IRAQ WITHDRAWAL IS SMOKESCREEN...AND IS THE IRAQ WAR REALLY OVER?

Source: YouTube

Summary of Video:

Announcing the Iraq war was ended, Barack Obama told US troops on 14 December 2011 at Fort Bragg, "The United States military is the finest fighting force in the history of the world." What he didn't say is that since 1945 the US military has been directly responsible for the deaths of over 10 million people and that America has in that time overthrown 50 governments, including democracies, and intervened in at least 30 more.

These are some the countries where the US directly and indirectly has overthrown 50 governments, manipulated elections, and attacked popular movements since 1945: Afghanistan, Albania, Angola, Brazil, Bolivia, British Guyana, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Chile, China, Congo, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Greece, Grenada, Guatemala, Haiti, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Italy, Jamaica, Korea, Laos, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Uruguay, Seychelles, Somalia, Surinam, Syria, Yugoslavia, and Zaire.

Here are the victims, most of them civilians, killed directly by the US military in just some of its wars since 1945:

1945 Japan: Atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki - 200,000 killed
1950-53: Korea - 3 million killed
1964-75: Vietnam - 3 million killed
1969-75: Cambodia - 800,000 killed
1965-66: Laos - 350,000 killed
1965-66: Dominican Republic - 3500 killed
1983: Grenada - 49 killed
1989: Panama - 5,000 killed
1990-91: Iraq - 100,000 killed
1999: Yugoslavia - 2,000 killed
2001- : Afghanistan - Unknown, 30,000 estimated
2003- : Iraq - 1 million killed
2004- : Pakistan - unknown how many killed
2011: Libya - unknown how many killed

The above video is a portion of Obama's speech at Fort Bragg. Watch the full 3-part video of his speech: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.

Obama's speech declaring the Iraq War over

In that same speech Obama declared that the war in Iraq is over. But has the war really come to a end?

The truth is more complicated. It turns out the Obama administration is leaving behind a huge contingent from the State Department along with thousands of armed private contractors. The possibility for violence between Americans and Iraqis is very real.

1. There’s going to be something called the Office of Security Cooperation in Iraq that exists after the troop pullout on Dec. 31...under the auspices of the U.S. embassy...

2. The State Department is going to leave behind the largest embassy that it has on the planet. All told, there are going to be 18,000 people who work for this embassy... Then there’s going to be a substantial component of armed private security contractors. Depending on whose numbers you believe, there will be 3,500 to 5,500 of them.

3. What is the mission of the State Department there? It will be different than a typical embassy in the sense that Iraq is still a more dangerous place than most places the U.S. operates. There are more fortress-like consulates around the country than is typical. The mission is in theory like any other State Department mission: You manage commercial ties; you deal with bilateral political issues as they arise; you try to get favorable security cooperation. In reality, it’s going to be way different than usual. Iraq is going to be a battleground — using that term colloquially — between the U.S. and Iran. A hugely important mission of the U.S. ambassador in Iraq will be to try to get Iraq’s foreign policy not to back Iran. Look at the recent Arab League vote to condemn the regime in Syria, for example. Iraq abstained from that vote because Iran was upset about the condemnation of one of its proxies. So the U.S. will try to weaken Iran’s diplomatic ties to Iraq...

A US private military contractor in Baghdad

4. [On the mercenary — or armed private security contractor — front,] One is a big security company that’s been in Iraq since 2005 called Triple Canopy. Another is called Global. Another is SOC Inc. Interestingly, the CEO of Blackwater — now renamed Academi — told me on Monday they’re going to get their license back; they lost it after the Nisour Square massacre. They don’t have a contract to do work in Iraq now, but they want to do it again... The contract is for diplomatic protection. You’re not supposed to see Triple Canopy employees, say, go out on raids. Fifty-six days before the U.S. withdrawal, the State Department also put out a contract for aviation support...

5. [Will there be] spasms of violence between Americans and Iraqis post-Dec. 31? ...it’s inevitable. Look at it from the perspective of an Iranian Quds Force operative. You know you want to frustrate the U.S. in Iraq; and you know that Iraqis are burning U.S. flags in celebration of the withdrawal. That’s a tremendous opportunity for Iran right there. Because if you also know that there are these armed contractors helping diplomats get from point A to point B, you win if you provoke them into violence. And it’s really easy to place an IED on a road or to open fire on a convoy. Then if there are Americans in Iraq opening fire on Iraqis — after the Iraqi leaders have said Americans are gone — that’s a major propaganda win for Iran. This is a really foreseeable disaster...

So in your estimation, is the war actually over?

It’s going to shift into a more sotto voce form [in soft tones, in an undertone, in a private manner]. It’s going to be a lot subtler. But it most certainly is continuing. Just because we don’t have a U.S. troop presence anymore or a formal U.S. chain of command anymore, does not mean that the war is over.

[Read the full article at Salon. Images added.]