“The war in Iraq is the most important liberal,
revolutionary U.S. democracy-building project since the Marshall Plan. It is one of the noblest things this country has ever attempted abroad.”Thomas Freidman, New York Times
“It will have blood, they say; blood will have blood.”
Macbeth Act 3, Scene 4
The administration couldn’t be guiltier in the deaths of the 143 Iraqis who died yesterday in Bagdad and Karbala, then if George Bush had lined them up against a wall and shot them one by one. That is how we judge what happened yesterday in moral terms.
The Administration, in characteristic fashion, is trying to distance itself from the bombings by shifting the blame to shadowy “foreign terrorists,” like al-Zakwari.
What difference would that make?
No one really cares to hear the new litany of excuses from the bunglers in the White House. The unavoidable fact is that there was no terrorism in Iraq prior to the invasion, which means that the US presence is the principle source of this new phenomenon and they must deal with it; period.
The United States has reneged on its most basic responsibility under the Geneva Conventions; to provide security for the occupied people. The carnage in the streets is a fair indication of the magnitude of their failure.
And we shouldn’t place the blame entirely on George Bush either. Those were John Kerry’s bombs going off in Baghdad, and John Edwards’s bombs detonating in Karbala. Anyone who signed on to this illegal war and this murderous occupation needs to accept responsibility for the mayhem they’ve created. They’ve turned Iraqi society on its ear and left a swath of dead bodies from Mosul to Basra.
This is the real meaning of the congressional resolution which passed more than a year ago today; that Faustian deal with our illegitimate President to wreak havoc on an ancient society. Now, body parts are littering the streets like confetti and the Bush people are pointing the finger at Al Qaida. It’s sickening.
Senators and congressman should try to measure how much political mileage they got from signing that resolution compared to the suffering it has caused.
Was it worth it?
Has their patriotism been vindicated on the bodies of dead Iraqis?
Would they still support the “liberation of Iraq”?
The horrific events of the day only highlight the fact that the Bush Administration is sticking to its original deadline of June 30 to hand over “sovereignty” to the Iraqi people.
How many times have we heard that old canard?
And what would “sovereignty” look like?
Would it allow the people of Iraq to choose their own form of government and conduct free elections without US intervention?
Would it allow the Iraqis to control the flow of oil and their other national assets?
Would it empower Iraq to decide for itself whether the US should end the occupation and go home?
Or is it just a carefully crafted plan to withdraw American troops beyond the urban perimeters and let the Iraqis “get on” with the business of killing each other?
Make no mistake, the Bush Administration is “washing its hands” of the Iraqi quagmire. They know what they came for, and they are not going to waste time playing cop on the beat.
The carnage yesterday is just a prelude to what’s coming after June 30.
Chaos, misery and death; the three cornerstones of the Bush “Global Democratic Revolution.”
Welcome to the New World Order.
MIKE WHITNEY can be reached at: fergiewhitney@msn.com