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Within two weeks every major city in Southern Iraq was controlled by Shiite rebels, while Kurdish fighters captured all but one city in the north. As Saddam's regime appeared ready to fall, The United States suddenly withdrew support for the rebellion. On March 6, the US State Department issued the following statement:
"We don't think that outside powers should be interfering in the internal affairs of Iraq." The truth was, the United States wanted Saddam's regime to survive as a bulwark against Iran. So the US ignored all pleas for help from the rebels, and turned a blind eye as Saddam ruthlessly put down the insurrection.
Most of Saddam's elite Republican Guard formations survived the war. These loyal units, backed by helicopter gunships, began indiscriminately slaughtering insurgents and civilians in contested areas. An estimated 100,000 Shias and Kurds were killed, while the United States, with an army of a half million men on the Kuwaiti border, did nothing.
George Bush the Second 's invasion has killed at least another half million people. The United States did not invade Iraq to liberate the country or even to topple Saddam. We have illegally occupied Iraq for the same reason we've carried out all our machinations in the Middle East, to control the oil.
The nation of Iraq was a modern fiction, created after World War One when the colonial powers divided up the Middle East. The US occupation created an insurgency that pitted Sunnis against Shias. The ensuing civil war and ethnic cleansing have finally destroyed Iraq.
Iranians, and the Shia Muslims of Iraq are actually one people, Persians. Many of them hate the United States of America, and they have every right to. They have endured non stop oppression, war, and poverty since we betrayed their democracy in 1953.
And what exactly has Iran ever done to us?
It's true the hostage crisis was sweet revenge for the Iranian people. One of the hostage-takers proclaimed to the chief US diplomat held at the embassy: "You have no right to complain, because you took our whole country hostage in 1953."
Some of the former US hostages claim that Iran's President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was one of their captors. Although he denies this, there can be no doubt that he served honorably in the war against Iraq. He has been radicalized by revolution, war, and the slaughter of Shia Muslims.
Iran's President and ruling theocracy make no secret of their hatred for America, and they want Iran to stay an angry, anti-western country. After violently putting down protests to his re-election, Ahmadinejad demanded an apology from the United states. He claims that the US was meddling in Iran's affairs by inciting the demonstrators, just as the CIA did in 1953.
We owe the people of Iran an apology, but not for the reason he stated. Despite all we've done to them, the Iranians want their Democracy back. And we're doing nothing to help them as they stand up to their hard-line theocratic government.
Iran's regime is dangerous. A militant, nuclear armed Iran will be very dangerous. The United States must seize this opportunity and reach out to the Iranian People.
And to do that, we must apologize for the atrocities we have meted out on them.
We undermined their parliamentary government, and supported the Shah. We have imposed crippling economic sanctions on Iran since 1979. We sold nerve gas to Saddam Hussein, knowing he would use it on Iranians. We incited the Shias in Iraq to rebel against Saddam, then stood by while they were butchered. We've killed unknown thousands more waging our illegal war in Iraq.
I can't apologize for America. I don't even consider myself a patriot anymore. But as a citizen of this nation, I am sorry for what America has done to your country.
And we are all going to be very sorry if we do not take this opportunity to free Iran.
