In 2003 the United States massively attacked Iraq under false pretenses. Despite the fact that we had no verifiable evidence, our government claimed that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction that posed an international security threat. Big Oil led by oilman-turned-vice president Dick Cheney manipulated the country into believing this trumped up claim in an effort to gain access to Iraq’s huge oil and gas reserves. In doing Big Oil’s bidding, our country spent close to $2 trillion; sacrificed thousands of American lives as well as hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilian lives; and caused many more Iraqis to flee their country.

Our country terrorized the entire population of Iraq. We unjustifiably destroyed the Iraqi government and much of the country. The world is still suffering the grave repercussions of our terrorism. And, it is getting worse day-by-day. The Paris and Mali acts of terrorism are just the latest examples.

Until we step back and examine how we have brutally wronged many other countries, we will not understand why we are in the mess we are in today. How many Americans know that our government overthrew democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegn of Iran in 1953? As result Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlav became a virtual dictator for more than 25 years. The Shah was supported by the CIA in creating the Iranian SAVAK, a vicious secret police for the Shah’s dictatorial government. Look up Operation Ajax for the details.

America’s failure to acknowledge the dishonorable nature of its actions in Iraq and other countries or to punish those officials responsible for the destruction they unleashed clearly is a major cause of today’s terrorism. When will we ever learn?