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.
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.
posted by Bear at 9:52 AM
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