The Iraq war documents, published by WikiLeaks, may have shocked many. But on second thoughts, everyone knew what has been happening in the occupied country. Trigger-happy troops, tortured prisoners, death squads, Blackwater mercenaries and corruption are all familiar issues to those who have been following the Iraq tragedy since March 20, 2003.
The documents will unfortunately not change the mind of those who supported the invasion. But will surely put pressure on the US and Iraq governments to rethink their strategies. Also, they are a wake up call for the UN, the Arab League and human rights organisations to get involved in the country which is effectively still ruled by the US Department of Defence despite assurances to the contrary.
The immediate reaction from both Washington and Baghdad should not be condemning WikiLeaks for publishing the documents. They are shooting the messenger. The moral and responsible thing to do is to launch an immediate, public and comprehensive investigation into the abuses and crimes reported in the documents. The Iraqi government in particular, if it is seriously interested in bringing about real reconciliation, must act today to prosecute those responsible for the abuses and the assassinations.
The Iraqi government just cannot turn a blind eye to the nearly half a million documents and move on as if nothing had happened. A truth commission is a must. It is a prerequisite to any attempt to heal the wounds of the civil strife and a first step towards rehabilitating the country and starting its reconstruction process.
As for Washington; it is totally another story. It is not just about doing the right thing. Its image, which President Barack Obama says he wants to improve, has taken another significant beating. It is difficult to see how this can be rectified. But the first step is to prosecute the officials and generals responsible for the war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan. Certainly, Obama knows their names very well.
