On fire and running America's interference in Iraq

DOMINIC MARCELLO

How’s that Operation Iraqi Freedom doing nowadays? Are the Iraqis free to determine their futures? Are they free from suffering and torture? Did the whole fear-induced war-frenzy bring about an everlasting “peace” that everyone seems to talk so highly of? No? Why not?

Maybe it’s just because, on the same level as every other American-led “regime change” the whole thing is a joke without a punch line. A joke that no one gets, and even the people that are laughing do it out of embarrassment for not understanding it. The intended purpose, after all, has never been, and never could have been to create a true “democracy.” Since of course, a real democracy is brought about internally, and not from foreign occupation.

The American interventions in the Philippines, Guatemala, Chile, Panama, Nicaragua, Iran and Vietnam highlight the hostile and arrogant nature of the United States. This trend indicates, without reservation, that the goal is to create through hostile action a satellite nation that will act as a military outpost, be at the total mercy of U.S. authority, and work to protect U.S. commercial and political interests.

The Iraqis’ suffering is not diminishing and their torture is daily. The only true difference is that the source is applying terror more directly this time. For it was the self-declared “nation under God” supplying Hussein with those chemical weapons and subsequently turning a blind eye to his methods of repression. Not that they didn’t know what was happening, but they wanted to “assist” Iraq, since it was at a disadvantage in its war of attrition with Iran.

To show their support at the time, Donald Rumsfeld even had a meeting with Hussein in Baghdad on Dec. 20, 1983 as part of a Reagan special envoy.More than a month and a half before this meeting, it was well known, and disclosed in a Department of State memo dated Nov. 1, 1983, that Iraq appeared to be using chemical weapons “almost daily.”

Of course, the memo, declassified and published on gwu.edu, was not completely without concern. It goes further to say that Iraq should be approached “very soon” though not to protect innocent lives, but to “maintain the credibility of U.S. policy on chemical weapons” and to “reduce or halt” their use.

Unfortunately now, as it was then, U.S. involvement benefits the Iraqi people very little. If “Iraqi Freedom” was the legitimate purpose, no lies would need to be told of phantom weapons. The intervention would have had worldwide support, and not just from

The manipulative fears being spread that a military departure from Iraq will cause more bloodshed is hypocritical, there’s already a great loss of life, and the past four years prove that the longer the U.S. stays, the worse it will get.

countries that are indebted to or would like to be looked upon favourably by the United States. Most of all, the U.S., military wouldn’t have to hire public relations or propaganda agencies like the American-based Lincoln Group to write positive “news” stories and have them printed discreetly in newspapers like they were written by an Iraqi.

Such deliberate, unrestrained use of violence and the resulting carnage will breed animosity and create the conditions to justify an equally violent retaliation. The more the United States attempts to achieve “victory,” the more fuel they’re adding to the fire. The rebels are emboldened with every innocent life the occupying forces take, and destabilization is increased exponentially with every Armageddon-like military campaign they unleash on the towns and cities of Iraq.

Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis are fleeing their homes. The ones that stay are victim to illegal raids, unprovoked killings, and secret detention. Withdrawing troops and ending operations would be the real road to peace and development. The manipulative fears being spread that a military departure from Iraq will cause more bloodshed is hypocritical, there’s already a great loss of life, and the past four years prove that the longer the U.S. stays, the worse it will get.

American policy-makers can do the world a favour by washing their hands clean of it, and by following the simple phrase of “stop, drop and roll”: Stop believing they can bring peace with the barrel of a gun, drop the current and future plans of occupation, and roll out of foreign countries altogether.