Charge George Bush on war crimes

Charge George Bush on war crimes

President Bush knew of falsified evidence and still began the iraq war.

The U.S. rationale for the Iraq War has faced heavy criticism from an array of popular and official sources both inside and outside the United States, with many American citizens finding many parallels with the Vietnam War. According to the Center for Public Integrity, President Bush's administration made a total of 935 false statements between 2001 and 2003 about Iraq's alleged threat to the United States.[240] Both proponents and opponents of the invasion have also criticised the prosecution of the war effort along a number of other lines. Most significantly, critics have assailed the U.S. and its allies for not devoting enough troops to the mission, not adequately planning for post-invasion Iraq, and for permitting and perpetrating widespread human rights abuses. As the war has progressed, critics have also railed against the high human and financial costs.

The financial cost of the war has been more than £4.5 billion ($9 billion) to the UK,[241] and over $845 billion to the U.S., with the total cost to the U.S. economy estimated at $3 trillion.[242]

Criticisms include:

• Legality of the invasion
• Inadequate troop levels (a RAND study stated that 500,000 troops would be required for success)
• Insufficient post-invasion plans
• Human casualties
• Financial costs with approximately $474 billion spent as of 12/07 the CBO has estimated the total cost of the war in Iraq to U.S. taxpayers will be around $1.9 trillion.
• Adverse effect on global war on terror
• Negative impact on Israel
• Negative impact on Saudi Arabia
• Endangerment and ethnic cleansing of religious and ethnic minorities
• Damage to America's traditional alliances and influence
• Disruption of Iraqi oil production and related energy security concerns (the price of oil has quadrupled since 2002)

Orphans

On December 15, 2007 a conference dedicated to orphans in Iraq was held in Baghdad. Iraq's anti-corruption board reported that official government statistics revealed that five million (or 35%) of Iraqi children were orphans. Wijdan Salem Mikhail, the Iraqi Minister of Human Rights, stated the phenomenon "is one of the most passive things that grew immensely during the past few years due to destructive wars and unbridled violence in the country." The Iraqi parliament's women and family committee have proposed a draft law to set up a fund for the orphans.

On January 21, 2008 the Iraqi Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs released a report estimating that there were 4.5 millions Iraqi orphans, with 500,000 living on the streets without any home or family care. The report further said there were only 459 orphans in governmental houses of orphans while there were 800 Iraqi orphans in American Iraqi prisons. Amal Kashefal-Ghetaa, the president of the Islamic Foundation of Woman and Child, explained that "a massive change took place in the lives of children that forced many of them to leave their schools and friends to go to work; a matter that affects them mentally.%u201D Sociologist Atheer Kareem said the negative situation that children in Iraq are experiencing would increase their suffering unless the government in Iraq responds by issuing legislation.

Refugees

There are more than 3.9 million refugees of Iraq, almost 16% of the population. Two million fled Iraq while approximately 1.9 million are internally displaced people. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimated on June 21, 2007 that 2.2 million Iraqis had fled to neighboring countries and 2 million were displaced internally, with nearly 100,000 Iraqis fleeing to Syria and Jordan each month.

Roughly 40% of Iraq's middle class is believed to have fled, the U.N. said. Most are fleeing systematic persecution and have no desire to return. All kinds of people, from university professors to bakers, have been targeted by militias, insurgents and criminals. An estimated 331 school teachers were slain in the first four months of 2006, according to Human Rights Watch, and at least 2,000 Iraqi doctors have been murdered and 250 kidnapped since the 2003 U.S. invasion. Iraqi refugees in Syria and Jordan live in impoverished communities with little international attention to their plight and little legal protection. Many of the Iraqi women fleeing the war in Iraq are turning to prostitution.

Although Christians represent less than 5% of the total Iraqi population, they make up 40% of the refugees now living in nearby countries, according to U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. UNHCR estimates that Christians comprise 24% of Iraqis currently seeking asylum in Syria. The census in 1987 counted 1.4 million Christians, however since the 2003 invasion radicalized Iraqi culture, the total number of Christians dropped to about 500,000, half of which live in Baghdad. Between October 2003 and March 2005 alone, 36% of the 700,000 Iraqis who fled to Syria were Assyrians and other Christians, judging from a sample of those registering for asylum on political or religious grounds. Furthermore, the small Mandaean and Yazidi communities are at the risk of elimination due to ethnic cleansing by Islamic militants.

Also...

• Gang-rape with official impunity. Jamie Leigh Jones

• Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse

• Haditha killings of 24 civilians

• White phosphorus use in Iraq

• Gang-rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl and the murder of her family, in Mahmoudiyah 

• The torture and killing of prisoner of war, Iraqi General. Abed Hamed Mowhoush

• Bombing and shooting of 42 civilians in Mukaradeeb (under investigation)

• Controversy over whether disproportionate force was used, during the assaults by Coalition and (mostly Shia and Kurdish) Iraqi government forces on the Sunni insurgent stronghold of Fallujah in 2004.

Planting weapons on noncombatant, unarmed Iraqis by three US Marines after killing them According to a report by The Nation, other similar acts have been witnessed by US soldiers. Members of Iraq Veterans Against the War tell similar stories.


Iraqi opinion

The U.S. has long maintained its involvement there is with the support of the Iraqi people, but in 2005 when asked directly, 82%u201387% of the Iraqi populace was opposed to U.S. occupation and wanted U.S. troops to leave. 47% of Iraqis supported attacking U.S. troops.

A March 7, 2007 survey of more than 2,000 Iraqis commissioned by the BBC and three other news organizations found that 78% of the population opposes "the presence of Coalition forces in Iraq," that 69% believe the presence of U.S. forces is making things worse, and that 51% of the population consider attacks on coalition forces "acceptable", up from 17% in 2004 and 35% in 2006. However, only 35% want them to leave "now". 64% described their family's economic situation as being somewhat or very bad, up from 30% in 2005. 58% described reconstruction efforts in the area in which they live as either somewhat or very ineffective, and 9% described them as being totally nonexistent.

An NGO-sponsored survey for the first time asked ordinary Iraqis their view on the highly contentious draft oil law. According to the poll, 76 percent of Iraqis feel "inadequately" informed about the contents of the proposed law. Nonetheless, 63 percent responded that they would prefer Iraqi state-owned companies %u2013 and not foreign corporations %u2013 to develop Iraq%u2019s extensive oil fields.