Okay, so the Bushites had their yesmen at the UN find a few empty “chemical warheads,” which are not warheads (those fit on missiles) but artillery shells, and now we’re supposed to think this is evidence of Saddam’s homicidal intent when in fact under the terms of the 12-year old sanctions Iraq is allowed to have short range missiles (150 km) and artillery pieces for self-defense. The corporate media wants us to believe these empty shells — which contained absolutely nothing and if they had contained deadly chemicals not one UN inspector would have gone near them without a chem suit — these measly empty green artillery shells are more than enough evidence for Bush to “trigger” his long planned attack (not war, mind you, because in a war two sides slug it out and Iraq is simply incapable of slugging anything out with anybody).
So this is it. Finally Dubya will get his war (or lopsided attack).
In a week or so Blix and Mohammed el-Baradei will report on whether Iraq has weapons of mass destruction. So far they have not found much except these paltry and quite pathetic empty artillery shells. Nonetheless, the Bushites are expecting a tidal wave of damning information (they are masters at converting mole hills into mountains — or in a pinch inventing preposterous lies). “We must not shrink from our duties and our responsibilities when the material comes before us next week,” said US Secretary of State Colin Powell. “We cannot be shocked into impotence because we are afraid of the difficult choices that are ahead of us… I wanted there to be no mistake about this, and time is running out.” In other words, after Blix and his boys deliver their report the world had best brace itself for mass destruction and mass murder in Iraq.
If anybody understands the Bushite mindset it is insider Bob Novak. “Well, if we don’t hit in Iraq, where are we going to hit?” a nameless Bushite asked Novak recently. Sure, it’s about the oil — but it’s more about Bush wanting to show the world what a hard ass he is. “They want a war as a manifestation of U.S. power in the world and as a sign that the United States is capable of changing the balance of power and the political map of the Middle East,” Novak explained on Capital Gang. The handful of empty shells, Novak said, are “being used as a pretext for a decision that’s already been made at high levels of the U.S. government to change the government in Iraq. It has nothing to do with, boy, we’re — we are really worried about these little chemical warheads that’s going to cause a holocaust in the Middle East.”
Oil is the bonus prize.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said he would be “delighted” if Hussein chose exile as an alternative to military conflict with Iraq — but really doesn’t mean it. “To avoid a war I would personally recommend that some provision be made so that the senior leadership and their families could be provided haven in some other country,” Rumsfeld said on ABC. British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said Rumsfeld’s suggestion to offer a safe haven in exchange for averting war was a “sensible suggestion.” But it’s all smoke and mirrors. Bush’s worst nightmare is Saddam going down in a coup or packing his bags and catching the next plane to Mauritania or Belarus. If that happened Bush would have no reason to invade. It would throw a monkey wrench in the works of world domination.
Dubya has all his ducks set up nicely in a row. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay is one such duck. “I don’t think a few thousand protesters out of 270 million people is going to change the American people’s minds,” said DeLay as he emerged from a meeting with Lockheed-Martin representatives. “The president is going to do the right thing. They can protest until the cows come home.” Of course, when DeLay mentions the American people, he’s talking about his friends at Lockheed Martin and fat cat Texan contractors (and the eight current policymakers that had direct or indirect ties to the death merchant before joining the Bush administration).
Never mind that a recent poll by the Pew Research Center indicates most Americans think there is no justification for Bush’s Iraq attack. DeLay and all the other Republicans (and their rolled-over Democrat colleagues) are standing up to be counted in the Bush’s murder conspiracy and in no way do they represent the vast majority of Americans who think the idea of attacking Iraq is wrong. All those Americans need do is pay their war taxes and donate their children to die (or suffer in the years to come from Gulf War Syndrome II). If every last one of the 270 million Americans DeLay mentioned were against the Bush’s impending attack it would not make a lick of difference.
It really does not matter if Bush considers the “empty warheads” found at the Ukhaider ammunition dump in Iraq a “material breach” or not. It’s irrelevant. The Bush neocons have made no secret of their perverse desire to wage unending war against the rest of the world. In the weeks to come chances are more “warheads” will be found in Iraq — and in the nick of time — because time is running out for Bush. No way in hell will he go into the election next year without a war under his belt. We can only hope he screws up so badly the people throw him out on his ear come 2004 — that is if they are allowed to throw him out (there’s no shortage of rabid right wing Supreme Court justices and paperless voting machines these days).
Cross your fingers and hope Dubya makes the same mistakes his daddy made.
KURT NIMMO is a photographer and multimedia developer in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Visit his excellent online gallery. He can be reached at: nimmo@zianet.com
We highly recommend regular visits to Nimmo’s website, Another Day in the Empire