soc.culture.iraq

The Last Argument of Fools
By William Blum

"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 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 . 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.

--Courtesy of
HZN/HAR

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