>Originally posted December 11, 2006.

WARNING:

This post may steal some of your precious TV-time. Or the time spent drinking beer in bars. Or the countless hours you spend on MySpace, waiting in line for recognition…

”Oh my God, not another text about the war in Iraq!”, I hear you christian sheep moan. “Why aren’t there more?”, is my reply. There sure as hell should be. Each and everyone of us in the Western World should sit down, read the relevant facts, think them through, analyze and criticize and then write something about it – so we at least know what the fuck is going on.

We need enlightenment to make the necessary connections. We need to know about the neocons and their thirst for power and blood. We need knowledge about the seriously unhealthy relationship between Israel and USA. There’s tons of trash we need to sort out and it’s gonna take most of your precious TV-time. Sorry about that.

But hey, I’m really writing this for myself, to collect my own thoughts and sort out relevant information amongst my billions of bookmarks… So when I say “You might want to read…” below, I’m actually saying “I, Mattias Pettersson, really should read…”.
So now you know. So here we go.

First, you might want to read “The rise and and decline of the neo-cons” published in Asia Times Online. This essay gives the necessary background on the neoconservatives’ march to power and pain.

You may then continue with “How Neoconservatives conquered Washington – and launched a war” published on the Antiwar.com site.

For a fresh opinion, a newsflash and a short history of neoconservatism: read Gary Kamiya’s brief but well put together article simpy entitled “Neoconservatism – RIP”.

For fairly straight facts about the war in/on Iraq, click here for the Aljazeera version.

And as a reminder, here’s all the gruesome Abu Ghraib files – 279 photographs and 19 videos from the Army’s internal investigation record (check the left column). Shocking truth.

If you’re into fat, well written, thought provoking books then read on just a bit further.

George Packer, a liberal intellectual who supported the invasion of Iraq, has written an excellent book which shows how not all journalists are close minded scum writing on behalf of somebody else’s truths. Packer was truly convinced that the invasion had good intentions, but the book shows how these intentions went terribly wrong.
I haven’t had the time to finish this one (far from it…), but just by skimming through the pages you get the idea that this man is here for the truth in all its honesty and he’s prepared to change his mind if his beliefs turn out to be false.
Read an extensive review of his book Assassin’s Gate: America in Iraq here.

The photo above is taken from AfterDowningStreet.org and shows war as it really is, not like the censored version we see on TV or in Saving Private Ryan. No matter how strange this may sound to you, I’m telling you straight: Some people don’t know what a war looks like.