Mike Whitney
Online
Journal
Saturday, December 16, 2006
Sometimes I’m struck by the sheer enormity of Bush’s
stupidity. It is truly breathtaking. After nearly four years of
steadily intensifying guerilla warfare with no end in sight, Bush
has decided to expand the war.
Think I’m kidding?
As Robert Dreyfuss says, “The president is trying to cobble
together, brick by brick, an Iraqi government that is able and
willing to do what al Maliki’s can’t or won’t
do: break the back of Muqtada al Sadr’s Mahdi Army and redouble
the offensive against the Sunni-led Iraqi resistance.”
So, now Bush figures that he’s doing so well against the
Sunni resistance that he’s ready to take on the biggest
Shiite militia in Iraq?
Makes sense, doesn’t it?
After all, if you’re already getting clobbered why not
speed it up and get it over with fast.
This is mind-boggling!
Muqtada al-Sadr is the most powerful man in the country, the
de-facto sovereign of Iraq. He oversees the 60,000-man Mahdi Army
which currently poses no threat to US forces. If Bush turns on
him, the occupation will become virtually untenable overnight.
Al Sadr’s men have infiltrated every area of the state security
apparatus including the police force, the Interior Ministry and
the fledgling Iraqi Army. He’s capable of cutting off US
supply lines to Baghdad, disrupting oil production, and coordinating
attacks on the Green Zone.
Fighting al-Sadr is a “no-win” situation and anyone
with any sense would steer clear of it.
So, why does Bush want to rouse this sleeping giant when his
hands are already full?
He doesn't like al-Sadr.
What difference does it make if Bush doesn’t like him?
That’s just gibberish. Franklin Roosevelt didn’t like
Stalin, but he didn’t open up a two-front war to prove his
point? This type of thinking is foolish and counterproductive,
especially when we’re already embroiled in an “unwinnable”
asymmetrical conflict.
It just shows, once again, that Bush is not a person that we
can take seriously.
There are also reports that Bush is fine-tuning a plan to remove
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and replace him with an “iron-fisted”
tyrant who’ll go after the death squads which have turned
Baghdad into an anarchic slaughterhouse.
This is another whacky idea. Al-Maliki has no power other than
his connections to the armed militias. He doesn’t control
US forces and he’s certainly not going to attack his own
power-base; that’s expecting too much of him.
The US already undermined what little authority al-Maliki had
by forcing him to meet with Bush in Jordan. That triggered a “walk-out”
of al-Sadr loyalists, al-Maliki’s main body of support.
Now the prime minister has been reduced to a meaningless figurehead
who neither controls the Defense or Interior Ministries. He has
no army, no militia, and no power.
What does Bush expect him to do? Or is this just another farcical
kabuki the Bush public relations team concocted to shift the blame
onto someone else?
If Bush chooses to replace him; so be it. It won’t make
a bit of difference, except to remove the pretense of “democracy”
The outcome of the present conflict will not be affected by Bush’s
throwaway stooges who govern nothing beyond the block-walls of
the Green Zone. Even the American people know that.
The rumors in the Times suggest that Bush is snuggling up to
his new throat-slitting buddy who runs the Iranian-trained, death
squads, Abdel Aziz al-Hakim. Al-Hakim is the slipperiest guy in
all of Baghdad and oversees the most feared militia in Iraq, the
Badr Brigade. You’ve probably seen their handiwork in the
form of the mutilated young Sunnis bobbing along the Euphrates
after being tortured and shot gangland-style in the back of the
head.
That’s our new soul mate, al-Hakim. Sounds like Bush’s
kind-a guy.
In fact, Bush refers to him as “His Eminence” (I
kid you not) and gave him the “red carpet” treatment
when he paid a visit to the White House last week.
Does Bush really think he can out maneuver this guy? You can’t
put one over on a thug like al-Hakim. Guys like al-Hakim invented
treachery; Bush is just a novice. He'll use Bush until all his
enemies are removed and then he’ll start to work on the
occupation. Anyone can see that.
Or is there someone who believes that an Iranian-backed cleric
who runs a 10,000 man death squad, really wants to serve the greater
regional interests of the United States of America?
Nonsense.
As soon as the Sunni resistance and his archrival, al-Sadr, are
pulverized, al-Hakim will make his move. He’s probably sharpening
his daggers already.
Death squad diplomacy
The tragic irony of the of current turmoil in Iraq is that many
of the death squads, which operate out of the Interior Ministry,
received financial and material aid from US intelligence agencies.
In A.K. Gupta’s article “Unraveling Iraq’s Secret
Militias” (Z Magazine) the author states, “Not only
are many of these militias linked to Iraqi politicians, but the
Pentagon is arming, training, and funding them for use in counter-insurgency
operations.”
Gupta’s story has been corroborated by numerous other sources
that have provided the sordid details of US plans to invoke the
“Salvador option” in Iraq, that is, use the same strategy
of terrorizing the public as was used in El Salvador in the 1980s.
Somewhere along the line, the plan ran amok and the “nearly
autonomous” militias began carrying out massive ethnic cleansing
and serial-killing operations.
In other words, the Pentagon and US intelligence services, in
their eagerness to fight this “new kind of war,” created
a Frankenstein which they can no longer control and which is destroying
the very fabric of Iraqi society.
Again, we see the tragic blowback from reckless decision-making
that has produced lethal unintended consequences.
The Bush-Rumsfeld counterinsurgency strategy has been a complete
flop. It has ignited a cycle of violence which will persist for
years and created the very real prospect that the Iraqi bloodstorm
will cross borders and sweep through the entire region.
America’s puppets throughout the Middle East are now gazing
on nervously as Bush’s poor judgment continues to destabilize
the country and fuel the growing mayhem.
The basic problem is that Bush listens to no one. He appears
to be the last man in America who still clings to the spurious
notion that “victory” is achievable.
He has totally ignored the results of the midterm elections as
well as the Baker report, and is steaming full-speed ahead with
his own plan to increase troop levels and recapture Baghdad.
Hip-hip hooray! Victory is just around the corner!
Only 4 percent of the American people want to pursue a “stay
the course” strategy, but Bush doesn’t care. He’s
surrounded himself with militarists and neocons who only reiterate
the same crackpot theory that was first put forward in a policy
paper (written by neocons) for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu; “A Clean Break: a New Strategy for Securing the
Realm.” The plan is nothing but a madcap prescription for
transforming the entire Middle East into a balkanized hodge-podge
of warring factions, armed militias and Islamic extremists killing
each other well into the next millennium.
The pro-Israel hawks in Bush’s entourage love the idea,
but the “sane” elders in the political establishment
(like Baker) know that its sheer lunacy.
Who, in their “right mind,” would deliberately topple
regimes and destabilize an entire region believing that they would
eventually come out on top of the heap.
The plan is little more than the fanciful musings of a high school
sophomore.
Still, according to an article in yesterday’s New York
Times, Bush is still following the same suicidal scheme. It says,
“The Bush administration is working to form a coalition
of Sunni Arab nations and a moderate Shiite government in Iraq,
along with the US and Europe, to stand against ‘Iran, Syria
and the terrorists,’ another senior administration official
said Tuesday.” (Helene Cooper, NY Times)
“Stand against Iran, Syria and the terrorists”?
This isn’t the Baker plan, or the Congress’ plan,
or the plan the American people demanded in the midterm elections.
Those have all been tossed on the scrapheap. This is the neocon
plan; “A Clean Break,” articulated almost word for
word from the original document.
Bush hasn’t changed a thing! He is still carrying out an
agenda that runs contrary to the will of the American people as
well as his father’s most trusted advisors. He’s following
a strategy that was clearly intended to establish Israeli regional
hegemony.
Its crazy.
Baghdad, Bloody Baghdad
What does Bush hope to accomplish re-fighting the same battles
over and over again?
Over 90 percent of the Iraqis want the US out now. Sixty-three
percent believe that it is acceptable to kill American soldiers.
How does he expect to change these figures and win over the “hearts
and minds” of working class Iraqis?
Increasing the number of troops won’t change anything.
In fact, the numbers have gotten increasingly worse with every
new survey.
So, what’s the plan; surround the entire country with concertina
wire and gun towers and pick off anything that moves?
The Gaza model? Is that the plan?
Gimmie a break!
They hate us. We’re mostly a Christian army in a Muslim
land and we’ll never be accepted. Period. Bush’s father’s
friends knew that. That’s why they were against it from
the beginning. They knew that we would never establish security.
They knew that we would always be “occupiers” in a
hostile land.
So, why can’t Bush see what everyone else sees?
Six-hundred fifty-thousand Iraqis have already died in this ego-driven
fiasco. Two million people have fled the country, and over 1 million
have been internally displaced. Seventy percent unemployment,
massive malnutrition, unreliable electric power, and an absolute
security vacuum from Mosul to Basra, from Baghdad to Falluja.
Enough is enough!
Martial law is not liberation. Military occupation is not “democracy.”
Enter James Baker
Bush is making a big mistake if he thinks he can just brush off
Baker like the antiwar crowd. Baker speaks for a broad cross-section
of establishment elites and corporate bigwigs. These are not the
kind of guys who like to be ignored. My guess, is that they’ve
seen enough of this bullshit. If Bush goes ahead with this insanity
of increasing the number of troops in Baghdad and further damaging
their “beloved military,” they’re going to start
figuring out a way to get rid of him.
The Middle East has been America’s “Cash Cow”
for 60 years. Baker and Co. have played a big part in carefully
assembling the requisite cogs and gears that make it a smooth
running imperial machine. They have no intention of standing by
while Generalissimo Bush pours gasoline over the whole region
and sets it on fire.
They can’t let that happen and they won’t let that
happen.
If Bush persists, the money will start funneling into the Democratic
coffers and we’ll see impeachment proceedings within three
months.
President Buffoon is about to have his last lark in the Middle
East. I hope he enjoys himself.
Then, it’s off to history’s dustbin.
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