Home > ’O.C. Register’ First Major Paper to Call for U.S. Pullout in Iraq

’O.C. Register’ First Major Paper to Call for U.S. Pullout in Iraq

by Open-Publishing - Tuesday 22 March 2005
3 comments

Wars and conflicts International USA

NEW YORK In a Sunday editorial marking the second anniversary of the American invasion of Iraq, The Orange County (Ca.) Register called for a U.S. pullout from that country, becoming perhaps the first newspaper in a Top 25 market to do so. The Register’s daily circulation is around 300,000.

"We opposed this war from the beginning and we believe the United States should withdraw its troops sooner rather than later, under a sensible exit strategy," the editorial declared. "While some argue that chaos would follow an American withdrawal, it is also true that U.S. troops have become a lightning rod, attracting the very attacks they are working to prevent.

"Saddam Hussein is out of power, which is good. Now it is time to leave Iraq, for better and for worse, to the Iraqis."

Despite the recent election, "Baghdad is still one of the most dangerous cities in the world, rocked by daily violence," the newspaper said. "Numerous news stories say ordinary Iraqis, who experienced something close to euphoria in the days following the election, are impatient that after seven weeks the elected politicians can’t get their act together. ... Violence has not decreased since the elections."

But this might be the time to leave, the paper said, as a recent poll shows that "62 percent of Iraqis believe the country is headed in the right direction while 23 percent say it is headed in the wrong direction, the largest postive-to-negative spread since the invasion. ...

"All this has cost more than 1,500 American lives and about 16,000 wounded. Estimates of Iraqi civilian deaths vary widely, but the lowest estimates are in the tens of thousands. The last few weeks have seen Italy, Poland, the Netherlands and Ukraine announce they would begin pulling out their troops. ... Now it is time to leave Iraq, for better and for worse, to the Iraqis."
E&P Staff (letters@editorandpublisher.com)

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/e...

Forum posts

  • The poor Iraqi people are just victims of coprorate profiteering, they can never expect their country to return to normal as long as the war profiteers see an opportunity to keep up the chaos which is their bread and butter. As long as their is a buck to be turned there at the expense of peace, these money grubbers will make sure the shit pot continues to be stirred, it is feeding upon itself and is a vicious circle that makes stops at every 90 degrees at the bank accounts of the war contractors who are taking in billions in this money for blood environment.

  • I say the soldiers should leave and leave the private contractors there to rebuild the mess the U.S. made. Rummy says the Iraqipolice are doing great so let them protect the contractors.
    Let the money makers stay, they are there willingly and making big bucks.
    SEND THE TROOPS HOME!!!

  • THE WAR ON IRAQ/ IT IS TIME FOR WITHDRAWAL
    The war on Iraq was raised against the will of the UN and other well established countries like France, Germany,…..The reasons on which the war was based; such as chemical, biological and nuclear weapons, the aluminum pipes and the relation with Al-Qaeda were found false. The speed at which the former regime failed proved that it could not be of any threat to the neighboring countries, and the issue of being a threat to the USA can not be believed by anybody.
    After the fall of the former regime, the USA administration took the sole responsibility in Iraq and it refused to give proper share of responsibility to the UN, which could have given legitimacy to the existence of USA troops in Iraq. Moreover the USA troops failed to safeguard UN office in Baghdad which lead to the bombing of that office and the death of Mr Demello. Inspite of that incident , no more measures were taken to protect that office and another bombing occurred forcing the UN personnel to leave Iraq, which was welcomed by Mr. Bremer. Then Mr. Bremer became the sole governor of Iraq and behaved as a new dictator of Iraq. He refused to give any authority to the governing council. The USA troops behaved as occupying forces as it can be concluded from the following:-
    1- Mr. Bremer issued orders, which he hadn’t the right to, and dissolved ministries of defense, interior, information and culture, thus destroying the basic structure of the Iraqi state. About ½ million families became without income. Ironically, militias of many USA-allied parties remained functioning .
    2- The USA troops encouraged looting of the military bases. Then these troops started to collect Iraqi weapons and ammunitions, not to safeguard them but to destroy them. The return of the new Iraqi army and police was in urgent need for those destroyed weapons. Moreover, Mr. Bremer administration allowed exporting these military ruins. Some USA officers found that a good opportunity to sell remaining weapons to smugglers. The disappearance of 350 Tons of explosives and some nuclear equipment are related to these facts.
    3- The USA troops imprisoned tens of thousands of Iraqis and tortured thousands of them. What was declared of abuses in Abu-Ghraib was only small portion of what had happened. The trials of those who committed the abuses were unfair and very minor sentences, that are not proportional to the crimes, were issued. How one can believe the justice of a trial which don’t permit those ,on whom the crimes were committed, to even attain the trial! Let alone be a witness.
    4- The USA troops contributed in the rehabilitation of Iraq, which was a good point for them, during Mr. Bremer administration. That activity of rehabilitation was utilized by large number of USA officers and their translators to their own benefits. No competitions were adopted and the contracts were of high prices . Some percentages reaching up to 50% have to be given by the contractors to officers or generals in the CPA . This issue needs an investigation by independent body , since it forms a large waste of money allocated to Iraq.
    5- Many of the Iraqi military industrial establishments, which escaped bombing and looting, were then destroyed systematically by the USA troops by selling many of its equipment to local contractors and smugglers.

    6- Motivated by the USA slogan of installing democracy in Iraq, many Iraqis rushed into demonstrations in many towns. The USA troops, didn’t use tear gases to disperse the demonstrators, but it replied by firing at civilian demonstrators. In five incidents in Mosul, Falluja (April and May 2003) and Baghdad (May 2004), more than 50 Iraqis were killed and more than 200 were injured by the firing and excessive use of USA forces. Some Iraqis started to think of other nonpeaceful means.
    7- The invasion of Iraq and the first 18 months of USA ruling of Iraq have caused 100,000 Iraqi deaths [see study published by the Lancet Journal (www.thelancet.com) ]. Fuel and electricity supplies deteriorated rapidly.
    8- The killing of Iraqis by USA troops became some sort of fun for a large number of these troops. Lt. General James Mattis said, " Actually its a lot of fun to fight. You know, its a hell of hot … its fun to shoot some people . Ill be right upfront with you, I like brawling " , ( www.cbsnews.com , on 10 Feb). When a General, who is commander of the 1st Marine Division , speaks like this one can imagine the behavior of his troops with the Iraqis!.
    The above reasons were enough to force the Iraqis to believe that USA troops were invaders and not liberators as the prewar promises said. The outraged and frustrated Iraqis started a national and faithful resistance that escalated steadily. Neighboring governments and people there found the reasons to contribute to those activities in the way they like. Then Mr. Bush administration, insisting on ignoring Iraqi resistance, used excessive force and air raids on many towns which led to the killing of insurgents as well as large number of peaceful civilians. After the invasion of Falluja 80% of its 300,000 inhabitants are still homeless and living in nearby towns, since large number of houses in Falluja have been destroyed .! These acts resulted in the escalation of violence. All the Iraqis suffered a great of that aggressive policy.

    In the stage of elections, Which was delayed by Mr Bremer, Mr. Bush administration pushed the UN away from taking any important share even from sending appreciable number of monitors. Then Mr Negroponte arrogantly refused the REQUESTS of putting a time-table for withdrawal of troops. Moreover, he refused to promise to negotiate that issue with the elected parliament. That refusal prevented the contribution of many Muslim parties and large groups of Iraqis in the election, and forced Iraqis to believe that these troops are here to stay. Mr. Bush declared recently that he is prepared for withdrawal if the new elected Iraqi president asks for it! and he added that he don’t think the new government will ask for that. Thus he is giving a big HINT to the new government to what to ask for.
    The slogan of installing democracy in Iraq can not be believed if we look at the behavior of the USA troops in Iraq. You may need to topple a dictator regime to start democracy but why those troops destroyed the basic structure of the Iraqi state?. Another point is that all USA allies in the region have been running non-democratic states in most of which the presidency is inherited father to son (like Jordan, Morroco, U.A.E.) or brother to brother (like Sudia Arabia)!. Is it true that; To be democratic one need only to obey Mr. Bush policy. Is that the implementation of the slogan " your are either with us or with the terrorists". The case of President Al-Gathafy gives us one recent example.
    When look at the USA policies in the last 50 years, we can see how it changed from being against aggressions and war (USA stand against the 1956 war against Egypt) to the recent years when the USA waged war against Iraq and then it is threatening Syria an Iran!. There should be some other peaceful means of leading democracy in the world !.
    The future policies of the USA need to be restored so that many problems can be solved by negotiation and not by excessive use of force. The issue of the IRA in Britain, for example, was solved in that way and not by military intervention. After fulfilling the election ,I believe that a plan for withdrawal is the best solution to save lives of the Iraqis as well as USA troops.
    Thanking you for your attention to read all of the above.
    Best regards
    Mohammed Younis Hassan
    Mosul / Iraq.
    2005.