ROAD TO PERDITION
“We will stand down when the Iraqis stand up”.
“We will not stay in Iraq one day longer than necessary”.
The Iraqi government under Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is putting these two obvious lies, repeated over and over by the Bush administration, to the test. They are signaling for America to consider getting lost rather than sign an open-ended agreement formalizing the status of US troops in Iraq to replace the UN mandate authorizing our occupation which expires December 31.
Building a colossal 300 million dollar embassy on a Vatican City size parcel of land and pouring tens of billions into dozens of military bases large and small is not the mark of an invading military forcing regime change and moving on. Iraq, like Afghanistan, has always been a prize to conquer and exploit in furtherance of America’s oil gluttony and the avarice of the Military-Industrial-Congressional (Ike’s original term) Complex. Al Qaeda and the Taliban have always been convenient bogeymen to whip up Congressional and public opinion to practice murder and mayhem in furtherance of these twin goals, with unbridled power and dominance of the War Party thrown in for good measure.
Had America mobilized the enormous sympathy and good will of the vast majority of countries and peoples after September 11, the few thousands of actual terrorists would have long ago been marginalized. Instead we’ve created millions of casualties and displaced war refugees, squandered our military and treasury, and now face the decline, if not the collapse of our consumer frenzied, over-rated economy.
Let Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan work out their own destinies without the benefit of our annual 650 billion dollar military Juggernaught dropping bombs on wedding parties and spreading depleted uranium around like death dust.
Osama bin Laden may well be long dead, but if alive, he would be ecstatic over our willingness to let our homeland decay chasing phantoms across the oceans.
Originally published in Daily Herald, July 18, 2008
“We will not stay in Iraq one day longer than necessary”.
The Iraqi government under Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is putting these two obvious lies, repeated over and over by the Bush administration, to the test. They are signaling for America to consider getting lost rather than sign an open-ended agreement formalizing the status of US troops in Iraq to replace the UN mandate authorizing our occupation which expires December 31.
Building a colossal 300 million dollar embassy on a Vatican City size parcel of land and pouring tens of billions into dozens of military bases large and small is not the mark of an invading military forcing regime change and moving on. Iraq, like Afghanistan, has always been a prize to conquer and exploit in furtherance of America’s oil gluttony and the avarice of the Military-Industrial-Congressional (Ike’s original term) Complex. Al Qaeda and the Taliban have always been convenient bogeymen to whip up Congressional and public opinion to practice murder and mayhem in furtherance of these twin goals, with unbridled power and dominance of the War Party thrown in for good measure.
Had America mobilized the enormous sympathy and good will of the vast majority of countries and peoples after September 11, the few thousands of actual terrorists would have long ago been marginalized. Instead we’ve created millions of casualties and displaced war refugees, squandered our military and treasury, and now face the decline, if not the collapse of our consumer frenzied, over-rated economy.
Let Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan work out their own destinies without the benefit of our annual 650 billion dollar military Juggernaught dropping bombs on wedding parties and spreading depleted uranium around like death dust.
Osama bin Laden may well be long dead, but if alive, he would be ecstatic over our willingness to let our homeland decay chasing phantoms across the oceans.
Originally published in Daily Herald, July 18, 2008
posted by Walt Zlotow at 3:17 PM
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