Vets Launch Operation Truth to Expose Bush

The Operation Truth Veterans’ organization launched Wednesday, October 27 a media offensive broadcasting ads on major US news and radio stations, including CNN and MCNBC.

"Operation Truth is a non-profit, non-partisan veterans’ organization that seeks to amplify the soldiers’ voice in the American public dialogue and influence the American political scene in a powerful way," the nascent organization said on its Web site.

The campaign urges the American people to share stories of life on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan, holding public officials accountable for their decisions affecting the American troops in both countries.

Name of the new organization was derived similar to names of US military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan such as "Anaconda".

The Operation Truth campaign is seen by observers as a new shock to Bush only days before the knife-edge presidential elections as it could influence the crucial veterans’ vote.

Heart-breaking

One of the TV ads feature Robert Acosta, an Iraqi war veteran, who lost part of his arm and use of his leg as a result of a grenade explosion in the war.

"I am Robert Acosta. When my country called, I went to Iraq without hesitation. Make no mistake, I am proud of my service and proud of my fellow troops. But for many troops like me, there was a tremendous cost, " he said.

Acosta stressed he was not "looking for pity" but trying to expose false practices and negligence.

"The Pentagon will only refer to me as a number — one of the 7700 wounded in action. They don’t want you to know who I am or who the others coming back severely injured are. They don’t want you to see what we see in the mirror everyday."

The veteran went on: "I’ll be the first to tell you, it’s tough to look at. But it’s important because no American can make a fully informed judgment about the war without looking at and listening to the men and women coming home."

Members of a US soldier in Iraq charged in a three-hour life dialogue with IslamOnline.net audience in September of last year that the Bush administration is showing complete apathy with respect to American troops who were tricked into attacking and occupying the oil-rich Arab country.

Ashamed

The Operation Truth organization also cites on its Web site another soldier who took his own life shortly after returning from Iraq.

His family members recall how who used to describe himself as "thug and killer" over his killing of many Iraqi civilians, including women and children.

With non-stopped nightmare haunting him, the veteran eventually committed suicide.

Other fellow soldiers also complained for similar experiences.

Ever since his return home in April of last year, US Marine Jimmy Massey has had a hard time sleeping, feeling "ashamed" of involvement in killing no less than 30 Iraqi civilians during his one-month mission.

"We had no qualms about opening fire on any car crossing a checkpoint without hauling up," he told the French newspaper L’Humanite on Tuesday, April 13.

In Fallujah, a western Baghdad city, an American blitz in April claimed the lives of at least 600 people and left more than 1,500 others injured.

A doctor in the town told IOL most of those killed in the U.S. military offensive were women and children.

Suffering law morale and burdened by an anti-American fury prevalent among Iraqis, many US soldiers felt dismayed over their presence in the country.

With almost daily attacks, several of them were reported to have tried sneaking out from the country through borders with neighboring states.

Mercenaries

According to the Operation Truth website, thousands of non-US citizens joined the US-led war on Iraq to get the American citizenship.

More than 31,000 non-US soldiers, mostly from Latin America, have joined the US war on Iraq, according to US official estimates.

Bush had said in October 2001, shortly before the US war on Afghanistan, that those having the Green Cards and willing to join the US so-called war on terror would be given the American citizenship.

Mercenaries make the second largest occupation force in Iraq, outnumbering even the biggest US ally, Britain.

Facing daily resistance attacks in Iraq, the US hired mercenaries in Chile to replace its soldiers on "security duty" in the war-torn country, a leading British newspaper reported.

The US death toll since the start of the Iraq invasion in March last year hit the scary mark of 1,000 last month.