By Wayne Saunders
YellowTimes.org Guest Columnist (Canada)
(YellowTimes.org) <EN DASH> Normally, the title for this column could be a
headline for The Onion, that hilarious, irreverent Wisconsin
publication that twists things around in order to hint at some absurd
reality. The Onion presents fake news and commentary, poking fun at
politics, culture, or whatever. Nothing is off-limits and they do a
great job, so normally my title could serve as one of their satirical
jumping off points. After all, how could the U.S. deploy hundreds of
thousands of troops overseas and begin operations in Northern Iraq
without around the clock coverage on CNN? How absurd!
Well, no actually. Of what do I speak? For starters we must go
offshore, or more accurately, online, to a piece entitled, "Iraq: In
all but name, the war's on," by Marc Erikson in the Asia Times,
published August 17. He notes that back in January, when Bush began
talking about "regime change" in Iraq, he signed an intelligence order
directing the CIA to topple Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. (As a
footnote, this violates U.S. law, but as expected there was very little
ballyhoo about that.) At the time there were approximately 50,000 U.S.
and British troops surrounding Iraq.
According to Erikson and numerous overseas reports, that number has
quietly grown to well over 100,000 U.S. troops in and around Iraq. This
does not include soldiers, sailors and airmen within the expanded
theater of operations. There have been two main acceleration points:
March and June. A new airfield is operational in Qatar and thousands of
U.S. troops are working with local forces in Iraqi Kurdistan, mapping
out targets, and covertly planning what will be the long awaited major
escalation of a campaign already under way. There's more, much more. On
August 9, the Turkish daily, Hurriyet, reported that 5,000 Turkish
troops entered northern Iraq and took over a key airbase, north of
Mosul.
Meanwhile the Jordanian news agency, Petra, counts thousands more U.S.
troops present to conduct joint exercises with the Jordanian army.
Still thousands more have been added to Kuwait. If you add in the
surrounding region, including allied troops, the number deployed or
ready to attack on short notice may reach upwards of 400,000. So where
are the nightly reports showing tearful loved ones waiving goodbye as
their beloved sons and daughters embark on the latest crusade against
the evil doers?
Undoubtedly many units are being reassigned, but many more are shipping
out under stealth, seemingly without notice. All we seem to hear about
is the stepped up bombing campaign. But then what better way to start a
new war than to clandestinely create a military situation with
unstoppable momentum?
So the war is on, begun in cloaked fashion as it were, during the dog
days of summer.
Given these developments overseas, the factional infighting within the
Bush administration concerning war with Iraq should be viewed not as a
major turf war, but more as a low-level distraction. (I will eat those
words if Colin Powell were to resign before his term is complete,
preferably pre-invasion.) In fact what the media circus has achieved
this summer is concealment of the aforementioned troop deployments,
their actual missions, and the actual strategy. What fellow pundit John
Chuckman calls "geopolitics by an idiot" was undoubtedly planned months
ago. Even cursory research outside the bounds of acceptable reporting
leads to the inevitable conclusion that it's not a question of 'if' or
'when' the U.S. attacks Iraq.
Historically, "The Guns of August" is not exactly an original, and yet
in the age of instant global communication, one marvels at the truly
Orwellian performance. It advances under a barrage of distortions,
half-truths, and outright lies unleashed daily in order to justify
blatant aggression. The White House knows there is no proof linking
Iraq to the events of September 11, and they know the anthrax attacks
were, mysteriously, domestic. Shared hatred of the United States fails
to connect Saddam's tyrannical secular state with Osama's stateless,
fanatical Islam.
Meanwhile, there is the personal testimony of former chief UN weapons
inspector Scott Ritter, who claims that Saddam's weapons of mass
destruction are largely disarmed, that the 'Iraqi threat' is built upon
a framework of deceit, and that a "handful of ideologues have hijacked
the national security policy of the United States for their own
ambitions."
And let's not forget Iraq's coveted oil reserves.
Rather than closely examining any such motives, or the wisdom,
legality, or necessity of an unprovoked invasion of Iraq, and the
certainty of increased misery, mayhem and regional destabilization, the
media prefer to fix their gaze upon the timing of such an attack, on
possible military strategies, and of course, those divisions within the
Bush administration.
It all makes for good gossip amongst the chattering classes. (Ok, some
of it is downright interesting: Like how a small cabal of hawks
centered in the civilian offices of the Pentagon, along with Weekly
Standard editor Bill Kristol, have essentially hijacked U.S. foreign
policy.) But focusing on questions such as whether or not Bush will
attack before the November mid-term elections, or wait until early next
year, only serve to deflect attention from ominous developments on the
ground that, in more honest times, we'd hear at least something. (As
late as September 1, the Toronto Star repeated the official story that
a mere 60,000 U.S. troops are currently in the region.)
Appointed by the high court, the Bush cabal is as dangerous a sect as
has ever ruled the republic; the best and the brightest ideologues the
Hard Right can offer. It's time to awaken from summer slumber, admit
that they've begun a totally predictable and unnecessary war on Iraq,
one that flies in the face of minimal morality as well as logic.
Against the wishes of nearly the entire planet, they are determined to
proceed, no matter what.
A precarious situation, it merely awaits a catalyst, planned or
otherwise, for a justified escalation. Look for the implanting of Gulf
War II psychosis within the malleable American psyche with Bush's
speech to the UN general assembly on September 12. In the coming weeks,
it is expected that the propaganda offensive will rev up to full
throttle.
The absurdity of the situation reminds us that a little levity is good
for the soul, even during dire times. Thankfully, The Onion continues
to pull no punches in its social satire post 9/11 despite the fact that
these are not normal times, and quite clearly, this is a not a normal
administration in Washington. And yet there is nothing funny about
deceiving a population into fighting a war they would not support if
only a few simple facts were laid bare or if relevant developments were
actually being noted by the media this side of the pond. At the risk of
losing one's sense of humor during dire times, we must face the fact
that reality has truly eclipsed satire.
It may be the first step towards resisting all this madness.
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MA Harrison, School Geographical Sciences
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