It is not enough for them to destroy homes, and offices, and infrastructure, and to massacre human beings. Their goal is to massacre and destroy joy, pleasure, sense of self. Their goal is to shatter the soul.

"...the Palestinians must be made to understand in the deepest recesses of their consciousness that they are a defeated people." Moshe Yaalon, former Israeli military Chief of Staff, 2002

What kind of subhuman beast targets a zoo, and shoots the caged animals at point blank range? The same kind of beast, I suppose, who forces a hundred or so men, women, children, infants, and elderly people into a house, holds them there for hours, and then proceeds to shell the hell out of the house.

They have destroyed two zoos now in Gaza, terrorizing and slaughtering the animals, and demolishing the facilities. The first one was a small children's zoo in 2004 (see the second article). It is not an accident or a coincidence, it is completely intentional, and intended to kill any joy or pleasure or sense of identity or control over their own lives for Palestinians. It is intended to reduce them to the most base and basic existence.

It has long been their practice to systematically destroy Palestinians' cultural, social, educational, and recreational facilities, particularly those for children. They have repeatedly targeted these types of facilities in the West Bank, and in Gaza. It is part of the effort to convince the Palestinians "in the deepest recesses of their consciousness that they are a defeated people".

Whatever the Palestinians are able to build for themselves, Israel will destroy. And yet somehow they are unable to destroy the Palestinians themselves and their will to survive. The Palestinians will never be defeated. The Palestinians represent the personification of the word صمود. Steadfastness, perseverance, endurance, resistance.

Israeli troops shot and killed zoo animals
By Ashraf Helmi, Videographer, and Megan Hirons, Photographer
January 25, 2009

The Gaza Zoo reeks of death. But zookeeper Emad Jameel Qasim doesn't appear to react to the stench as he walks around the animals' enclosures.

A month ago, it was attracting families - he says the zoo drew up to 1,000 visitors each day. He points at the foot-long hole in the camel in one of the enclosures.

"This camel was pregnant, a missile went into her back," he tells us. "Look, look at her face. She was in pain when she died."

Around every corner, inside almost every cage are dead animals, who have been lying in their cages since the Israeli incursion.

Qasim doesn't understand why they chose to destroy his zoo. And it's difficult to disagree with him. Most of them have been shot at point blank range.

...The few animals that have survived appear weak and disturbed.

"The foxes ate each other because we couldn't get to them in time. We had many here." There are carcasses everywhere and the last surviving fox is quivering in the corner.

...

Inside the main building, soldiers defaced the walls, ripped out one of the toilets and removed all of the hard drives from the office computers. We asked him why they targeted the zoo. He laughs. "I don't know. You have to go and ask the Israelis. This is a place where people come to relax and enjoy themselves. It's not a place of politics."

...

Inside one cage lie three dead monkeys and another two in the cage beside them. Two more escaped and have yet to return. He points to a clay pot. "They tried to hide", he says of a mother and baby half-tucked inside.

...

We ask him why it's so important for Gaza to have a zoo. "During the past four years it was the most popular place for kids. They came from all over the Gaza Strip. There was nowhere else for people to go."

And they've done it before, in 2004. Nothing is safe, not even animals in a children's zoo. And oddly, this somehow demonstrates the wantonness and viciousness of their inhumanity more starkly and more vividly than the horrors they visit on human beings.

And of course, as always, like a five year old caught stealing cookies from the cupboard, they simply could not keep their lies straight, and thus proved themselves liars by changing their stories as each successive one proved implausible.

May 22, 2004 by the Guardian/UK
The Day the Tanks Arrived at Rafah Zoo
Among ruined houses, a haven for Gaza's children lies in rubble
by Chris McGreal in al-Brazil, Rafah

Ask to be directed to the latest wave of Israeli destruction in Rafah's al-Brazil neighborhood and many fingers point towards the zoo.

Amid the rubble of dozens of homes that the Israeli army continued yesterday to deny demolishing, the wrecking of the tiny, but only, zoo in the Gaza Strip took on potent symbolism for many of the newly homeless.

The butchered ostrich, the petrified kangaroo cowering in a basement corner, the tortoises crushed under the tank treads - all were held up as evidence of the pitiless nature of the Israeli occupation.

"People are more important than animals," said the zoo's co-owner Mohammed Ahmed Juma, whose house was also demolished. "But the zoo is the only place in Rafah that children could escape the tense atmosphere. There were slides and games for children. We had a small swimming pool. I know it's hard to believe, looking at it now, but it was beautiful. Why would they destroy that? Because they want to destroy everything about us."

...

The army also initially denied that soldiers deliberately wrecked the zoo that provided Rafah's children with virtually their only contact with live animals, even ordinary ones such as squirrels, goats and tortoises.

Among the zoo's more popular exhibits were kangaroos, monkeys and ostriches, which children could sit on.

The destruction was comprehensive. The fountain and its tiles were a jumble of rubble in one corner. There was no sign of the swimming pool.

One of the ostriches lay half buried in the rubble. Guinea fowl and ducks were laid out in a row. Goats and a deer struggled with broken legs.

Some of the animals were still on the loose, if not buried under the debris. One of the two kangaroos was missing; the other was cowering in the basement. A snake and three monkeys were unaccounted for. Mr Juma accused Israeli soldiers of stealing valuable African parrots.

The army's explanation evolved through the day. At first it said it had not destroyed the zoo, then it said a tank may have accidentally reversed into it.

By the end of yesterday, the military said its soldiers had been forced to drive through the zoo because an alternative route was booby-trapped by Palestinian explosives.

Finally a spokesman said the soldiers had released the animals from their cages in a compassionate gesture to prevent them being harmed.

صمود

Steadfastness, perseverance, endurance, resistance.

فلسطين

Palestine.

احنا لا ننساك فلسطين

We will not forget you, Palestine.

I finally heard from my friend Majdi in Gaza. Our conversation was very brief. Here is a transcript of what he said before we were cut off.

We faced death for more than 2 weeks. The tanks were just few meters from my apartment. Every Palestinian in Gaza says that he didn't face such a crisis like the last one, even a 90 years old one told me this.

But believe me Hamas is a very big problem for us. I don't want the word Gaza to be associated with Hamas.

Do you know on one day when the tanks were around us very closely I was afraid that one Hamas fighter could enter our building. Then a  massacre could happen
Furtunately, there were no Hamas fighters.

I know that what I am telling you is strange, but even the chance of having Hamas fighters gives excuses to them to massacre.

I can tell you that there was not a resistance. The resistance was minimal and if it was more you could expect more victims.

Hamas people now say that at a neighborhood where Israelis occupied at the center of Gaza City there were only 6 fighters.

"...politicians find it politically necessary to voice support for Israel even when they are killing innocent people for no good reason." BooMan, 1/29/2009

No they don't, not if they have integrity and decency. If they have integrity and decency they find it necessary to voice something quite different.

Statement Of Sen. Patrick Leahy
On
The Shurrab Family
Senate Floor
January 28, 2009

MR. LEAHY.  Mr. President, we have all seen the photographs of houses, schools and other civilian infrastructure destroyed in Gaza, and the reports of civilian deaths, including over 400 children, and many thousands more injured.  Behind each of these statistics is a story of a family tragedy.  I want to take this opportunity to talk about one that has touched the lives of Vermonters, and which should cause each of us deep concern.  

Amer Shurrab is a recent graduate of Middlebury College, which is located not very far from my home in Vermont.  Amer is also a Palestinian, whose family was living in Gaza during the recent Israeli invasion.  His father, Muhammed Kassab Shurrah, is a farmer who grows fruits and vegetables on a small plot of land.  

On January 16th, Amer's father and brothers were returning home with provisions from their farm during the 3 hour humanitarian cease-fire that was in effect that day.  Although there was apparently no indication that the route was unsafe for a civilian vehicle carrying civilian passengers, Israeli soldiers fired from a civilian house at their car as it passed for reasons that remain unknown.  In a panic, Amer's brother, Kassab, already wounded, got out of the vehicle and was shot a total of 18 times and died a short distance away.  Israeli bullets also hit Amer's father and younger brother Ibrahim, who were unable to leave the car to get medical attention because Israeli soldiers refused to allow movement in or out of the area.

Muhammed tried everything he could to save his son Ibrahim, who was bleeding to death before his eyes.  He phoned a hospital with his cell phone, but the hospital told him the Israeli Army was preventing an ambulance from reaching them.  He called relatives, who contacted the Red Cross on his behalf to ask for assistance, but the Red Cross had to wait for assurance from Israeli authorities that an ambulance would get through unscathed, assurance which was not forthcoming.  He spoke with several members of the press, including the BBC, who even broadcast his plea for help.  But an ambulance could not reach them until 22 hours after the incident, even though the hospital was located less than a mile away.  By this time, Ibrahim had died in his father's arms.  Israeli troops reportedly looked on and ignored Muhammed's pleas for help.  

This case cries out for an immediate, thorough, credible and transparent investigation by the Israeli Government.  Any individuals determined to have violated the laws of war should be prosecuted and appropriately punished.  In addition, it is important that the U.S. Embassy determine whether any Israeli soldiers who were equipped by the U.S. violated U.S. laws or agreements governing the use of U.S. equipment, both in relation to this incident and others involving civilian casualties.  This should include the use of white phosphorous in heavily populated areas, which is alleged to have caused serious injuries to civilians.

Mr. President, this is a heartbreaking story.  My thoughts and prayers go out to Amer Shurrab and his family and friends, and to the families of other civilians, Palestinian and Israeli, who died or suffered other grievous losses in this latest escalation of violence.

 

The only thing I disagree with here is that an investigation should be conducted by the Israel government. That would be tantamount to the Council of Foxes investigating last night's raid on the hen house. After all, it was the Israeli government that planned and ordered this crime against humanity in the first place.

Listen to this two-part interview with Amer Shurrab. Don't cop out by just reading it. Listen to this young man describe what happened to his brothers and father at the hands of the "most moral army in the world" half a world away, and listen to him tell how he and others tried desperately, and uselessly to save his brother's life. Listen to his voice, and listen to his sobs. If this does not break your heart, then you have a heart of stone.

Interview with Amer Shurrab Part 1

Interview with Amer Shurrab Part 2

And remember that this is only one such story. There are many, many more that will never be heard.

About Dr Majdi:

Dr Majdi Ashour is a Palestinian native of Gaza, a physician and a Fulbright scholar who achieved his Masters in Public health in the United States. He lives in Gaza City with his wife and two year old daughter. He is a long-time personal friend of mine, and one of the kindest people I know.

Being lucky in Gaza!

Personal Note by Dr. Majdi Ashour

I left the clinic where I work at 11:20 am in order  to attend the defense of a Masters  dissertation of a friend of mine which was scheduled to be held at the Palestinian Red Crescent Society building in Gaza. I got into a usual 7 passenger Mercedes' Taxi .

While in the taxi on our way to Gaza, we heard a huge explosion, then we saw 2 huge Mushroom-like dust clouds going up into the sky. The taxi driver decided to change his direction from Salah Eldin Street to the Sea shore Street  to reach our final distention in Gaza City. We were not sure what was up. The taxi driver turned the radio on alaqsa radio station - Hamas radio station. The radio declared that there was an air strike by Israeli air forces. One passenger began shouting that all traitors should be killed or transferred to Ramallah.  The taxi reached a junction near the Palestinian Red Crescent Building which was blocked due to an air strike to a buiding neighboring it.

I crossed on my feet the ruins of a destroyed building as the taxi could not cross it. The building  which was hit by Israeli Air Force's F16 fighters was the ex-headquarters of the Preventive Security Forces which was seized by Hamas militants in June 2007.  

When I reached the Palestinian Red Crescent building  where the defense of the masters thesis was to take place, I noticed the damage incurred to the building; the windows and the doors were broken as a result of the destruction of the neighboring buildings; the grounds of the building and the hospital were covered by shrapnel from the broken windows.

Before entering the building , my eyes captured the frightened face of a woman looking for her daughter who had left her school during the air strikes. The air strikes took place around the time the children were leaving schools at 11: 30 am. At the entrance of the building  I met the brother of my friend and his masters thesis supervisor. I shook hands with them; they told me that air fighters had bombed dozens of localities and more than forty people were reported dead at Gaza hospitals. I asked immaturely but naturally whether the dissertation's defense would take place today as scheduled; they were reluctant, but the supervisor responded with confidence that  it should. They left to inspect the office of the supervisor and to make sure that windows were not damaged.

I stepped up to the hall where the defense should take place; I shook hands with my friend, his wife and two daughters. My friend expressed his readiness to complete the task and defend his dissertation even in this atmosphere and without the new fashioned PowerPoint presentation, electricity, and the luxury of a full hall of audience and the expected celebration. The masters thesis of my friend is about the role of NGOs in providing health care services in Gaza Strip. I commented trying to show a sense of humor that his topic is highly political and so is the atmosphere.

 An external examiner came to the hall carrying an envelop him, we shook hands with him. After a while, the university supervisor came with the brother of my friend. He told us that the internal examiner tried to contact him by the mobile unsuccessfully; he received a missed call from his home phone. I suggested that we could try to reach him using the land line of the hospital. The supervisor agreed to my suggestion. We went to the hospital. The hospital entry was crowded and the emergency room was oversaturated by dead and injured. We were told that the hospital had received 8 dead. We asked to use the phone of the hospital receptionist. The supervisor called the internal examiner, who was unable to reach the building where the defense is scheduled. Therefore, the defense was postponed.

I was told that 40 synchronized air strikes had taken place all over the Gaza Strip, of which 2 targeted a police station and a fire station in the suburb where my apartment is located. I realized that the 2 huge bombings that I saw while in the taxi on my way to Gaza were in the small suburb where my apartment is located. I became anxious; tried unsuccessfully to call the mobile of my wife; phone the land line of my home but no answer from home. I became more anxious.

I called my brother who lives in the neighborhood where the Red Crescent building is located, he told me that he is okay and that he called my home several times but no one answered. I walked to his home. He, the lucky,  has an electricity generator at home. We watched the TV painfully and clicked on the internet explorer to know what was going on. He told me that the windows of the apartment of our other brother who live in the same suburb where I live, were broken after the air strikes. I tried to call home several times unsuccessfully. By the end, I succeeded in reaching my; she told me that she went to the neighboring apartment which has the windows damaged. She and our daughter were fine but horrified. The windows of our apartment are okay.

I phoned my parents, brothers, and uncle. Every body is alive and physically safe. I excused myself from my brother and left his apartment. I bought some candies for my daughter and took the taxi home.

I entered home; my two years old daughter smiled, then smartly  showed me that she has  learned a new phrase: "Ana Khayfa Baba" - " I am afraid Baba". I hugged her. My wife told me that we have only 4 pieces of small pita bread. I responded angrily that bakeries are run of cooking gas and wheat. She told the 4 pieces are enough for me, the hungry, and the daughter. I asked about her; she told that she will make stuffed eggplants. I went to the grocery store.

On my way to the grocery store, some of my neighbors were standing on the terrace of the building. I shook hands with them and  congratulated them on their personal safety. They told me that almost all the windows of the buildings of the suburb where we live were damaged and only those of the few luckies were not. We exchanged ideas and thoughts about the unpredictable life and future of Gaza. One said this is the beginning. The second expressed his belief that they are interested in weakening the governing regime in Gaza but not liquidating it. I responded that we are expected to live in this way for decades. Another one, who is known to be a Fatah employee, said that it is better to live under Hamas rule than under a direct Israeli occupation and added that some Iraqis were interested in getting ride of Sadam regime but when USA troops came to Iraq, it killed over a million and a civil war was exploded. I excused myself and went to the grocery store; bought pretzels and eggs.  

As unusual, I fried potatoes, onion, and eggs. I took a modest but delicious lunch with my daughter and wife. As the electricity was cut, I have nothing to do with my computer or the TV. I took the Arabic translation of Milan Kundera's L'Ignorance, which I started reading yesterday by the kerosene light yesterday evening,  to the bed to have my usual afternoon nap.

I got up before 5 pm, I lit the kerosene light and got back to Kundera. I took my dose of  coffee and cigarettes. I played with my smart daughter and spoke with my wife. I completed reading the novel before 8 pm.

My wife went with our daughter to the bed. I had nothing to do except waiting for the electricity.
The electricity current came back at 9: 20 pm. I switched on the TV. I turned  the TV to BBC arabic, Al-arabia, Al-Hurra, and Palestine TV Channel and also to Aljazeera, which I have ignored since the seizure of power in June 2007. The TV channels tell that more than 230 were killed and more than 700 were injured, among them serious cases. One TV channel showed a Palestinian  leader donating blood to the injured in Gaza. I smiled; it is better to keep my O negative blood for an unexpected more dangerous emergency.

I got away from the switched on TV to the computer to type my personal notes about this bloodiest day in Gaza.    

It will surprise nearly everyone in the U.S. to learn that the single greatest direct cause of Iraqi deaths are the foreign fighters of the United States military and their allies, known as the "coalition". That is what the authors of both of the Johns Hopkins/Al Mustansiriya mortality studies (aka the "Lancet report") found. It is also what the reality on the ground in Iraq demonstrates, though that information is not easily available if one is dependent on the U.S. government, their military, and the American mainstream media as sources.

U.S. Greatest Cause of Iraqi Deaths

The first "Lancet" study, published in October, 2004, found that the single greatest source of Iraqi deaths was the United States military, with aerial attacks as the greatest cause of death. The second "Lancet" study, published two years later, found that around one third of the estimated 655,000 "excess" Iraqi deaths were caused directly by the United States military - aka the "coalition" occupation forces - once again making the "coalition" occupation forces the single greatest source of deaths. That was almost certainly a conservative figure since a death was not classified as caused by the "coalition" forces if there was any doubt at all on the part of the reporting household as to who was responsible for the death.

The number of deaths caused directly by "coalition" forces has risen steadily from March, 2003 to the present, as has the overall level of violence, and the overall number of deaths. There is no indication that this trend is going to change in the foreseeable future. In other words, the longer the U.S. stays, the more deaths they are likely to cause, and the worse the overall situation is likely to become.

Deaths caused directly by U.S. and "coalition" forces - about one third of the total "excess" deaths - are only one part of the mortality directly attributable to the actions of the occupation forces. Another large proportion of Iraqi deaths directly attributable to the occupation forces' actions are those caused by resistance fighters defending against raids and attacks by the U.S. Other deaths take place during resistance strikes against the occupation and its proxies, agents, and collaborators. If the U.S. is the killer, civilian deaths are first denied, then dismissed as "collateral damage" and/or blamed on "insurgents". If the resistance is responsible for civilian deaths it is labeled terrorism, or "sectarian violence".

Iraqi deaths directly attributable to U.S. actions almost certainly constitute well over 50% of all deaths. It is reasonable to predict that if the United States withdrew, the death rate would immediately be reduced by at least the percentage of deaths directly attributable to U.S. actions. Even if deaths not directly attributable to U.S. actions were to increase, which is possible, but not certain, the net result would still be an overall reduction in violent deaths, and a significant relief for Iraqis.

U.S. Presence Has Destabilized Iraq

The United States presence in Iraq has from the beginning destabilized the country, and led to increasingly intense and widespread "ancillary" violence and killing - that is, violence that is not directly a result of U.S. actions, but is, nevertheless, a consequence of the U.S. presence, its creation of chaos, and its failure to either establish or maintain order. The U.S. has not only failed to restore stability at any point, it has been the primary source of an escalating downward spiral into greater and greater and more and more widespread instability at every level.

Many of the U.S. policies and practices in Iraq have driven wedges between Iraqis, encouraged and enabled divisive and extremist elements, and helped lead to and exacerbate the current deepening and widening sectarian violence in a region that has never before in its centuries of history experienced serious, widespread, or protracted sectarian civil conflict.

U.S. failure to establish and maintain order have enabled criminal gangs to operate openly and at will, kidnapping, raping, murdering, robbing, and generally terrorizing Iraqis.

The United States has failed to effectively control the portion of the violence and killing that may not be directly attributable to United States' actions, yet results from its policies and practices, and from the constantly increasing instability caused by its presence, policies, and actions. It is at least arguable that if the United States withdraws, it will remove the single greatest cause of the ongoing instability, which would at least slow the downward spiral.

U.S. Military Responsible for Massive Destruction

The U.S. military is also directly responsible for the overwhelming majority of the destruction in Iraq. This is not surprising, of course, considering its capacity for massive destructive force, not to mention its willingness to use such force as a "solution", or as punishment. Occupation forces have used collective punishment for all kinds of "offenses", including failing to provide on demand information about "insurgents" (the assumption is nearly always that the person being questioned is withholding information, not that he doesn't have it). For that failure Iraqis' homes have been demolished, and farmers' trees and field crops have been destroyed, partially or completely. If an entire villages have suffered similar collective punishment for refusal to "cooperate".

Effects of Increasing U.S. Aerial Attacks

In recent months the United States has dramatically stepped up its use of aerial attacks on populated areas, and is currently rapidly increasing its aerial capability in Iraq. Aerial attacks are extremely indiscriminate and therefore result in high civilian casualties, and heavy destruction. Iraqis can expect to see more civilian deaths and destruction of homes and infrastructure as a result of the occupation forces' increased use of aerial attacks.

According to an important NGO report released last month by Global Policy Forum, the United States military has flattened or rendered uninhabitable large portions of twelve major Iraqi cities, Falluja, a city about the size of Cincinnati being the best known. This kind of deliberate destruction of homes and infrastructure makes the U.S. military directly responsible for at least one million permanently displaced Iraqis who have no more homes to go back to. These displaced, homeless Iraqis are now more vulnerable than ever to death from all causes, including violence by the United States military, so-called "insurgents", sectarian death squads, and criminal gangs.

Unlikely That Killing Would Increase if U.S. Withdraws

In order to justify the belief that the violence and killing will increase if the United States withdraws from Iraq, we must assume that in the absence of  the U.S. the remaining violent elements would be capable of and have the will to commit more violence than the U.S. military and the resistance combined.

As you think about this bear in mind that the people who are expected to commit more violence than that caused directly by the U.S. military and the  resistance combined do not have even a tiny fraction of the death-and-destruction-dealing equipment, technology, and firepower that the U.S. military possesses, and regularly uses, nor do they have the freedom of movement that the U.S. has had in Iraq. They do not have tanks or the weapons carried on tanks, they do not have humvees and apc's with mounted large-caliber automatic weapons, they do not have missiles, they do not have attack helicopters, they do not have bombers, they do not have any kind of aerial firepower at all. Therefore, the capability simply is not there to replace the amount and magnitude of deadly violence the U.S. is directly responsible for.

In addition, the belief that the violence would increase if the U.S. were not there requires the clearly very questionable assumption that the U.S. is doing anything significant to quell the violence. The evidence points quite clearly in the opposite direction.

On-the-ground observation as well as studies have shown that an increase in violence tends to follow occupation forces' arrival in an area. Naturally, wherever they are, occupation forces are a target for attacks by resistance and other groups vaguely and inaccurately characterized as "insurgents". In addition their mere presence inspires fear and resentment among the population. And more often than not, occupation forces bring their own violence with them, which is met, of course, with violence from Iraqis defending their homes, and attempting to repel the occupiers.

The favoured occupier's practice of trying to "pacify" an area by means of massive violence tends, not surprisingly, to consistently yield the opposite result, if not in the short term, then certainly in the long term. "House to house" actions in which they break down people's doors and drag them out of bed at 3 AM do not make people feel more peaceful toward those who conduct the searches.

Falluja is a textbook example of how the U.S. occupation forces bring violence with them. That city, known not to be a pro-Saddam area, was quiet and free of the violence, chaos, and looting seen in many other Iraqi cities until the Americans occupied it in late April, 2003 and, through their own actions, turned it into a "hotbed" of resistance.

What Do Iraqis Want?

Polls have consistently shown that Iraqis themselves understand very clearly that the U.S. does far more to cause and provoke violence and death than it does to prevent it, and that the overwhelming majority believe that the violence would lessen, not increase, if the U.S. left.

Add to the above the fact that it really is in the best interest of the overwhelming majority of Iraqis to go back to what they have done successfully for millennia - living together with at least a reasonable degree of normal relations and cooperation.

In the current atmosphere of ethnic (or rather sectarian) cleansing, Sunni and Shi`a families facing sectarian violence and threats of ethnic cleansing in their neighborhoods have devised a system whereby they can help one another by exchanging homes temporarily in order to live, for the time being, in the "right" neighbourhood. This mutually beneficial practice has become common enough that there are now enterprising agents whose business it is to bring families together and coordinate the legal and practical arrangements. This kind of creative cooperation speaks loudly and clearly about the true nature of Iraqi society as well as its ability to repair itself if left to its own devices.

Certainly, Iraq would not suddenly turn into Shangri-la, or become the Switzerland of the Middle East as soon as the Americans left. It IS possible that the violence and killing not directly attributable to U.S. actions might increase somewhat in the beginning, but it is extremely unlikely that it could increase enough to exceed or even replace the violence and death caused by the "coalition" forces and the resistance. The capacity simply is not there, nor very likely is the will. In addition, the primary stimulus for much if not most of the violence would have been removed.

There is simply no chance of any improvement as long as the U.S. is in Iraq. On the contrary, as the past four plus years have shown clearly, as long as the U.S. is there the violence will continue to escalate and broaden, and the overall situation will continue to deteriorate.

Iraqis have been living together without serious conflict for millennia. Sunnis and Shi`as have lived together in Iraq for about 1500 years with no history of serious sectarian civil conflict. Iraqis are the only ones who have the history, the ability, and the will to repair their society and their country.

The United States must give Iraq a chance. It must get out now, and get out completely, and leave Iraq for Iraqis.