Kanan Makiya (former Iraqi dissident): “Everything they (US) could do wrong, they did wrong”

[sabra]

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/24/world/middleeast/24makiya.html?ref=world

Critic of Hussein Grapples With Horrors of Post-Invasion Iraq

<snip>

Until the American invasion in March 2003, Mr. Makiya, an Iraqi-American born in Baghdad in 1949, was the leading intellectual voice crying out for Western and Arab nations to topple Mr. Hussein. He was a close friend of the Pentagon darling Ahmad Chalabi, and had the attention of neoconservatives. Vice President Dick Cheney praised him on “Meet the Press,” and Mr. Makiya was one of three Iraqi-Americans who met with President Bush in the winter of 2003.

...

“I want to look into myself, look at myself, delve into the assumptions I had going into the war,” he said. “Now it seems necessary to reflect on the society that has gotten itself into this mess. A question that looms more and more for me is: just what did 30 years of dictatorship do to 25 million people?”

“It’s not like I didn’t think about this,” he continued. “But nonetheless I allowed myself as an activist to put it aside in the hope that it could be worked through, or managed, or exorcised in a way that’s not as violent as is the case now. That did not work out.”

...

Then there is the small issue of American policy. “Everything they could do wrong, they did wrong,” Mr. Makiya said. “The first and the biggest American error was the idea of going for an occupation.”

...

The tribunal did little to expose the all-encompassing cruelty of the Baath Party, Mr. Makiya said. And in failing to control an execution chamber filled with seething Shiite officials and policemen, the Iraqi government “actually succeeded in making Saddam look good in the eyes of the Arab world.”

He added, “Just like everything about the war, it was an opportunity wasted.”

[Cha]

1. But, how can you

grab the oil and geo-political location without occupation?

[yurbud]

2. as soon as those worthless sacks of shit in congress start talking about the oil angle

honestly, the war will be over.

The longer they talk about it in fairy tale propaganda terms and DON'T talk about oil, the more likely they are complicit.

[Cha]

3. Really! Ever feel like you're in

a movie called "1984" with a "Twilight Zone" subtitle?

[yurbud]

5. I've probably sent 10-20 letters on that to my congressman and senators

[yurbud]

6. REAL TWILIGHT ZONE: Dems asked about big oil screwing Iraqis in Bush hydrocarbon law VIDEO

http://professorsmartass.blogspot.com/2007/01/sen-reid-dodges-iraq-oil-privatization.html

[Cha]

7. Thanks for all your

action on this, yurbud!

[yurbud]

4. more like we're trapped in an episode of Sesame Street where the puppets lie & steal from us

some of us think the puppets are real people, some aren't sure, and the rest of world sees the guys moving the sticks.

[yurbud]

8. the sad thing is, we don't even have to grab it. What happens to the value of your product

if you cut off 25% of your customers (us)? The price either drops by at least that much, or someone else buys your oil and sells it through back channels. Or since oil is oil, even if you do successfully cut us off, we just play a quick game of musical chairs on who we buy from.

If the Bush family coke dealer decided to cut them off, how long would they have to look for another dealer? Even more likely, they'd be lined up at the Kennebunkport gate in plenty of time to service the family reunion.

[kenny blankenship]

9. Here's how, not that we should be giving out instructs on oil grabbing

Kick in Saddam's doors. Immediately find a New Mr. Mustache to replace Saddam Hussein from the top Generals of the Ba'ath Party, demand basing rights in private talks before his gov't is in place. Promise billions in reconstruction aid (kickbacks) and covert assistance in maintaining power against plotters and rivals in exchange for our 4 bigass bases in perpetuity and minimal pledges for gradual (ever so gradual) political reform. Really we're making him an offer he can't refuse, if you know what I mean.

All we really needed to secure our nefarious strategic objective is the basing rights in Iraq. With our military on the ground in that position, every country in the region and all others interested in the region will understand without further explanation that the M.E. is our virtual possession and protectorate. We eat first, second and third...leftover crumbs may be doled out to outsiders when and as we see fit. And all trespassers will be eviscerated and fed to dogs in front of their children. Iraq has a lot of empty areas in it away from the Tigris and Euphrates floodplains; we park our armies out there, maybe build some roads and port facilties, stay the hell away from the people, don't overturn their social order, and there's no need then to occupy the country. The occupation was a result of the idea to dismantle and demob the Iraqi Army and police and simultaneously to attempt the complete political transformation of Iraqi society. Utter madness. It's like a 4th grader in his first social studies class was doing the planning and another fourth grader was wielding the approval stamp. Or two mental patients who both think they are Napoleon.