What the Bush Gang Really Wants
The Roots of the Iraq War
by WILLIAM BLUM
Which is the more remarkable -- that the United States can openly announce
to the world its determination to invade a sovereign nation and overthrow
its government in the absence of any attack or threat of attack from the
intended target? Or that for an entire year the world has been striving to
figure out what the superpower's real intentions are?
There are of course those who accept at face value Washington's stated
motivations of "liberating" the people of Iraq from a dictatorship and
bestowing upon them a full measure of democracy, freedom and other eternal
joys fit for American schoolbooks. In light of a century of well-documented
US foreign policy which reveals a virtually complete absence of such
motivations, along with repeated opposite consequences, we can dispense
with this attempt by Washington to win hearts and mindless.
Presented here are some reflections about several of the causes that make
the hearts of the imperial mafia beat faster in regard to Iraq, which may
be helpful in arguing the anti-war point of view:
Expansion of the American Empire: adding more military bases and
communications listening stations to the Pentagon's portfolio, setting up a
command post from which to better monitor, control and intimidate the rest
of the Middle East.
Idealism: remaking the world in what the true believers see as America's
image, with free enterprise and Judeo-Christianity as core elements; here
is Michael Ledeen, former Reagan official, now at the American Enterprise
Institute (one of the leading drum-beaters for attacking Iraq): "If we just
let our own vision of the world go forth, and we embrace it entirely, and
we don't try to be clever and piece together clever diplomatic solutions to
this thing, but just wage a total war against these tyrants, I think we
will do very well, and our children will sing great songs about us years
from now."
Oil: the sine qua non of Middle East policy, yesterday, today and tomorrow;
to be in full control of Iraq's vast reserves, with Saudi oil and Iranian
oil waiting defenselessly next door; OPEC will be stripped of its
independence from Washington and will no longer think about replacing the
dollar with the Euro as its official currency; oil-dependent Europe may
think twice next time about being so uppity.
Globalization: Once relative security over the land, people and
institutions has been established, the transnational corporations will
march into Iraq ready to privatize everything at fire-sale prices, followed
closely by the IMF, World Bank, World Trade Organization and the rest of
the international financial extortionists.
Arms industry: As with each of America's endless wars, military
manufacturers will rake in their exorbitant profits, then deliver their
generous political contributions, inspiring Washington leaders to yet
further warfare, each war also being the opportunity to test new weapons.
Israel: The men driving Bush to war include long-time militant supporters
of Israel, such as Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz, and Douglas Feith, who,
along with the rest of the powerful Israeli lobby, have advocated smashing
Iraq for years. Israel has been playing a key role in the American military
buildup to the war. Besides getting rid of its arch enemy, Israel could use
the opportunity to carry out its final solution to the Palestinian question
-- transferring them to Jordan, (liberated) Iraq, and anywhere else that
expanded US hegemony in the Middle East will allow. Iraq's abundant water
could be diverted to relieve a parched Israel.
William Blum is the author of Killing Hope: U.S. Military and CIA
Interventions Since World War II, Rogue State: a guide to the World's Only
Super Power. and West-Bloc Dissident: a Cold War Political Memoir. He can
be reached at: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.counterpunch.org/blum02202003.html
