On March 19, 2008 Douglas MacKinnon published a piece on the Baltimore Sun titled "Forget about revisionist history; let’s finish the job."
First things first, who hired us? Article 6 of the U.S. Constitution says that all treaties signed are "the supreme law of the land." In other words, the UN Charter is the "supreme law of the land" and according to the charter the only justification for the use of force is to defend oneself from an ongoing attack or to get approval from the UN Security Council. Iraq neither attacked us nor did we get approval from the Security Council. This means the war is illegal. This is what former Supreme Court Justice, Robert Jackson, said was the "supreme international crime" during his stint at the Nuremberg trials: aggression.
What the Constitution or the UN Charter states isn’t a matter of revisionism. It was clear before the war.
In response to Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990, former President George H. W. Bush said, "This will not stand. This will not stand, this aggression against Kuwait."
Saddam was not allowed to finish the job. No paper published any op-eds that said, "Forget about revisionist history; let Iraq finish the job."
With that aside we should look at what has been the consequences of this "job" for the "liberated" Iraqis.
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More than 1.2 million "excess" deaths.
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More than 4 million Iraqis have been displaced from their homes with more than two million fleeing the country.
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More than 60% of Iraqis are unemployed and electricity is still not back to pre-war levels in many areas.
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Malnutrition in children has doubled.
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Cholera outbreaks have occurred and are increasing in their fatality.
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Birth defects and cancer are continually rising, and likely due to our use of depleted uranium.
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The most recent opinion polls show that more than half of the Iraqi population want us out ASAP, more than half approves of attacking our troops and more than half also feel our presence is the reason for the violence and that things will get better as soon as we leave.
So the only question I can think of is: Who will repeat the sentiment of elder Bush and say, "This will not stand. This will not stand, this aggression against Iraq"?
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