PGHIMC - Pittsburgh Independent Media Center

Surging to Failure
by Pittsburgh Organizing Group Monday, Jul. 09, 2007 at 11:50 PM
pog@mutualaid.org

Thursday, July 12 6:00pm-8:00pm Outside the Military Recruiting Station in Oakland, 3712 Forbes Ave.

It's been six months since President Bush announced that he was sending an addition 28,000 troops to "secure" Iraq. Popularly referred to as "the surge", this move is a last ditch attempt to quell the civil war that the US occupation has caused. As the weeks and months go by, the body count rises in Iraq, both for the US military and for Iraqis.

For the US military, the last three months have been among the eight deadliest since the war began in 2003 and July is on track to be the fourth month in a row with over a hundred casualties. With a little more than half a year gone by, 2007 is on pace to be the deadliest year of the war by over 300 deaths, with over 1,100 young Americans dead for the benefit of companies like Exxon, Halliburton, Bechtel, Blackwater, and Lockheed Martin.

Of course, as always, these numbers pale compared Iraqis. Only a week into July, conservative figures put Iraqi civilian deaths at over 400 Iraqi civilians. So far this year, well over 12,000 Iraqis have lost their lives in the fighting. And those who survive are under constant threat from occupation forces, corrupt Iraqi "security" forces, and reactionary militias that are thriving in the chaos of civil war.

POG said months ago that the United States had lost the war in Iraq. Now, even those in power are acknowledging it. The President is facing a rebellion in his party as more and more Republicans fear the impact of this lost war on next year's election, while trying to convince his party, the "opposition", and the country to wait for General David Petraeus' September report on the "surge". With the general reporting this week that defeating the insurgency could take "decades", it seems like there could be lots of waiting in the future. No one, least of all the antiwar movement, can afford to wait. This war must end, and it must end now.

Join POG this Thursday, July 12 at 6:00pm outside the Oakland recruiting station as we demonstrate our opposition to this surge, this war, and this system that feeds on the young and poor, of Iraq and America, to gain wealth and power.

www.organizepittsburgh.org/