Saddam captured, deaths in Iraq continue
Military Families Speak Out: US Troops and Iraqis remain in Mortal Danger
With the news that Saddam was captured in Iraq on Sunday, December 14th came news of a car bomb that killed 17 people at a police station west of Baghdad. The killing continued on Monday, December 15th, car bombs exploded near a police station in a town north of Baghdad killing eight people and wounding over 20 and outside of a police station in Baghdad killing one person and wounding twelve.
The big headline for many around the world was the capture of Saddam. For military families speaking out against the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq, the real news out of Iraq is business as usual: our loved ones and the people of Iraq continue to be in mortal danger.
We have not forgotten the excuses that took this nation, and our loved ones, into this war: the (nonexistent) weapons of mass destruction; the (nonexistent) links between September 11th and Saddam Hussein. We have not forgotten these lies that have killed so many and placed so many others at risk.
The U.S. did not invade Iraq to capture Saddam Hussein and save the Iraqi people from oppression. The invasion of Iraq was about the capture of oil fields and oil markets. It was about creating a power base for this administration's plans in the Middle East, particularly friendly to the interests of U.S.-based corporations.
Over the next several days we will see press conferences and photo ops, media stories and media stunts as politicians seek to benefit from the capture of Saddam and as the administration continues to attempt to focus attention away from what is happening day in and day out in Iraq. As military families, we saw our loved ones sent off to war based on lies and we have just seen the last excuse for this war come and go.
Saddam Hussein is now in custody. The headline we won't be seeing is: Saddam captured, U.S. troops to come home now. We urge the American public to ask why not.
Military Families Speak Out (www.mfso.org) is an organization of over 1,000 families across the country who are speaking out against the war in Iraq and who have family members or loved ones in the Military. Along with Veterans for Peace (www.veteransforpeace.org), Military Families Speak Out is a founding organization of the Bring them Home Now campaign (www.bringthemhomenow.org).
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