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| PAX AMERICANA? | |||||||||||||
| THE INSANE WAR ON IRAQ BEGINS! | |||||||||||||
| By Ronald C. Tobin | |||||||||||||
| E-Mail: [email protected] | |||||||||||||
| Well, I suppose that, unless you have been living in a cave somewhere, the start of the great crusade against the regime of Saddam Hussein in Iraq has come as no real surprise. While I had hoped cooler heads would prevail, that President-Dictator George W. Bush and his pals just might see the light and call this mess off before it began, I certainly cannot say I expected that outcome. No, I thought that war was all but inevitable, no matter what happened with the moribund United Nations and that joke called NATO. The American Empire is the last superpower still standing. Hussein insulted W?s father, allegedly even put a contract out on him. So, among other things, this war is a personal vendetta. Turns out I was a day off for when the hostilities would commence. I had predicted a start date of 18 March, but that was before the US President-Dictator issued his ultimatum. Of course, Hussein and his sons did not accept the terms of this 'gracious' act and thus, barely two hours after the ultimatum expired, hostilities commenced. And so they go on. | |||||||||||||
| Before I continue with this open tirade, a rant against the US and UK governments, against all those involved in this "coalition of the willing," let me make this crystal clear: I have no love for Saddam Hussein, his sons, or the regime's control apparatus known as the Baath Party. I certainly will not be shedding tears for them once I hear of their passing. I will, however, weep for the children of Iraq, who have suffered through over a decade of UN sanctions, for those used as human shields by the fanatical Fedayeen paramilitary, for those whose homes and lives are destroyed by errant missiles, and for those forced to fight. | |||||||||||||
| As the UK and the US have entirely volunteer military forces, I will not weep for them. They signed up (largely to get a 'free' education at the taxpayers expense) voluntarily, so they should understand what they are getting themselves into. This will NOT be a 'cakewalk' like the first Gulf War was. The battle for Baghdad will be bloody. Many body bags will get shipped back to the States this time, filled with American dead. War will no longer be pretty to the masses. The polls will start to change. In case it is not crystal clear, no, I do not and will not support the troops. | |||||||||||||
| Some brilliant minion of the President-Dictator came up with the name for this unwarranted invasion: Operation Iraqi Freedom. No doubt they did this to avoid what another name for the invasion--Operation Iraqi Liberation -- would have made very plain. After all, the initials would be O.I.L. that's OIL, which is the second major objective of this military adventure. | |||||||||||||
| Now, there are those who take exception to my contention that oil is an objective in this invasion. Much of the current shortage in the US is due to the disruption of the Venezuelan oil supply due to general strikes against the government of President-Dictator Chavez. If oil is the goal, why would the US not invade Venezuela? It's a lot closer and would likely be an easier conquest. That argument would be valid IF oil were the sole goal, and it is far from that. Controlling Venezuela might get one lots of oil, but provides little strategic value and Bush has no real bones to pick with their government. So, Venezuela is left to its own devices and need not worry about a US led invasion anytime soon. | |||||||||||||
| Now, the control of Iraq is another matter. Vast oil reserves, strategic location in the Persian Gulf/Middle East region. Along with client state Afghanistan, US control over Iraq will put the squeeze on the ayatollahs of Iran. It will allow the Imperium to keep a close eye on Saudi Arabia, even after withdrawing the troops that are truly no longer welcome there. | |||||||||||||
| So, vengeance for George H.W. Bush, cheap oil for another twenty years, strategic outpost in the Middle East, and all done under the guise of a 'regime change' to 'liberate' the people of Iraq. What more could the American Empire ask for? | |||||||||||||
| Well, they desperately wanted the rubber stamp of approval from the United Nations. They failed to obtain that. They desperately wanted the full cooperation of NATO, and they did not get that. Perhaps most shocking of all to the minions of the Imperium is that they failed to secure transit rights through Turkey to open a viable northern front up in Iraq. So sure were they that they had bought the votes in the Turkish Parliament that there were ships waiting just outside Turkish ports. Now, those forces are in route to the Persian Gulf. Finally, the Imperium truly expected to see Iraqi resistance just fade away over a few days, to see the populace actually rise up in revolt against Saddam. It was supposed to be short and sweet. Now, it is believed that the war could last well into the summer, though that remains to be seen. The battle plan is being extensively revised to account for little civilian cooperation and the actions of suicide bombers and paramilitary units. | |||||||||||||
| I could, indeed, sit here and just pour out page after page of denunciations and declarations resulting from my attitude towards this most ridiculous war foisted upon us by the likes of Bush and Cheney. I gather that more than a few of you would actually do me the courtesy of reading it! I appreciate that, truly, but I will not go down that road. I'm not a politician. | |||||||||||||
| Why do I believe that it was completely unjustified for the US and the UK to start this war against Iraq? Well, several valid points do come to mind, but for this libertarian anarchist the non-initiation of force principle weighs heavily. One just MIGHT be able to find a valid libertarian argument in favor of the First Gulf War ? Kuwait had been invaded and taken over, one has a right to defend victims of aggression, therefore one could make the argument (just don?t say that you did it to further the cause of democracy and freedom - Kuwait was, and still is, an emirate, often described as being a family oil company with a seat at the United Nations). Also, let us not forget that there has been a low level war against Iraq for the last twelve years, what with the no fly zones and the on again, off again weapons inspections, and the sanctions which only hurt the populace, not the regime of Saddam Hussein. | |||||||||||||
| So, this war is openly admitted to being a pre-emptive strike. The justification for this action? Allegedly, Iraq still has weapons of mass destruction, and somehow has designs of using these weapons against the US, either on its own or through terrorist proxies. They never explained how the Iraqis were going to do this, only that they would, unless Saddam Hussein was removed from office and a new regime, one that would do the bidding of its masters from the UK and the US (just as the Shahs of Iran had done from 1953 to 1979), was installed. This is, they assert, is NOT a war against the Iraqi people. Rather, it is a war to facilitate a regime change, to bring freedom and democracy to Iraq by eliminating Saddam Hussein and the Baath Party. Funny how after twelve years of low-level conflict the people of Iraq are having a hard time swallowing this. Funnier still how the Bush Administration could not even convince the UN Security Council to go along with this, even after blatantly trying to buy the votes. Perhaps the majority of the world's 'leadership' could actually see that Iraq, if in fact it remains a threat to anyone, is only of real concern to its neighbors. Iraq was clearly no threat to the territorial integrity, sovereignty, and security of the United States. As such, the war is unjustified, in fact it is a criminal act. Tony Blair and George W. Bush should be removed from office and tried as war criminals. All coalition forces should be withdrawn and Iraq compensated for damages. This will not happen, but it would be just and right and proper if it did. | |||||||||||||
| That Iraq likely does still have some biological and chemical warfare material is rather likely. However, the US has more weapons of mass destruction than any other nation on the planet. Where are the calls for the US to disarm? Why have there been no UN weapons inspections in the United States? Now THAT would be fascinating. | |||||||||||||
| Though it is going to take quite a bit longer than the powers that be anticipated (some pundits claimed Iraq would not resist for longer than a week, well we all know how wrong those guys were), unless the UK and US governments lose their nerve, the defeat of the Saddam Hussein regime is all but certain. The Iraqis can exact a rather high price, but this time the military seems determined to see it through. Most of the populace of the United States appears to have been bamboozled into supporting this unjust and unnecessary war, and many are more than willing to invest their lives, or their children's lives, into this effort. President-Dictator Bush has said several times that he will remove Saddam's hands from the neck of the Iraqi people. He should go on to say that he would replace them with his own! That would be honest, and the Empire is not known for that. Expect a long military occupation with some nasty guerrilla action for some years to come in Iraq. Expect increased animosity from the Arabs and the Muslims. More terrorism is possible, but that is hard to gauge. | |||||||||||||
| I, Ronald Tobin, stand opposed to this war. I am opposed to the tactics used by President-Dictator George W. Bush and his cronies to make sure that it happened. Saddam Hussein is a brutal, sadistic dictator, but that is no reason to invade Iraq - they were hardly a threat to the US. This is about revenge. This is about oil. This is about power. It is about EMPIRE, and that is what the United States of America really is. A free country? Don't make me ill. All this strengthens my resolve to work to create a truly free, stateless society. | |||||||||||||
| [This article originally appeared in the March/April 2003 issue of THE THOUGHT.] | |||||||||||||
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