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Al Jazeera (English)
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Iraqi Civilian Deaths ... caused by Bush's unprovoked war

 

Goals Dangers & Resistance To Bush's Imperial Aggression
(Joseph Gerson, ZNet, March 27, 2003)
As the New Yorker, the Wall Street Journal, and numerous other sources report, in the traditions of British colonialism and Genghis Khan, the Bush Administration is seeking to impose "The arrangement for the twenty-first century" to ensure that "the United States will continue to be the dominant political, economic and military power in the world." . . . it is the second chapter of the Bush I-Cheney-Wolfowitz-Perle campaign for a "New World Order." Shock, awe, devastation, conquest, and occupation of Iraq are designed to send a message to the world: "Fear us. What we say goes." The audience is Beijing, Pyongyang, Moscow, and Paris, as well as Cairo, Riyadh, and Teheran. . . . ur cheer leader President, who had barely traveled outside the US before being installed in the White House by an activist right-wing Supreme Court, hopes to go down in history as the man who brought peace to the world. This is the messianic and megalomaniac dream of imperial peace, the peace of "Full Spectrum Dominance" that Genghis Khan and General Tojo would have understood. . . . The Bush Administration may be the most militarist government in our history, but it did not spring full-blown from Medusa's head. It was the Clinton Administration that first adopted the military doctrines of Full Spectrum Dominance and "Counter-proliferation," including preemptive (and potentially nuclear) military attacks. . . . it was clear that he had something else in mind: tearing up the A.B.M. treaty, rejecting the Kyoto Protocols to halt global warming, and savaging US tax laws to make the country safe for the rich and their mega corporations. Less than a month after seizing power, Bush and Cheney derailed Clinton-era disarmament negotiations with North Korea, walked away from Palestinian-Israel peace negotiations, and pressed its radical transfer of wealth from the poor and middle classes to the ultra-wealthy through the re-writing of the tax laws. . . . The Bush Administration's "game" and "vision" are not simply about Iraq. They are about oil, the Arab World, Israel, Europe, ideology (or its advertising facade), and feeding its right-wing fundamentalist base for the 2004 Presidential election campaign. . . . on September 17, 2001 just six days after the Sept. 11 attacks and when (as now) there was no credible evidence linking the Iraqi government with Al Qaeda, President Bush authorized commencing preparations for the invasion of Iraq in addition to ordering the invasion of Afghanistan. . . . Saddam Hussein's very existence haunts these militarist. He is living evidence that it is possible to challenge US regional hegemony . . . With Saddam Hussein removed and a new client regime installed, the US will not only control the worlds second greatest concentration of oil reserves. It will be able to use those reserves to discipline Saudi Arabia and undermine OPEC. Reconsolidation of US control of Middle East oil will reinforce the role of the dollar as the global currency by ensuring that the world's oil trade continues to be in dollars rather than the Euros of increasingly independent "Old" Europe. . . . Modeling their Afghan "achievement," they seek to replace the Saudi monarchy and other Arab regimes with more inclusive and flexible, but hardly "democratic," governments that will do "Washington's" bidding. They also believe that the replacement of Arab regimes will provide even less support than do current ones for the Palestinian struggle for survival, making Palestinians "more amenable to an agreement" dictated by Sharon. . . . United States remains mired in history, exercising power in an anarchic Hobbesian world where international laws and rules are unreliable, and where true security and the defense and promotion of a liberal order still depend on the possession and use of military might. . . . The invasion is to be followed by a US military occupation without end. This is a recipe for anti-colonial armed resistance, terrorist attacks on US forces, and growing numbers of body bags making their way from the Persian Gulf to cemeteries across the US. . . . Those who know the Arab world fear that massive Iraqi civilian casualties and the specter of predominantly "Christian" US forces following in the steps of the Crusaders and European colonists into an Arab capital could destabilize the entire Middle East with angry street demonstrations, military coups, and revolutions. . . . the CIA have warned that the US invasion of Iraq is being used as an extraordinary recruiting opportunity for Al Qaeda. . . . Regardless of the outcome of the invasion, the Bush Administration has recklessly changed the world, undermining US security forever. In little over a year, we have gone from having the sympathy of the entire world in the wake of the September 11 attacks to almost total international isolation. . . . The health care and pensions of our aging population are being sacrificed by the massive deficit spending needed to feed imperial ambitions and military-industrial allies. . . . Resistance: We were unable to prevent this war, but our education and organizing are having profound impacts on how it is being fought, how long it and the anticipated military occupation will last, and whether the Bush Administration will be able to carry its military crusade on to the Korean Peninsula, Iran, and other nations. . . . In the coming weeks, we need to hold as much public space as possible: persisting with our legal and civil disobedience demonstrations; writing letters to the editor and to our Congressional representatives; wearing anti-war buttons and black ribbons mourning the loss of Iraqi and US lives and the assault on our democracy; speaking our minds to local politicians and Presidential candidates, and holding community forums for continuing and deepening public education. . . . We need to begin articulating an alternative to imperial and corporate authoritarianism--our own vision of common security and how we can get there. And, with the 2004 Presidential and Congressional elections racing toward us, we need to be laying the groundwork for regime change at home.

posted by Lorenzo 12:34 PM