Dreams Can Come True
Archie Kennedy | 13.08.2005 16:20 | Analysis
We often witness the irony of self fulfilling prophecy and the strange karmic, ‘what goes around comes around’ sort of cosmic justice. To the chagrin of dreamers, dreams sometimes do come true.
So can lies, hysterical delusions, and fabricated threats.
The claims that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction turned out to be lies. The war privateers needed a war and they lied in order to have one. They told other lies. They also said that Iraq had ties to the terrorists that plowed airplanes into the twin towers.
Bush was not alone in his lies and war schemes. He had plenty of help within his administration, abroad, and in the mainstream media as well. They presented these war lies, when they did mention them, as if the President and his cronies were misled by sinister speech writers or spies or ‘sources’, such as the present Prime Minister and Oil Minister in Iraq, Ahmed Chalabi.
The Bushies had deliberately taken aim at Iraq long before the invasion. The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace published a report on the Bush Administration’s dealings with intelligence information on Iraq. They claim that the Bush administration exaggerated and lied about the Iraqi military to portray Iraq as a credible threat to the United States. For stubborn and loyal followers of the hawks, there is the disturbing and infamous Downing Street memo. If there was any doubt that Bush was intent on making war in Iraq no matter what, read the memo. The memo states, in part, “Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy.”
This memo suggests a culture of lies. It’s not only Bush – unfortunately. It’s also the political and media elites working together against the people of the United States, Iraq, Britain and many other countries; but most especially, against the people of Iraq. The spin doctors know about the lies and do they mention it? No. We all know that these people are maintaining lies in their tacit acceptance and their uncritical posturing following clear evidence that the whole war was sold through lies. What’s most baffling is how many people accept all this with hardly a raised eyebrow.
The history of Iraq is unfolding, not as it should from the invaders point of view. But it is unfolding nonetheless. And what we can see emerge from the cocoon of Saddam’s world, a world made considerably more miserable by a decade of crippling sanctions, is a very Islamic society and likely, an Islamic state based in Islamic law. The Americans lopped the head off the monster of Iraq and what did we see? We saw the masses tear down a statue of the Dictator, Saddam. But that scene belied the reality of the head being ripped off an Islamic hydra.
Now, as we watch history unfold in that terrorized country, it looks as if some of the hype may have been prophetic in some ways.
Does Iraq have Al Qaeda connections as the Bush party claimed? They didn’t then when Bush said they did. But they very likely do now.
Is Iraq a base for terrorists? There is nothing to suggest that Iraq had been when the liars were making the claim, but they certainly have plenty of people willing to blow themselves up to attack Americans or anybody connected with them now. On top of that, the antipathy against the West in Islamic societies and the on the job training occurring in Iraq will likely have Westerners watching over their shoulders for many years.
Mark Sherman recently reported in an AP article that “An American accused in court papers of having ties to Osama bin Laden is now working for the Iraqi government’s Foreign Ministry”; this, according to U.S. officials and a former counterterrorism spook. Once the Sunnis get on board with the governance of Iraq, the likelihood of Al Qaeda connections inside the government will be far greater than it is now.
The Iranian Ayatollah, Sistani, was one of many flies in the ointment Bush didn’t count on when he invaded. Muqtada al-Sadr is another and the resilience of the Sunni resistance yet another. And there are many others. It’s hard to imagine a scenario that would better play into the hands of fundamentalist Muslims and generally, anybody that wishes to eject the USA from the region, than the one that has played out over the past several years.
The dream of building a Western democracy in Iraq was either immensely stupid or just another lie. Pick the latter, that’s the truth. There was never any such intent just like there was never any such intent in Haiti, Guatemala, or anywhere else.
The new Iraq that will emerge will present enormous problems in the future. Israel will feel threatened by the emergence of an intensely fundamentalist Islamic state in Iraq; a state that will be very close to Iran. American puppets in the region such as the Saudi government, the Egyptian government, and the King of Jordan will also feel the heat. Threats will abound for many years to come, thanks to Bush’s “war on terror.”
What follows is a list of some of the lies that preceded the war:
Al Qaeda and Iraq: The claim that Al Qaeda is connected to Iraq may have been false before but it isn’t false now. Al Qaeda may soon enjoy connections in both the government and the insurgency, if that has not already happened.
Oil: The claim that this war is not about oil is a lie and will forever remain a lie.
Nuclear Weapons: They made the claim that Iraq was on the road to building nuclear weapons and were convincing enough with their visions of mushroom clouds that many Americans still believe them. Before the invasion, Bush had claimed that the Iraqis were six months away from developing a nuclear weapon.
Threat of Attack: They claimed that Iraq had a fleet of unmanned aircraft that could be used to attack the United States.
Quantity of chemicals: They said that Iraq has 500 tons of chemical weapons.
Chemical weapons: They said that Iraq has 30,000 weapons and planes capable of distributing lethal chemicals.
Nuclear Threat: They said that satellite photos show that Iraq is rebuilding nuclear facilities.
Saddam’s refusal to cooperate: They said that Saddam Hussein wouldn’t allow weapons inspectors into Iraq.
That’s a few of them and the beat goes on.
These things will always remain lies for that time, but it’s hard to predict the future. Some of these claims may close to the truth someday just as the claim that Al Qaeda was in Iraq has come true. As long as the madmen scream for war, the threat of terrorism will remain and it will grow. And if any of those horrific things do happen, or others, we can thank the liars for making their own lies, dreams, and delusions come true.
The claims that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction turned out to be lies. The war privateers needed a war and they lied in order to have one. They told other lies. They also said that Iraq had ties to the terrorists that plowed airplanes into the twin towers.
Bush was not alone in his lies and war schemes. He had plenty of help within his administration, abroad, and in the mainstream media as well. They presented these war lies, when they did mention them, as if the President and his cronies were misled by sinister speech writers or spies or ‘sources’, such as the present Prime Minister and Oil Minister in Iraq, Ahmed Chalabi.
The Bushies had deliberately taken aim at Iraq long before the invasion. The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace published a report on the Bush Administration’s dealings with intelligence information on Iraq. They claim that the Bush administration exaggerated and lied about the Iraqi military to portray Iraq as a credible threat to the United States. For stubborn and loyal followers of the hawks, there is the disturbing and infamous Downing Street memo. If there was any doubt that Bush was intent on making war in Iraq no matter what, read the memo. The memo states, in part, “Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy.”
This memo suggests a culture of lies. It’s not only Bush – unfortunately. It’s also the political and media elites working together against the people of the United States, Iraq, Britain and many other countries; but most especially, against the people of Iraq. The spin doctors know about the lies and do they mention it? No. We all know that these people are maintaining lies in their tacit acceptance and their uncritical posturing following clear evidence that the whole war was sold through lies. What’s most baffling is how many people accept all this with hardly a raised eyebrow.
The history of Iraq is unfolding, not as it should from the invaders point of view. But it is unfolding nonetheless. And what we can see emerge from the cocoon of Saddam’s world, a world made considerably more miserable by a decade of crippling sanctions, is a very Islamic society and likely, an Islamic state based in Islamic law. The Americans lopped the head off the monster of Iraq and what did we see? We saw the masses tear down a statue of the Dictator, Saddam. But that scene belied the reality of the head being ripped off an Islamic hydra.
Now, as we watch history unfold in that terrorized country, it looks as if some of the hype may have been prophetic in some ways.
Does Iraq have Al Qaeda connections as the Bush party claimed? They didn’t then when Bush said they did. But they very likely do now.
Is Iraq a base for terrorists? There is nothing to suggest that Iraq had been when the liars were making the claim, but they certainly have plenty of people willing to blow themselves up to attack Americans or anybody connected with them now. On top of that, the antipathy against the West in Islamic societies and the on the job training occurring in Iraq will likely have Westerners watching over their shoulders for many years.
Mark Sherman recently reported in an AP article that “An American accused in court papers of having ties to Osama bin Laden is now working for the Iraqi government’s Foreign Ministry”; this, according to U.S. officials and a former counterterrorism spook. Once the Sunnis get on board with the governance of Iraq, the likelihood of Al Qaeda connections inside the government will be far greater than it is now.
The Iranian Ayatollah, Sistani, was one of many flies in the ointment Bush didn’t count on when he invaded. Muqtada al-Sadr is another and the resilience of the Sunni resistance yet another. And there are many others. It’s hard to imagine a scenario that would better play into the hands of fundamentalist Muslims and generally, anybody that wishes to eject the USA from the region, than the one that has played out over the past several years.
The dream of building a Western democracy in Iraq was either immensely stupid or just another lie. Pick the latter, that’s the truth. There was never any such intent just like there was never any such intent in Haiti, Guatemala, or anywhere else.
The new Iraq that will emerge will present enormous problems in the future. Israel will feel threatened by the emergence of an intensely fundamentalist Islamic state in Iraq; a state that will be very close to Iran. American puppets in the region such as the Saudi government, the Egyptian government, and the King of Jordan will also feel the heat. Threats will abound for many years to come, thanks to Bush’s “war on terror.”
What follows is a list of some of the lies that preceded the war:
Al Qaeda and Iraq: The claim that Al Qaeda is connected to Iraq may have been false before but it isn’t false now. Al Qaeda may soon enjoy connections in both the government and the insurgency, if that has not already happened.
Oil: The claim that this war is not about oil is a lie and will forever remain a lie.
Nuclear Weapons: They made the claim that Iraq was on the road to building nuclear weapons and were convincing enough with their visions of mushroom clouds that many Americans still believe them. Before the invasion, Bush had claimed that the Iraqis were six months away from developing a nuclear weapon.
Threat of Attack: They claimed that Iraq had a fleet of unmanned aircraft that could be used to attack the United States.
Quantity of chemicals: They said that Iraq has 500 tons of chemical weapons.
Chemical weapons: They said that Iraq has 30,000 weapons and planes capable of distributing lethal chemicals.
Nuclear Threat: They said that satellite photos show that Iraq is rebuilding nuclear facilities.
Saddam’s refusal to cooperate: They said that Saddam Hussein wouldn’t allow weapons inspectors into Iraq.
That’s a few of them and the beat goes on.
These things will always remain lies for that time, but it’s hard to predict the future. Some of these claims may close to the truth someday just as the claim that Al Qaeda was in Iraq has come true. As long as the madmen scream for war, the threat of terrorism will remain and it will grow. And if any of those horrific things do happen, or others, we can thank the liars for making their own lies, dreams, and delusions come true.
Archie Kennedy
e-mail:
akenn100@hotmail.com
Homepage:
http://www.leftlite.blogspot.com
Comments
Hide the following comment
Reality - Big Mouth Strikes Again.
13.08.2005 20:36
I like the above article. It is good to be reminded of the lies, and even better to read it in an original style.
I am going to re-write the article I have been writing for years now. But probably not in an original way, so sorry to those who have read a previous version. Stop here for fear of being bored.
The USA was founded by war, and throughout its existence Wars and its military machine have been primary, both for the economy and as part of the US's expansion of its virtual borders to gain dominance over as much of the rest of the world as it can.
However, Iraq was not just a continuation of this policy. It was done to avert economic collapse which is inevitable because of the economic challenges from the far east and Europe.
This problem for the US has become even more acute with the anti new liberal capitalist challenge to the US from several states in south America.
The important point is that the outcome of the war in Iraq is critical to US hegemony in the Middle East. And if the US fail to keep control Iraq (which it has been losing since the so called success of the initial invasion) the likelihood is there will be a counter reaction and a momentum which will result in the Palestinians regaining control of some of their historic lands - the West Bank. And the overthrow of malign dictatorships in the middle east. That would exclude countries like Iran and Syria, of course.
Israeli forces will be ejected from the West Bank, and forced to make an equitable peace settlement with the Palestinians or face destruction of their state, that's the Israeli State. And the US will be driven out of the Middle East. T
This will undoubtedly spell the end of the US empire because its Globally based economy will collapse. I don't mean the Global economy per se because the far eat, Europe and south American can sustain themselves, and would benefit from such a collapse in the long term.
So the war in Iraq is super-critical to the survival of the US as we have known it over the last century. The predatory new liberal imperialist monster. That's is why they so blatantly lie, and are completely reckless, because it is so important for their survival as the global malign superpower.
That's why it is correct and necessary to support the legitimate resistance to US in Iraq. They have murdered hundreds of thousands to pursue a crusade of survival as the global imperialist monster, so its citizens at home can afford to consume and keep the capitalist machine on the road.
I am sorry but have written this article many times over the years but I hope now, looking back at the lies, death and destruction caused by the US, and the support given to them by the degenerate Idiots Blair and Burlosconi that we realise what has happened.
We warned Blair that he would bring retaliation for the depraved actions of Britain and the US in Iraq to these shores. Now that that has happened the deceit and denial escalate. Now Blair sees it necessary to turn Britain into police state in order to sustain the lies and deceit.
It is all the more important to call for the immediate withdrawal of British troops from Iraq, so that perhaps the Iraqi people will forgive. This will leave the US high and dry so that it would not be long before ordinary US people insist their troops too are removed from Iraq. They are now realising that the war was not to overthrow malign and dangerous dictators.
The war was waged to sustain US capitalism, and continue their historic permanent war culture to provide the bloated US military with its reason d'etre, its cultural significance and the bonus of an artificial boost to the US internal economy. |Put simply, a big army is good for the US's credit rating. It maintains the illusion of a stable and confident nation.. And the US economy is in the last resort based on confidence. Confidence in its military power to invade the US out of recession and confidence to maintain the Global US financial system that was built during the cold war with the USSR, and still survives (just about) today. it is the lynch pin of the US’s Global share of the world economy. These financial institutions need a base in foreign countries. the US needs a base in Iraq for this reason, but not exclusively this reason.
I have been saying this for years, and hope others will take up a more in depth analysis of this proposition. Iraq has become the most important and critical part of US foreign policy. It used to be Palestine and other parts of the Middle East. Now, if Iraq cannot be sustained and dominated their presence in the wider - middle east will collapse.
Now it has become necessary for the US to invade Iran and Syria. The problem has escalated. The Iraq invasion has been disastrous for the US. The project for a new US century was an idiots invasion handbook, the has upped the anti for the US. They could have pursued a less aggressive policy and continued their dominance. But the arrogance, ignorance and idiocy of the neo-liberals have brought disaster to the door of the US. Blair and other s are trying to save them. But it is not in Britain's interest to save them.
So the renewed campaigns to bring peace to Iraq by getting the British troops to withdraw before Christmas is very important. This is reflected too, in the prominence IM are giving to Iraq with the new news links. It is also reflected in the call by members of the stop the War movement who made commitments at the Rally in Gleneagles for a massive renewed campaign in the Autumn to bring home the British troops.
I, like many other, feel we should focus on this and make Blair and his idiots pay for the problems they have brought to the people of Britain and the horrendous crimes they have perpetrated in Iraq by forcing British troops to go their against the advice of the commanding hierarchy British forces. We need top highlight the crimes of Blair and Bush, who have forced the troops to do what they have done, in many cases against their will too.
A large part of the liberal establishment in this country got it very wrong about Iraq. It is only the arrogant idiots amongst them who don't have the courage to admit that they got it wrong. The propaganda lies convinced many. It is not weak to admit you have been duped and conned. But it is weak and immoral to continue acting as the victim of Blair's and his propaganda lies nonsense and his pathetic performance as the actor-liar. It’s an embarrassment to this country. And its consequences are devastating for this country too.
Ed Campbell