This opinion piece from Link TV producer Jamal Dajani suggests that the war in Iraq is far from over, despite claims to the contrary by the McCain campaign. The author, a Middle East expert, also points out an even more disturbing by-product of the war: the fact that "millions of Iraqi families remain homeless. Iraqi children have been forced into labor to help their devastated families, and many young Iraqi refugee girls have turned to prostitution in countries like Syria and Jordan." While this article doesn't provide direct factual evidence or sources to support these claims, it provides useful context to put GOP claims in perspective.

Dajani presents several valid and timely counterpoints to the RNC jingoism displays. He limits his Iraq observations mostly to the present and probable future. Any perceived need for more sourcing could be attributed to scant coverage of the occupation in the big corporate media. He stays away from the original rationale for the invasion as a bogus construct of national lies. The ethics of republican cheering for winning any war regardless of the morality of the war ignores a critical ethical question. Dajani does not quantify the estimated Iraqi deaths of over 1 million, and the refugeee estimates of close to 5 million internal and external. He presents the suicides of servicemen, but not the full story of mental stress and ... More »

This is largely very thoughtful opinion but well sourced, though anonymously.

I'm the author

The claim of 115 suicides by members of the armed forces is irrelevant since that many suicides is a little below the average rate for a group with the age, gender and racial composition of the armed forces. There are 1.6 million people in the armed forces, mostly white men. The suicide rate for younger white men is about 11 per 100,000. For black men 7.4. For women much lower. You do the math.

This opinion piece has minimal journalistic value. The author presents his extreme views without the benefit of facts. Indeed the one "fact" he presents, suicide rates, is exactly the opposite of what he claims: the truth is that suicide rates for members of the armed forces are less than those for their civilian counterparts.

The article reminds us of the forgotten people in Iraq and why do we need a surge to begin with. The repubilcans are trying to take credit for the war but avoid talking about the entire debacle.