My goal in writing this article is the immediate withdrawal of US troops from Iraq and for an end to the occupation. I am disturbed by lack of logic and rationality that has permeated our government concerning the US-led war and occupation in Iraq. I am troubled by the language that is used by the media to describe it, as the choice of words veils the reality of the violent and volatile situation in Iraq that the United States, Great Britain and allies have created.

I am appealing for the immediate withdrawal of all US forces and an end to the atrocities of occupation and aggression for the following reasons which I will attempt to validate below:

1. The number of trained Iraqi forces has peaked and is actually declining. American troops are not instrumental in training Iraqi police and military personnel.

2. The US invasion initiated the instability, and the US occupation is causing increasing instability, based on the increasing number of attacks, bombings and deaths.

3. The US occupation and attacks are provoking an understandable resistance response from Iraqis and people in adjoining countries.

4. The government in place in Iraq is a puppet regime under US control that uses torture, just like the invaders who empowered it and just like the regime that it replaced.

5. The vital mission being performed by the US has not been clarified.

6. As a result of the US invasion and occupation, Iraq is on the brink of civil war.

7. The US cannot impose a peace on Iraq or cause Western-style democracy to flourish there. The Iraqis must decide what form of government they want free from foreign occupation.

8. The US is murdering innocent Iraqi civilians, including children, on a daily basis.

9. The Iraqi health care system has deteriorated as a result of the US-led war and years of economic sanctions.

10. The best defense against living in insecurity and fear of terrorism is to give no offense, that is, to withdraw.

From the rhetoric we hear, we are to believe that security in Iraq is improving and that insurgency is on the decline. Unfortunately, the facts seem to point in the opposite direction. Frankly, I don’t see progress being made as following indicates.

Rhetoric: American troops are instrumental in training Iraqi police and military personnel. Before we can bring US troops home, Iraqis must provide for their own security.

Fact: The number of trained Iraqi forces has peaked and is actually declining.

The Pentagon intends to train about 35,000 police officers, 62,000 national guardsmen, 24,000 army troops and others for a security force totaling 270,000. The Iraqi Army, which historically was a strong unifying force in Iraq, cutting across religious and ethnic lines, could have been transformed into an effective force for post-invasion security. The following is an excerpt from testimony from the Iraq War Hearings in Congress on 29 Sep. 2005: ¹

“SEN. JOHN McCAIN: General Abizaid, there was a report sent over, I think last June, that three of the hundred Iraqi battalions were fully trained and equipped, capable of operating independently. What is that number now?

GEN. JOHN ABIZAID: The number now is, if you're talking about level-one trained --

SEN. JOHN McCAIN: Yeah.

GEN. JOHN ABIZAID: It's one.

SEN. JOHN McCAIN: At one battalion?

GEN. JOHN ABIZAID: Right.

SEN. JOHN McCAIN: The previous report was you had three battalions. Now we're down to one battalion.