The US army logs released by WikiLeaks paint a brutal picture of the torturing and killing of innocent Iraqi civilians in a war fought to boost oil profits and defend western power and prestige.
The logs confirm that al-Qa’ida, the supposed reason for the 2003 invasion was almost non-existent at the time but the occupation vastly increased its bombings and support by 2008. Now US politicians want to get out, the military seem to have been handing over civilian captives to notorious Iraqi army squads such as the Wolf Brigade, former members of Saddam Hussein’s elite Republican Guards.
The ‘forces of democracy’ stand to one side as prisoners are handed over to torture squads. There was no requirement to report any incident where US forces were not directly involved even though they were using a franchising system to murder and torture prisoners.
New information about deaths and maiming of civilians and troops could add to anger about Britain’s involvement in this bloody war. Socialists must support Iraq’s working masses and poor in the building of independent political representation against the imperialist powers, the sectarian militias, other warlords and the multinationals who only bring warfare and poverty.
