Make a public commitment to end the occupation of Iraq

The war in Iraq is over. It ended, as journalist Thom Hartmann wrote in 2006, when “George W. Bush stood below a ‘Mission Accomplished’ sign aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln and correctly declared that we had ‘victoriously’ defeated the Iraqi army and overthrown their government.”

With that job accomplished, what the United States is doing now in Iraq is no longer a war. It is an occupation, a deadly one for both sides. The year 2007 has been the deadliest year for U.S. troops in Iraq, with the death toll reaching 3,860 soldiers and an additional 28,451 more wounded.

The deaths on the American side are just a drop in the bucket compared to the violence suffered by the Iraqis. New figures show that the number of displaced Iraqis has quadrupled under the so-called U.S. troop surge that began earlier this year. According to the Iraqi Red Crescent, 2.3 million people have been forced to flee their homes. What is more, the Iraqi Health Ministry estimates 100,000-150,000 deaths of Iraqi civilians, but according to opinion-based research of Iraqi families, the toll could be as high as 1.2 million.

In light of these numbers, we have to wonder why. Weapons of mass destruction? That excuse has become a joke to all of us. The real reason for these long-term occupations has nothing to do with the fear-mongering threat of terrorism, the establishment of democracy in other countries or supposed humanitarian aid. If that were so, why are women are better educated and have more rights in the enemy states of Iran and Syria than in most Gulf Arab states? There is more democracy in the Palestinian territories, Lebanon and Iran than in the Bush-friendly countries of Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Kuwait.

The real cause of our continued presence in these countries is the military-industrial complex.

The phrase military-industrial complex was first used by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in his farewell address to the nation. A military -industrial complex is formed when the government contracts industries to build weapons. These industries then sell their weapons to military organizations both at home and abroad. The government and weapons industries become caught in a self-perpetuating cycle or complex of the industry and become dependent on each other for success. On Jan. 17, 1961, Eisenhower said: “The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist … Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.”

Looking back, almost 47 years later, Eisenhower’s words now seem forebodingly prophetic. We have seen direct evidence of the “disastrous rise of misplaced power.” But where is our “alert and knowledgeable citizenry”?

Did you know that a new study shows that a quarter of the homeless are veterans, 400 of whom fought in Afghanistan or Iraq? Or that the war and occupation have thus far cost about half a trillion dollars to the federal government, equivalent to almost half the total defense budget? Bush has requested a record $190 billion for next year, twice as much as in 2004. There is no end in sight to this madness.

In the end, I do not need to spout off statistics in order to convince you that Iraq is a debacle: Statistically, two-thirds of you already oppose the United States’ presence in Iraq. So what do I have to do to convince you to act? Other citizens already are. Just in the past two weeks, 18 anti-war activists were arrested in Iowa, protesting outside the campaign offices of Rudy Giuliani and Hillary Clinton, both of whom supported the war. In Olympia, Wash., at least a dozen people were arrested as they tried to block military cargo shipments arriving from Iraq.

This spring will mark the fifth anniversary of our invasion of Iraq. There are so many ways for students, faculty and staff to take a stand. First, we need to educate ourselves. Next, we can call our representatives in Congress, we can stage vigils and protests and we can sign petitions. Join student groups like Rice for Peace and Justice and Amnesty International and become more vocal on campus. Together we can make the peace movement stronger.

Sarah Taylor is a Sid Richardson College senior.

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