The War is Going Well

Or so we are repeatedly told in spite of worsening violence and little real improvements in the situation for Iraqis. The oft repeated mantras of endless civil war and hatreds, eg, "they've been killing each other or centuries" along with the warnings that chaos would result if only our noble heroes weren't there to keep order and introduce the ideas of civilization while (re)building schools and handing out candy, reflects the racist hubris of the Imperial white man's burden. You can bet this comes replete with missionaries to spread the word of the obviously more civilized god of those who destroy countries.

We are told that many Iraqis are grateful for our presence and fear that we could abandon them to -- well, themselves. But the Association of Muslim Ulemas, the supreme religious Sunni authority in Iraq, made the following statement on the occasion of the fifth anniversary: “The occupier has entered our lands by force and he is not going to leave unless we use force. Any call made by politicians who acquiesce to working under the umbrella of occupation should be considered an invitation to surrender and capitulation. The occupation forces have turned Iraq into the world’s most dangerous zone. The era of occupation will soon end.” And the Shias under Muktada al Sadr seem none too pleased with the occupation as the Mahdi Army fights it in the streets.

Another aspect of civil life in occupied Iraq that goes unreported is the organized civil resistance led in large part by the Iraq Freedom Congress which seeks a unified secular nation. It's no surprise that this organization is repressed by our puppet regime and banned from the media of the occupying Empire. A truly independent, secular, and united Iraq would not be in the political/economic interest of US Oil or the corporations that run our country. The rejection of our noble occupation and the continued Iraqi ownership of all that oil would surely be an insult and all of our heroes will certainly have died (and killed) in vain! And so, McCain wanders the world with his travel companion Leiberman to support an endless occupation and expansion of our "noble cause" into neighboring Iran where heathens await our benevolent civilized influence while the Democratic (not very)hopefuls hem and haw and poke each other in another charade "election" in which one thing is obvious. Nothing has been learned about the insidious nature of a deadly and unsustainable system or its grossest crimes in which no one can ever be charged or brought to justice and nothing significant can change.