connecting*the*dots

The Black Iris
The Charade

The leader never carries out the killing himself but will always get his hands dirty. So how will the execution of Saddam be seen 200 years from now?

A quarter of a million American troops invade Iraq. Hunt down its leader and set up a tribunal with all the trappings of ‘fairness’ and he is in the end found guilty for being involved in the killing of 148 Shias over two decades ago during a time when America was openly heavily funding Saddam and silent over all these killings.

Americans hand over Saddam to Iraqis to carry out the hanging. On Eid Al-Adha no less; a good PR move to make sure every Arab is at home watching on TV.

In the last 3 years the presence of a quarter million of American forces on Iraqi soil have been responsible for killing an estimated quarter of a million Iraqis.

American forces are still occupying Iraq.

What will a student of history ask himself 200 years from now? Or will history still be written by the victors at that time?

Will they ask about why so many Arabs remained silent? Will they ask whether it made sense that one leader be executed for killing 148 people while another be praised for killing a quarter of a million of those same people? Will they see ancient footage of Colin Powell at the UN displaying doctored satellite photos of now unfound WMDs? Will they understand that 200 years ago, suggesting that a leader from a ’superior’ nation be held to the same standard of accountability as everyone else in the world was unheard of? That suggesting an American is equal to an Arab is equal to a Brit is equal to an African is preposterous? Will they understand that someone like me who had no love for Saddam thought the whole situation to be preposterous?

Bush was right today: ‘a dark and painful era is over in Iraq’, but a new one, that he as a leader is directly responsible for, has already begun.

And the charade goes on and on and on… more Iraqis are being slaughtered…

So to anyone celebrating the execution of Saddam I’m forced to ask: what the fuck are you cheering for?

If you’re cheering the execution of Saddam Hussein, you damn well better be doing everything you can to voice your opinion that this war is illegal and that this administration needs to be held accountable.

Otherwise, you’re nothing but a hypocrite.

(photo by Vincent44)

Donald Rumsfeld vs. Ray McGovern, former CIA (video)

McGovern: and so I would like to ask you to be up front with the American people, why did you lie to get us into a war that was not necessary, that has caused these kinds of casualties? Why?

RUMSFELD: Well, first of all, I haven’t lied. I did not lie then. (applause) Colin Powell didn’t lie. He spent weeks and weeks with the Central Intelligence Agency people and prepared a presentation that I know he believed was accurate, and he presented that to the United Nations. the president spent weeks and weeks with the central intelligence people and he went to the American people and made a presentation. I’m not in the intelligence business. they gave the world their honest opinion. it appears that there were not weapons of mass destruction there.

McGovern: You said you knew where they were.

RUMSFELD: I did not. I said I knew where suspect sites were and we were…..just…(crosstalk)

McGovern: You said you knew where they were Tikrit, Baghdad, northeast, south, west of there. Those are your words.

RUMSFELD: My words…. my words were that …. no, no, no wait a minute, wait a minute. Let him stay one second. Just a second.

McGovern: This is America, Huh.

(applause)

RUMSFELD: You’re getting plenty of play, sir.

McGovern: I’d just like an honest answer.

RUMSFELD: I’m giving it to you.

McGovern: Well we’re talking about lies and your allegation there was bulletproof evidence of ties between al Qaeda and Iraq. Was that a lie? or where you mislead?

RUMSFELD: Zar…, Zarqawi was in Baghdad during the prewar period. That is a fact.

McGovern: Zarqawi? He was in the north of Iraq in a place where Saddam Hussein had no rule. That’s where he was.

RUMSFELD: He was also… (crosstalk) He was also in Baghdad.

McGovern: Yes, when he needed to go to the hospital. Come on, these people aren’t idiots. They know the story.

RUMSFELD: You are… Le…,Let me, Let me give you an example it’s easy for you to make a charge, Um, but why do you think that the men and women in uniform every day when they came out of Kuwait and went into Iraq put on chemical weapon protective suits, because they like the, ah, style (laughter) They honestly believed that there where chemical weapons Saddam Hussein had used Chemical weapons on his own people previously, he’d used them on his neighbor the Iranians and they believed he had those weapons. We believed he had those weapons.

McGovern: That’s what we call a non-sequitur, it doesn’t matter what the troops believe, it matters what you believe.

(crosstalk)

Moderator: I, I Think, I think, I think mister secretary the debate is over we have other questions, that courtesy to the audience.

We could be tried as war criminals based on the 1991 war, primarily for images like the one below.

No, that’s not ‘The Mummy’ from a bad 1930’s flick. That’s one of the many Iraqi troops/civilians from the infamous ‘Road of Death’ during the retreat from Kuwait. This type of damage suggests the use of napalm, phosphorus, or other incendiary bombs, which were all outlawed in 1977.

And, by the way, it’s also against international law to fire upon troops who are "out of combat." But we always seem to take things one step further. We didn’t even attempt to differentiate between Palestinian and Kuwaiti civilians and Iraqi troops; we just created a massive traffic jam and annihilated over ten thousand people.

I was watching film last night of our helicopter pilots hovering over the desert at night, with night vision goggles, tearing apart individuals as they strolled across the desert in a haze, trying to reach some sort of civilization. There was no way they could have been confirmed as combatants. We even paused to fix upon bodies laying on the ground to dump tons of rounds into them. These were the types of images that forced Colin Powell to suggest an end to the war.

Now, I know war isn’t pretty. Supposedly, “All’s fair in love and war” and whoever coined that phrase, they were absolutely right about love. But there are laws concerning warfare and they were created to honor the humanity of all combatants, including US troops. I highly doubt we could ever be held to such standards.

We’re so quick to flash our badges of honor, respect and heroism as a country, and then we run rough shot through the UN and the rest of the world as if they don’t even matter.

Okay, back to being quietly steamed.

Who the fuck is George Bush to urge Americans to call members of Congress to back a war with Iraq if UN policy isn’t put into effect soon enough?

Who and what defines soon enough… his approval rating?

The questions that surround the impetus and timing on going to war are outstanding to say the least. Bush seems to want to do daddy proud and finish the job over there, but of course it’s not that simple; I’m sure there are billions of dollars and a heap of control at stake.

This preemptive charge by W is a bit frightening… make that terrifying.

In ‘81, Israel took out a nuclear plant in Iraq supposedly being used to develop nuclear weapon material in a preemptive strike. The United States and the UN chastised Israel for the attack, though Israel might have been justified in attacking due to their proximity to Iraq, as they would probably be the likely first target if that capability ever came to pass.

What’s our excuse?

We’re now charging into Baghdad to take out Saddam, guns blazing down side streets and into bunkers. If Bush really wanted to be pro-active regarding the threat of terrorism, wouldn’t it make sense to curb our own actions around the world instead of inflaming them?

Forget justification, our intelligence is so limited, we don’t even know where the chemical weapons are (the ones that we helped develop), or if there are any even remaining.

And how are we going to find Saddam?

Our guys are going to think every Arab with a thick mustache and a cowboy hat is Saddam, shooting first and asking questions later. If Iraq does have weapons of mass destruction, he’ll be riding one bareback to Jerusalem like Major Kong in Dr. Strangelove while we’re searching for him in every downtown bazaar.

A lot of Americans will die in this invasion… and scores more civilians. I really hope we know what we’re doing, but unfortunately, Bush isn’t a beacon of reassurance.

I wish I could just write a pearl script that would automatically update his damn approval rating. I bet it’d give the UN at least six more months to complete their inspections.