Top 5 Reasons Why We Should Not Ignore Iraq

The sixth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq is March 20, 2009. With the Obama administration focused on fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and planning to withdrawal all combat troops from Iraq by August 2010, it would appear like the war is over. Not so fast. Here are the top 5 reasons why the international community should not turn its back on Iraq. What are your reasons? Leave them in the comments below.

#5. DISPLACED IRAQIS -- Almost five million Iraqis remain displaced from their homes as a result of the violence and continued instability, according to the United Nations High Commissioner For Refugees. About 2.7 million Iraqis are displaced within the country, and another 2 million are living as refugees in neighboring countries like Syria and Jordan.

#4. BASIC SERVICES -- About 11.3 million people have sewage services, according to AP. That leaves about 16 million people without it.

#3. VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN -- Iraqi women continue to be targeted because of their gender, according to Amnesty International. Iraq women and girls face "systematic discrimination and violence" by men with different political agendas.

#2. AMERICAN CASUALTIES -- Thirty Americans have died in Iraq since the Obama inauguration, as of March 16, according to Antiwar.com.

#1. IRAQI CASUALTIES -- There were almost 300 war-related Iraqi casualties in February 2009, according to AP.

What are your thoughts on the Iraq War as we mark six years since the U.S. invasion? Leave your opinions in the comments section below.

See a slideshow that illustrates key moments in the Iraq War.

Check out what HuffPost bloggers have written about the Iraq War over the years.

Comments

[rsmith15]

I think that you are right about Iraq and the issues they are facing within their country, but it is not America’s job to help Iraq get better. We need to withdrawal from Iraq because our country has too many problems of its own. As I’m sure you know America is going through a major recession and helping Iraq with their stability is not helping us with our stability. It may be selfish of me to only think of the United States, but at some point Americans have to decide what is important. I believe the most important thing right now is withdrawing from Iraq and coming home to help return AMERICAN economic stability.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/01/weekinreview/01glanz.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=the%20economic%20cost%20of%20war&st=cse

[rsmith15]

blah blah blah

[wild1a]

We cannot afford to babysit our ill considered attempt to remake Iraq into the image of our choosing forever. Whether we stay for years or leave now will make no difference. The various factions in Iraq will either agree or disagree on how their country is governed. They may reach accommodation or they may not. If they reach accommodation it may last forever or it may disintegrate soon or or sometime in the future. A conviction that whatever it was that we wanted to do is accomplished through reaching a level of stability with our military presence is a delusion. We cannot dictate, nor should we, how the citizens of other countries want to govern themselves. Our continued occupation of Iraq is a statement that we know better than the Iraqis how they should be governed. If we had paid as much attention to the governance of our own country instead of interfering in Iraq we might not be in the mess we are now.

[JohnHKennedy]

Examples must be made of Bush appointee lawyers.

If we as a people hope to force our public officials to obey our laws and our Constitution,
the time is Now
and the way to do it is
to prosecute members of the Bush administration
who violated Federal Laws,
including the law against Torturing prisoners.

The reason that we continue to have unnecessary wars of choice is
that Congress makes excuses for lawbreaking officials instead of impeaching or prosecuting them.

There was no doubt that 9-11 needed to be avenged, but Bush had another agenda.

They lied about WMD, aluminum tubes, & Niger Uranium to con Congress into approving an invasion of Iraq, a country that did not have anything to do with 9-11.

In WW-II, in 4 years, FDR put 13,000,000 men in the fight, beat 3 dictatorships, their leaders dead at the end.

After 7 years of War On Terror, neither Bush nor Cheney could find Osama Bin Laden, our US reputation is in the gutter, we're still at war, over 4,200 US Soldiers are dead, over 30,000 maimed for the Bush-Cheney arrogance & lies. They ordered Torture, a violation of Federal Law.

Unless Obama's statement that “no one is above the law” is a lie,
Obama must appoint a Special Prosecutor

Sign The Petition To Prosecute

http://ANGRYVoters.org