|
According to Panamanian human rights
groups, several thousand people were killed in the U.S. invasion. 26
were U.S. soldiers, 50 were Panamanian soldiers. The rest were
civilians, cut down by the overwhelming U.S. firepower poured into
crowded neighborhoods in poor sections of Panama City and Colon. [51]
Many of the dead were put in garbage bags and secretly buried in mass
graves.
Iraq, 1991
Only 13 months after the U.S. invaded Panama, it went to war again --
this time on a much larger scale. The h1991 U.S.-Iraq War continued an
epic battle for control over the immensely rich oil fields of the
Persian Gulf that began over 75 years earlier.
During World War I, the British conquered the region that is now Iraq
and Kuwait, seizing it from the declining Ottoman Empire.
We didn't conquer the Arabs -- we liberated them!
In 1920 hundreds of British soldiers and many more Iraqis died when the
British Army suppressed a revolt against British rule. Britain ended up
installing a hand-picked "King of Iraq." The new monarch promptly signed
a deal with British and America oil companies giving them the right to
exploit all of Iraq's oil for 75 years in exchange for a pittance in
royalties. [52]
God save the King!
As the British Empire declined, the U.S. became the senior partner in an
enduring Anglo-American alliance. The Middle East became a key part of
their global "sphere of influence."
Go to Next Page
|
