I wrote a few days ago that the United States is quite contemptuous of real democracy, as evidenced by its reaction to the most recent troubles in ramming through a status of forces agreement in Iraq.  Well, now the United States is engaging in behavior tantamount to political blackmail.  A long list of services being provided or supported by the United States has been submitted to the Iraqi government as in being in danger of discontinuation if the status agreement is not reached. 

Some might call this political positioning or tit-for-tat.  But the reality of the matter is much different.  That the U.S. invasion was a war-crime under the U.N. Charter and the Nuremberg Doctrine seems to be sidestepped by the mainstream press and, of course, American politicians from McCain and Obama on down.  What should justly accompany such a crime are not only punitive measures against the perpetrators but also massive reparations paid to the victims. 

The victims in this case are of course the Iraqi people.  Independent of any status of forces agreement should be clear recognition that the United States owes the Iraqi people much more than it has given, starting with a real democracy.  The border protection, the schools, the infrastructure, all the services the US military is threatening to take away if an agreement is not reached, are all at their base what should be considered the starting point for reparations so long as the Iraqi people, and not the US government, have control over their implementation.  To take them away at this point will simply yet another example of the United States not living up to its obligations under the UN Charter.