With continuing stories of the denial of legal rights, the abuse of women (ad here and here), rise of radical Islam, and war crimes, many Americans are still unsure why we are sacrificing thousands of our citizens and billions in funding in Iraq. Now, the U.S. supported government is moving to ban books that it considers unduly “sectarian.”
The Iraqi government believes that the way to reduce sectarian violence is to regulate what citizens can read — a long discredited approach of authoritarian regimes. Particularly in today’s world of Internet and electronic communications, it is doubtful that the move will curtail anything other than freedom.
Of course, we have been a poor role model in Iraq, here.
For the full story, click here.
Coming soon to a library near you . . .
Hey “His Story” is replete with censureship. The Catholic Church, Hitler, Southern Baptist.
The one that comes to mind is the one that offended the Ayatollah or is that Attila. Then Madonna, the one from Michigan. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Take your choice. They have all been banned or even in the case of the first part a contract was put on his life.
And a last thing, the American News Papers. They are great at self censureship, do you really think that McCarthy would have been exposed if it is the way it is today? That took some balls, what was that guys name Edward R. Murrow?
Clearly “many Americans are still unsure why we are sacrificing thousands of our citizens and billions in funding in Iraq.”
Are we truly a nation without empathy, or with a death wish?
To be sure, it is truly ironic that books might be banned in Iraq, but the longer we remain unaware of, or without apparent care about, the OTHER people who die as a direct result our military adventures, the more we will remain the justifiable targets of those we treat as inconsequential insects in our imperial garden.
We’ve killed about 2 million Iraqi’s since Bush I’s highly questionable war begun in 1991, progressing to a deadly “economic” embargo and culminating in Bush II’s senseless invasion the promised end of which was a large factor in Obama’s election. About 5 million (20% of the population) have been displaced either to other countries or internally.
One must also wonder what is to keep our “allies” convinced they are forever immune to our pernicious international spasms and thus don’t need to begin seeking ways to effectively, if non-violently, undermine us.
(Note: the final monetary tally will be more like Trillions in funding.)
Iraq has books, go figure. I thought they only communicated through playing cards…
Last time I checked they lost $1.2 billion as it had been withdrawn by the new Ministry of Defense to supply the Iraqi army with desperately needed equipment to fight the growing insurgency. Alas, millions had been misspent on old and antiquated equipment, and Allawi said most of the money simply disappeared.
The only books that should be banned are the Kuran and the Bible. I tell you, we’ll be greeted as liberators, the fight won’t last more than days and the battle will basically fund itself! Go, go, go!
I heard you can now report books you think people shouldn’t be reading to flag@iraq.gov.
It might be unpleasant to some, but it has to be stated. In light of all that’s happened since our invasion and the rise of Islamic Fundamentalism in an essentially secular state, was Saddam Hussein any worse than the other rulers around him and is Iraq better off for his being deposed?
2 million or more have been killed by USA and only 3000 in new york go figure!
where is weapons of mass distruction?
Saddam was American backed dictator just like Osama.
in American jails books are baned too where is democracy.
American so arrogant that they only see American death and other innocent life means nothing.
so government in usa not religious at all but Iraqi government is religious another proof of writer that he did not see his government taking radical jewish holidays and radical Christan holidays.
Bush said we have Christian crusade war in Iraq and Afghanistan, so did not sound like radical extremist.
al-qaida killed 3000 in ny but USA army killed 2 million or more in Iraq and Afghanistan go figure.
Bushwa,
You say it like there is a problem. You kill 3 thousand. I kill 3 million and take your country over, what don’t you like about this offer?
I don’t know if Bush had the intention to lie when he said that weapons of mass destruction were there. For all I know, he may have truly believed it. His insistance that we were going to put a viable democracy into Iraq however, is another thing altogether. He was either lying, or he was politically naive in the extreme. Iraq probably can’t even have a stable central government much less a viable democracy. Tens if not humdreds of thousands of Iraqi Christains have fled the country since 2003. If ii were a genuine stable democracy, they would be fleeing to it, not leaving it.