US - The New Saddam
By Eric Margolis
Toronto Sun
9-5-5
The most important news from Iraq last week was not the much
ballyhooed constitutional pact by Shias and Kurds, nor the tragic
stampede deaths of nearly 1,000 pilgrims in Baghdad.
The U.S. Air Force's senior officer, Gen. John Jumper, stated U.S.
warplanes would remain in Iraq to fight resistance forces and protect
the American-installed regime "more or less indefinitely." Jumper's
bombshell went largely unnoticed due to Hurricane Katrina.
Gen. Jumper let the cat out of the bag. While President George Bush
hints at eventual troop withdrawals, the Pentagon is busy building
four major, permanent air bases in Iraq that will require heavy
infantry protection.
Jumper's revelation confirms what this column has long said: The
Pentagon plans to copy Imperial Britain's method of ruling oil-rich
Iraq. In the 1920s, the British cobbled together Iraq from three
disparate Ottoman provinces to control newly-found oil fields in
Kurdistan and along the Iranian border.
London installed a puppet king and built an army of sepoy (native)
troops to keep order and put down minor uprisings. Government minister
Winston Churchill authorized use of poisonous mustard gas against
Kurdish tribesmen in Iraq and Pushtuns in Afghanistan (today's
Taliban). The RAF crushed all revolts.
It seems this is what Jumper has in mind. Mobile U.S. ground
intervention forces will remain at the four major "Fort Apache" bases
guarding Iraq's major oil fields. These bases will be "ceded" to the
U.S. by a compliant Iraqi regime. The U.S. Air Force will police the
Pax Americana with its precision-guided munitions and armed drones.
The USAF has developed an extremely effective new technique of wide
area control. Small numbers of strike aircraft are kept in the air
around the clock. When U.S. ground forces come under attack or foes
are sighted, these aircraft deliver precision-guided bombs. This
tactic has led Iraqi resistance fighters to favour roadside bombs over
ambushes against U.S. convoys.
The USAF uses the same combat air patrol tactic in Afghanistan, with
even more success. The U.S. is also developing three major air bases
in Pakistan, and others across Central Asia, to support its plans to
dominate the region's oil and gas reserves.
While the USAF is settling into West Asia, the mess in Iraq continues
to worsen. Last week's so-called "constitutional deal" was the
long-predicted, U.S.-crafted pact between Shias and Kurds, essentially
giving them Iraq's oil and virtual independence. The proposed
constitution assures American big business access to Iraq's oil riches
and markets.
The furious but powerless Sunnis were left in the lurch. Sunnis will
at least have the chance to vote on it in a Oct. 15 referendum, but
many fear it will be rigged.
The U.S. reportedly offered the 15 Sunni delegates $5 million each to
vote for the constitution -- but was turned down. No mention was made
that a U.S.-guided constitution for Iraq would violate the Geneva
Conventions.
Chinese Taoists say you become what you hate. In a zesty irony, the
U.S. now finds itself in a similar position as demonized Saddam
Hussein. Saddam had to use his Sunni-dominated army to hold Iraq
together by fighting Kurdish and Shia rebels. His brutal police jailed
tens of thousands and routinely used torture.
Today, Iraq's new ruler, the U.S., is battling Sunni insurgents,
("al-Qaida terrorists," in the latest Pentagon doublespeak),
rebuilding Saddam's dreaded secret police, holding 15,000 prisoners
and torturing captives, as the Abu Ghraib outrage showed.
Much of the Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama National Guard were in
Iraq last week week instead of at home. Meanwhile, the Kurds are de
facto independent, the Shia are playing footsie with Iran, and large
parts of Iraq resemble the storm-ravaged U.S. Gulf Coast -- or vice
versa.
http://www.torontosun.com/News/Columnists
/Margolis_Eric/2005/09/04/1201356.html
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