Christmas is past, today is my 80th birthday, then new year is fast approaching. I'm reminded of an old movie short titled-"The March of Time". Back then time seemed to march very slowly, nowadays it goes by in a blur of speed. Today time is overfilled with events and the confusion of profusion.
For Christmas I received a book titled-"Assassin's Gate", by George Packer. I looked forward to reading this book and it has proved to be all that I had hoped for. The author has written an objective, non-polemic, background of the Iraq war. What I've read so far has been very enlightening regarding the many players that have had a part in developing the current scenario. Packer says that the '30s leftists who were concerned with the world class-stuggle later turned realist and then when the Cold War was over and the U.S. was the uncontested super power decided that they could accomplish their modified aims through the projection of military power- they are today's neo-cons.
The Iraqis in exile were urging a variety of initiatives. Wolfowitz had already made known his idea to preempt the Middle East to protect our oil interests. Enter David Perle, Kanan Makiya, and Ahmad Chilabi. These people, Makiya and Chilabi were the Iraqis, insinuated themselves into the policy making programs at the time. Chilabi was the most overtly aggressive suggesting that he would lead an insurgency against Saddam by enlisting the Shiites and Kurds provided he was backed up by U.S. military assistance and cash.
The Iraqis were urged to rebel but Cheney, Secretary of Defense, under Bush l, quashed the use of U.S. troops to support them stating that "we don't have a dog in the fight and shouldn't get into that quagmire." After the Gulf War, for whatever reason, Saddam was allowed to use helicopters. He used them to bomb and strafe the Shiites and Kurds unmercifully. This went on
until the "no fly" zones were imposed in North and South Iraq. Chilabi stayed safely in Washington, D.C. He is now a major player in the new Iraqi government as Oil Minister.
Now it is taking three years to train Iraqi soldiers sufficiently to protect Iraqi citizens. The Bremer lead provisional government scorned the use of the defeated Iraqi Army to maintain order and allowed chaos to run rampant. The remaining infrastructure was allowed to be destroyed also completely devastating an already severely depleted land.
The positive aspect of the Iraq War is the grandious notion that only through mlitary might can the snake pit of totalitarian governments in the Middle East be reformulated in the democratic mode and thus provide a stable, viable, environment for the Arabic populace. This is a noble motive and the goal could possibly be achieved by a more adroit, coalition building, U.N. led consortium involving most major countries of the world. Obviously the current, in your face, my way or the highway, you are either for us or against us, non-diplomatic, policy is counterproductive.
For Christmas I received a book titled-"Assassin's Gate", by George Packer. I looked forward to reading this book and it has proved to be all that I had hoped for. The author has written an objective, non-polemic, background of the Iraq war. What I've read so far has been very enlightening regarding the many players that have had a part in developing the current scenario. Packer says that the '30s leftists who were concerned with the world class-stuggle later turned realist and then when the Cold War was over and the U.S. was the uncontested super power decided that they could accomplish their modified aims through the projection of military power- they are today's neo-cons.
The Iraqis in exile were urging a variety of initiatives. Wolfowitz had already made known his idea to preempt the Middle East to protect our oil interests. Enter David Perle, Kanan Makiya, and Ahmad Chilabi. These people, Makiya and Chilabi were the Iraqis, insinuated themselves into the policy making programs at the time. Chilabi was the most overtly aggressive suggesting that he would lead an insurgency against Saddam by enlisting the Shiites and Kurds provided he was backed up by U.S. military assistance and cash.
The Iraqis were urged to rebel but Cheney, Secretary of Defense, under Bush l, quashed the use of U.S. troops to support them stating that "we don't have a dog in the fight and shouldn't get into that quagmire." After the Gulf War, for whatever reason, Saddam was allowed to use helicopters. He used them to bomb and strafe the Shiites and Kurds unmercifully. This went on
until the "no fly" zones were imposed in North and South Iraq. Chilabi stayed safely in Washington, D.C. He is now a major player in the new Iraqi government as Oil Minister.
Now it is taking three years to train Iraqi soldiers sufficiently to protect Iraqi citizens. The Bremer lead provisional government scorned the use of the defeated Iraqi Army to maintain order and allowed chaos to run rampant. The remaining infrastructure was allowed to be destroyed also completely devastating an already severely depleted land.
The positive aspect of the Iraq War is the grandious notion that only through mlitary might can the snake pit of totalitarian governments in the Middle East be reformulated in the democratic mode and thus provide a stable, viable, environment for the Arabic populace. This is a noble motive and the goal could possibly be achieved by a more adroit, coalition building, U.N. led consortium involving most major countries of the world. Obviously the current, in your face, my way or the highway, you are either for us or against us, non-diplomatic, policy is counterproductive.
posted by Don.B. | 2:26 PM
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