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Max Cleland
A quarter of a million troops are committed to the Iraq war theater, most of them bogged down in Baghdad. Morale is declining and casualties continue to increase. In addition to the human cost, the war in dollars costs $1 billion a week, adding to the additional burden of an already depressed economy.
Hasan Abu Nimah
The situation in Iraq continues to worsen. Already six months into the occupation, the security situation is so grave that the United Nations secretary general is withdrawing UN staff whose presence there is vital for humanitarian work. In addition to the armed robbers who have been roaming the streets of Iraqi cities, terrorising people since the collapse of the old regime, the resistance is acting indiscriminately, targeting, besides the occupying forces, foreign missions, UN installations, Iraqi police, worshipping places, political figures and members of the Governing Council. With every added day to the already delayed and indeed incapable handling of the growing security problem, the outlaws grow stronger and harder to remove.
Ramzy Baroud
The chances of a decisive US army military victory in Iraq is as slim as that of Israel winning against the Palestinians. Victory, in some types of war, is indeed decided by the firepower of the warring parties, the ranking of an army in comparison to its counterpart, and the effective use of air force. In the case of the US war against the Iraqi resistance, none of these aspects is of much relevance.
Ted Rall
Nearly 70 percent of Americans tell Newsweek that “the United States will be bogged down in Iraq for years without achieving its goals.” Yet 61 percent tell the same poll that invading Iraq was the right thing to do. The reason for this weird disconnect: people think that we’re in Iraq to spread democracy and rebuild the Middle East. They think we’re The Good Guys. But the longer we keep patting ourselves on the back, the more we tell ourselves that the Iraqi resistance is a bunch of evil freedom-haters, the deeper we’ll sink into this quagmire. It’s time to get real.
Hasan Abu Nimah
The occupiers’ hope that the killing of the two sons would neutralise the people’s motivation for continued resistance is as wrong as the initial assumption that those who planned the attacks were no more than the remnants of the Saddam regime and of the Baath Party. The awaited hope that the capture of Saddam will have the greatest effect on ending the resistance will prove, once it happens, more disappointing.
Jonathan Steele
The deaths of three American soldiers yesterday, men from the same division which killed Saddam Hussein’s sons, are an early blow to American hopes that resistance to occupation will fade now these key leaders of the former regime are dead. Five Americans have died since Tuesday, and 11 in the last week, the highest rate of killing since the war officially ended.
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