Ramzy Baroud well known author and editor of the Palestine Chronicle has written a splendid article on the so called end of the war in Iraq. As usual Baroud applies the basic rules of observation and logic to come to a view that can be relied on. You can view the whole article at link. He commences with a straight forward look at ,” The soldiers of the US 4th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division hollered as they made their way into Kuwait. ‘We won,’ they claimed. ‘It’s over.’ But what exactly did they win? And is the war really over? It seems we are once again walking into the same trap, the same nonsensical assumptions of wars won, missions accomplished, troops withdrawn, and jolly soldiers carrying cardboard signs of heart-warming messages like “Lindsay & Austin … Dad’s coming home.” (George Ikners ikners.com Joomla)
It would take someone with absolutely no sense whatsoever to think that the US will just walk away from the area and leave millions invested in an embassy and the need to get at the oil in the ground. What is happening is that ,” While much of the media is focused on the logistics of the misleading withdrawal of the “last combat brigade” from Iraq on August 19 – some accentuating the fact that the withdrawal is happening two weeks ahead of the August 31 deadline – most of us are guilty of forgetting Iraq and its people. When the economy began to take center stage, we completely dropped the war off our list of grievances.”
The absolute tragedy of war is its basic criminality, but added to that is just how quickly we forget the ‘other side’ including women, children and non combatants. Victory is only ever ‘sweet’ for the victors if that is possible. Normally what happens is the covering up of all the crimes of the victors and the accentuation of the evil of the vanquished.
Baroud reminds the reader that,” Forgetting wars leads to a complete polarization of discourses, thus allowing the crafters of war to sell the public whatever suits their interests and stratagems.” So that the position develops on standard lines particularly in Iraq where the hearts and minds by and large remain against the US and its flunkies in this event, like Australia and others.
As far as the 50,000 troops left Baroud refers to a Washington Post article in the following terms,” In an August 22 Washington Post article entitled “Five myths about the Iraq troop withdrawal”, Kenneth M Pollack unravels the first “myth”: “As of this month, the United States no longer has combat troops in Iran.” Pollack claims this idea is “not even close” because “roughly 50,000 American military personnel remain in Iraq, and the majority are still combat troops – they’re just named something else. The major units still in Iraq will no longer be called “brigade combat teams” and instead will be called “advisory and assistance brigades”. But a rose by any other name is still a rose, and the differences in brigade structure and personnel are minimal.”
But you can be at least a little sure that most will accept the US propaganda and really think that something is happening apart from a basic renaming, otherwise it is still all systems go.
And very importantly what was perhaps classed as the anti war movement regarding Iraq has come to be in a position where, It’s no wonder that the so-called anti-war movement waned significantly after the election of President Barack Obama. The new president merely shifted military priorities from Iraq to Afghanistan. His government is now re-branding the Iraq war, although maintaining the interventionist spirit behind it. It makes perfect sense that the US State Department is now the one in charge of the future mission in Iraq. The occupation of Iraq, while it promises much violence and blood, is now a political scheme. It requires good public relations.”
What really underlies most of this rebranding and propaganda is a US economy that has reached a stage long ago where it is dependent on continually engaging in wars somewhere in the world at any time. All that is needed now for the US to start a war is some half baked fear that someone somewhere may represent a threat to US security.
What the position has become is one where,” The State Department will now supervise future violence in Iraq, which is likely to increase in coming months due to the ongoing political standoff and heightened sectarian divisions. An attack blamed on al-Qaeda in an Iraqi army recruitment center on August 17 claimed 61 lives and wounded many. “Iraqi officials say July saw the deaths of more than 500 people, including 396 civilians, making it the deadliest month for more than two years,” reported Robert Tait in Radio Free Europe.
Since the March elections, Iraq has had no government. The political rift in the country, even among the ruling Shi’ite groups, is large and widening. The disaffected Sunnis have been humiliated and collectively abused because of the misguided claim that they were favored by Saddam. Hate is brewing and the country’s internal affairs are being handled jointly by some of the most corrupt politicians the world has ever known.
Washington understands that it needs to deliver on some of Obama’s many campaign promises before the November elections. Thus the re-branding campaign, which could hide the fact that the US has no real intention of removing itself from the Iraq’s military or political milieus. But since the current number of military personnel might not be enough to handle the deepening security chaos in the country, the new caretakers at the State Department are playing with numbers.
“State Department spokesman P J Crowley said [a] plan would bring to some 7,000 the total security contractors employed by the government in Iraq, where since the 2003 US invasion private security firms have often been accused of acting above the law,” according to Reuters.”
But now as Baroud points out war my way Obama now has the US elections coming up and there is a need to at least make it look like something is happening or has happened. This was truly a war with no exit strategy the same can be said for Afghanistan. All that will happen in both countries is a continuing strong US military presence for any reason that can be dreamed up to suit the US elites that are profiting so heavily from these wars. Of course the people going over there to kill or be killed come last and the position is exactly the same in Australia.
Baroud very correctly concludes that,” War is not about numbers and dates. It’s about people, their rights, their freedom and their future. Re-branding the army and the war will provide none of this for grief-stricken and vulnerable Iraqis. The fact is, no one has won this war. And the occupation is anything but over.”
What this page would remind you of is that the all war commences with a criminal act and continues in the same fashion, so it comes as no surprise to see truth as the first casualty.
George Ikners ikners.com Joomla