10 Year Anniversary of Iraq War is Hush-Hush
by Weam Namou
I may not have known about the 10th year anniversary of the start of the U.S. war in Iraq if not for BBC (Arabic) last night. A news program shed light on the subject by interviewing a family whose daughter got badly hurt as a result of the war. The girl had the same name as that of my daughter, and she was the same age. Six years ago, some violent act – I believe an explosion – took her mother’s life and left her blind and her face completely disfigured.
The war took the lives of 4,488 U.S. service members and left more than 32,000 wounded. As many as 1.2 million Iraqi people have died because of the conflict. That exceeds that of the Rwandan genocide in which 800,000 died. Yet today, probably due to these facts, Washington and Baghdad have been pretty hush-hush about it and no official commemorations were at work.
I wonder, will the media be able to eventually wipe this war off of peoples’ memory, the way in which they were able to convince them that it was justifiable?
Cultural Glimpse 
It will never be wiped from my memory, Weam! Nor any war of the past. Nor will I let it be forgotten by my daughters and grandchildren. That was when Bush and the Republicans began the destruction of this country, and Iraq. Actually, it began when he ignored the warnings before 9/11. I was NEVER convinced of WMD’s. Ever! There were so many of my friends as well as myself, who before Bush went into Iraq, were fighting against it and knew and believed there were no WMD’s. That is why I ask still today, how come the Congress didn’t know this? They knew! They wanted war just as much as Bush/Cheney (damn them to hell!) but they wanted $$…from the war machine, from Halliburton, from oil. I will never forget when Bush came on TV to announce the war starting. My husband and I were sitting in a motel near Metro airport waiting for a flight out to visit our daughter in CO for my grandson’s 1st birthday…waiting out a snow storm. We had the TV on and that b****t***d announced it. I sat and cried. I cried for all those who were going to die and be injured. And I cried for my grandchildren and what would happen to the country they have inherited. Now I see already good reason for those tears. My husband’s cousin was one who was killed in Iraq. Bled to death in the desert….because the Humvee he was driving was not properly armored. Bled to death because of hatred and lies. Bush and Cheney have the blood of millions on their hands. No, I will never forget. Nor will I let anyone forget. Nor will I ever forgive those who created the war into being….Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld/Wolfowitz, etc.
Your comments brought tears to my eyes. I remember when the war started, my family – especially the women – felt sad and depressed. We were in shock (not the kind that Bush happily bragged about). I’ll never forget how one old woman protesting in New York comforted our low spirits. She said her truth (similar to what you just wrote) into a CNN microphone and made us feel that we were not alone in recognizing the catastrophe this unjust war would be for our earth.