>From John Gray's "Black Mass: Apocalytic Religion and the Death of Utopia". >Not the easiest read, but well worth it. "the Iraq adventure displayed, in a modified form suited to an intrinsically absurd project, some familiar imperialist traits. The geo-political aim of the enterprise was to seize control of the country's oil, and though it has not enabled the increase of production that was expected, this seizure did occur. Beyond this act of appropriation, Iraq has been the scene of monumental fraud, with billions of dollars disappearing into the pockets of American corporations and Washington lobbyists. The corruption following the American invasion has been on a scale that dwarfs the scandals that surrounded the oil-for-food programme during the Saddam regime. Contracts for the reconstruction of Iraq have been preferentially allocated to American firms, with those that have close connections with the Republican party, the Bush administration and USAID - the United States Agency for International Development, which oversees the distribution of contracts - receiving the lion's share. Many of the activities of government have been outsourced along with many of the traditional functions of the military. Tasks such as policing buildings, streets and oil wells, maintaining weapons systems and guarding supply convoys have been contracted out to corporations. UK private-security firms have been reported to have around 48,000 personnel in the country, outnumbering British troops by a factor of six to one. Government has been privatized, an operation that has created many new sources of profit."
Gray is the author of "Straw Dogs: Thoughts on Humans and other Animals", also worth reading. He is prof. of European Thought at the London School of Economics. Ed
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