US Forces in Iraq Shift to Long-term Occupation

• Adil E. Shamoo, a professor of ethics, writes in What You Will Not Hear About Iraq, "Iraq has between 25 and 50 percent unemployment, a dysfunctional parliament, rampant disease, an epidemic of mental illness, and sprawling slums. The killing of innocent people has become part of daily life. What a havoc the United States has wreaked in Iraq...
• Iraq: Torture. Corruption. Civil war. America has Certainly Left Its Mark
• The occupation of Iraq isn't over - it's being rebranded

Debra Sweet, The World Can't Wait

Sunday (Aug 22), the Associated Press reported "Baghdad - An American solider was killed in a rocket attack in southern Iraq on Sunday, the U.S. military said, marking the first American fatality since the last combat unit in Iraq pulled out of the country."

As the "last" combat brigade left Iraq, President Obama prepares to give a major speech next week.  He probably won't claim victory; that would be laughable.  He will claim that the U.S. is taking responsible action, now that the Iraqis are ready to "step up" and run "their own" country.  This is the same plan the Bush regime had, but framed and re-branded, Obama-style, to cover a thoroughly illegitimate occupation.

Jeremy Scahill said on Democracy Now earlier this month (August) that the combat role is shifting to the State Department, which "has plans to remake some US bases into what they call 'enduring presence posts,' EPPs. And so, you'll have these outposts around the country that are essentially-what is essentially unfolding here is a downsized and rebranded occupation, Obama-style, that is going to necessitate a surge in private forces.

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Related:

Iraq: Torture. Corruption. Civil war. America has Certainly Left Its Mark. Robert Fisk, London Independent | UK, in ZCommunications

• The American soldiers came. They saw. They lost. And now they say they've won. How the Arabs, surviving on six hours of electricity a day in their bleak country, must be hoping for no more victories like this one.
• The War on Iraq : Five US Presidents, Five British Prime Ministers, Thirty Years of Duplicity, and Counting....

The occupation of Iraq isn't over - it's being rebranded, Debra Sweet, World Can't Wait

• The occupation of Iraq is only being re-branded, not ended. Despite President Obama's fallacious claims that the war in Iraq is winding down, the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment is deploying!
• We Are Not Your Soldiers!
• Collateral Murder: U.S. Soldier Ethan McCord's Eyewitness Story