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Upcoming from MER:
* U.S. war with Iran now increasingly possible
* U.S. multi-billions in corruption, bribes and secret ops
What the Americans have Really Done in and to Iraq* U.S. war with Iran now increasingly possible
* U.S. multi-billions in corruption, bribes and secret ops
Iraq Explodes as Bush Blair War further
exposed as historic Fraud
"I'm talking about the new lies" writes Robert Fisk
Mid-East Realities - MER - www.MiddleEast.Org - 20 August 2004:
This is a brief but very important outline of what the Americans have really done in recent years in and to Iraq. All this has little to do with 'freedom' and 'democracy' -- those are the simplistic and deceptive front-words. What's really involved is an increasingly desperate and ruthless master plan to turn Iraq -- a country at the center of both the Arab and the Muslim worlds -- into an appendage of the American military, political, and economic machine trying to more totally control the Middle East region and continue to drain it of its wealth, resources, and heritage. It's the imperialism of old considerably reconstituted for the brave new world of worldwide television, the internet, and high-tech 'Star Wars' weaponry.
1) In coordination with the Israelis begin with secret plans to regime change in Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, and Syria and secret efforts to create political and military conditions where this agenda can be vigorously pursued.
2) In the aftermath of 9/11 seize the moment and use any and all means to at least arguably justify invading, occupying, and regime changing first in Afghanistan and then in Iraq.
3) Set up quisling CIA-controlled and dependent regimes, in the case of Iraq calling it the 'Iraqi Governing Council' first overseen by an American General, then by a top neocon 'anti-terrorism' official, now by a crafty Ambassador commanding the largest embassy and CIA station in the world.
4) When the 'Governing Council' looses credibility push the United Nations to the fore to create an 'interim government' of 'technocrats' responsible ostensibly to bring about 'democratic' elections; but then at the last minute push the U.N. aside and put your own people back in power for another go around.
5) Reconstitute the discredited 'Iraqi Governing Council', calling it now the 'Interim Iraqi Government', and install a long-time CIA operative, a la Karzai of Afghanistan, to head it; all under the remote control of the new behind-the-scenes resident American Ambassador and CIA station chief.
6) Attempt to foist a totally new flag on Iraq -- but because it came from the Americans and had stripes too similar to the Israeli flag it quickly lost all credibility and is no more. So drop it like a hot potato and don't ever remind anyone of it again.
7) Use the old-new 'Interim Government' to convene a carefully controlled 'Convention' of pre-selected delegates to approve a pre-selected 100-person Council which is stacked from the beginning with all the members of the old 'Iraqi Governing Council'.
8) While everyone is busy and bombs keep exploding set up inside the 'Green Zone' the largest American Embassy and CIA station in the world and staff if (stuff it) with more than 3000 officials and clandestine operatives.
9) Increase the military strength of the U.S. occupation forces while continuing to insist it is really an international 'coalition'; and make it clear to all, especially all in the region who dare to oppose, that U.S. troops are dug in to stay for many years 'until they get the job done'. Co-opt or bribe, undermine or destroy, all who refuse to comply and submit.
10) Resume threats against Iraq's neighbors still on the regime change list (Iran and Syria that is) warning them that they are not being submissive and compliant enough because they are allowing Arab and Muslim 'foreign' fighters into the Iraq which now only welcomes American-approved truly foreign fighters from afar.
This is a succinct outline of what the Americans have really done in Iraq since the Bush/Cheney regime took power, all closely coordinated through the super-close ties of the Washington neocons -- many long-time well-connected Zionist operatives now at the apex of power -- with Ariel Sharon and Israel.
And this is the overall context in which to read Robert Fisk's tremendously insightfull round-up of the situation from Iraq that he published in The Independent in London the first day of this month:
Can't Blair see that
this country
is about to explode? Can't Bush?
is about to explode? Can't Bush?
-By Robert Fisk in Baghdad
The Independent on Sunday (UK) - August 1, 2004 :
The war is a fraud. I'm not talking about the weapons
of mass destruction that didn't exist. Nor the links
between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaida which didn't exist.
Nor all the other lies upon which we went to war. I'm
talking about the new lies.
For just as, before the war, our governments warned us
of threats that did not exist, now they hide from us
the threats that do exist. Much of Iraq has fallen
outside the control of America's puppet government in
Baghdad but we are not told. Hundreds of attacks are
made against US troops every month. But unless an
American dies, we are not told. This month's death toll
of Iraqis in Baghdad alone has now reached 700 - the
worst month since the invasion ended. But we are not told.
The stage management of this catastrophe in Iraq was
all too evident at Saddam Hussein's 'trial.' Not only
did the US military censor the tapes of the event. Not
only did they effectively delete all sound of the 11
other defendants. But the Americans led Saddam Hussein
to believe - until he reached the courtroom - that he
was on his way to his execution. Indeed, when he
entered the room he believed that the judge was there
to condemn him to death. This, after all, was the way
Saddam ran his own state security courts. No wonder he
initially looked 'disorientated' - CNNs helpful
description - because, of course, he was meant to look
that way. We had made sure of that. Which is why Saddam
asked Judge Juhi: 'Are you a lawyer? ..Is this a
trial?' And swiftly, as he realised that this really
was an initial court hearing - not a preliminary to his
own hanging - he quickly adopted an attitude of
belligerence.
But don't think were going to learn much more about
Saddam's future court appearances. Salem Chalabi, the
brother of convicted fraudster Ahmad and the man
entrusted by the Americans with the tribunal, told the
Iraqi press two weeks ago that all media would be
excluded from future court hearings. And I can see why.
Because if Saddam does a Milosevic, he'll want to talk
about the real intelligence and military connections of
his regime - which were primarily with the United States.
Living in Iraq these past few weeks is a weird as well
as dangerous experience. I drive down to Najaf. Highway
8 is one of the worst in Iraq. Westerners are murdered
there. It is littered with burnt-out police vehicles
and American trucks. Every police post for 70 miles has
been abandoned. Yet a few hours later, I am sitting in
my room in Baghdad watching Tony Blair, grinning in the
House of Commons as if he is the hero of a school
debating competition; so much for the Butler report.
Indeed, watching any Western television station in
Baghdad these days is like tuning in to Planet Mars.
Doesn't Blair realise that Iraq is about to implode?
Doesn't Bush realise this? The American-appointed
'government' controls only parts of Baghdad - and even
there its ministers and civil servants are car-bombed
and assassinated. Baquba, Samara, Kut, Mahmoudiya,
Hilla, Fallujah, Ramadi, all are outside government
authority. Iyad Allawi, the 'Prime Minister,' is little
more than mayor of Baghdad. 'Some journalists,' Blair
announces, 'almost want there to be a disaster in
Iraq.' He doesn't get it. The disaster exists now.
When suicide bombers ram their cars into hundreds of
recruits outside police stations, how on earth can
anyone hold an election next January? Even the National
Conference to appoint those who will arrange elections
has been twice postponed. And looking back through my
notebooks over the past five weeks, I find that not a
single Iraqi, not a single American soldier I have
spoken to, not a single mercenary - be he American,
British or South African - believes that there will be
elections in January. All said that Iraq is
deteriorating by the day. And most asked why we
journalists weren't saying so.
But in Baghdad, I turn on my television and watch Bush
telling his Republican supporters that Iraq is
improving, that Iraqis support the 'coalition,' that
they support their new US-manufactured government, that
the 'war on terror' is being won, that Americans are
safer. Then I go to an internet site and watch two
hooded men hacking off the head of an American in
Riyadh, tearing at the vertebrae of an American in Iraq
with a knife. Each day, the papers here list another
construction company pulling out of the country. And I
go down to visit the friendly, tragically sad staff of
the Baghdad mortuary and there, each day, are dozens of
those Iraqis we supposedly came to liberate, screaming
and weeping and cursing as they carry their loved ones
on their shoulders in cheap coffins.
I keep re-reading Tony Blair's statement. 'I remain
convinced it was right to go to war. It was the most
difficult decision of my life.' And I cannot understand
it. It may be a terrible decision to go to war. Even
Chamberlain thought that; but he didn't find it a
difficult decision - because, after the Nazi invasion
of Poland, it was the right thing to do. And driving
the streets of Baghdad now, watching the terrified
American patrols, hearing yet another thunderous
explosion shaking my windows and doors after dawn, I
realise what all this means. Going to war in Iraq,
invading Iraq last year, was the most difficult
decision Blair had to take because he thought -
correctly - that it might be the wrong decision. I will
always remember his remark to British troops in Basra,
that the sacrifice of British soldiers was not
Hollywood but 'real flesh and blood.' Yes, it was real
flesh and blood that was shed - but for weapons of mass
destruction that weren't real at all.
'Deadly force is authorised,' it says on checkpoints
all over Baghdad. Authorised by whom? There is no
accountability. Repeatedly, on the great highways out
of the city US soldiers shriek at motorists and open
fire at the least suspicion. 'We had some Navy Seals
down at our checkpoint the other day,' a 1st Cavalry
sergeant says to me. 'They asked if we were having any
trouble. I said, yes, they've been shooting at us from
a house over there. One of them asked: That house? We
said yes. So they have these three SUVs and a lot of
weapons made of titanium and they drive off towards the
house. And later they come back and say 'We've taken
care of that.' And we didn't get shot at any more.'
What does this mean? The Americans are now bragging
about their siege of Najaf. Lieutenant Colonel Garry
Bishop of the 37th Armoured Divisions 1st Battalion
believes it was an 'ideal' battle (even though he
failed to kill or capture Muqtada Sadr whose 'Mehdi
army' were fighting the US forces). It was 'ideal,'
Bishop explained, because the Americans avoided
damaging the holy shrines of the Imams Ali and Hussein.
What are Iraqis to make of this? What if a Muslim army
occupied Kent and bombarded Canterbury and then bragged
that they hadnt damaged Canterbury Cathedral? Would we
be grateful?
What, indeed, are we to make of a war which is turned
into a fantasy by those who started it? As foreign
workers pour out of Iraq for fear of their lives, US
Secretary of State Colin Powell tells a press
conference that hostage-taking is having an 'effect' on
reconstruction. Effect! Oil pipeline explosions are now
as regular as power cuts. In parts of Baghdad now, they
have only four hours of electricity a day; the streets
swarm with foreign mercenaries, guns poking from
windows, shouting abusively at Iraqis who don't clear
the way for them. This is the 'safer' Iraq which Mr
Blair was boasting of the other day. What world does
the British Government exist in?
Take the Saddam trial. The entire Arab press -
including the Baghdad papers - prints the judge's name.
Indeed, the same judge has given interviews about
his charges of murder against Muqtada Sadr. He has
posed for newspaper pictures. But when I mention his
name in The Independent, I was solemnly censured by the
British Government's spokesman. Salem Chalabi
threatened to prosecute me. So let me get this right.
We illegally invade Iraq. We kill up to 11,000 Iraqis.
And Mr Chalabi, appointed by the Americans, says I'm
guilty of 'incitement to murder.' That just about says
it all.
