VIDEO REPORTS: Iraq, Ten Years After...

For many the nightmare continues...

Tim King in Baghdad, photo by Justin King

(SACRAMENTO, CA) - The dust has settled, somewhat, and the screams are fewer, as are the sounds of military aircraft thundering overhead, but Iraq remains a dangerous place.

Sons of Iraq - Photo by Tim King

Iraqi people are hard pressed to simply raise their families and the United States is wholly responsible for killing up to 1.5 million people here during its terrible, decade long war based on bad intelligence.

Oh that is what people say, but the powers to be were never buying the story about Saddam Hussein manufacturing weapons of mass destruction.

Some stalwart Bush/Cheney supporers stick to their guns, they talk about the Kurds who were encouraged by America to revolt, being gassed... some even bring up the MiG-29's that Iraq had at Al-Bakir Air Base, now called Joint Base Balad, but they were never a threat as the Australians took the base over before the Iraqi military could launch a plane.

Ramadan bombing at al Dujail, Iraq killed dozens, photo by Tim King           Tim in Iraq with the 101st Airborne - Balad. Photo: Ryan Ahern

Iraq was a highly unnecessary war with a horrific cost in human lives on all sides. Hussein had the ability to run this country and his defiance toward the west is what the war was about.

I was only there for a month but even in that time I witnessed things I will never forget, like the abuse of Iraqi 'detainees' who are prisoners of war not afforded the rights they should have been.

I saw the actions of good American and Iraqi people plunged into an impossible environment. I talked to many people during this time, interviewing large numbers of U.S. service members and also as many Iraqi people as possible.

It is a sad place that never deserved the wrath of an angry U.S. president willing to abuse his own military to the fullest extent, breaking international law and standing for things like torture.

The truth is that former President George Bush and former Vice President Dick Cheney wantonly set this nation on an illegal mission that wasted hundreds of billions of dollars, contaminated the earth in ways that will not be rectified for hundreds of years, and damaged millions of people, in addition to the deaths, so much death.

If the two U.S. politicians were held responsible for what took place in Iraq then it would give others pause before carrying out similar acts. Instead, the Americans refuse, eternal slaves to their foolish warring mentality.

Russian manufactured Iraqi jet fighters rotting at Joint Base Balad in 2008. Photos by Tim King Salem-News.com

Iraqi hospitality - photo by Tim King

Iraq is a bad memory now for many who went there, the place and its people were broken down and vast numbers suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

I was there when the U.S. was ending its 'surge' and pulling money back from the Sunni population which had sold out in order to work with the Americans - so they could feed their children. Then as soon as the 'Sons of Iraq' program had a taste of success at saving lives, it was terminated.

This left people in a terrible position - having worked with the Americans can mean an individual is a traitor, it is always the same story; Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq... siding with an occupying army can bring huge repercussions.

This is the situation the Americans created for the people of Iraq.

The effort to "free the Iraqi people" was a bullshit excuse to carry out a unilateral war that ultimately and almost exclusively benefited high dollar defense contractors. American politicians never cared one way or the other about the freedom of these forlorn people.

I have included a number of reports that I filed from Iraq five years ago.

They are a variety of stories. Some are about the daily life of Marines, some reports take the viewer on patrols and some tell the story of kindness; Americans providing wheelchairs to Iraqi people and helping small Iraqi children receive heart surgery operations in Israel.

Americans are a mixed bag, and even on a bad mission during a bad war, many shine a spirit of humanity that is bright and lasting.

We can never judge veterans by the wars their politicians wage.

Some of Tim King's reports filed from Iraq, Summer 2008

Inside Iraq: What happens when a Nation Stops Paying its Former Enemies

Navy Doctor Helps Iraqi Kids Receive Heart Surgery

One Day in Baghdad

One Day in Baghdad Part 2

Iraq Marines - Anbar

Wheelchairs for Iraq

Balls of the Eagle 101st Airborne - Iraq

Marine Security Mission al Anbar Province

Iraq - al Dujail and Violence Revisited

Iraq - Land of Sheiks and Agriculture

Marine Military Police in Iraq

You can write to Tim at this address: tim@salem-news.com.

Visit Tim's Facebook page (facebook.com/TimKing.Reporter)

With almost 25 years of experience on the west coast and worldwide as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor, Tim King is Salem-News.com's Executive News Editor. His background includes covering the war in Afghanistan in 2006 and 2007, and reporting from the Iraq war in 2008. Tim is a former U.S. Marine who follows stories of Marines and Marine Veterans; he's covered British Royal Marines and in Iraq, Tim embedded with the same unit he served with in the 1980's.

Tim holds awards for reporting, photography, writing and editing from traditional mainstream news agencies like The Associated Press and Electronic Media Association; he also holds awards from the National Coalition of Motorcyclists, the Oregon Confederation of Motorcycle Clubs; and was presented with a 'Good Neighbor Award' for his reporting, by the The Red Cross.

Tim King reporting from the war in Iraq

Tim's years as a Human Rights reporter have taken on many dimensions; he has rallied for a long list of cultures and populations and continues to every day, with a strong and direct concentration on the 2009 Genocide of Tamil Hindus and Christians in Sri Lanka. As a result of his long list of reports exposing war crimes against Tamil people, Tim was invited to be the keynote speaker at the FeTNA (Federation of Tamil Sangams of North America) Conference in Baltimore, in July 2012. This is the largest annual gathering of North American Tamils; Tim addressed more than 3000 people and was presented with a traditional Sri Lanka ‘blessed garland’ and a shawl as per the tradition and custom of Tamil Nadu

In a personal capacity, Tim has written 2,026 articles as of March 2012 for Salem-News.com since the new format designed by Matt Lintz was launched in December, 2005. Serving readers with news from all over the globe, Tim's life is literally encircled by the endless news flow published by Salem-News.com, where more than 100 writers contribute stories from 23+ countries and regions.

Tim specializes in writing about political and military developments worldwide; and maintains that the label 'terrorist' is ill placed in many cases; specifically with the LTTE Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka, where it was used as an excuse to slaughter people by the tens of thousands; and in Gaza, where a trapped population lives at the mercy of Israel's destructive military war crime grinder. At the center of all of this, Tim pays extremely close attention to the safety and welfare of journalists worldwide.