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CounterPunch
September
5, 2002
War Begins; Nobody Notices
by Wayne Saunders
Normally, the title for this column
could be a headline for The Onion, that hilarious, irreverent
Wisconsin publication that twists
things around in order to hint at some absurd reality. The Onion
presents fake news and commentary, poking fun at politics, culture,
or whatever. Nothing is off limits and they do a great job, so
normally my title could serve as one of their satirical jumping
off points. After all, how could the US deploy hundreds of thousands
of troops overseas and begin operations in Northern Iraq without
around the clock coverage on CNN? How absurd!
Well, no actually. Of what do I speak?
For starters we must go offshore, or more accurately, online,
to a piece entitled "In all but name only, the war's on",
by Marc Erikson in The Asia Times, filed on Aug. 17. He notes
that back in January, when Bush began talking about "regime
change" in Iraq, he signed an intelligence order directing
the CIA to topple Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein (as a footnote,
this violates US law, but as expected there was very little ballyhoo
about that). At the time there were approximately 50,000 US and
British troops surrounding Iraq.
According to Erickson and numerous overseas
reports, that number has quietly grown to well over 100,000 US
troops in and around Iraq. This does not include soldiers, sailors
and airmen within the expanded theatre of operations. There have
been two main acceleration points: March and June. A new airfield
is operational in Qatar and thousands of US troops are working
with local forces in Iraqi Kurdistan, mapping out targets, and
covertly planning what will be the long awaited major escalation
of a campaign already under way. There's more, much more. On
August 9, the Turkish daily, Hurriyet, reported that 5,000 Turkish
troops entered northern Iraq and took over a key airbase, north
of Mosul.
Meanwhile the Jordanian news agency Petra
counts thousands more US troops present to conduct joint exercises
with the Jordanian army. Still thousands more have been added
to Kuwait. If you add in the surrounding region, including allied
troops, the number deployed or ready to attack on short notice
may reach upwards of 400,000. So where are the nightly reports
showing tearful loved ones waiving goodbye as their beloved sons
and daughters embark on the latest crusade against the evil doers?
Undoubtedly many units are being re-assigned, but many more are
shipping out under stealth, seemingly without notice. All we
seem to hear about is the stepped up bombing campaign. But then
what better way to start a new war, than to clandestinely create
a military situation with unstoppable momentum?
So the war is on, begun in cloaked fashion
as it were, during the dog days of summer.
Given these developments overseas, the
factional in-fighting within the Bush administration concerning
war with Iraq should be viewed not as a major turf war, but more
as a low level distraction (I will eat those words if Colin Powell
were to resign before his term is complete, preferably pre-invasion).
In fact what the media circus has achieved this summer is concealment
of the aforementioned troop deployments, their actual missions,
and the actual strategy. What fellow pundit John Chuckman, calls
"geopolitics by an idiot" was undoubtedly planned months
ago. Even cursory research outside the bounds of acceptable reporting
leads to the inevitable conclusion that it's not a question of
"if" or "when" the US attacks Iraq. Earth
to the North American media: it's already begun!
Historically, "the guns of August"
is not exactly an original, and yet in the age of instant global
communication, one marvels at the truly Orwellian performance.
It advances under a barrage of distortions, half-truths and outright
lies unleashed daily in order to justify blatant aggression.
The White House knows there is no proof linking Iraq to the events
of Sept. 11, and they know the anthrax attacks were, mysteriously,
domestic. Shared hatred of the United States fails to connect
Saddam's tyrannical secular state with Osama's stateless, fanatical
Islam.
Meanwhile, there is the personal testimony
of former chief UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter, who claims
that Saddam's weapons of mass destruction are largely disarmed,
that the "Iraqi threat" is built upon a framework of
deceit, and that a "handful of ideologues have hijacked
the national security policy of the United States for their own
ambitions."
And lets not forget Iraq's coveted oil
reserves.
Rather than closely examining any such
motives, or the wisdom, legality, or necessity of an unprovoked
invasion of Iraq, and the certainty of increased misery, mayhem
and regional destabilization, the media prefer to fix their gaze
upon the timing of such an attack, on possible military strategies,
and of course those divisions within the Bush administration.
It all makes for good gossip amongst the chattering classes (ok,
some of it is downright interesting, like how a small cabal of
hawks centered in the civilian offices of the Pentagon, along
with Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol have essentially high-jacked
US foreign policy). But focusing on questions such as whether
or not Dubya will attack before the November mid-term elections,
or wait until early next year, only serve to deflect attention
from ominous developments on the ground that, in more honest
times, we'd hear at least something about (as late as Sept. 1,
the Toronto Star repeated the official story that a mere 60,000
US troops are currently in the region).
Appointed by the high court, the Bush
cabal is as dangerous a sect as has ever ruled the republic;
the best and the brightest ideologues the Hard Right can offer.
It's time to awaken from summer slumber, admit that they've begun
a totally predictable and unnecessary war on Iraq, one that flies
in the face of minimal morality as well as logic. Against the
wishes of nearly the entire planet, they are determined to proceed,
no matter what.
A precarious situation, it merely awaits
a catalyst, planned or otherwise, for a "justified"
escalation. Look for the implanting of Gulf War II psychosis
within the malleable American psyche with Bush's speech to the
UN general assembly on Sept. 12. In the coming weeks, it is expected
that the propaganda offensive will rev up to full throttle.
The absurdity of the situation reminds
us that a little levity is good for the soul, even during dire
times. Thankfully The Onion continues to pull no punches in its
social satire, post 9- 11, despite the fact that these are not
normal times, and quite clearly, this is a not a normal administration
in Washington. And yet there is nothing funny about deceiving
a population into fighting a war they would not support if only
a few simple facts were laid bare, and if relevant developments
were actually being noted by the media, this side of the pond.
At the risk of losing one's sense of humour during dire times,
we must face the fact that reality has truly eclipsed satire.
It may be the first step towards resisting
all this madness.
Wayne Saunders
is a freelance writer. He can be reached at planetway@netscape.net
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