www.thornwalker.com/ditch/francis_005.htm
 
Guest column
April 15, 2003
 

What did the war accomplish?

By SAMUEL FRANCIS

 

In the midst of the jubilation that greeted the downfall of Saddam Hussein (or at least of his statue) and the smug triumphalism that enveloped Washington as U.S. troops marched through the Iraqi capital, Americans might be well advised to sober up and take a harder look at what their government has already done and what it may soon do — in Syria, Iran, or other countries that the war party is already itching to clobber.

The war party, of course, is composed of American Likudniks in the Bush administration and neo-conservative media, as well as a good many citizens who can't spell Likudnik but are inclined to confuse chest-thumping about military victories over third-rate Third World armies with real patriotism. After spreading what apparently were just plain lies about Saddam's "weapons of mass destruction" — not a one of which has yet surfaced either in combat or afterwards — the armchair warriors are now claiming that Iraq has been "liberated."

Certainly the brutal rule of a tyrant, Saddam Hussein, has ended, but even if he had possessed and used weapons of mass destruction, could the carnage have been any greater than what we have already inflicted on Iraq? The New York Times last week reported that the "Number of Iraqis Killed May Never Be Determined," as its headline read. In Basra alone, local hospitals report handling "between 1,000 and 2,000 corpses in three weeks of war." A Marine officer reported that the Baghdad Division of the Iraqi army was reduced to "zero percent fighting strength." That means, presumably, it was wiped out — some 10,000 soldiers. Those are just combat deaths. There are also deaths from bombing and artillery, and not all are dead, merely crippled for life. What was the purpose of unleashing this kind of savagery against a country that had never attacked the United States or harmed any American? "The principal reason for going after Hussein," Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, the administration's Likudnik in Chief and probably the main architect of the war, told the Washington Post last week, "was the direct threat the Iraqi leader posed to U.S. national security through his possession of weapons of mass destruction."

What "threat"? When did Saddam ever utter any such threat? And what weapons? This weekend, Iraqi general and chief scientist Amir Saadi said after surrendering that Iraq has no such weapons, which is what he said before the war. Maybe there are some even he doesn't know about, but there's no trace of them so far, and why didn't Saddam use them against U.S. forces in his last stand, to save his life or his power? If he was unwilling to unleash mass destruction against an invading army, why would he have wielded it against this country?

If blowing up private homes and wiping out entire families of civilians, along with slaughtering thousands of Iraqis, was part of the price of "liberation," it's not clear the war was worth it. As for the "democracy" that has supposedly descended upon Iraq, what we mainly saw last week was the triumph of the mob, looting whatever it could steal from crushed government offices or helpless civilians, coupled with the massacre of a Shiite leader whom the mob didn't care for.

Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, in yet another administration untruth, unbosomed the absurdity that it was all the news media's fault and the looting was just "the same picture, of some person walking out of some building with a vase." What moon of Neptune is this man living on? Did it occur to no one involved in the year-long planning of this war that an invasion intended to "destroy the Iraqi government" would leave the country in chaos unless another government was immediately installed?

Democracy or what travels by that name in the West triumphed because Western man conceived of it, fought for it, and built it — not because an invading army gave it to him. We'll see how long "democracy" lasts in Iraq, even aside from the military dictatorship that we will now at least temporarily install there.

Finally there are the suicide bombings that have already started in Iraq and may soon start here. Four Marines were wounded by one last week, but they were not the first. The week before, two Iraqi women killed three U.S. soldiers in western Iraq with a suicide bomb. On March 29, a cab driver blew up his vehicle and killed himself and four American troops. They won't be the last.

Americans need to ask themselves now, while the war party is only slobbering about going on to wage similar wars against Syria and Iran and other enemies of Israel in the region, what we really accomplished in Iraq and why it was worth accomplishing at all. If you ever find out, please let me know.
 


Samuel Francis is a nationally syndicated columnist. His Website is at www.samfrancis.net.

Posted by permission of the author, April 15, 2003. © 2003 Creators Syndicate.

It made lots of money for the "defense" industry. It gives the US a common border with Iran, making a future invasion easier. It gives the US and Israel a new threat to use against Third World Countries - "look what happened it Iraq when it didn't follow orders." It kept people's minds off the disasterous economy, vanishing pension plans, corporate crooks/Bush campaign donors, rising unemployment and Bush's tax cuts for the rich. It gives Bush's oil industry buddies control of Iraq's oil. It allowed for testing of US weapons under battlefield conditions. It satisfied the Zionist lobby, which has been demanding an attack on Iraq. It pleased a lot of backwoods redneck Napoleons and armchair Mussolinis who voted for Bush in the expectation that he would give them a good war to watch on television now that the Super Bowl is over. For weeks they have been downing cheap beer and sitting back in their easy chairs (bought on credit from K-Mart) cheering as people are burned alive in Baghdad. It all goes to show what a wonderful country this is.

A suggestion to save you some time: Just cut and paste the DNC talking points next time.

If only those spineless slugs on 'either' side of the
house or senate would show some courage.
Who can tell the difference? It's a game of say, the
door opens in a dark room. Two frat boys (John Dic, republician and Ed Tool, democrat ) are simultainously
pointing fingers at and jerking off the other one, screamimg
about knocking first, and "he did it"
Justify their job.

...and looting in Baghdad were ALLOWED, and perhaps even encouraged, so as to soften up the populace and make them want someone to restore order.

Think about it. If the U.S. had immediately established control by Military Police the local populace would have regarded them as targets to be sniped at and killed as the invaders they are.

With a couple of weeks of complete chaos and lawlessness honest citizens will CRAVE the restoration of order and will cooperate with the invaders.

The Bastards who planned this invasion are evil, but they are not without guile.

If we raped and killed her why are you so mad about the rape??

nessie, since you seem to have a crystal ball and can predict what people will say, what will Bush say to the American people when he invades Syria? Also, what are the winning lottery numbers going to be?

Well, you've made it obvious that you don't have a crystal ball, as anyone with half a brain knows that Syria is next. Please crawl back under your rock with the rest of us conservatives.

"It doesn't matter what the Bush Administration does or doesn't do, you're going to find fault in it. Can you blame them for ignoring you?"

Ka POW! Bullseye!

Beautiful.

Way to go, daveman. Whenever we conservatives don't have anything intelligent to say, we can always resort to making childish gun noises. Great job! Also, what are the next winning lottery numbers?

That WAS me, you paranoid schizo. And no, I DON'T have half a brain, as neither do you or any conservative, for that matter.

I DON'T have half a brain, as neither do you or any liberal, for that matter. You conservatives have ALL the brains AND the money AND the power. All I have left is to resort to pretending I'm Bush Admirer and daveman and Simple Simon and Eric and nessie. Woe is me.

I'm going to post several more times today using other people's names. I'll probably do it again right under this one. It's all any of us liberals have to work with.

And it really pisses me off that Bush will win again in 2004!!

I DON'T have half a brain, as neither do you or any conservative, for that matter. You liberals have ALL the brains AND the money AND the power. All I have left is to resort to pretending I'm Diogenes and Sheepdog. Woe is me.

I'm going to post several more times today using other people's names. I'll probably do it again right under this one. It's all any of us conservatives have to work with.

And it really pisses me off that Bush will lose in 2004and go down in history as the worst president ever!!