The government now has the power to “impose curfews, set up checkpoints and detain suspects.” It can also intercept mail and listen in to phone conversations, and set up cordons round areas and search them.
Also all this is being done with the active support of the coalition forces, who remember have notoriously been using torture techniques to get information, both in Iraq and at Guantanamo Bay.

Sounds to me suspiciously like the old regime.

There are limitations (there is supposed to be a 60 day limit to these powers), and free elections are still scheduled for “no later than January 2005” but don’t be surprised to see these powers extended further and election dates to slip.