Five US presidents have been bombing Iraq since 1991: little evidence that US elections will change any of that.

Politics Nov 04, 2020 5 min read

Today a new president is elected. The American people will choose a new face for the coming eight years for settler colonial state that murders and maims worldwide since its inception. For us Iraqis it means waiting for the new face of terror. The new president will proudly rant about destroying, looting and occupying our country. While many are lost in the staged bipartisan dichotomy we pray that the US  empire will fall.

The US Empire is in decline and Iraqis played one of the biggest roles in this process.  The resilient Iraqi people had a prominent role in making the  “Project for the New American Century” and its aspirations for global hegemony fail. Their resistance inflicted huge damage on the US both economically and in terms of human costs. The Blood and sacrifice of our martyrs has paved the way for a multipolar world free from US dominance.

In this article we will go through all the US presidents, democrat and republican since 1991 and emphasize their views and policies on Iraq.

George Bush Senior  (Republican, 1989-1993)

George Bush Senior 2018

Bush senior is most known for operation Desert Storm (January 1991) in only 43 days 88,500 tons of bombs were dropped on Iraq, deliberately targeting civilian infrastructures by using cluster bombs, depleted uranium, and chemical bombs. The  kilotons of TNT explosives that were dropped on Iraq  was higher than during the whole period of the second world war.  Even according to the US army over 70 percent missed their targets evidencing that the bombings were indiscriminate . Hundreds of thousands Iraqis were killed during the bombings and basic infrastructures like electricity and sewage systems were decimated.

Referring to this massacre George Senior said:

“"I know I am doing the right thing’’.

George Sr is also known for the inhumane belief that he’ll “never apologize for the United States of America ever. I don’t care what the facts are’.

A Charred by American bombs Iraqi soldier during the Highway of death massacre where 100.000 Iraqis died. 


Bill Clinton (democrat, 1993-2001)

Bill Clinton

After operation Desert Storm the US used its long arm in the UN to enforce sanctions on Iraq. These sanctions killed at least half a million children

Secretary of state Madeline Albright commented: We have heard that a half million children have died,” the veteran journalist said. “I mean, that’s more children than died in Hiroshima. And, you know, is the price worth it?” Albright responded, “I think this is a very hard choice, but the price — we think the price is worth it.”

Under the Clinton presidency the Iraq liberation act was passed in 1998 that stipulated a fixed policy of intervention in Iraq. It basically was a  license for more murder against Iraq. Clinton is also known for the 1998 operation desert fox which killing 1400 Iraqis. It is said that Clinton did this to distract the American people from his ongoing sex scandal.

Iraq’s electricity system was so systematically destroyed and prevented from being rebuilt and it still affects the quality of electricity in Iraq today. Including electricity delivered to hospitals.

Sanctions era hospitals struggled to help Iraqi children

Iraqi children during the sanctions

George Bush Jr. (Republican , 2001-2008)

George Bush Junior 

When Bush Jr. became the face of the empire, his regime unleashed a global war of terror. The consequences were devastating:  more than million people were killed. A significant part of society was either widowed or made orphan. A sectarian constitution was superimposed and the rise of fundamentalist groups was facilitated. In an attempt to erase the identity of the people, the museums were looted and hundreds of thousands were torched in prisons like Abu Ghraib. The Bush regime believed that with enough pressure the Iraqis would break and that thereafter a globalized consumer identity could be imposed, one that would be conducive to American products.

In the first phase of the occupation, while Iraq was burning and hundreds of thousands had been killed, Bush famously declared “mission accomplished”.

Abu Ghraib 
US soldier in Bush's occupation of Iraq 

Barack Obama (Democrat , 2009-2017)

Barack Obama 

During the Bush administration American soft power and its image across the world took a blow. This was meant to be restored with the ever smiling minority president. Barack Obama oversaw more drone strikes in his first year than Bush in during his whole presidency. According to US intelligence documents Obama facilitated the creation of the Islamic state . While he  joked about using drones  by saying  I'm "really good at killing people" the reality is that in 2016 alone, the US dropped 26,171 bombs on wedding parties, funerals, kid’s soccer games, hospitals, schools, people in their homes and walking their streets in seven countries: Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Libya, Yemen, Somalia and Pakistan.

Donald Trump (2016-2020 republican)

Donald Trump

Under the Trump administration the US went on escalating drone strikes, with skyrocketing civilian casualties as a result. The US bombed Iraqi security forces that were  deployed to battle the Islamic state gangs multiple times. He even went as far as ordering a drone strike against  high profile government officials from both Iraq and Iran within Iraqi borders.

The multiple war crimes perpetrated by the US prompted the Iraqi parliament to request all foreign troops to leave the country. In response Trump said : “If they do ask us to leave, if we don’t do it in a very friendly basis, we will charge them sanctions like they’ve never seen before ever,”
This ought to be seen in context of the sanctions of the 90’s that caused over a million deaths. Whenever asked about Iraq Trump simply says “We should’ve kept the oil”

Destruction of Mosul, most Mosulis were killed by Western bomb campaigns.

Joe Biden (Democratic vice president under Obama and 2020 Democratic candidate)

When Biden was part of the foreign affairs committee in the white house in 1998 he actively supported increasing sanctions against Iraq.

Biden actively championed starting the war against Iraq in 2002 and helped George Bush Jr pitch the war to the American people, despite knowing the shaky ground whereupon this war was based.  During the initial years of the Obama presidency Biden was an active supporter of maintaining US troops in Iraq.  His idea was that Iraq would be split into a ‘Sunni, Shia and Kurdish’’ reason where the US occupation imposes this split. Biden however rejects any role the US played in destroying and wrecking Iraq.

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