Petraeus Tells the Truth by Mistake - The Bounty of Iraq

Yesterday, in Congressional testimony, Petraeus talked about how well the buying off of Sunni insurgents was going. Last year's "Al Quida in Iraq" are this year's "Concerned Citizens". OK, he didn't actually say that. But he did mention a possible motive for the US occupation of Iraq, while talking about those Other people.

He said that the Sunnis were cooperating not just because we were paying them, but because they "want to share in the bounty that is Iraq". Wow! Left unsaid, but very obvious, is who else wants to loot the "bounty that is Iraq".

And today, he was asked about the Iraqi local police forces. First, he talked about Fajullah. I found it interesting. Fajullah is the city that was the victim of extreme American aggression and war crimes. According to Petraus, it is now pacified. He said that it is divided into 10 "gated communities", each with its own police force, backed by Marines. Gated communities? Is that what they are calling concentration camps now? Strategic hamlets didn't work out so well for them?

Anyway, he was asked about corruption in the police forces. First, he called corruption a cultural trait among the Arabs. Boy, I'm glad we have no corruption in the USA, thanks to our large non-Arab population.

Then he said, "Iraq has enormous oil riches and other natural blessings. We have to make sure that the local police force don't succumb to the temptations again to try to get their hands into some of this".

Of course, people who have 150,000 troops in another country and then accuse the neighboring country of "interfering", have no sense of irony or shame, but isn't it also obvious that the US is in Iraq get their hands onto their oil riches and other blessings?