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.
Fallujah remains America’s Gaza.
[1] “IRAQ: Fallujah Braces for Another Assault” IPS, July 21st 2008
Filed under: Forgotten Iraq
Everybody agrees that the surge is a success. How can you possibly doubt it? The Iraqis are very happy and very peaceful and very free. Soon, there will be barrels more of oil than there ever was and the economy will boom. All those refugees will be coming home to peace and security and electricity that never fails and schools that graduate model students. It will be a shining beacon of democracy.
This is the new Age of Aquarius. And it’s just as fictional as the 1960s version.
Colour me paranoid, but it sounds to me like a controlled experiment in genocidal weaponry.
So let me get this straight. Over a million Iraqis were collateral damage. Another million are on the hoof. At least 100,000 were orphaned but that’s OK because Syria needed some fresh sex slaves. Their cities and priceless artifacts were destroyed, their oil was stolen, the Berlin Wall and Gaza have been moved and re-installed and the mission is a complete success. Rrrrrrrright.
XO
WWW
Al – you mean….you didn’t believe in the 1960’s Age of Aquarius? I believed in it so much I don’t remember a thing about it.
Anan – surely, the Pentagon has to find somebody to test its weapons on? Otherwise, how would they know if they worked properly? After all, if they don’t test them ‘over there’, they may have to test them ‘over here’. Didn’t George W Bush once say something about that?
WWW – not quite straight. Your figure of 100,000 orphans is actually a little low – the figure is 4.5 MILLION! [Source]
Kinda takes your breath away, doesn’t it?
RJA:
I meant to say Syria had taken 100,000 of these orphans off their hands as fresh sex slaves. I would have said 2 million orphans. 4.5! Surge and stabilization is an even better success than I thought….
XO
WWW