Iraq Today: Americas Genocidal LegacyStephen Lendman Its inside Baghdads Green Zone. It includes 21 buildings. Extraordinary security measures protect them. Theyre on 104 acres of land. Its the equivalent of 80 football fields. Democracy is verboten. So-called liberation is a convenient illusion. Iraq was ravaged and destroyed. Daily violence rages out-of-control. Unemployment, poverty and human misery are extreme. An epidemic of birth defects, cancer and other war related diseases plague the country. So do tens of thousands of US and other Western private military contractors, advisors and security personnel. At issue is controlling the regions oil, gas, other strategic resources as well as economic policy and politics. Americas imperial legacy reflects destroying the cradle of civilization. Pre-1990 Iraq no longer exists. Charnel house conditions replaced it. Over two decades of war, sanctions, and occupation wrecked Iraqs ecosystem. Scores of pollutants contaminate vast parts of countrys soil and water. They include depleted and enriched uranium, benzene and other harmful chemicals, toxic metals, oil, bacteria and other poisons. One hundred Paul Bremer orders raped Iraq. They turned it into a cutthroat free-market laboratory. Inside the bubble is paradise. Outside is hell. Basic services for the vast majority of Iraqis dont exist. Pillaging on the grandest of grand scales continues. Iraq remains a virtual US colony. Its sovereign independence is gone. Polya defines avoidable mortality as the difference between actual deaths in a country and (those) expected for a peaceful, decently governed (one) with the same demographics. On the 10th anniversary of Washingtons invasion, he said Iraqi deaths from sanctions, violence, and violently-imposed deprivation since 1990 totaled 4.6 million. Extinguishing human lives on this massive a scale constitutes genocide. Article II of the Genocide Convention defines it as including: any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: (a) Killing members of the group; In stark contrast to science-based estimates, said Polya, imperial liars and complicit media scoundrels lowball numbers disgracefully. They practically ignore daily violence and horrific conditions. Millions of internally and externally displaced refugees dont matter. Washingtons full responsibility gets no coverage. Some of the greatest ever crimes of war and against humanity are airbrushed from history. They continue daily out of sight and mind. No end game suggests relief. Puppet Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki serves at Americas pleasure. His tenure began in May 2006. His longevity reflects his subservience. On November 1, he arrived in Washington. He did so hat in hand. Oval office photos with Obama followed. Earlier ones showed him with Bush. A duplicitous joint statement said in part: In their meeting today at the White House, President Obama and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki reaffirmed the strategic partnership between the United States and the Republic of Iraq and pledged to advance common interests to support a stable, secure, and prosperous Iraq and Middle East. Since most US forces redeployed nearby in the region, both countries entered a new phase of their relationship, based on mutual respect and a shared commitment to build a strategic partnership between two sovereign nations. They recalled the thousands of Americans and Iraqis who have given their lives in our common fight against terrorism and extremism in Iraq. The President and Prime Minister renewed their determination to honor the memory and sacrifice of those killed by strengthening our joint long-term strategic partnership across the fields covered by the SFA, including security, diplomacy, trade, education, energy, culture, science, and justice. Obama calls Iraq an emerging democracy. Bush said its future reflects a beacon of democracy. Reality reveals otherwise. High-minded rhetoric rings hollow. Iraq is a failed state. Its totally dysfunctional. Basic services and security dont exist. Corruption and daily violence are out-of-control. Hopes for eventual stability and prosperity are ill-founded. Destroying the cradle of civilization created a blank slate. Iraq, Inc. replaced it. Chicago School fundamentalism rules run things. US corporations got first dibs. Bremer orders institutionalized plunder. Occupation harshness persists. Todays Iraq reflects everything wrong with imperial wars, colonization, and predatory capitalist ruthlessness. Ordinary Iraqis are entirely shut out. Theyre on their own, out of luck, sink or swim. Survival is their problem. Shock and awe, invasion, occupation, and rapid transformation from what was to what is killed millions. Survivors struggle to get by. Doing so isnt easy. Many dont make it. Puppet governance masquerades as legitimate. America calls the shots on what matters most. Maliki and other stooges do it bidding. Failure assures replicating Saddams fate. White House photo-ops reward subservience. George Bush said America came to Iraq to plant seeds of democracy. Ghoulish dystopia reflects todays reality. Iraq is a violent dysfunctional wasteland. Nightmarish conditions exist. Washington bears full responsibility. Multiple car bombings occur almost daily. July was the bloodiest month since 2008. Violence killed over 1,000. Over 2,300 others were wounded. Malikis response is severe repression. Thousands of suspected regime opponents are imprisoned uncharged. Torture and other forms of abuse follow. Mass arrests continue. According to Harvards Kennedy School of Government, Iraq and Afghanistan are Americas most expensive wars by far. No one knows when theyll end. No one can determine their final cost. From whats known to date, up to $6 trillion may be spent. Costs go way beyond combat. Externalities include longterm medical care, disability and survivor benefits, interest on debt related to war and occupation, as well as other social, economic and political costs. War doesnt come cheap. Multiple ones are hugely expensive. Waging them one after another sacrifices other budget priorities. Most US resources go for militarism, aggression, corporate handouts, and homeland police state harshness. Social America is being destroyed. Its to maintain what demands condemnation. Bipartisan complicity is turning the nation into a dystopian backwater. Its being thirdworldized. Perhaps itll end up like Iraq. October exceeded Julys violence. Deadly car bombings killed over 1,000. Thousands more were wounded. Fear, human misery and deprivation grip the country. Normalcy is nonexistent. Bloodshed, insecurity, and extreme repression reflect daily life. Obama wants Maliki to crack down harder. New York Times editors march in lockstep with Americas imperial agenda. They supported the Gulf war, years of genocidal sanctions, Bushs shock and awe lawlessness, and occupation that followed. Theyve done so unapologetically. On November 1, theyheadlined Can Iraq Be Saved? Maliki came to Washington looking for help. Times editors blame him for ongoing turmoil. True enough for complicity with America. Times editors pointed fingers the wrong way. Bush and Obama administrations bear full responsibility. Maliki does what hes told. According to Times editors, Iraq might be safer with more US troops on the ground. Their arrival instigated whats now ongoing. (T)here is no reason to trust Maliki unless he adopts a more inclusive approach to governing and ensures that next Aprils election will be fair and democratic, they said. Reality is polar opposite. America deplores democracy. Iraq has none for sure. Ordinary people have no say. America decides who runs things. Strings are pulled in Washington. Malikis in charge as long as he remembers whos boss. Dont expect Times editors to explain. 