The current horrific malaise in the state of Iraq has its roots in the US-led destruction of Iraq in 1991, followed by a decade of harsh US-led international sanctions against the entire Iraqi population that killed millions -- one of the most heinous crimes of the 20th century. A second "shock and awe" war of aggression on Iraq in 2003 enabled the US/UK military occupation that ensued. Though based on fraudulent pretexts and later admitted as an illegal war by then Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the UN provided a veneer of legitimacy to what in effect would be the obliteration of an effective...