US President George W Bush addressing the crisis in the world’s financial sector:
“Wall Street got drunk. It got drunk and now it’s got a hangover. The question is, how long will it sober up and not try to do all these fancy financial instruments?”
Later, an interpretation by the White House press secretary:
“He said that Wall Street was dealing with very complex financial instruments and that the markets didn’t fully understand the risks that those instruments posed to the system.”
One of the most frustrating aspects of the US presidential election campaign of late has been the lies of both candidates with regard to the situation in Iraq.
McCain smirks as he repeatedly affirms “the surge has worked. Violence in Baghdad is down…..”
Conversely, Obama doesn’t accept the surge has been a success, but still insists it’s fine to pull US troops out within sixteen months.
The truth of Iraq is somewhat different from the portrayal of the American media and politicians. McCain may well argue US military deaths have drastically reduced since the surge, and that alone constitutes success. Many Americans, those who don’t give a damn for Iraq or its people, would certainly agree. It’s hard to blame them when virtually every news channel in the US blatantly and deliberately ignores the continuing death toll of Iraqis, while rejoicing in the lower mortality rates of its own invading forces.
McCain is wrong when he states the surge has been successful. It hasn’t brought peace to Iraq, only subjugation. Many parts of Baghdad, and other Iraqi cities, are segregated into enclaves surrounded by concrete walls.
Europe once forced its Jews into ghettos. Almost six centuries later, the Americans have constructed ghettos in Iraq. Shiites and Sunnis are walled apart. Access in and out restricted to pass-holders only.
It’s a policy that has worked fine for the Israelis, confining and restricting Palestinians with concrete barriers and checkpoints at every turn. America has learned from Israel’s stratagems and employed similar tactics in Iraq.
Only, there weren’t enough troops in the country to deal with the insurgency and build the ghettos, so they invented ‘the surge’, and imported enough military manpower to ensure the job could be done adequately.
George W Bush was right to say it was only a temporary measure. Once the citizens were walled in, a lesser number of troops could maintain control, using US/Israeli style terror tactics as required. Tactics already used twice in Fallujah to devastating effect in 2004, leading “….to the destruction of approximately 75 percent of the city, thousands of civilian deaths, and the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people…..” according to an IPS report last Monday.
Is Fallujah about to experience yet another atrocity? Certainly, its citizens seem to think so.
Until quite recently, Fallujah was hailed as a model of security by the US media. A shining example of the success of the ‘surge’.
Two days ago, IPS reported:
“In the face of U.S. military claims of improved security, violence has been rising by the day this month. The city has now been placed under tight curfew while U.S. and Iraqi military forces prepare for a new offensive, according to the local Azzaman daily.
Iraqi security forces have established new checkpoints around the city and are forbidding movement of people and traffic. Pick-up trucks are roaming the city warning residents that al-Qaeda has once again infiltrated Fallujah.
Iraqi police officers insist that the situation is under control despite the “occasional incidents that take place all over Iraq.” The indications on the ground belie these claims………Iraqi police and troops from other areas are being deployed in the city in what police officials say is a build-up for a huge offensive. U.S. occupation forces are on the ready in nearby bases.
The government in Baghdad has made it clear that direct U.S. military involvement is critical for an “imminent offensive” in Fallujah, sources in the Iraqi military have been quoted as saying in Iraqi media…….everyone IPS spoke with in the city expressed fear of an impending attack.
There are meanwhile no signs of improvement of any other kind in Fallujah. Walls now divide the city into sectarian sections, with poverty, unemployment and suffering on all sides.”
The surge has not worked. McCain is wrong, and worst of all, he knows it. The American people are not being told the truth. Meanwhile, Obama spins the situation for his own political gain.
Motives are at the root of most actions. Often they are well-intentioned. Usually they are easy to figure out, blatant in some instances. Sometimes, though, human beings can take actions that defy logic, astound common sense, and leave the rest of us wondering just what the hell that person thinks they are playing at.
In a recent article, I suggested the British prime minister, Gordon Brown, might do himself some good in the eyes of the British people if he had the balls to denounce the present US administration for its torture of prisoners from Iraq and Afghanistan.
Today, Gordon Brown revealed to the world his total lack of testicular organs, by groveling to the Israeli Knesset in a speech some Western journalists described as ‘gushing’. It was, quite obviously, an attempt to curry favor; more likely with Washington than Jerusalem.[1]
Brown, overshadowed by his predecessor’s wile and cunning, has had problems vanquishing the specter of Tony Blair, still haunting the halls of Westminster. By addressing the Israeli parliament Brown has carved for himself a tiny niche in history, as the first British prime minister ever to do so.
It may prove a dubious honor.
The world’s press this week made much of the talks between Iran and European diplomats desperate to find a solution to the problem of Iran’s continuing uranium enrichment. The hype accompanying the talks was caused largely by news of a US representative sitting in on the meeting. It was viewed as a small step towards the thawing of Iranian/US relations. While no firm deal was forthcoming, both sides agreed to consider proposals and meet again.
Days after that meeting, Gordon Brown marched into the Israeli Knesset, and announced:
“”For the whole of my life, I have counted myself as a friend of Israel……to those who question Israel’s very right to exist, and threaten the lives of its citizens through terror, we say: the people of Israel have a right to live here, to live freely and to live in security…….to those who are enemies of progress we say: we condemn anti-Semitism and persecution in all its forms.
To those who believe that threatening statements fall upon indifferent ears we say in one voice – it is totally abhorrent for the president of Iran to call for Israel to be wiped from the map of the world.”
For a world leader to make such a statement at this time smacks not just of arrogance, but utter stupidity. By his actions and words, Brown has proved himself unworthy, both as leader and a representative of the United Kingdom.
It would seem that in Gordon Brown the UK has acquired a Scottish version of George W Bush, the only other national leader known for frequent blatant faux pas and political indelicacy.
Brown, like all other world leaders, knows full well that Iranian president Ahmadinejad never used the words “wiped from the map of the world” in reference to Israel.[2] Western media hyped up a mis-translation that has been used repeatedly against the Iranian regime.
Yesterday, was not a time to resurrect it; the Knesset was certainly not the place.
We are left begging the question: what were Brown’s motives?
Gordon Brown knows he can never be another Tony Blair. He lacks Blair’s personality, style, and charisma. Most of all, he falls way short in intelligence and common sense. His principles are indoctrinal, rather than acquired through intellect and logic.
He longs for the adulation and stardom his predecessor commanded on the world’s stage, but knows he’ll never achieve it. As with George W Bush, his popularity ratings at home have reached an all-time low.
Personal recognition often comes at a price, and for Gordon Brown being the ‘first’ in Israel is perhaps the greatest recognition he will ever achieve.
The price he may pay, so far as the rest of the world is concerned, is to flop into the pages of history as “just another George ‘Dubya’ Bush.”
