|
Baghdad and Basra were bombed
relentlessly, killing thousands of civilians. [63]
Iraq had already begun to withdraw from Kuwait when Bush launched the
ground war. The main aim of the ground offensive was, in fact, not to
drive the Iraqi troops out of Kuwait, but to keep them from leaving. The
"gate was closed" and tens of thousands of soldiers, who were trying to
go home, were systematically slaughtered. Elsewhere, U.S. tanks and
bulldozers intentionally buried thousands of soldiers alive in their
trenches in a tactic designed mainly to "destroy Iraqi defenders." [64]
"In the life of a nation there comes a moment when we are called upon to
define who we are and what we believe." (George H. Bush, January 1991)
[65]
It is estimated that 150,000 Iraqis died during the Gulf War. But for
the people of Iraq, the tragedy continues even after the war has ended.
Even more people died from water-borne diseases that spread because the
U.S. systematically destroyed Iraq's electrical, sewage treatment and
water treatment systems. And the U.S. has insisted on maintaining for
over a decade the most severe economic sanctions regime in history,
continuing to strangle the devastated Iraqi economy, with dire
consequences for the Iraqi people. [66]
Go to Next Page
|
