How can George Bush Jnr just laugh at Iraq war & now laugh at Ukraine!

“The decision of one man to launch a wholly unjustified and brutal invasion of IRAQ … I mean of the Ukraine ….Iraq too, anyway … (he laughs) …I’am 75 (audience laughs) …”. The man former US President George Bush was referring to was Russian President Putin. However, his tongue slipped in his reference to Iraq instead of Ukraine. However, the manner that he & the audience laughed showed how callous war mongers are to people who suffer from the wars they order. The tone of the presenter following the President’s speech says it all: “I am not laughing ….and I am guessing nor are the families of the thousands of American troops… and the hundreds and thousands of Iraqis who died in that war ….https://www.facebook.com/100000262706800/videos/513797347193997/ Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11 though it was illegally invaded & occupied since 2001. US has spent over $8trillion on wars US has created. What could Americans have done with this money!

On 9 September 2011 US Twin Towers were attacked. The BBC showed the attack 20 minutes before it fell on 0520p.m. BBC was only reporting Reuters. It was one example of many that raised many theories in particular the alignment with revelation of Gen. Wesley Clark of US occupying 7 countries in the next 5 years.

US & allies illegally invaded Iraq on 19 March 2003 (air) 20 March 2003 (ground)

The Iraq attack cost not only Iraqi lives but American military lives as well as place Americans in debt. Who really benefitted by Iraq war as well as the many other wars that US keep creating?

• 4550 US soldiers & 21 civilian defense dept staff have died in Iraq
• 3793 contractor deaths in Iraq
• 41,726 national military and police deaths
• 323 Allied troop deaths
• 182,272 — 204,575 Iraqi civilian deaths.
• 34,806 — 39,881 – Iraqi rebel deaths
• 245 – journalist deaths
• 62 deaths – NGO/Humanitarian deaths

9/11 outcomes in US

• Fear psychosis allowed US to pass sweeping legislation
• War on Terrorism was declared.
• US Govt gave themselves a carte blanch to watch over its citizens via mass surveillance & curtailment of their freedoms & rights
• Reshaping Congress-Judiciary & President interactions
• Executive powers of the President was expanded changing legal landscape – unprecedented powers that included legality of enhanced interrogation techniques which later was said to have constituted torture.
• US administrations could take aggressive action in the name of protecting US citizens
• US President could authorize spying of Americans
• US President created a new secretive military tribunal system that could secretly detain men from Muslim/Arab countries without legal representation or disclosing their whereabouts (Guantanamo Bay, Cuba)
• Authorization for Use of Military Force 2001 – giving green light for US military to go after 9/11 perpetrators. This has been used by successive Presidents to go after Al Qaeda – Taliban – ISIS & even countries. President Biden used AUMF to order attack on Somalia. No one knows how many operations are authorized by AUMF as it remains classified.
• 2006 Military Commissions Act could ban foreign detainees labelling them as ‘enemy combatants’ from challenging detention in court was illegal – it suspended detainees write of habeas corpus.
• Presidents Surveillance Program 2001 (STELLARWIND)– President Bush authorized warrantless wiretapping of communications of people, warrantless collecting & mining of Americans phone & internet metadata. Edward Snowden exposed this.
• Patriotic Act 2001- expanding surveillance tools which included Section 215 allowing collection of business records or any other ‘tangible thing’ relevant to international terrorism, counter espionage or foreign intelligence investigation as well as ‘sneak & peak’ provision allowing law enforcement to search citizens homes & offices without notifying them.(only 1 Senator voted against the Bill in 2001 – Russ Feingold)
• Blacks/browns and Muslim communities were affected most by surveillance and racial profiling.
• US Freedom Act passed in 2015 limiting some in Section 215 of Patriot Act but no major changes. Section 2015 expired in 2020 but ‘sneak & peak’ remain
• America’s immigration system changed to perceive immigration as a national security issue
• 2002 Dept of Homeland Security created by Congress – incorporating 22 federal agencies which included immigration/customs/border protection. DHS launched National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (Special Registration) in 2002 requiring non-citizens of 25 countries (24 Muslim) to report to immigration offices for interviews / fingerprinting & photographs. Out of 85,000 registered only 11 had ties to terrorism by 2003. This program was discontinued in 2011.
• In 2008 DHS Secure Communities program was launched – federal and state law enforcements shared information including fingerprints.

While the ordinary American will have to pocket $8trillion for the cost of America’s illegal wars, who actually benefit from these wars? It is the arms contractors & oil companies– US companies account for 60% of total arms sales. Americans are paying for companies to get richer (some 27,000 contractors)!

According to Project on Government Oversight between 2008-2018 around 380 high-ranking officials had become government lobbyists, defense contractor consultants or were elected to be board members & executives in these companies after leaving the military. The same has been seen in elected officials eventually joining some of these top firms as consultants or sitting on their Boards.

None of these illegalities result in resolutions against US or its allies. The UN/UNHRC becomes a farce when justice is twisted and biased.

Not only the cost of war in terms of deaths, what about the destruction as a result of incessant bombing that destroyed much of Iraq’s infrastructure often intentional. These were also part of a larger plan to award contracts to foreign conglomerates. There were said to be 43,000 foreign contractors in Iraq. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-jul-04-na-private4-story.html

According to Financial Times US tax payers have spent $138bn on private security, logistics and reconstruction contractors, who have supplied everything from diplomatic security to power plants and toilet paper. https://www.ft.com/content/7f435f04-8c05-11e2-b001-00144feabdc0

In short, war has become a costly business for the average American who have to pay to make handful of Americans become filthy rich no wonder George Bush is laughing!

What is happening in Ukraine is just a repetition of all of the previous illegal wars US waged with dual purpose – expand their hegemony & political influence & fill the coffers of the American elite that profit from wars.

Shenali D Waduge