Act III in a Tragedy of Many Parts - The US Occupation of Iraq

[seemslikeadream]

http://counterpunch.com/arnove12162006.html

By ANTHONY ARNOVE

.....


As the crisis in Iraq unfolds, we can expect these arguments to gain even wider traction, providing more cover for the real U.S. objectives in the Middle East.

The tragedy unfolding in Iraq is still far from over. In Act I of the tragedy, we were told that Washington would invade Iraq, quickly topple the dictatorship, install a stable client government, and then-having radically changed the balance of power in the Middle East-march on from Baghdad to confront the regimes of Iran and Syria. With that dream in tatters, the United States commenced Act II: the manipulation of sectarian divisions in Iraq to form a Shiite and Kurdish coalition government that would isolate the Sunnis (though it would seek to co-opt as much of their political leadership as possible) and serve the intended client role, if less effectively than Washington had hoped, allowing the U.S. to gain at least some foothold in Iraq and claim victory. By mid-2006, the failures of this strategy could no longer be ignored, however. Having invaded Iraq intending to weaken Iran and Syria, to strengthen its position and that of Israel and its Arab allies in the region, the United States instead achieved the opposite. (Of course, all of this ignores the many stages of the tragedy authored by the United States before the March 2003 invasion, through its support of the Baath Party and Saddam Hussein, its nefarious role in the Iran-Iraq War and then the 1991 Gulf War, and the more than twelve years of sanctions and bombing that followed.)

Acts I and II in the tragedy of the Iraq occupation have now come to a close. But Act III has only just begun. All the signs suggest that the endgame in Iraq is likely to be long and very bloody. Iraq and the Middle East are so strategically important to the United States that neither party is willing to withdraw and admit defeat; such an outcome would be more disastrous for the United States than its defeat in Vietnam.
But there is one factor in the Iraq tragedy that we should not discount. The question of how long this war lasts, whether it will expand to Iran and Syria, whether more troops will be sent to needlessly kill and be killed for profit and power, does not only depend on the decisions and internal conflicts of the ruling class. It also depends on the level of public opposition in Iraq, at home, and within the military itself. Groups like Iraq Veterans Against the War are already playing a leading role in the struggle to end the occupation. But we are still only at the beginning of organizing the kind of opposition we need to affect the course of the war decisively.

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[rdarmand]

1. I don't think it matters anymore

I don't think it matters anymore that this mission was chartered by a fool and for the wrong reasons.

Islamofascism transformed this conflict into one between their version of Islam and everybody else, and they are willing to commit every sort of travesty to win. If we left Iraq today, simply pulled out and came home, do you think that would be the end of it? Forget the consequences to Iraq itself; the Islamofascists would then be certain of victory on a much broader scale, and their boldness and resolve would increase geometrically.

Iraq is just the first phase of the battle with Islamofascism. It's probably too much to ask that it be the last, at this point.

It's ironic. We worry about crossing every moral "t" and dotting every moral "i", while they blow up women and babies, shoot children, and bless Allah for the opportunity. And they are winning.

We are a people in serious need of perspective.

[teamster633]

3. Yep, let's fight those Islamofascists over there...

...so we don't have to fight them over here. Damn librul moralists! If only they understood the way the world really works.

[Karenina]

4. Sick.

But even a broken clock...

"We are a people in serious need of perspective."

[Karenina]

2. Reid needs to hear the word 'NO'

LOUDLY and CLEARLY from the 4 corners of the country.

The American people have so much power that they refuse to exercise. :shrug:

I've seen SO LITTLE support for Appeal for Redress and Ehren Watada...

What would happen if every time the M$M bullshits their offices and studios were SURROUNDED by thousands demanding they TELL THE TRUTH?

K&R.