Azzaman, , February 25, 2010

There is no way to know how the U.S. code-names its foreign wars. And we have no information on whether there has been any investigation after the failure of a military campaign on whether the names given to it match the reality of the situation on the ground.

The invasion of Iraq took place under the rubric "Operation Iraqi Liberation", although U.S. discourse at the U.N. and U.N. Security Council was performed under the rubric of "weapons of mass destruction."

Even today the countries taking part in the American coalition say their participation was to conduct a search for the alleged weapons and to have them dismantled and not for the overthrow of the Iraqi government for fear of being held accountable under international law.

Of course this issue has become old and hackneyed and has no value in today’s discourse in light of the calamities that have fallen over the heads of the sons of our country

And probably to get even more immersed in the mud of nomenclatures that have nothing to do with the reality of the situation in Iraq, the Pentagon will call the war in Iraq "Operation New Dawn" as from September this year.

No one exactly knows which "dawn" they are talking about as they pack and leave a country they have imploded and humiliated its people for seven years.

The Americans have not told us whether "Operation New Dawn" will need a new war or the nomenclature is simply a lexical addition to the previous war. Names of operations do not reveal their true nature.

This "new dawn" Iraqis have not and probably will not see. Instead of the "dawn" they are talking about, Iraqis have borne witness to rivers of blood, deprivation, hunger, displacement, a surge in number of prisons and new laws and regulation that allow any force with or without uniform to storm houses at night.

A new dawn for a country which is in eclipse. A new dawn for a country in which the number of professionals – doctors, engineers, university professors, etc. – has slumped to half what they were before the invasion instead of increasing.

The benchmark for a job in the government is now, as it was under the former Baath regime or even worse, unwavering loyalty to a certain faction.

A "new dawn" ... Aren’t they laughing at us; aren’t they adding salt to our wounds and our slow death.

A "new dawn" where a heavy cloud of darkness has descended over my homeland, covering its mountains and valleys.