Terrorism as Tool

The reason we can't leave Iraq is that 'the terrorists' would win. But we went into Iraq to take out Saddam Hussein, not terrorists. Saddam was never allied to al Qaeda -- in fact, as a secular Western-style leader, he was the sworn enemy of bin Laden. And as much as many Americans would like to suggest otherwise, Saddam never committed a single terrorist act against America.

Getting Saddam out of the way opened up Iraq to both outside extremists and the inevitable ethnic battles within its borders.

According to one poll, 80% of Iraqis want the U.S. out, and 45% think attacking Americans is justified.

Anyone who had read about the British adventures in the Middle East in the early twentieth century feared this would happen. We tried to warn those shouting for war. We were shouted down.

America was sold that Iraq had to be invaded because their WMD posed a direct threat, but no WMD were used against us during the invasion and none have been found. The excuse is that the intelligence was wrong. After the invasion, obvious and ridiculous mistakes were made, such as guarding oil fields while allowing the looting of weapons caches, not committing enough troops to provide security, and the abysmal disgrace of Abu Gharib. Literally years after Bush's famous "Mission Accomplished!", there are more American troops in Iraq than at this time last year.

Despite all the failures and mistakes, no one has been fired except those who tried to prevent or blow the whistle on those failures.

That makes no sense whatsoever -- except in the one context that is never mentioned. No one assumes that the Bush Administration realized exactly what would happen after the invasion and planned to use it to their advantage. 'Terrorism' is necessary to carry through Phase Two of the plan -- a permanent military presence in the tactical heart of the Middle East. Such a presence is required for the empire envisioned in The New American Century.

As long as there is 'terrorism', we can't leave. As long as we're there, there will be terrorism and our permanent presence is justified. See how that works?

Most major terror attacks are against Iraqis, not Americans. That achieves the same effect while playing better back home. Besides, not even the neocons want to sacrifice our troops unnecessarily. We'll need them later in Iran and Syria. Those troops that are killed by real insurgents are unfortunate collateral damage, necessary for the cause.

Of course, with resistence to a continuing occupation mounting, that all might change -- a more stark reminder might be necessary.

Terrorism is such a valuable tool. Bin Laden getting captured four years ago would have been very inconvenient for the neocon agenda. Americans would have felt relieved, vengeance satisfied. Selling an Iraq invasion would have been unlikely.

Now, thanks to the proliferation of anti-Americanism caused by neocon policies, including the invasion and occupation, bin Laden's capture would likely scare the neocons more than anyone. His capture would create a martyr-inspired, fanatical upsurge in real terrorism. All the carefully-plucked chickens would come home to roost with razors on their spurs, and that's certainly not part of the plan.

When the first neocon bigwig is killed, we'll know the terrorism is out of control and an actual threat to all of us.

In the meantime, we can't leave Iraq because the neocons would lose.

Think Bigger

I'm getting tired of terrorists doing Bush favors. First they rescued him with 9-11, now they help keep our troops in Iraq by killing Iraqis as well as Americans. This is more than mere coincidence. When is it going to dawn on the media, not to mention the American voting public, that terrorism sustains the Bush agenda?

Why is it unthinkable that a ruthless regime might commit atrocities via black ops to make retreat impossible in the eyes of their supporters?

If we must stay as long as "the terrorists" attack, pray tell me what "the terrorists" have to gain by attacking? Do they really want us to stay?

What Next?

Suppose you want war in the Middle East. Say you're a big Risk fan and understand control of that region is key to building an empire, or you want control of the oil reserves the better to reap huge profits in the remaining decades before the supply runs out. Maybe you sincerely believe the Crusades have merely been on hold for a few centuries. Or perhaps you love democracy so much you think it should be forced on everybody.

Your reason doesn't matter, as long as you can plug all those other reasons into a lust for war. That's the key -- convincing enough of your fellow citizens that war is necessary. After all, war is traditionally a last resort kind of thing, especially when it involves invading another country. Sort of like kicking in somebody's door, you need a reason that trumps legal and moral concerns.

Self-defense is the best reason by far. Everyone understands it. All you have to do is accuse some dude of building bombs with the intent of blowing you up. The beauty of that excuse is that it's hard to disprove. How are you going to find out the truth unless you go over there and take a look? How are you going to take a look unless you kick in his door?

It helps if no one much cares for this guy anyway. Pick a bully who's done his share of door-kicking himself. Wait until some disaster happens you can blame him for, even if you offer no evidence. Guilt by association is a powerful tool.

But remember, this neighbor is only the beginning, the opening gambit that makes the end-game possible. You want his whole damn neighborhood. Look above: none of those reasons for war end with a single country, do they?

So forget about your manufactured excuse for war. So what if bombs weren't found? He intended to build them, and now others of his ilk intend to build them -- in other countries. (And below the surface, you still don't have all the oil, you still haven't saved the world from Islam, you still haven't given everyone the vote.) We must stay the course until the whole world is safe for Democracy, Big Oil and Jesus.

But hey, with no bombs found, with gas prices bloated, with Christian leaders sounding as much like heathens as real heathens, the population is now turning on you. They no longer feel threatened. Reality is settling in. They want our troops home.

So what do you do now? The first step is always the hardest, and by God and Revelations you pulled that off. Now you have your base set to expand through the neighborhood. You can't just pull out now, can you?

So whatcha gonna do?

Well, you could make things so bad at home that this empire thing goes on the back burner, out of the public eye. You could provide a few martyrs to the cause from your lower ranks to help take the heat off. You can abstract and excuse and fumble and confuse, but above all you distract.

And if that doesn't work, well, you can always ask yourself, what would Hitler do?