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FinalCall.com News
World News
Military families dispute claims of ‘progress’ in Iraq
By Ashahed M. Muhammad
Staff Writer
Updated Nov 28, 2007 - 3:12:00 PM
(FinalCall.com) - Despite claims from the Bush Administration that “progress” is being made, six more troop deaths were announced by the United States military recently, making 2007 the deadliest year for American troops since the start of the Iraq War in March of 2003.
According to the latest statistics available from the Associated Press, 3,845 American military personnel have died in the U.S. led invasion of Iraq and the numbers of embittered and disappointed military families speaking out in protest are growing.
“The Bush Administration continues to use lies and fear to get Congress to continue to fund the war. But the numbers do not lie,” said Nancy Lessin a co-founder of Military Families Speak Out (MFSO), which is an organization of families opposed to the Iraq war with relatives or loved ones serving in the military. “2007 has been the deadliest year for American troops thus far, and the vast majority of the American people and the troops themselves do not support this war. Congress has failed the troops and all of us by continuing to fund the war,” she added.
Family members of those killed in the Iraq War call this a “tragedy” not only for those who have lost loved ones on the American side, but also the tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians who have lost their lives.
A report released in September 2007 by the Opinion Research Business (ORB), a British polling organization, estimated that over 1,000,000 Iraqis civilians have lost their lives since the invasion began in March of 2003. Ironically, the report was released during the very same week in which General David Petraeus delivered his report to the U.S. Congress on the impact of the recent military ‘surge’ saying that security conditions have improved and that American forces were “building momentum” in Iraq.
“None of these soldiers and marines should be dying at all because we shouldn’t be there. We need to bring them home,” said Dante Zappala who lost his older brother, Sherwood Baker in March of 2004. “One life is too many and really, the statistics don’t support that things are getting better. The civil war, the ethnic cleansing, we know the interior ministry is corrupt and (they’re) not reporting the civilian deaths. The problem is the mainstream press still accepts what the government says is true as fact,” he said.
Dante’s brother was a U.S. Army sergeant in an infantry division responsible for convoy security for the Iraq Survey Group, which was the CIA led group of scientists sent to inspect facilities searching for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
According to the report given to Mr. Baker’s family regarding the circumstances surrounding his death, there was a large explosion in one of the buildings being searched for WMD. Mr. Zappala was told that his brother was attempting to help people away from the initial explosion, when there was another explosion. His brother was struck in the back of the head with debris and projectiles from the second blast and died.
Mr. Zappala said his brother was experiencing difficulties supporting his family and because he was “under a lot of financial pressure” decided to join the military. To make matters worse, after joining in 1997 with a six year commitment scheduled to end in 2003, his tour of duty automatically extended along with thousands of other military personnel after the events taking place on September 11, 2001.
Mr. Zappala said he was against the Iraq War from the beginning believing that the nation was being deliberately misled by the Bush Administration to go to war. He wonders how many more have to die and how much more money will be spent before this war is ended.
“That’s the ultimate betrayal in this whole thing. These soldiers take an oath and they take that oath very seriously, under the threat of death and separation from their families,” said Mr. Zappala. “The betrayal is that our politicians are charged with taking their oath seriously and deploying soldiers only when it is necessary and only when the country is really at risk and to really cherish that commitment that these men and women have made to that country. I think that is the tragedy of this whole thing.”
The Bush administration’s current plan calls for a reduction of the U.S. presence in Iraq with troops dropping to around 130,000 by next summer with 5,700 soldiers returning by Christmas. Current American troop levels are currently a little over 170,000. On Oct. 23, President Bush asked Congress for $46 billion more to bankroll global military operations. The fighting in Iraq, now in its fifth year has already cost more than $455 billion.
