More and more of our elected representatives, Republicans and Democrats, are coming to the conclusion that the invasion of Iraq has not produced the expected results and that the patriotic fervor of Americans who once supported this invasion has sputtered out. But this apparently wasn't easy for them to grasp. It took them five years. Most Americans were way ahead of them on this.
Republican and Democratic elected representatives have seen what happened to many of their fellow representatives in 2006 who supported the war and stuck by Bush and the American warlords, and they’re getting nervous and edgy as the 2008 election season is about to begin. Apparently the corporate whores up for reelection, rats that they are, will quickly jump ship as their reelection chances begin to take hits.
For example: Responding to Republican Pete Domenici’s defection, Susan Collins, a Maine Republican up for re-election next year said “talks with voters" in her district convinced her that the war remained the top issue and she joined Republican Senator Domenici, also up for reelection, in saying the patience of many Republicans with the Iraqi government was virtually exhausted.
Patience with the Iraqis? She spins it in a way that suggests the voter’s have exhausted their patience with the Iraqi government, not that voter’s have lost patience with her and the rest of those representatives in congress who supported this war, both Republican and Democrat. How astute of Collins to all of a sudden figure out that 70% of Americans are against this war – but only after “talking” to her voters. If she is just now finding this out she’s really paying attention isn’t she? It shores up your faith in her leadership ability doesn’t it?
Collins wants us to believe that Americans have finally lost patience with Iraqis, a people whose country we invaded and turned into a living hell; a people who, despite Saddam’s brutal treatment of those under his rule, didn’t want us to invade their country and destroy it with weapons and bombs, didn’t want us to kill and maim upwards of 200,000 of them, to occupy their country and steal their oil. A full 80% or more of them may have wanted Saddam gone - but they didn't want American occupation or the destruction of their country and their lives.
And Representative Susan Collins says the American voters have just about had enough of them – the Iraqis that is – not the elected Republicans or Democrats, but they’ve had enough of the Iraqi government.
I just wanted to make that clear. How insolent of the Iraqis to not be grateful, cooperative and fully submissive after what we’ve done for them?
How benevolent of American voters to have supported the effort to turn Iraq into an American territory with a puppet government selling out to American corporate and military interests. Voters in Susan Collins’ district have endured the Iraqi people for five years now but have finally lost patience – with the Iraqis that is – not with Bush, her and other elected representatives.
The Iraqi people were supposed to greet us with flowers and dancing in the street like we were told they would. They didn’t.
The Iraqi people were supposed to submit to us, their liberators, their betters, and allow us to tell them what to do, how to do it, and relinquish all control to us. They didn’t.
The Iraqi people were supposed to accept the puppet leadership we set up to govern them, a leadership that must follow our direction and approval. They didn’t.
The Iraqi people were supposed to roll over and give up their oil to the corporations we appointed to take over their oil fields. They didn’t.
The arrogant ingrates! The insolent bastards!
So now, according to Republican Susan Collins, American voters in her district have just about had it with them and I suppose that the other seventy percent or more of Americans feel they have also lost patience with the Iraqis – not with Bush and our congress. I just wanted to make that clear.
The fact is, Saddam’s Iraq, despite the sanctions that were making life miserable for Iraqi’s and for which they still angrily remember the role played by the US, was not anywhere near the chaos and hell it now is. People forget that before the Gulf War America was buddy-buddy with Saddam and encouraged him to attack Iran. The American government provided weapons and support to Saddam including biological weapons, and turned their heads as Saddam used these weapons, even against rebellious factions within his own country. And then they practically baited Saddam to invade Kuwait which precipitated the Gulf War.
Iraq was generally stable after the brief Gulf War; and citizens traveled relatively freely within and outside of Iraq. And although a brutal dictator, Saddam was not a religious fanatic. He was likely a deist or atheist and, as so many have observed after the rush to invade this boiling pot of manic Muslim fundamentalist crazies, even Christians and Jews were allowed to meet and worship in Saddam’s Iraq.
While Iraq’s Sunnis of which Saddam was a member controlled the government and held most of the positions of authority, they found ways to keep the various religious and ethnic factions, like the rebellious Shiites and Kurds, under control. It was obvious to middle-eastern experts that only a ruler using the tactics and methods employed by a brutal dictator like Saddam could be effective under the conditions he and his ruling party were faced with.
This boiling pot of unstable bedfellows was a result of a disingenuous legacy wrought by the invasion of the British early in the last century that established borders for Iraq without consideration for tribal territorial claims and religious factions. What should have remained a separate Kurdistan was lumped together with Sunni and Shiite tribal lands, two religious factions that had been at war with each other for centuries.
History is clear. When Bush and Cheney stole the election in 2000 they gathered together those who saw opportunities for mega-billions in profits now that they had control of the government. The corporatists from the oil and defense industries and all others in line to profit were falling all over themselves to invade Iraq. The lure of black gold and profits from war and extending American empire were just too much for the gang of thieves that hi-jacked our government to resist. Indeed it was in the planning long before the office of president was illegally grabbed by the Republicans. They had deluded themselves into believing they could pull all this off – and you know what – they were right.
Only four years in office were needed to make most of them obscenely wealthy but they hit the big lottery in 2004 –four more years. American voters, who were stunned, confused and full of fear due to the events of 9/11, were manipulated once again and punched the ticket for the evil cabal to ride the gold train to a thief’s paradise. They now have billions upon billions of illegal war profits and stolen treasury sacked up and stashed away - they just don’t have the oil completely locked down yet.
Oh well, even without controlling Iraq’s oil for the long term it worked out well enough for most of them – and it’s not over. Even after their removal from office the lingering corruption and the power and influence of those who have gained this illicit wealth will continue to take its toll on Iraq and on America. It will take several decades to get rid of the debt, weed out the criminals, and repair the damage to our nation and that of Iraq caused by the most corrupt and evil power grab this country has ever seen.
How sad that most Americans were so easily deceived and manipulated. Even the election of someone like Gore in 2008 and eight years of their leadership won’t easily wipe away the disastrous effects of Bush and company. Our country may never recover.
