We own half of the world, oh say can you see
The name for our profits is democracy
So like it or not, you will have to be free
--Phil Ochs
Not only has the American public grown tired of The Decider's Big Adventure, so has the government he installed.
A story in today's New York Times reports that aides to Iraqi Prime minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki are privately grumbling that they really don't want any additional American troops. They're afraid the continued U.S. presence will get in their way as they try to run the government their way.
In Iraq's Sunni community, running the government Maliki's way is seen as a threat. The Shiite government's handling of Saddam Hussein's execution has scared the Sunnis shitless, leading them to believe that Maliki is more interested in settling old scores against the Sunnis than running a democracy. Which means the Sunnis step up the violence against the government, the Shiites retaliate...you know the drill.
So whether the U.S. sends 20,00 new troops or gets everyone the hell out of there, it really won't make a difference. Whether by accident or design, Bush's invasion brought ancient blood feuds to the surface, and now, like a badly-staged action sequence in a Michael Bay movie, they will continue to play out forever. We didn't create this monster, but we brought it to life, and no matter what Our Beloved president says, it has nothing to do with the War On Terror.
So why are we there? Well, a story in the British newspaper The Independent last Sunday revealed the Iraqi government is about to vote on a new law giving seventy-five percent of that nation's oil profits to Western corporations like Shell and Exxon. This law--surprise!--was drawn up with the active participation of the U.S. government. Knowledge that such a law is even being considered makes everything Bush says about his dirty little war a lie, and yet I can't find a single mention of it in any mainstream American paper.
Not that I find that suspicious or anything...
