"But...But...the Schools! We Painted the Schools!"
The Emperor in Chief, the Vice-Emperor, and the Associate Emperor in Charge of Blowing Things Up have all been busy this past week assuring us that things are going swimmingly in Iraq. The only problem, say the three wise men, is that the US press insists in giving us only the bad news (IEDs exploding and killing US service men and women and innocent Iraqis, mass graves filled during the "sectarian struggles" that are part of any new democracy). Bad US press, bad!
Just to make sure that the three wise men weren't just putting me on, I hopped over to Watching America check out what other countries' press had to say. I wasn't too surprised by what I found. One of the articles was from Columbia's El Pais.
According to initial planning, Iraq should by now be a peaceful, stable and representative democracy, and should be serving as an example to dictators and authoritarian governments around the Middle East.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Today, Iraq is in such chaos, no one is at all sure how to handle it. In spite of establishing a constitution and holding general elections, the truth is that there is no effective government, a strong, generalized insurrection predominates, religious clashes are the order of the day, and the number of dead Iraqis can be counted by the tens of thousands.
...Everything has failed. The arguments for invading Iraq have been proven false to the hilt. The deposing of Saddam Hussein, a bloody dictator, has not brought peace to the country. The opposition to the war and the presence of foreign troops is no longer an issue for the Iraqi insurgents only, but now extends to the entire world. Enormous demonstrations in the streets of London, Baghdad, Basora, New York, Madrid, Rome, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto and Dublin occurred on Saturday, demanding the peaceful solution to this conflict.
Even John Sawers, Political Director of the British Foreign Office, said after a long on-the-ground inspection, "American forces are not providing leadership, there is no strategy, no coordination, and no structure. The situation is one of incredible disorganization."
Ethnic cleansing has begun in regions with mixed populations, while Sunnis and Shiites destroy themselves under the impotent gaze of the occupation army. Nothing is fine: it isn't even possible in the most secure areas to have 24-hour electrical service.
The only thing that appears to work well is business. Not for the Iraqis, but for the large multinational corporations with contracts to fill the enormous supply orders needed to sustain the invading armies. And to be sure, although with some difficulty, the flow of petroleum continues. This is where one should look for the true causes of this war that so far, no one else has been able to benefit from.
As always happens in cases where economic interests mix with politics, it is the people of Iraq who are suffering ... [Emphasis added]
Well, now...it appears that the US press is not alone in noting the disaster that the Iraq invasion has become. What is especially interesting to me is that this article did not come from a Middle East country, or from an Islamic country, but rather from a country here in the Americas. I'm sure part of the reason El Pais felt no compunction about this rather bold excoriation is the general disrespect shown Latin America by this regime. However, the analysis is dead on.
Sooner or later, the current regime is going to have to face the fact that nobody, not even our traditional allies, believes this war is going well. It's not going well, and it won't go well until it is ended by the removal of the occupying forces.
I'm sure the Iraqi people would be perfectly happy to paint their own schools.
Just to make sure that the three wise men weren't just putting me on, I hopped over to Watching America check out what other countries' press had to say. I wasn't too surprised by what I found. One of the articles was from Columbia's El Pais.
According to initial planning, Iraq should by now be a peaceful, stable and representative democracy, and should be serving as an example to dictators and authoritarian governments around the Middle East.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Today, Iraq is in such chaos, no one is at all sure how to handle it. In spite of establishing a constitution and holding general elections, the truth is that there is no effective government, a strong, generalized insurrection predominates, religious clashes are the order of the day, and the number of dead Iraqis can be counted by the tens of thousands.
...Everything has failed. The arguments for invading Iraq have been proven false to the hilt. The deposing of Saddam Hussein, a bloody dictator, has not brought peace to the country. The opposition to the war and the presence of foreign troops is no longer an issue for the Iraqi insurgents only, but now extends to the entire world. Enormous demonstrations in the streets of London, Baghdad, Basora, New York, Madrid, Rome, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto and Dublin occurred on Saturday, demanding the peaceful solution to this conflict.
Even John Sawers, Political Director of the British Foreign Office, said after a long on-the-ground inspection, "American forces are not providing leadership, there is no strategy, no coordination, and no structure. The situation is one of incredible disorganization."
Ethnic cleansing has begun in regions with mixed populations, while Sunnis and Shiites destroy themselves under the impotent gaze of the occupation army. Nothing is fine: it isn't even possible in the most secure areas to have 24-hour electrical service.
The only thing that appears to work well is business. Not for the Iraqis, but for the large multinational corporations with contracts to fill the enormous supply orders needed to sustain the invading armies. And to be sure, although with some difficulty, the flow of petroleum continues. This is where one should look for the true causes of this war that so far, no one else has been able to benefit from.
As always happens in cases where economic interests mix with politics, it is the people of Iraq who are suffering ... [Emphasis added]
Well, now...it appears that the US press is not alone in noting the disaster that the Iraq invasion has become. What is especially interesting to me is that this article did not come from a Middle East country, or from an Islamic country, but rather from a country here in the Americas. I'm sure part of the reason El Pais felt no compunction about this rather bold excoriation is the general disrespect shown Latin America by this regime. However, the analysis is dead on.
Sooner or later, the current regime is going to have to face the fact that nobody, not even our traditional allies, believes this war is going well. It's not going well, and it won't go well until it is ended by the removal of the occupying forces.
I'm sure the Iraqi people would be perfectly happy to paint their own schools.
posted by Diane at 9:42 AM
2 Comments:
you are indefatigable, dahlin...you find the best stuff...
Luvs ya, cohort!
The idea of blaming the media for the disaster in Iraq is absurd. Gee, there's so much good news we never see! Yeah, like live coverage of American troops in caskets, troops mutilated and moaning after being hit by an IUD, Iraqi children's body parts spread all over the place.
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