'16
years ago, the US illegally invaded Iraq, leaving a trail of
destruction and lives lost,' said Congresswoman Ilhan Omar
U.S.
lawmakers criticized the government Wednesday for its decision to
invade Iraq 16 years ago, questioning the conflict’s legitimacy.
Politicians
called the invasion disastrous, saying it led to the country’s
destruction and affected America’s global standing.
"Sixteen
years ago, the U.S. illegally invaded Iraq, leaving a trail of
destruction and lives lost," Congresswoman Ilhan Omar said
on Twitter.
Omar
outlined the consequences of the invasion, saying 4,500 U.S. troops
lost their lives, more than 100,000 Iraqi civilians were killed and
the decision had done "incalculable damage” to
America’s reputation in the world.
Senator
Bernie Sanders also slammed the invasion, saying he had opposed it
when the idea was proposed in Congress.
"Sixteen
years ago, the United States invaded Iraq. I opposed it at the time,
warning of unintended consequences. We are still dealing with those
disastrous consequences today and will be for many years. We need a
foreign policy that focuses on diplomacy, not war," Sanders
tweeted.
In March
2003, the U.S. invaded Iraq. Then-President George W. Bush said the
country’s goals were to destroy the country's weapons of mass
destruction (WMDs) and depose the country's leader, Saddam Hussein.
A year
later, after U.S. forces defeated the Iraqi army and captured
Hussein, the U.S. administration acknowledged that its argument of
Iraq having WMDs was mistaken, with David Kay, a former U.S. weapons
inspector, saying "we were almost all wrong".
"We
must hold accountable those who repeatedly lied in the run-up to
war," Omar said, arguing that both Bush and his vice
president, Dick Cheney, had lied about WMDs in order to justify the
invasion.
The
aftermath of the war scarred the image of the United States with the
over 100,000-civilian death toll, and in April 2004, evidence of
prisoner abuse inside the U.S.-run Abu Ghraib prison became public,
showing photographic evidence of American soldiers torturing inmates.
Eleven soldiers were convicted by U.S. courts of crimes related to
the prison abuse scandal.
Earlier
this month, a coalition of Democratic lawmakers backed a veteran
organization's pledge to end the "forever wars" in Iraq and
Afghanistan.
Among
the congressional sponsors of the pledge were Senators Elizabeth
Warren and Bernie Sanders and lawmakers Ilhan Omar, Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez and Ro Khanna.
Think a disaster like the Iraq War could never happen again? Wrong. We're on the warpath RIGHT NOW in #Venezuela with many of THE SAME PEOPLE who lied us into Iraq (John Bolton, Elliott Abrams) bombarding us with MORE LIES to pave the way for ANOTHER US-led regime change for OIL.— Dr. Jill Stein🌻 (@DrJillStein) March 20, 2019
Most Americans now recognize the invasion of Iraq as a disaster, mistake, failure, crime. But a few consider it a success:— Dr. Jill Stein🌻 (@DrJillStein) March 20, 2019
-Politicians chanting "support our troops" as veterans die in the street
-War profiteers making trillions from taxpayers
-Pro-war pundits failing ever upward
The anniversary of the Iraq War disaster is a good time to remind the world that Ari Fleischer, David Frum, Elliott Abrams, John Bolton, every NeoCon & NeoLib who dragged us into Iraq based on lies will always have the blood of countless innocents on their hands. Never forget. https://t.co/Mm7UzrOIez— Dr. Jill Stein🌻 (@DrJillStein) March 20, 2019
The Iraq war architects are trying to rewrite history about the horrors they inflicted. Don’t let them.— Rania Khalek (@RaniaKhalek) March 20, 2019
Did you know that in some Iraq cities today there are birth defects higher than those seen in Hiroshima and Nagasaki after the US nuked them? pic.twitter.com/nd58u3VQSV
16 years ago, the United States invaded Iraq. I opposed it at the time, warning of unintended consequences. We are still dealing with those disastrous consequences today and will be for many years. We need a foreign policy that focuses on diplomacy, not war.— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) March 20, 2019
All of these statements were not only false, they were known by intelligence agencies to be lies at the time. To this day they have not been held accountable.https://t.co/BbNTQYPf7K— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) March 20, 2019
16 years ago the U.S. illegally invaded Iraq, leaving a trail of destruction and lives lost. Here are the consequences:— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) March 20, 2019
⁃4,496 U.S. troops lost their lives
⁃100,000+ Iraqi civilians killed
⁃Ongoing regional instability
⁃Incalculable damage to U.S. reputation in the world
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