May 31, 2004 – Iraq: One Year of Occupation and Resistance
Iraq: One Year of Occupation and Resistance
A year ago — on May 1, 2003, President George W. Bush co-piloted a fighter jet onto the air-craft carrier, the USS Abraham Lincoln off the coast of Southern California. There, behind a giant banner reading “Mission Accomplished” declared a victory for the forces of liberty and peace in the world. He told the assembled troops: “Because of you, a tyrant has fallen. Because of you Iraq is free.”
Bush: “THE BATTLE OF IRAQ IS ONE VICTORY IN A WAR ON TERROR THAT BEGAN SEPTEMBER 11TH AND STILL GOES ON.”
But a year later, the situation on the ground in Iraq is collapsing. On the one year anniversary of his speach, President Bush was forced to defend himself.
Bush: “A YEAR AGO, I DID MAKE THE SPEECH FROM THE CARRIER SAYING WE HAD ACHEIVED AN IMPORTANT OBJECTIVE. WE HAD ACCOMPLISHED A MISSION — THAT WE HAD ACCOMPLISHED A MISSION WHICH WAS THE REMOVAL OF SADDAM HUSSEIN. .. I ALSO SAID ON THAT CARRIER THAT DAY THAT THERE WAS STILL DIFFICULT WORK AHEAD. AND WE’VE FACED SOME TOUGH TIMES IN IRAQ. WE FACED TOUGH, TOUGH TIMES. AND WE’VE HAD SOME TOUGH FIGHTING BECAUSE THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO HATE THE IDEA OF A FREE IRAQ. ”
More than 700 US Troops have died on Iraq soil since George Bush made that speech. During that same time, soldiers in America’s “Coalition of the Willing” have killed more than 7,000 Iraqis. … Photographs have surfaced showing severe torture in America’s Abu Grahib, where occupation forces hold some 15,000 prisoners for supporting the resistence. In this special hour long edition of Free Speech Radio News, we’ll be taking a look at how US occupation forces succeeded in alienating the majority of Iraq’s 25 million people. A people who overwelmingly supported America after the removal of Saddam Hussein. Our correspondent on the ground is Aaron Glantz:
