Bush the War Criminal wrote:
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/article1956548.ece
Bush & Blair: The Iraq fantasy
Neither will admit that Iraq is a disaster. But while their state of deni=
al
may cost votes in Washington and London, on the frontline in the Middle
East, it continues to cost lives
By Patrick Cockburn
Published: 05 November 2006
"When does the incompetence end and the crime begin?"
That is NOT the question of importance.
The question is; who all was involved in planning the invasion of
Afghanistan and Iraq which had already been done BEFORE 9/11/2001.
asked an appalled
German Chancellor in the First World War when the German army commander s=
aid
he intended to resume his bloody and doomed assaults on the French fortre=
ss
city of Verdun.
The same could be said of the disastrous policies of George Bush and Tony
Blair in Iraq. At least 3,000 Iraqis and 100 American soldiers are dying
every month. The failure of the US and Britain at every level in Iraq is
obvious to all. But the White House and Downing Street have lived in a st=
ate
of permanent denial. On the Downing Street website are listed 10 "Big
Issues" affecting the Prime Minister, but Iraq is not one of them.
The picture of what is happening in Iraq put out by Messrs Bush and Blair=
no
longer touches reality at any point. They claim US and British troops are
present because Iraqis want them there. But a detailed poll of Iraqi
attitudes by WorldPublicOpinion.org, published six weeks ago, shows that =
71
per of Iraqis want the withdrawal of US-led forces within a year. No less
than 74 per cent of Shia and 91 per cent of Sunni say they want American =
and
British troops out. Only in Kurdistan, where there are few foreign troops,
does a majority support the occupation.
Hostility to the American and British troops has a direct and lethal
consequence for the soldiers on the ground. The same poll shows that 92 p=
er
cent of Sunni and 62 per cent of Shia approve of attacks on US-led forces.
This is the real explanation for the strength of the insurgency: it is
widely popular.
For the past three-and-a-half years in Iraq, one needed to close both eyes
very hard or live in Baghdad's Green Zone not to see that the occupation =
was
detested by most Iraqis. At places where US Humvees had been blown up or =
US
soldiers killed or wounded there were usually Iraqis dancing for joy.
Supposedly, the centrepiece of American and British policy is to stay "un=
til
the job is done" and hand over to Iraqi army and police who will cope with
powerful militias like the Mehdi Army. But in police stations in many par=
ts
of southern Iraq, photographs pinned to the wall include one of British
armoured vehicles erupting in flames, beside a portrait of Muqtada al-Sad=
r,
the leader of the Mehdi Army.
In the first year of the occupation it could be argued that Bush and Blair
were simply incompetent: they did not understand Iraq, were misinformed by
Iraqi exiles, or were simply ignorant and arrogant. But they must know th=
at
for two-and-a-half years they have controlled only islands of territory in
Iraq. "The Americans haven't even been able to take over Haifa Street [a
Sunni insurgent stronghold] though it's only 400 yards from the Green Zon=
e,"
a senior Iraqi security official exclaimed to me last week.
But the refusal to admit, as the British army commander Sir Richard Danna=
tt
pointed out, that the occupation generates resistance in Iraq, means that=
no
new and more successful policy can be devised. It is this that is crimina=
l=2E
And it is all the worse because the rational explanation for Mr Bush's
persistence in bankrupt policies in Iraq is that he has always given
priority to domestic politics. Holding power in Washington was more
important than real success in Baghdad.
It is easy enough to say that Mr Bush lives in a world of fantasy in Iraq.
His aides are notoriously averse to giving him bad news. Officials who do=
so
lose their jobs. But this probably underestimates the man. After 9/11 he
successfully presented himself as the security president. For the first t=
ime
since the 1920s, the Republicans held the presidency and both houses of
Congress. The war in Afghanistan was successful at little cost. He thought
the same would be true in Iraq.
There was a spurious series of highly publicised turning points in the wa=
r,
such as the capture of Saddam Hussein in 2003, the return of sovereignty =
to
Iraq and the recapture of Fallujah in 2004, the elections and referendum =
on
the constitution of 2005.
In each case reality was always different. Nobody in Iraq thought Saddam =
was
the leader of the resistance, and his capture had no effect on the
insurgency. The return of sovereignty had little meaning: last week the
Iraqi prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, admitted that he could not move a
company of Iraqi troops without US permission.
Fallujah was very publicly stormed by the US Marines in November 2004, bu=
t a
few days later the insurgents, in an operation hardly mentioned by the
administration, captured the much larger city of Mosul in northern Iraq,
seizing arms worth $40m (=A321m). The elections and referendum in 2005 de=
eply
divided Iraq's communities along sectarian and ethnic lines, and led
directly to civil war in central Iraq.
The US media was under extreme pressure to report the non-existent good n=
ews
that the White House accused them of ignoring.
I used to think how absurd it was for me to risk my life by visiting the
Green Zone, the entrances to which were among the most bombed targets in
Iraq, to see diplomats who claimed that the butchery in Iraq was much
exaggerated. But when I asked them if they would like to come and have lu=
nch
in my hotel outside the zone, they always threw up their hands in horror =
and
said their security men would never allow it.
The fantasy picture of Iraq purveyed by Mr Bush and Mr Blair is now being
exposed. The Potemkin village they constructed to divert attention from w=
hat
was really happening in Iraq is finally going up in flames.
But it is too late for the Iraqis, Americans and British who died because
they were unwitting actors in this fiction, carefully concocted by the Wh=
ite
House and Downing Street to show progress where there is frustration, and
victory where there is only defeat.
The Occupation: War and Resistance in Iraq by Patrick Cockburn has just b=
een
published by Verso
"When does the incompetence end and the crime begin?" asked an appalled
German Chancellor in the First World War when the German army commander s=
aid
he intended to resume his bloody and doomed assaults on the French fortre=
ss
city of Verdun.
The same could be said of the disastrous policies of George Bush and Tony
Blair in Iraq. At least 3,000 Iraqis and 100 American soldiers are dying
every month. The failure of the US and Britain at every level in Iraq is
obvious to all. But the White House and Downing Street have lived in a st=
ate
of permanent denial. On the Downing Street website are listed 10 "Big
Issues" affecting the Prime Minister, but Iraq is not one of them.
The picture of what is happening in Iraq put out by Messrs Bush and Blair=
no
longer touches reality at any point. They claim US and British troops are
present because Iraqis want them there. But a detailed poll of Iraqi
attitudes by WorldPublicOpinion.org, published six weeks ago, shows that =
71
per of Iraqis want the withdrawal of US-led forces within a year. No less
than 74 per cent of Shia and 91 per cent of Sunni say they want American =
and
British troops out. Only in Kurdistan, where there are few foreign troops,
does a majority support the occupation.
Hostility to the American and British troops has a direct and lethal
consequence for the soldiers on the ground. The same poll shows that 92 p=
er
cent of Sunni and 62 per cent of Shia approve of attacks on US-led forces.
This is the real explanation for the strength of the insurgency: it is
widely popular.
For the past three-and-a-half years in Iraq, one needed to close both eyes
very hard or live in Baghdad's Green Zone not to see that the occupation =
was
detested by most Iraqis. At places where US Humvees had been blown up or =
US
soldiers killed or wounded there were usually Iraqis dancing for joy.
Supposedly, the centrepiece of American and British policy is to stay "un=
til
the job is done" and hand over to Iraqi army and police who will cope with
powerful militias like the Mehdi Army. But in police stations in many par=
ts
of southern Iraq, photographs pinned to the wall include one of British
armoured vehicles erupting in flames, beside a portrait of Muqtada al-Sad=
r,
the leader of the Mehdi Army.
In the first year of the occupation it could be argued that Bush and Blair
were simply incompetent: they did not understand Iraq, were misinformed by
Iraqi exiles, or were simply ignorant and arrogant. But they must know th=
at
for two-and-a-half years they have controlled only islands of territory in
Iraq. "The Americans haven't even been able to take over Haifa Street [a
Sunni insurgent stronghold] though it's only 400 yards from the Green Zon=
e,"
a senior Iraqi security official exclaimed to me last week.
But the refusal to admit, as the British army commander Sir Richard Danna=
tt
pointed out, that the occupation generates resistance in Iraq, means that=
no
new and more successful policy can be devised. It is this that is crimina=
l=2E
And it is all the worse because the rational explanation for Mr Bush's
persistence in bankrupt policies in Iraq is that he has always given
priority to domestic politics. Holding power in Washington was more
important than real success in Baghdad.
It is easy enough to say that Mr Bush lives in a world of fantasy in Iraq.
His aides are notoriously averse to giving him bad news. Officials who do=
so
lose their jobs. But this probably underestimates the man. After 9/11 he
successfully presented himself as the security president. For the first t=
ime
since the 1920s, the Republicans held the presidency and both houses of
Congress. The war in Afghanistan was successful at little cost. He thought
the same would be true in Iraq.
There was a spurious series of highly publicised turning points in the wa=
r,
such as the capture of Saddam Hussein in 2003, the return of sovereignty =
to
Iraq and the recapture of Fallujah in 2004, the elections and referendum =
on
the constitution of 2005.
In each case reality was always different. Nobody in Iraq thought Saddam =
was
the leader of the resistance, and his capture had no effect on the
insurgency. The return of sovereignty had little meaning: last week the
Iraqi prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, admitted that he could not move a
company of Iraqi troops without US permission.
Fallujah was very publicly stormed by the US Marines in November 2004, bu=
t a
few days later the insurgents, in an operation hardly mentioned by the
administration, captured the much larger city of Mosul in northern Iraq,
seizing arms worth $40m (=A321m). The elections and referendum in 2005 de=
eply
divided Iraq's communities along sectarian and ethnic lines, and led
directly to civil war in central Iraq.
The US media was under extreme pressure to report the non-existent good n=
ews
that the White House accused them of ignoring.
I used to think how absurd it was for me to risk my life by visiting the
Green Zone, the entrances to which were among the most bombed targets in
Iraq, to see diplomats who claimed that the butchery in Iraq was much
exaggerated. But when I asked them if they would like to come and have lu=
nch
in my hotel outside the zone, they always threw up their hands in horror =
and
said their security men would never allow it.
The fantasy picture of Iraq purveyed by Mr Bush and Mr Blair is now being
exposed. The Potemkin village they constructed to divert attention from w=
hat
was really happening in Iraq is finally going up in flames.
But it is too late for the Iraqis, Americans and British who died because
they were unwitting actors in this fiction, carefully concocted by the Wh=
ite
House and Downing Street to show progress where there is frustration, and
victory where there is only defeat.
--
These photos are only of a very tiny fraction of the thousands of Iraqi
Civilian Victims who have been terrorised, humiliated, injured, maimed
and killed through British and American bombing of civilian areas in
various cities of Iraq. Due to lack of security, independent reporters co=
uld
not and still can not reach many areas to photograph and report the
atrocities. Several independent reporters and journalists were
deliberately bombed to prevent them reporting the atrocities.
Please note that some of these pictures are not suitable for small
children and those who have weak hearts.
http://www.robert-fisk.com/iraqwarvictims_mar2003.htm
=20
--=20
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com
.
