He kept his talk brief, but full of chauvinist language directed at the Iraqi people, which drew applause when he demanded that the Iraqi people “need to take responsibility for their country and for their sovereignty.” The sovereignty of Iraq was stolen by the war of aggression launched by Bush, and funded by votes of Republicans and Democrats alike.

Skipping over this “small detail” makes the Iraqis appear culpable for the U.S. occupation. At best, this represents a disingenuous presentation of the actual reality. It also serves as a de facto exoneration of Bush and Cheney for their criminal war of aggression against a people who posed no threat to the people of the United States.

President Obama again praised the military for their handling of the occupation of Iraq, summing the past six long years up with “every mission that's been assigned [to the U.S. military]—from getting rid of Saddam, to reducing violence, to stabilizing the country, to facilitating elections—you have given Iraq the opportunity to stand on its own as a democratic country. That is an extraordinary achievement, and for that you have the thanks of the American people.”

Unfortunately, what the President has left out and continues to leave out when addressing service members, or any crowd at all for that matter, is that as a result of the criminal war on the people of Iraq—a war that President Obama claims to have never supported—over 1 million Iraqis have been killed, over 5 million Iraqi children are now orphans, and over 3 millions husbands and wives are now widowers or widows.

What the president also refuses to acknowledge is that the war in Iraq—a war the president called “a dumb war, a rash war, a war based not on reason but on passion, not on principle but on politics” during a speech at an anti-war rally in Chicago in 2002—has created one of the largest refugee crises in history, with 5 millions Iraqis displaced from their country and homes and in desperate need for humanitarian care.

March Forward! calls for an immediate end to the criminal wars and occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. The people of Iraq can never “take responsibility for their country” as long as it is being occupied by U.S. imperialism.

President Obama tried to strike a note of compassion for the plight of veterans. Words are not enough. Flowery words are not what the hundreds of thousands of homeless veterans really need. They need affordable housing and decent paying jobs. They need an actual commitment from the federal government.

March Forward! calls for the immediate withdrawal of all foreign occupying troops, including war contractors, from both Iraq and Afghanistan. We call on all U.S. service members to refuse the illegal and immoral orders to occupy these countries.

This is not our war!
http://www.MarchForward.org