So, with allegations of war crimes coming out in the media (and even worse from foreign sources), we're having a great month in Iraq already. We're humiliating, torturing, and even killing 'enemy combatants' over there, and Paul Wolfowitz can't even get the number of US casualties right.
(http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/02/opin
Nightline ran 10 seconds on each soldier killed, and it was called a political stunt. Some even called Ted Koppel 'unamerican'. You know what I want to see? 10 seconds dedicated to every Iraqi killed as a direct result of our occupation. To list American casualties: just south of two hours. 10 seconds for each Iraqi?
Almost 28 hours.
Even if you took ONE SECOND to flash their picture on the screen, it would still take longer than it took to dedicate ten seconds per American death. I'm not trying to take away anything from our servicemen, but the additude of 'us' and 'them' is what got us into this mess to begin with. So, from now on, I will make no reference to American deaths in Iraq. There will be no running count. There will be no rant when the number hits 1000 (sometime around the middle of the month). I'm going to focus on the complete number. The number of people who have lost their lives because someone wants a couple more pennies per share.
And all you right wing fascists can take your 'But we liberated' bullshit and go to whatever hell you believe in. Because everyone who has invaded the Fertile Crescent since the beginning of recorded history has said the same damn thing, and wouldn't you know it, they all lied.
I've no reason to believe we're any different. We didn't come to liberate. We came to feed your SUV.
-pb
(http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/02/opin
Nightline ran 10 seconds on each soldier killed, and it was called a political stunt. Some even called Ted Koppel 'unamerican'. You know what I want to see? 10 seconds dedicated to every Iraqi killed as a direct result of our occupation. To list American casualties: just south of two hours. 10 seconds for each Iraqi?
Almost 28 hours.
Even if you took ONE SECOND to flash their picture on the screen, it would still take longer than it took to dedicate ten seconds per American death. I'm not trying to take away anything from our servicemen, but the additude of 'us' and 'them' is what got us into this mess to begin with. So, from now on, I will make no reference to American deaths in Iraq. There will be no running count. There will be no rant when the number hits 1000 (sometime around the middle of the month). I'm going to focus on the complete number. The number of people who have lost their lives because someone wants a couple more pennies per share.
And all you right wing fascists can take your 'But we liberated' bullshit and go to whatever hell you believe in. Because everyone who has invaded the Fertile Crescent since the beginning of recorded history has said the same damn thing, and wouldn't you know it, they all lied.
I've no reason to believe we're any different. We didn't come to liberate. We came to feed your SUV.
-pb
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I don't know that we so much invaded specifically for oil. I think Bush's accidental use of the word "Crusade" might point us more in the right direction...
A few southern preachers aren't as PC as Bush, and are telling it like a born-again-man like bush no doubt says candidly to friends: We are conquering the infidel.
Or so the NPR/PBS report on Bush and is radical idealogy would have me believe. And I trust it.
Actually, I think that the primary motivation was oil. In fact, so much so, that they were banking on the country thinking "it can't possibly be for oil".
There were talks with the Taliban pre-9/11 to negotiate for a Trans-Afghan pipeline, which fell through because the Talibs couldn't guarantee its safety from the Northern Alliance. Now, the provisional government in Kabul is made up of former Unocal execs. Unocal was the company that would have built that pipeline. The Taliban actually offered an unconditional surrender of Osama bin Laden if the US would show proof that he was behind 9/11. That's pretty good, considering we had no extradition treaty with them, and they pretty much hated us anyway. They were willing to fork him over (contingent on finding him), if we'd offer up proof. We had none, so we simply declared them an outlaw regime in their own country and invaded.
So, once Dubya had figured out that there was no way to easily establish any law in the country, and there was no pipeline forthcoming, he went after Iraq, which has the 2nd largest oil reserves. Once we were in there, and chaos ensued, what did we secure first? Museums that were being looted? Nope. Protect the civilians? Nope.
We went straight for the Oil Ministry building and secured that.
If this war isn't about oil, they're doing their damnest to make it look like it is.
Now, don't get me wrong, I appreciate the entire 'Jihad Against the Jihadis' argument. I think Bush is a raving religious fanatic. He worships the almighty dollar. If he can whip up local support by worming it into the people's heads that our (read, the majority's) god is superior, then he'll put nail his feet and left hand to the cross and let Cheyney put the third one in, Mel Gibson style.
Because it's all about the money. They're selling snake oil, and this country is buying it up. The rest of the world is catching on quicker than they'd hoped.
-js?!
And I always found our 'choice' of places to protect questionable. I mean obviously for the good of the nation we do have to protect the nation's (only) way of supporting itself... But if our interests were as altruistic as Bush would ram down our throats we'd be doing more to preserve the society of Iraq. Instead of just the "economy" *hint hint*
In any event- we're not making any friends.
At lesat the world has one last aggresive nation run by a religeiously fanatical despot who was not elected and controls an arsonal of WMD...
Or does it?
Lose a Saddam, gain a stupid monkey in a suite named George W. Bush.
And if Bush "wins" the election again then there are always nicer places to live. Places not run by war-mongering religious fanatics.