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LINK Opinion | After 30 Years of War Against Iraq, Americans Must Make Reparations

"This Saturday—March 20th, 2021—is the 18th anniversary of the United States invasion of Iraq. However, the American war against that country did not begin in 2003. The U.S. has been fighting a war against Iraq since 1991.

Thirty years of conflict has killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and injured many times more.

Millions of people have been displaced directly by American bombing and invasion and indirectly by the rise of militia and paramilitary groups that flourished after the U.S. dismantled the Iraqi state. Extensive bombardment has destroyed thousands of homes, mosques, schools, and hospitals.

The use of weapons such as cluster bombs and depleted uranium has contaminated the landscape with dangerous and toxic unexploded munitions and heavy metals. Bombing, battles, and careless military occupation have damaged and destroyed an unknown number of priceless artifacts and world-historical monuments.

Americans must also remember—or learn for the first time—that their CIA helped the Iraqi Ba'ath Party come to power in the 1960s. This set in motion the events that led to Saddam Hussein's rise to the presidency in 1979.

Despite, or perhaps because of his brutality, the U.S. allied with Saddam in his war against Iran in the 1980s. It supported and enabled his use of internationally banned chemical weapons. American companies supplied the technologies to build those weapons.

It was only after Saddam's usefulness had been exhausted that George H.W. Bush turned on his former ally and launched the war that continues to this day. Six American presidents—George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and now Joe Biden—have continued this conflict.

Americans owe a debt to the people of Iraq that can never be repaid in full. However, it is incumbent and imperative that we try. "

WilliamCharles 8 Mar 19
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