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CounterPunch
March 31,
2003
Truth is the
First Victim of War
The Devil's Dictionary
By URI AVNERY
Yet some more thoughts about the war.
The Coalition.
No name could be more appropriate to
the cooperation between the United States and the United Kingdom
against Iraq.
In "The Devil's Dictionary"
of the American humorist Ambrose Bierce, published some 100 years
ago, "coalition" is defined as (I quote from memory)
the cooperation between two thieves who have their hands so deep
in each others pockets that they cannot rob a third person separately.
Reconstructionists.
The problem of the Brits and the Americans
is that they are possessed by an unquenchable thirst for reconstructing.
They dream about it day and night. They
cannot think and speak about anything else.
Trouble is, in order to rebuild something
one has to demolish it first. No destruction, no reconstruction.
Therefore the British, together with
the Americans, are occupied with destroying Iraq systematically.
Missile and bombs, tanks and artillery, ships and infantry--everything
is employed in order to facilitate the reconstruction of the
country.
The main objective of the urge for reconstruction
is, of course, Baghdad. A city of five million people, miles
upon miles of buildings and streets, which can be reconstructed
after their demolition. If Baghdad becomes indeed the site of
Stalingrad-style street fighting, house after house, street after
street, there will be indeed a lot to reconstruct.
The New Mongols.
The appetite for rebuilding separates
the new conquerors from their predecessors, the Mongols, who
conquered Baghdad in 1258, killed the Caliph (who had already
surrendered) and destroyed the city completely, after butchering
all the inhabitants, men, women and babies.
They did not bring with them reconstruction
crews, but laid waste to Iraq. The irrigation canals that had
been built throughout thousands of years of civilization were
devastated. The event has gone down in history as one of the
biggest disasters ever to befall the Arab world.
By the way, two years later the Muslims
annihilated the Mongol army in the battle of Ein-Jalud (today's
kibbutz Ein-Harod), a major chapter in Palestininian history.
That was the end of the Mongols in the Middle East, but the region
never recovered from the Mongol devastation to this very day.
Demolish and profit.
Apart from the idealist aim of helping
the Iraqi people, there is also a more material side to reconstruction.
It will be huge business. The big American corporations--some
of which are connected with the paladins of the Bush administration--are
already quarreling about the spoils. They will, of course, allow
no foreigners to come into this. To quote an American saying:
"To the victors belong the spoils".
A rather obnoxious sight: even before
the Iraqi towns are destroyed, corporate giants are dividing
among themselves the profits of their rebuilding.
Humanitarians.
The unquenchable idealism of the Anglo-Americans
finds its expression also in the drive for humanitarian aid.
This is becoming quite an obsession. Humanitarian aid must be
brought to the Iraqi people, whether they want it or not.
The inhabitants of Basra do not want
the promised aid? Ha, we'll see about that. We shall bomb them,
starve them--until they open their gates and allow the humanitarian
aid in. After all, one cannot aid people as long as the city
is controlled by the evil Saddam, cursed be his name, whose only
aim is to prevent humanitarian aid from reaching his people.
The coalition could, of course, drop
food and water - instead of bombs - from the air. One could also
arrange for a short cease-fire, so as to bring the humanitarian
aid into the besieged city. But that has been forbidden by Donald
Rumsfeld, another great humanitarian. So there is really no alternative
but to bomb them until they are ripe for aid.
Masters and natives.
As a preview of the humanitarian aid
to come after the occupation of Basra, the British have distributed
a film about the arrival of aid to a village on the way. They
were so satisfied with this piece of reporting, that they ran
it dozens of times on TV.
It looks like this: a British truck brings
food and water. The villagers, mainly desperate women and children,
besiege the truck. They beg for water. The soldiers distribute
mineral water to the maddened crowd--one bottle to every child
and woman. After days of thirst, one (one!) liter per family.
The whole scene is nauseating. The hunger
and thirst of the population, caught in the middle of the fighting,
are exploited for crude propaganda. The British look again as
they have always looked in Iraq: overbearing colonial masters,
doing a favor to the natives. For every Arab beholder, this is
the ultimate humiliation.
Robbing for the robbed. In order to finance
everything--the destruction, the reconstruction, the humanitarian
aid and what not--money is needed. Where will it come from? From
the Iraqi oil, of course.
Therefore, it is the humanitarian duty
of the Americans to take hold of the oil fields as quickly as
possible. Not for their own good, perish the thought, but for
the Iraqis. In order to help them and do good.
Every child knows by now that this war
is about oil. The US intends to take possession of the Iraqi
reserves, the second largest in the world (after the Saudi reserves),
and control the neighboring reserves of the Caspian Sea, Iran
and the Gulf. Now it appears that it is all for the benefit of
the Iraqi people themselves. So that they shall have something
to eat and medicines for the children.
All this after the UN sanctions, imposed
as demanded by the Americans, that have for many years caused
general malnutrition, the death of hundred of thousands of children
from hunger and disease and the destruction of the Iraqi infrastructure
- all in the name of "oil for food".
Oh, Orwell, Orwell.
What would he have said about this war?
In his book "1984", he had
the Ministry of Truth coin phrases like "War is Peace",
Freedom is Slavery" and "Ignorance is Power".
He would be right at home in this war.
Occupation is Liberation, War is a Humane
Duty, Toppling a foreign government is Regime Change, Starvation
is Humanitarian Aid, Struggle against a foreign invader is Serving
a Tyrant, Bombing a city is Service to the People.
Truth is always the first victim of any
war. But it seems that in this particular war it suffers even
more than usual. Mendacity, hypocrisy, dis-information and plain
brainwashing are having a ball. Four-star generals parrot manifestly
mendacious slogans, star-journalist from all over the world accept
them eagerly, world TV networks repeat them diligently and the
Israeli media lap it all up.
Bon appetite.
Uri Avnery
has closely followed the career of Sharon for four decades. Over
the years, he has written three extensive biographical essays
about him, two (1973, 1981) with his cooperation. Avnery is featured
in the new book, The
Other Israel: Voices of Refusal and Dissent.
Yesterday's
Features
Ben Tripp
Blood
for Oil: the Exchange Rate
Cathy Breens
Report from Baghdad: Mothers, Kids and Crash Kits
Scott Handleman
Fourth
Generation Protesting: Shutting Down San Francisco
Vanessa Jones
Paint
Them Red
Brian J. Foley
Patriotic
Protest for Professors
Zoltan Grossman
After Saddam, a War on Iraqi Rebels?
Philip S. Golub
Inventing Demons
Richard Lichtman
On the Current Experience of Terror
Milan Rai
Blitz-Coup
Pepe Escobar
A Cheap Family Farce
Floyd Rudmin
The Nightmare at the Back Door: Nuclear Plant's as Terror Targets
Chris Floyd
See Rome (poem)
Website of the War
Iraq
Body Count
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