United States told to pay Iraq war victims

BAGHDAD, Sunday

This month marks the 13th anniversary of the fall of Baghdad to US forces – an invasion initiated by the Bush administration in breach of international law and aimed at “disarming Iraq of weapons of mass destruction” that were never to be found.

“As soon we approach the problem from the legal grounds, we immediately realize that the war in Iraq was illegal,” Mr Taher Bourmedra, former UN human rights chief in Iraq and a UN secretary general special representative for Iraq, told RT in an interview over the war launched by President George W. Bush April 9, 2003.

He stressed that the US-led military operation, dubbed ‘Operation Iraqi Freedom’, was an act of direct aggression towards a sovereign country, as the US failed to obtain a mandate from the UN Security Council.

“In this case there should be compensation for damages,” he added, referring to the chaos and destitution the city now finds itself in. In the global quality of living ranking, published by Mercer, Bagdad ranks 230th, being the worst city in the world to live in. Multiple war crimes allegations, including torture and targeting civilians with airstrikes, have been registered in the course of the operation.

However, when Saddam’s statue was toppled, it was a huge milestone after more than 20 years of his rule.

MOUNTING QUESTIONS

But that feeling would soon be replaced by mounting questions as to the real reason for the US presence in Iraq – especially after anywhere between half a million and a million people had to die for the world to find out that the key pretext for the invasion was trumped up.

This doubt only escalated as the War on Terror progressed elsewhere, before we finally arrived at its baby – Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL), standing on the shoulders of Al-Qaeda and Al-Nusra Front.

All these years later, a modest 40 per cent of Iraqis believe the US worked to destabilise Iraq and claim its natural resources. And almost a third believe Washington actively supports terrorism to achieve its ends, according to the Office of the Inspector General. This particularly concerns Islamic State, according to the survey.

Meanwhile, bombings targeting security forces in the Baghdad area killed at least eight people and wounded more than 30 on Sunday, security and medical officials said.

A suicide bomber detonated an explosives-rigged vehicle at a checkpoint on the northeastern edge of the city, killing at least seven people and wounding at least 24. Another car bomb exploded near an army patrol in the Dura area of southern Baghdad, killing at least one person and wounding at least eight.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks, but suicide bombings are a hallmark of the Islamic State jihadist group, which also employs car and roadside bombs.