Monday, February 11, 2008

Bush Incompetence in Iraq - Enabling Genocide

Appalled Americans who are incapable of believing the depths of imperialist depravity tend to believe that the Bush administration is "incompetent".

No military response on 9-11, despite numerous warnings? Incompetent. Refusing to evacuate poor people from New Orleans, including telling Amtrak that the trains they had ready were not to be used? Incompetent.

And refusing to guard the weapons depots in Iraq post invasion, and the firing of the Iraqi Army, complete with their weapons? Having Bush taunt insurgents "Bring 'em on!" The inability after 5 years to fix the water and sewer systems, rebuild hospitals and bring electricity back online? The provocations of breaking into people's homes, terrorizing their families, imprisoning their men, humiliating their women and killing their children? Driving their military vehicles at top speed, running over children? Shooting people at random at checkpoints and on the streets? Killing people's dogs, chickens and goats and bulldozing their date palms and crops? Incompetent.

But what if it isn't? After all, 9-11 was turned into a triumph for Bush! The corporate media twisted the attack into a symbol of Republican homeland security strength! The Patriot Act, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Military Commissions Act, Homeland Security itself, all came on the coattails of 9-11. That's not incompetent.

A week after Katrina, the city was emptied of its poor and black population, and they were dispersed around the country. They still aren't back. That's not incompetent. Think about it. If they hadn't been locked inside those stifling hot buildings without food or water, would they have gotten on those buses so willingly?

Remember that the invasion of Iraq was billed as self defense to protect America from weapons of mass destruction. Hundreds of millions of informed people around the world knew this was bullshit long before the invasion. US officials admitted it shortly after. Bush joked about it in 2003. He thought it was funny.

Now the US has an enormous embassy in Iraq and massive permanent bases. They have electricity and water and sewer, so we know that the US is capable of building such things.
Enron is about to be handed a contract to pump Iraq's oil. What is incompetent about this?

Think about it. If the Iraqis had not fought back, what reason could the US give for staying there and establishing permanent beachheads? Once the weapons were not found, the US should have gotten out.

But, the provocations to the Iraqi people, coupled with the arming of the Iraqi people, ensured that a resistance would develop, and it did. Of course, at first, the Iraqis were united against the US occupation. That changed when John Negroponte, veteran of the dirty wars in Central America in the 1980s, became ambassador, along with his partner in crime, James Steele. The US openly discussed the "Salvadorean Option".

All of a sudden, there were death squads and sectarian violence. Now we're told that we entered a civil war, and must stay to supervise it.

In the meantime, Iraqis are dying not just from the war, but from cholera and diseases. They are malnourished from the US cutting off their food rations. 3,000,000 of them have left the country (out of 25,000,000). Soon there won't be many to fight against the US occupation and looting.

This is genocide. But it's not incompetent, if the goal was always to take over Iraq.

1 comment:

Flimsy Sanity said...

It is almost impossible to find a corrupt government that has benign intentions. Excellent synopsis of the whole mess. I am quoting you on my well read (3 regulars) blog - thanks.