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America's Deadly "Love"
Embrace
By William Blum
05/05/07 "ICH'
-- - "If the United States leaves Iraq things will really
get bad."
This appears to be the last
remaining, barely-breathing argument of that vanishing species
who still support the god-awful war. The argument implies a
deeply-felt concern about the welfare and safety of the Iraqi
people. What else could it mean? That the US military can't
leave because it's needed to protect the oil bonanza awaiting
American oil companies as soon as the Iraqi parliament approves
the new written-in-Washington oil law? No, the Bush
administration loves the people of Iraq. How much more
destruction, killing and torturing do you need to be convinced
of that? We can't leave because of the violence. We can't leave
until we have assured that peace returns to our dear comrades in
Iraq.
To better understand this
argument, it helps to keep in mind the following about the daily
horror that is life in Iraq: It did not exist before the US
occupation.
The insurgency violence began
as, and remains, a reaction to the occupation; like almost all
insurgencies in occupied countries -- from the American
Revolution to the Vietcong -- it's a fight directed toward
getting foreign forces to leave.
The next phase was the violence
of Iraqis against other Iraqis who worked for or sought
employment with anything associated with the occupation regime.
Then came retaliatory attacks
for these attacks.
Followed by retaliatory attacks
for the retaliatory attacks.
Jihadists from many countries
have flocked to Iraq because they see the war against the
American Satan occupiers as a holy war.
Before the occupation, many
Sunnis and Shiites married each other; since the occupation they
have been caught up in a spiral of hating and killing each
other.
And for these acts there, of
course, has to be retaliation.
The occupation's abolishment of
most jobs in the military and in Saddam Hussein's government,
and the chaos that is Iraqi society under the occupation, have
left many destitute; kidnappings for ransom and other acts of
criminal violence have become popular ways to make a living, or
at least survive.
US-trained, financed, and armed
Iraqi forces have killed large numbers of people designated as
"terrorists" by someone official, or perhaps someone unofficial,
or by someone unknown, or by chance.
The US military itself has been
a main perpetrator of violence, killing individually and en
masse, killing any number, any day, for any reason, anyone, any
place, often in mindless retaliation against anyone nearby for
an insurgent attack.
The US military and its
coalition allies have also been the main target of violent
attacks. A Department of Defense report of November 2006 stated:
"Coalition forces remained the target of the majority of attacks
(68%)."
And here is James Baker,
establishment eminence, co-chair of the Iraq Study Group, on CNN
with Anderson Cooper:
Cooper:
And is it possible that getting the U.S. troops out will
actually lessen that violence, that it will at least take
away the motivation of nationalist insurgents?
Baker:
Many people have argued that to us. Many people in Iraq made
that case.
Cooper:
Do you buy it?
Baker:
Yes, I think there is some validity to it, absolutely. Then
we are no longer seen to be the occupiers.
In spite of all of the above we
are told that the presence of the United States military has
been and will continue to be a buffer against violence. Iraqis
themselves do not believe this. A poll published in September
found that Iraqis believe, by a margin of 78 to 21 percent, that
the US military presence is "provoking more conflict that it is
preventing".
Remember that we were warned a
thousand times of a communist bloodbath in Vietnam if American
forces left. The American forces left. There was never any kind
of bloodbath.
If the United States leaves --
meaning all its troops and bases -- it will remove the very
foundation, origin, and inspiration of most of the hate and
violence. Iraqis will have a chance to reclaim their land and
their life. They have a right to be given that opportunity. Let
America's deadly "love" embrace of the Iraqi people come to an
end. Let the healing begin.
William Blum is the author
of: Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Interventions Since World
War 2, Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower,
West-Bloc Dissident: A Cold War Memoir, Freeing the World to
Death: Essays on the American Empire, Portions of the books can
be read, and signed copies purchased, at
www.killinghope.org
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