I couldn't have said it better . . . .

The ANSWER Coalition responds to Pres. Bush on the fifth anniversary of the Iraq war.

Website: http://www.answercoalition.org/
Email: info@internationalanswer.org

President Bush says the war on Iraq was "worth it," in spite of the "loss of life and treasure." So speaks a man who has unflinchingly destroyed human life and caused suffering on a massive and criminal scale.

Iraq was "at peace" when Bush ordered a war of aggression aimed at toppling a sovereign government. One out of every three Iraqis is now either killed, wounded, or a refugee.

To Bush it is "worth it" to have caused over 1.3 million Iraqis to die as a result of the war (a figure from the Oxford Research Bureau, whose most recent study excluded two of Iraq's most violent provinces). The number of Iraqis wounded has been conservatively estimated to be double that number.

To Bush it is "worth it" to have forced 2.5 million Iraqis to flee their own country and live in refugee camps in Syria or Jordan. Two million have been made internal refugees as a result of war and ethnic cleansing. All Iraqis today live in fear.

To Bush it is worth it to have plunged the lives and status of Iraqi women to its lowest base.

To Bush, the neoconservatives and the military high command, it is "worth it" to have sent nearly 4,000 US soldiers and marines to their graves and to condemn tens of thousands more to live with devastating and debilitating wounds and injuries.

Iraq posed no threat to the people of the United States when it was brutally invaded.

This was a war to dominate not only Iraq, but a strategic and oil-rich region.

Bush arrogantly assumed powers that did not belong to him or any other president. Conducting an unprovoked war of aggression against a sovereign country is a violation of international and U.S. law. It is a criminal act, and those who have committed this crime should be held accountable.

Presidents Kennedy and Johnson said the war in Vietnam was "worth it," in spite of the loss of "life" and "treasure." The Iraq war, like the war in Vietnam, can only be understood as "worth it," if the priority is to seek domination, conquest, and empire.

All around the world today, people are in the streets accusing Bush of committing war crimes, crimes against humanity, and crimes against peace. In the recent years, the ANSWER Coalition has helped organize millions of people who have engaged in protest in Washington, DC, Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York City, Chicago, and other cities around the United States.

While Bush is personally responsible for the criminal war in Iraq, we recognize that the Democratic Party in Congress has rubber-stamped the war and occupation, and continues lethal funding. The Democratic Party leadership is equally committed to the domination of the oil-rich region known as the Middle East, and in creating proxy puppet governments to safeguard U.S. corporate and banking interests in the region.

We reject every excuse and pretext to maintain the illegal occupation of Iraq. The people of Iraq must have self-determination, which is nothing but a farce when a country is occupied by more than 200,000 soldiers and marines, and highly-armed mercenaries working for the Pentagon. All U.S. military forces should leave Iraq immediately, and without condition, so that Iraq can retake its position as a free, independent, and sovereign nation. Iraq should be paid reparations by the invaders and occupiers.

History will remember George W. Bush and Dick Cheney as two of the great criminals, who attempted to impose their will through military means at the start of the 21st century.