Iraq already had a Government in which regional representatives met in
counsel to meet the needs of their region.
Even after 12 years of American Embargo, they had food, water, electricity,
hospital and infrastructure.
When America says they want money to "Rebuild Iraq" they mean "In their own
image". A Corporate Dictatorship in which the people are obedient slaves to
the corporate time clocks, supporting the economy of the American military
Establishment.
"Liu" <admin@i9i.net> wrote in message
news:TOR39CA537948.193912037@Gilgamesh-frog.org...
In article <3fc01b01$0$61866$a32e20b9@news.nntpservers.com>
Tom Jefferson <tj@democracy.org> wrote:
Elections and majority rule don't grow out of gun barrels, as George
Bush
seems to believe. Killing Iraqis is not protein for Iraqi democracy.
By John Greeley
Is creating a Democracy a simple thing like planting soybeans or corn?
You
would think so after listening to this administration describe what's
going
on in Iraq.
In our own history, for example, delegates to the Constitutional
Convention
were clearly identifiable as grassroots, loyal Americans intent on
creating
a nation out of a rebellious colony. "They were us," if I can borrow
from
Pogo, even though they could hardly be described as common men.
Is Iraq anything like that? Look at the facts: we are an invading army
now
occupying a conquered nation. Its army fled rather than be destroyed and
now seeks to inflict the death of a thousand cuts on us. Muddled as its
intentions may be, and confusing as its religious and ethnic
motivations,
one of them is surely just to get us out of their homeland.
Here at home we are told that the true reason we invaded was to rid the
oppressed Iraqi people of their tyrant and to prevent him from harming
us
sometime in the future. Oh, and to sow the seeds of democracy in the
Middle
East which so desperately needs our Western guidance.
So everybody wins in the end. A hodgepodge council of Iraqi exiles we've
magically installed as the ruling council will write a constitution (now
in
very short order). We then get to the good part where they elect a
democratic government in six months and thus are pronounced saved. We
get
our troops out before the electorate kicks the Republicans out of the
White
House next November.
It is obscene that we have killed so many Iraqis in the sacred name of
Democracy. It is a betrayal of our heritage to have invaded a nation
because it fit a neocon model of how best to mold the world in our own
image now that the Soviets are gone. (Syria, watch out).
Waging war is not a one-size-fits-all solution to international
problems,
but it is the one capability we budget for with religious fervor.
Imagine
what would happen if we spent that money on teaching our best and
brightest
how to be genuine statesmen and righteous diplomats or perhaps in
finding
pure water or providing medical care and local teachers and other
necessary
building blocks like that. But no, we are told these kinds of things
should
come from private charities and religious groups. It's not the province
of
government. At least not a Republican government.
I think we have come to a turning point in our national history: will we
rely primarily on our massive military superiority to protect ourselves
from the world, or will we turn swords into plowshares, sow good seed,
and
feed it?
John Greeley served a 4 year hitch in the Marines and one tour in
Vietnam
and graduated from St.
John's Law School.
Posted Monday, November 17, 2003
--
Elections and majority rule don't grow out of gun barrels, as George
Bush
seems to believe. Killing Iraqis is not protein for Iraqi democracy.
John Greeley
Interesting.
.
