(Note to literalists: the Watched column presently contains only a smattering of 'warblogs' because the facilitator of the template-change--Dr. Menlo--is not very familiar with them, and will be adding more as they are sent to him. Also, this blog may contain areas of allusion, satire, subtext, context and possibly even a dash of the surreal: wannabe lit-crits beware.)
Control
[Watch this space for: Pentagon and Petroleum, The Media is only as Liberal as the Corporations Who Own Them, Wash Down With, and Recalcify]
WARBLOGGER WATCH
Tuesday, May 13, 2003
(Art by Micah Wright, of course...)
I'm starting a new feature here at Warblogger Watch. I'm calling it Celebrity Warblogger Watch, where we pick the best anti-war criticism from the net and share it with the world. First up, Max Sawicky, who I've found to be must reading these days:
"IMPEACH BUSH. [YAWN] The fraud underlying the war seems to get more obvious every day. This past weekend we had reports in the Post and elsewhere that the WMD search team was being rotated home, finding nothing, and that U.S. troops were ordered to march on to Baghdad, rather than guard a raft of nuclear sites that subsequently were looted. The evidence on Saddamist links to terrorism is equally thin. If Iraq was no threat to the U.S., why the invasion? To liberate their people? O.K. Who are we going to invade this week? There's a lot more work to do. How about Uzbekistan. There's a sucky government for you. I hereby condemn the wimpy, blame-America-First, anti-internationalist soft-on-Uzbekistan party. The people of Uzbekistan cry out for liberation. Where are you, how can you live with yourself. Sheesh.
Then there's the de-Ba'athification campaign. We learn it was completed the other day. Ba'ath Party members were compelled to sign a statement affirming their renunciation of the party. Then they could be put back to staffing the lower administrative echelons of the pre-owned Iraqi state. Once the game of 52-pickup is over, the old gang can get back to work under the American viceroy-du-jour. It's as if George Steinbrunner is in charge.
So all things considered, the case for impeachment against G. Bush seems to have a pile of evidence considerably higher than Clinton's erection. The difference I suppose is that nobody is putting up ten million dollars to pay a bunch of monkeys to push daily demands for Bush's head."
News flash for you Donny: It would have been a lot less untidy if you had put as much effort into planning for the aftermath of the invasion as you did into the invasion itself. You could have sent over enough soldiers to be able to stomp down on the looting as soon as it started. If order had been established initially it would have been much easier to maintain it. Anyone familiar with the "Broken Windows" theory of policing could explain it to you. Go ask James Q. Wilson what you are doing wrong.
The excuse that the war has been over for such a short period of time misses the point: Just as the US is able to prosecute wars much more quickly it also ought to be able to restore order very quickly. But to restore order requires more boots on the ground than a war does and Rumsfeld did not want to send over that many troops. The problem is that the Bush Administration did not want to commit a large ground force for peacekeeping. When Army Chief of Staff Gen. Eric K. Shinseki told Congress a larger peacekeeping force would be needed Rumsfeld slapped down Shinseki for suggesting such an idea.And he adds this:
Had it been done right with a larger ground force then once order had been established and a new police force was developed the larger ground force could have been scaled back. There would not have been this period of such lawlessness. But the Bush Administration chose a force size that is allowing the criminals to prey on the innocent in Iraq.
"Analysis: This has to stop, and fast. Letting the Iraqis loot their National Museum and other buildings was bad; this is much worse. It's a safe bet that nascent pockets of organized crime have begun to form in Iraq, in the absence of any public force to maintain law and order. Organized crime elements will focus first on establishing order themselves -- by means of violence and extortion -- then they will start to fight one another for turf and control over various criminal syndicates. If the United States does not stop this crime with brute force and establish order, we will almost surely have to contend with larger, more complex, more organized crime problems in the future.
This is not the time to redeploy forces from Baghdad (as we're currently doing), nor is it the time to let the Iraqis try to police themselves. We must establish order with a firm hand, first, before disorder and chaos become the norm. Once people feel secure in their homes, and trust the U.S.-Iraqi authority to maintain the peace, then we can cede authority to the newly reconstituted Iraqi police. It's clear that the Iraqi police force is incapable (for now) of doing this job. American soldiers may not be police, and they may not be perfectly trained for this job. But they can certainly establish security by force and stop this criminal activity for as long as it takes to get the Iraqi civilian police up and running.
posted by Phillip at 3:10 PM"
Now, here's something that both Phil Carter and Mr. Parker haven't caught on to yet: The current American government doesn't give a fuck about the Iraqi people. It's all about the oil. In fact, as Ted Rall put it, they would like a number of spread out fiefdoms and Bantustans across Iraq. It makes it easier to control the oil. Remember: the main purpose of the war, hinted at by Glenn and his Four Riders Crew, is that force works and is in fact good. And the ruins of Afghanistan and Iraq will be the stark warning to all those who dare to defy the Empire...
