The Mother of All Battles

The Mother of All Battles

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The Mother of All Battles

Jeff Archer

I don’t know what to write.  After reading this book I simply sat on my couch sitting across from my pregnant girlfriend and stared at her as she rested.  The amount of information that I just took in was still processing and combining with what I already knew and everything I have lived already.  She looked up at me and asked what was on my mind and all that I could reply at that moment was that I was conflicted.  I had no idea how to respond to the pages I had just finished.  I ate a small dinner and went to bed early that night; I thought as I laid in my bed that ill probably dream of my own experiences in Iraq.

Even as I sit here now I think of the words I read and compare that with what I have seen that others have not.  I know I can look at this from the standpoint of a question that was asked to be in class, “if I knew what I knew now would I do it all over again?”  But I will not go down that path, that path is not possible.  I cannot go back in time and change or alter any action that I took so even thinking about it or saying I regret anything in my life would be futile.  So instead ill simply look at what was presented to me and go from there; all I can do is move forward.

Like many others in this school and in our own class I served; I am a United Stated Marine and hold the rank of Sgt. I still say that proudly.  My uniforms hang in my closet firmly pressed with all ribbons attached that I received while I served.  As I get dressed each morning for work I cant help but glance over at them; it is still a part of me.  My girl does not ask me questions about my experiences for all those years; she simply accepts me and figures when I want to share I will.  The physical, emotional, and mental stresses that we have endured will live with us always.  Those moments in time where we took arms for what we thought was a noble cause will never escape our memories; for some of us our dreams either.

It did not take September 11^th for me to join.  I joined before hand in July of 2000.  I was straight out of high school and the paths ahead of me were go to college, for which the scholarships offered to me would have paid for it all, or join up.  But it was no a preplanned thought as some do; instead, I just got off the bus one stop early then I normally do to get to the train station and saw the Marine Corp recruiting station.  I was a recruiter’s wet dream.  I was ready to sign that moment and I was off and running. 

I can remember the years when the Gulf War occurred and as I child I knew nothing of it.  I never heard of it from the television, friends, teachers or my mom.  This knowledge was not given to me and at that time I was not searching for it.  I had no computer I could collect this data from; I didn’t even have a typewriter.  I was eight years old in 1990 and all that I was worried about was playing with my friends and all the pretty girls at school.  The sections of the book where we see that the media was not reporting the true events is evident at the fact that most of the information I just read is news to me.  We were never told the true story of the war and I'm sure there is plenty more that we will never know.  The Gulf War was kept secret from the American public so that the American public could not do anything to stop it.  Instead we see the information that was given to the people was given in attempt in build hatred for anyone from the Middle East.  This ploy worked and continues to work to this date. 

The people thought they were getting the real story; no one thought that our government would lie to us.  You can still hear it from the older adults when they speak of politics and war today; they believe everything they read or hear on TV.  That generation will quote verbatim what the newscaster reports and swear upon those words to each person they come across.  What I see in this book is that we do not get the whole story and that the truth has to be dug up.  My youth at the time prevented me from doing so then but now I am able to.  Just as I see the underlying truths that exist with these events I know that I possess others truths that others do now know and will never know.  The experiences and exposures of war tell a truth that others will never know about.  There are moments that I have been a direct part of that will never be taught in a history book and that have never been on the evening news.  The events I hold in my memories are just like the stories in this book. 

These events took place and people died.  These events took place and people were lied to.  These events took place and many of us will live with our actions forever, never being able to forget them or depart with them.  I am a lucky one that I have all my body parts and that I'm not missing a limb that can never be replaced.  My physical wounds have healed or have healed as much as they could; so on the outside I appear to be normal. 

For those that have not participated in war this book opens their eyes to the lies and secrets that others knew but never told.  The news that never went public becomes public here and the people of this country can now look at the information they receive everyday a little different.  This should inspire a more questioning public outlook in what is fed to us through our local news and politicians.  And for those that have been a part of war and experienced more than others have, I leave it at that we are conflicted.

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“The Mother of All Battles”

Reading Response

            At the age of twenty-one, I recognize that my understanding of the world around me is minimal at best. As I have gotten older, it’s natural that I’ve gradually formed an understanding of how I look at life. Yet there lies the problem, because “what I believe” is not necessarily the truth. Over the last couple years, I’ve struggled with the fact that our culture and the life I live is a fairy tale of sorts. From religion to politics, everyone has their own opinions on never ending issues, and I feel that it’s almost impossible to break away from the typical ideologies. Personally, my characteristic of being gullible puts me at risk on everything I hear and read. The collision of so many opinions makes it extremely hard for me to comprehend what is truth and what is lies. So, as I read Jeff Archer’s book “The Mother of All Battles,” it’s fair to say that I absorbed all of it as fact. Never the less, there was still the presence of doubt when I read something that was so exceptionally different from what I have been told previously.

            As I made my way through public school, the repetitive nature of my history classes only briefly touched on Desert Storm and conflicts in the Middle East. From what I recall, the majority of my teachings were merely on U.S. history, never on our country’s military dominance in over 150 different nations. We were told to believe that the rest of the world admired the United States, yet in reality it is the complete opposite. One of the many articles that Archer included in his report was by the Baghdad Observer in 1992, which stated, “Power alone will surely fail to justify U.S. actions as the world policeman. As the battle is not over yet, determination to counterbalance the Western hegemony is the only way for freedom-seeking countries to destroy the myth of the stick-wielding superpower” (82). I may be mistaken but I’m pretty sure we were never given examples quite like this. The fact that our educational system rarely crosses the barrier on foreign affairs is only part of the dilemma. If the American people rely on education, media, and other influenced news sources for information it becomes almost impossible for our country to become aware of world events. Our ignorance and lack of intelligence makes Archer’s report an overwhelming amount of upsetting facts.

             It seems to me that “The Mother of All Battles” supports enough evidence that the U.S. / Iraq war should be called the U.S. invasion. Since George Bush I, our country’s desire to control the Middle East has been blatantly straightforward. However, it has taken both propaganda and deliberate lying in order to bring the American people to support such an action. As I read instances such as the Iraqi trade embargo I had a difficult time understanding the true objective of our government and military powers. Then again, it begins to make sense when statements such as “oil is power” are scattered through Archer’s book. In a society where industrialization and technology control every aspect of the western culture, its apparent that nonrenewable energy expresses dominance. Michael Klare, a professor at Hampshire College was quoted as saying, “Control over the Persian Gulf translates into control over Europe, Japan, and China. It’s like having our hand on the spigot” (156). Archer mentions several times that U.S. forces are present in Iraq and Afghanistan, two countries that border oil rich Iran. Unfortunately, instances such as paying off and supporting weaker countries like Egypt are strong examples of how the U.S. has been making a tough presence in the Middle East.

             I believe that when most people read Archer’s book, they question why the public has never taken to the streets to show disapproval on such cruel acts. Truthfully, even with a good amount of citizens protesting, it’s hard for the American people to have any opinions on the matter when they rely on influenced news sources. I think the most obvious example of propaganda in the last decade or so is the blatant lie by George Bush II on Iraq’s possession of weapons of mass destruction. And even when information became available that he was previously briefed on the rare possibility of finding WMD’s, the mainstream public still sat on their hands and went about their day. Personally, I think it’s come to the point where most people only worry about what’s occurring in their personal lives, and could care less what their government is doing on the other side of the world.

            Another myth that I recognized was embedded in my belief system from education and the media was the false depiction of Saddam Hussein. Simply saying his name brings anger to most American’s. Yet, it’s hard to blame them when phrases such as “he gases his own people” and “the human shredding machine” were pumped through mainstream media. The U.S. needed a “bad guy” to scare the American public, and it has been working for the last couple decades. What I found most bizarre about certain aspects of government intelligence was where and how the CIA obtained its information. When the threat of mobile germ factories became news in 2002, the U.S. said that this was proof that Iraq and Saddam were a serious threat. Yet, as Archer pointed out, our government’s intelligence came from a con artist who told the U.S. what the wanted to hear, and he got paid handsomely for it. It goes to show that the U.S. government’s agenda has never truly been about threat levels, yet merely on controlling Iraq and having the public support the process.

            Jeff Archer’s book was an eye opener to say the least. I discovered more about the conflicts in the Middle East in four hundred pages than I have in my entire life. However, that’s the main dilemma that American’s face today. The combination of ignorance and being uninformed has lead to the majority of us to forget that we aren’t the only country in the world. Our government sure seems to think that we have to control every corner of the Earth with brute force and constant propaganda. Archer tells a sickening story of U.S. domination, and the fact is is that most of us are to blame for not demanding a change. From events such as “the highway of death” to burning wheat fields on purpose, history is only going to repeat itself. I feel that the best weapon against these sorts of inhuman actions is to educate ourselves as efficient as possible. Jeff Archer has definitely taken a major step in helping American’s understand how we not only have gotten involved in Middle East but also how we are influencing over 150 different countries word wide. Personally, I think American’s have the ability to make a difference in our governments actions and decision-making, they just have to have the desire. If we continue to ignore the facts of our country’s actions, then I truly believe that sooner or later we will be the next major empire to completely collapse.

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Jonathan Martinez

JUST 315 H

22 MAR 2009

THE MOTHER OF ALL BATTLES

Of all the books that I have read throughout my life, none has had such an emotional impact on me then "The Mother of All Battles" by Jeff Archer. Being a military veteran myself, I have been overseas during the whole OEF/OIF campaign, so reading this book has hit pretty close to home. "The Mother of All Battles" pretty much gives a point-by-point description of what actually happened that led up to the invasion of Iraq and a detailed list of all the lies that our former president and our government fed us into supporting the invasion. Before I move on I would like to give a brief story of my history and what led me to join the military.

Growing up, I was a couch potato. I loved watching television. In fact, I knew almost all the programs that would be on TV, without the use of a TV Guide; all I needed to know was which day and what time it was - I was a human TV Guide. I remember one day, while my mother and I was having a conversation about what I planned on doing with my future, I said to her, "I would never join the military. I don't like being told what to do, I don't wanna kill people, and I definitely don't wanna die." I didn't know then that in a couple more years something would trigger me into eating those words. That trigger was 9/11.

Like many people, September 11^th triggered a sense of patriotism in me - a sense of duty. So many innocent people died on that day. So many cops and firefighters died. At the time, I was 17 years old and I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, but after I saw those heroes rushing into the collapsing towers, attempting to save lives while sacrificing their own,  I knew right then and there that that was what I wanted to do. I knew that that was something I needed to do. I needed to be willing to sacrifice myself for the greater good. Shortly after, I joined the Army.

I knew the risks when I joined. I knew that one day I would have to go to war. I knew that I could be forced to kill. I knew that, if the worst were to happen, I could be killed, and I would never see my parents, my grandparents, my siblings, my nephews, or my friends ever again. But I was willing to do it. I wanted to it. I wanted to be the protector of my family's rights and freedoms. And if I were to die, I would want my life, as well as my death, to be an example to my family, especially my siblings and my nephews. I would want them to honor me by pushing themselves into creating a better life and a better future so that my death would not be in vain. I was willing to pay the ultimate price for my family, for my nation, and for freedom and democracy... Of course, if I knew I was being manipulated all this time by my own government, I probably wouldn't have done shit!

I supported the war in Iraq because I believed in all the rhetoric that was being passed around. I believed that women were treated as sub-human in Iraq; I believed that Saddam Hussein butchered his own people in horrendous ways, and I believed that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and they were pointed directly at us. I believed that Saddam Hussein was the next Hitler.

After a few years in the military, I remember that Bush and his administration had to rephrase, revise, or amend a statement or two, but I never would have thought that every single anti-Iraq or anti-Saddam speech that was given was a complete and utter lie. Every single piece of information about Saddam, or Iraq, and every single "fact" that was "known" was entirely untrue. In fact, for the majority of these allegations that were made, there wasn't an iota of proof to back it up. Saddam didn't gas his people, he didn't put them in acid tubs, there was no human shredding machine, and there absolutely were no weapons of mass destruction - and there's even evidence to support these claims.

Jeff Archer's book really opened my eyes and made me realized how much of a puppet I was. I can't believe that I believed all the bullshit. I can't believe that I was willing to DIE for "the cause". And what's especially sad is knowing that a lot of my military brethren have lost their lives or have been seriously injured because, they too, believed all the lies that came out of Bush's mouth. Many of my brothers and sisters died never knowing the truth.

            I am at a crossroads right now. I feel foolish, humiliated, and absolutely ashamed for playing my part in this war and I am not sure what to do. I don't believe in truth and justice anymore - there just bedtime stories told to help you fall asleep at night. A big part of me wants to defect to another country. I want to give up, but I am not a quitter. I want to fight, but I don't know what to fight for. The obvious answer would be to join a group, become an activist, and "fight the power", but how can we possibly hope of winning a war against an enemy who has been tried AND found guilty of 19 counts of international war crimes, and yet is so powerful that not one person has been executed or even set one foot in a prison cell. As I stated before, I am a fighter, but I only fight when I know I can win.

Rising up, creating a resistance, and going to war with the United States government would be a tremendous battle, but ultimately, one I believe to be futile. It'll be like a horde of ants going to war against a herd of elephants. But I'm a realistic-optimistic, so if a "genius" like George W. Bush can be elected president TWICE - well, damn, anything is possible.

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The Mother Of All Battles - The Endless U.S. -Iraq War

Eimear Hannon

I found ‘The Mother Of All Battles' to be an engaging book which held my interest and full attention to the last page. I felt that it educated me hugely and put the international treatment of Iraq into context up to the present moment in time. There were many parts of this book which cleared up unanswered questions I have had for a long time and I found some parts to be so incredibly frustrating and maddening that I was almost in tears at the blatant injustice. It is incredibly upsetting to know that this is happening in our time. It's not something to look back on and denounce, it's something my children will look back on and it's something my generation will be held accountable for. ‘Perhaps no other society in modern history has suffered so much at the hands of the international community.'

Being Irish, I have had a different experience of learning about Iraq in the twenty-first century to Americans. I find it mind boggling to understand how so many Americans can generalise Arabs as one type of people and not only this, but hold so little respect for an entire people. "I tell you right now - the largest percentage of Americans would like to see a nuclear weapon dropped on a major Arab capital. They don't even care which one..."  This statement which was made by TV host Michael Savage is disgusting and is such a strong example of the imperialistic ideology some Americans hold dear, it seems almost implausable.

Irish media coverage I feel from my experience in America is quite admirable in the nature of it's coverage and leading up to the US invasion of Iraq, there was widespread coverage of the statements of Bush and his gang of war mongerers. It seemed so ridiculous at many points (nuclear trucks moving around etc.) that I was sure the UN would put an end to it or the fact was, that they just wouldn't get away with it. The morning the war began I heard the air raid sirens on the radio and I felt  a sense of incredulity and fear. My thoughts were focused on the  families of Baghdad - school girls like me whose mothers were supposed to be driving them to school as mine was, hearing this noise and the sheer terror they must have been experiencing. Iraq to many Americans seems to be this far off place and they seem not to understand that it is a country of people who have lives just as important as theirs. The American media has dehumanised the people of Iraq and this is a huge injustice. What is also an injustice is that a huge proportion of Americans have allowed themselves to be swept up and controlled by this coverage.

For the purpose of this paper I will take the book in it's three sections and comment on the parts which really stood out to me:

Part One - The Storm

‘Where the hell is Grenada?'

I thought this was a great opening line and it does sum up something which has become an American cliché at this stage  - a lack of geographical knowledge. This perhaps doesn't seem a particularly dangerous issue but I think this lack of world knowledge aids the mentality of American superiority. The less many Americans understand about the nature of the world, the easier it is for them to accept dehumanisation and wars fought in their name.

I have been truly amazed by the amount of students my age whom I have met here who not only have never left America but, don't even possess a passport. I understand that reasonable airfares are a luxury of Europe but surely Canada or South America in particular are not that far out of the reach of an American able to sustain a relatively high standard of living in the U.S. Also I have been taken aback by the lack of interest in international travel I have encountered in some of my peers here. Personally, I am itching to touch down and learn about as many countries as possible (hence my presence in Chicago this year). I have found that my travels within Europe and particularly, East Africa and Egypt, have significantly changed my outlook on both the lives of the people in these parts of the world and also how I relate to my own life and society. 

‘After the slaughter, George Bush had the audacity to encourage the Iraqis to revolt and topple Saddam Hussein. He had no knowledge of Iraqi or Arab culture and he thought that a good beating by the United States would automatically turn the Iraqis against their president.' This is such a clear exampe of the lack of inderstanding that George Bsh posesses in relation to the Arab world. This is in some ways forgiveable if it is just ignorance with no consequences but,when a country with little education on the nature of another nation decides to invade it, then it becomes an injustice of the highest order. So many parts of this book made me wonder if  the American government had any idea what they were doing. The amount of times they retracted statements and spoke about things which made no logcal sense was astounding to me. It is unnerving to think that America has so much power (due to it's bullying military) in the modern world and is led so forcefully by peole with such a lack of compassion and humanity.

‘We are not targeting civilians'.  Even if I believed this to be true it doesn't matter because they are being hit. What I really gleaned from this setion of the book was the lack of respect of much of America for the Arab world (for this I hold no excuse acceptable) and the manner in which the war was started without Americans really understanding what it was about. ‘To this day, because of biased media coverage, the American public, for the most part, thinks Saddam Hussein was attempting to take over the world.'

Part Two - The Embargo

‘Every level of life was affected in Iraq'. I found it very interesting to learn about the interim war period and the nature of the oppressive sanctions imposed on Iraq. The list of various items banned seemed so ridiculous in parts surely it's obvious to anyone that the U.S was just trying to oppress the country and keep it downtrodden to try to gain control of it by default.

‘The US changed it's story'.  I haven't put this into context because I think it's a stand alone sentence. Sentences like this appear constantly throughout this book and this comes back to my question earlier of whether the US government and/or military had any idea what they were doing. It's amost as if they tried out all the lies they could and then when they were caught out, just backtracked and came up with something even more implausable. I don't understand how they got away with it! No wonder trying to figure out what America was doing and saying seemed so confusing through European coverage - it didn't make any sense in the first place.

The knowledge I gained largely from this section was how the infrasructure and quality of life in Iraq was erroded so terribly during this period. Saddam Hussein implemented many programs which were benefitting the country and improving the quality of life for everyone. Even when facing huge obstacles, he had Iraq rebuilt and revitalised as much as was possible in the circumstances. But America was never going to make it easy and really from the moment the US touched down in Iraq, they were destroying what had been a successfully developing Arab nation.

Part Three - Occupation and Resistance

‘We don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud.' There was much reference to a worry of a nuclear attack from Iraq. The technicalities of how this was a media ploy and not a reality aside, I find it interesting that the US is the only country to have used the atomic bomb on civilians and seems to now be the most paranoid about it happening in to them. I also found it unbelievable that the US used the WMD as an excuse to invade Iraq and then used depleted uranium as a weapon. Sometimes I just don't see how they can get away with it all. If I was reading some of this in a fantasy novel about a parallel universe I would think it was a great read and sometimes I have to stop and remember that this stuff was and is happening.

‘My answer is bring them on'. This was a quote by George W. Bush in relation to the idea that after America declared ‘victory' there could be attacks by resistence fighters. These should not be the words of a world leader. It's inexcusable. It sounds as if he's coaching a football team not at the helm of one of the most powerful countries in the world. The first time he was elected I remember the feeling in Europe being aware that the next few years could be dismal. When he was elected a second time I feel is when public opinion of Americans in Europe started to diminish. Once was an error in judgement, but twice after he had begun this war was telling.

' He envisages the global war on terror as a crusade...'  I found the section on the role played by religion to be frustrating. I know it could be deemed offensive and I have no issues with people believing what they wish (so long as they harm no one) but I sometimes see God or Jesus as being a pseudo ‘invisible/imaginary friend'. It makes me think about Bush in the Oval Office talking to his invisible friend and allowing him to make decsions... which affect the lives of millions! I know this seems rather simplified but sometimes if you simplify things you can grasp them better.

Whilst I was in Tanzania, over the period of a weekend, a group of American evangelists arrived to ‘save the natives'. I had been living in this village, Moshi, for a month at the time and was so angered by this I made a conscious decision to stay away from this group as much as possible. In Moshi there is a mix of catholics and muslims and they cohabit peacefully. The locals say ‘believe what you want to believe just don't break the law'. I also believe in this and was uspet by a huge group entering the village for a single weekend expecting to ‘educate the primitive locals' about Jesus. ‘Blair came out publicly in favour of cultural change in non-Western countries.' Religion really is just part of this encroaching Westernisation being forced upon countries in the Middle East. I detest the ideology of spreading Westen values to other parts of the world. Yes we as nations and continents should share ideas and learn from each other, but mostly it seems big Western countries have only time for pushing their own culture upon others.

There are so many things I've both learned from and could discuss about this book that I don't really know where to start or end. I do feel much more competent on the subject and the players behind the different situations which I was aware of but slightly unclear on. It has left me with a bad taste in my mouth and in some ways a sense of despair at the direction the world has gone in that we allow such events as the destruction of Iraq to occur. My resentment and frustration at the US administration and military has grown. I understand that although it is more trying, troublesome and uncomfortable to know the whole truth, too many people are disinterested and disassociated from it that it is irresponsible not to make myself fully aware. If no one comments on the reality and not the façade, history will truly only be written by the victors and just as Iraq is slowly losing it's true written histry, so too will the early twenty-first century.

*All italics are direct quotes from the book.

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Dave Hoffman

Media Politics and Intervention

"The Mother of All Battles"

            This book was really interesting for me.  As a kid growing up I never really thought too much about looking deeper into was going on with the whole situation in Iraq.  After the attacks on 9/11 I was just like many Americans with wanting to get at any who was responsible for the attacks.  As I watched the news I wanted revenge from anyone who was told to be responsible for the attacks.  Over time the 9/11 issue took a back seat to another war that were looking to get into and that was with Iraq and Saddam Hussein.  For me, 9/11 seemed to fuel to the fire for fighting Iraq which went under the idea that since the people involved were seeking refuge in the country of Iraq that they were just as responsible as the people who conducted the attacks.  As time went on it was no longer Iraq is housing "Terrorists" it was Iraq is building their nuclear weapons and they needed to be stopped or else another horrific event would take place.  As I have grown up I have become more and more resistant to jumping on the patriotic bandwagon because of things I have read and heard.  This book opened me up a lot more I think and has got me even wearier of what is told to me in today's media machine and also the government.

            Over the years in college I have grown to see that there are many lies that have gone on in the course of America's existence.  It is amazing that in today's day and age that deceit and lies are still common but worse they are even more well known now then ever in my opinion.  I have always known that there is a propaganda machine but it was not until reading this book that there are a lot more lies beginning given to America's public.  This book really brings to light a lot of interesting contradictions to what has been feed to us as this the occupation has gone.  Reading through the book it was interesting to me because situations that were brought up I remembered but then the book goes into detail that was said was either fabricated or just an all out lie.  As I went through the book I grew angrier and angrier.  It is amazing to me that stuff is allowed to happen.  What's worse then being lied too is that America puts on this facade that it is a country that is out to help, but when looking at the details of the book that is slightly false.  We were told that we fighting the injustice of Iraq to bring and democracy to the country.  However, it seems that we have done more harm then good.  Speaking of harm it seems that we haven't' just harmed the nation of Iraq we have completely fucked shit up there.  It is no wonder people Iraq has it bad, we made it bad for them.  After hearing that Iraq was prosperous before we showed up made me say to myself, "And we went there to make things better?"  Now when I hear people say Iraq is a terrible place to live, I am going to say "That's because of us".  The media does a good job at showing how bad Iraq has it with the ruins of the cities and the terrible living conditions.  They tend to forget to show that those images are brought on because of our occupation.  They forget to show what was once there before we showed up.

            Along with the terrible coverage of what is really happening, it is sad to read that a lot of the images of the taking down of Hussein's statue was staged.  I remember when I saw that I was thinking wow maybe there was something good happening if people are taking down the statue.  However, I was suckered in by the media machine but after reading that is was staged I don't think I will ever take anything on the news as a fact at all.  That is pretty sad that we had to stage this incident and that also says that we may be really messing things up. 

            Another incident that really made me look at the media machine with the disgust was the "Battle of Baghdad Airport". I had never even heard about this incident but it is not surprising that it was not televised or even spoken of.  At first it seems as if it wouldn't be a big deal to speak of this battle.  It was just another part of the overall occupation of Iraq. However, America really fucked shit up with this battle in my opinion and if this incident ever got out to the public at the time people would really be scratching their heads.  In the fight to secure the airport, American soldiers turned to using a Neutron bomb to win the battle.  When reading what the Neutron bomb was I put the book down and shook my head and thought "And we were fighting to make sure Nuclear bombs weren't used". It is pretty disgusting that we use the very thing that we are trying to get rid of.  After hearing that there actually no "Nuclear" bombs in Iraq, it seemed that America was the true criminal.  I don't think I will ever be able to stand another speech about "Nuclear" weapons and how we have to get rid of them.

            Another thing I was really interested in was the way in which we as America look at "Terrorists" and how we judge what a "Terrorist" is.  As the book goes along a few government officials stated that people like the resistance fighters of Iraq were "Terrorists".  As I read further it was interesting that America itself holds a few Terrorists in its own country and knows about it.  It seems as long as the "Terrorist" is fighting for the United States they are considered Resistance fighter but if they are against us then they are labeled "Terrorist".  Even our own CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) could be put under that group of "Terrorist" with some of the things that have been in the past and in the present.  Along with our dealings with Terrorists, we also have a big problem in America with dealing with what is labeled "Barbaric".  All over the media our perception of Third World countries like Iraq are messed with what we see and also what we hear.  We see an image of dead American soldiers being dragged around a street or we hear of torture to soldiers and hear that is so "Barbaric" and something that we would never do.  However, our own service men and women do the same exact things to our enemies as well.  It seems as long as the deed is done to us it is "Barbaric" but if we do it we say that it was just.  Now, I am not for torture or for dragging bodies around.  I am totally opposed to tactics like that.  What I am saying is that the same tactics are done on both sides.  It is sad that with how "civilized" we think we are, we still don't know how to deal with dealing with prisoners and people in a manner that is civilized.

            Another thing that really bugged me was that of religion aspect to the occupation.  I am not religious person but I respect people for what they choose to believe.  However, I am not a fan of religious freaks that go out say that you need to be saved and the only way is through Jesus.  It angers me that after so much war and terror in the country of Iraq that we have people going to Iraq to spread the word of God. You hear on these Religious shows that they are there to help these people by giving them god.  I always say to myself "There going to need more then just a bible to get them out of this mess".   It seems so pompous for some American to go to Iraq and give them a bible and say "hey, what you once knew is bullshit, this is the way".   These people seem to have hurt the Iraqi's with religion more then helped them.  While reading it seemed that since we have started occupying the country and spreading the word of the lord there has been more problems with religion.  Along with spreading the word of God, it is amazing to me that more people weren't freaked out about Bush stating things like "Crusade" when referring to what he looked at the war as.  The more I think about what Bush went with Religion the more I cringe.  It is amazing that the most powerful man in the world said he was on a mission from "God".  I don't know about everyone else but if someone told me that they were on a mission from "God" to be trying to crack a joke or they were missing a few screws. 

            The part in the book about Saddam Hussein really fascinated me.  I have never really given to much thought to who Saddam was or what he did.  Before I read this book my opinion was just like everyone else's that didn't know much about him.  He was that dictator from Iraq who we caught and killed.  After reading this book, I got a new look idea about Hussein and would put him up in that revolutionary pantheon.  I was fascinated about his life and what he stood for and what he did to preserve his country's way of life.  He never backed down to anyone and he fought to for his country.  In all honesty, I feel that he truly loved the country of Iraq and in the end; he loved it so much he died for it.  One thing I really respected about him was that he really gave the finger to the American politicians.  He never backed down from America even when things were bad he worked his way through.  As I went further into the chapter and into the interviews he really didn't seem like a bad guy.  As I read it seemed that people liked Hussein from Heads of State to even the people of Iraq.  He tried to work within diplomacy in certain situations but when push came to shove, Hussein was going to shove right back. Even against the powerful country in the world Saddam Hussein was not going to let down his country of Iraq or make it something that it was not.  I really admire that about him, that he didn't back down and he was going to do what he felt was right for his people.  It seems that since Hussein wasn't going to budge for the United States it is no wonder that we wanted him gone.  With all the talk that we have been feed about Hussein being a murder, I believe the true "murders" are none more then the presidents that went after him and his people. I find it really funny that while Hussein was in power things were on the up for Iraq but when the United States took over everything went to shit. I feel that Hussein got a bad wrap from our government and our media and even after his death we still pound away at his reputation.  Just like after the anniversary of his death were our media stated that only a few supporters showed up at his grave but forget to mention that thousands of others were not allowed to attend.

            This book has really changed my view on many things from our media, our government, other countries and also the people of power in the world.  In my opinion, if things don't change soon, we may be headed into another Vietnam. However, this time we may have really messed things up and it seems no one in our country cares.  With the occupation of Iraq, we have ruined monuments, destroyed cities, destroyed the infrastructure but worst of all, we have ruined a culture.  While reading through the book there was a passage that talked about how the books in Iraq have taken out certain things from Iraq's passed like Saddam Hussein.  It is terrible that we are robbing a culture of history and where it has been.  As the saying goes, "However wins the war, writes the past".  It is heart breaking to hear of the horrors that we have brought upon the people of Iraq.  How the United States shut off Iraq from the world shut to get even with one man.  How we refused to help them in their time of need.  How we refused them certain things they needed like Chlorine but didn't give it to them because we thought it could be used for a "Nuclear" bomb. In some instances it seemed that America was just messing with Iraq, like when we refused them 15 bulls. It is things like this that make you stop and go, "wait a minute, America is doing this".  The country that prides itself on Freedom, Liberty and Justice is the one that really doesn't abide by those ideas at all.  We want everyone else to abide by those ideas but we ourselves feel we don't need to because we are America.  I hope that there will be peace in Iraq but that doesn't seem possible if we stick around there.  We have to get this imperialistic attitude out of our heads or else we are going to have a lot more problems on our hands in the future.  I hope that the lies and the deceit of the government will stop soon because if the government keeps it up, they are going to have to worry about their people then another country.  Hopefully, our government and our media will get their act together in dealing with Iraq and help rebuild what it has destroyed.  We as the people also have to get our act together in finding what is truth and what is fiction.  We can't stand for so much injustice in the world.   I know I have to do my part.  This book has really made me realize that, and I now know that what we are given can never be taken as truth.  In the country that is all about freedom of speech it seems pretty fucked up that we have to look deeper into things to get the truth