Robert Fisk on Iraq, Palestine and the Failure of the U.S. Corporate Media

Santa Cruz, Ca. --- Can anyone remember why we invaded Iraq? I am getting older,
but somehow I remember that is wasn't "to bring democracy to the Iraqi people."
Now I am no fan of Saddam Hussein. When a world leader gets upset with one of
his ministers, leaves the conference table inviting that minister into the next room,
where he personally shoots him to death, and then returns to the meeting.....

It reminds me of those old black and white "B" movies we used to watch as kids,
where the bad guys wore elaborate headpieces, and had heads on stakes in the ground
as a backdrop. Saddam, along with his two sons Uday and Qusay were totalitarian
sadists who would stop at nothing to stay in power.

Gassing 5,000 Kurds was not cool either.

But enter "he tried to kill my dad" George W. Bush.

Without the hope of a snowball in hell of getting his dream war with Iraq going,
in August of 2001 Bush goes on a long vacation. On September 11th, 2001, Bush's
hopes came true: the equivalent of Pearl Harbor, an attack on US soil!

Never mind that Bush and Condi had been in some curious negotiations with the Taliban
earlier in April. those discussions involving a natural gas pipeline to be built over
Afghani countryside had not gone so well. they might even have triggered some
paranoia in the hearts and minds of ONE OF THE MOST RIGID FUNDAMENTALIST
JIHADIST OFFSHOOT CULTS OF ISLAM!!

Dont' I remember something about a "carpet of gold or a carpet of bombs?"

But Wowie gosh gee whiz the world sure changed on Sept. 11th and congress became putty in Gee Dub's hands.
Americans became painfully aware of the danger of terrorist attacks.

And for a little while, George actually acted ....Presidential! He got together a coalition of nations, identified
Afghanistan as the source of Osama bin Laden's training camps, and, with international support,
launched a war against those who were directly responsible for the attacks on US citizens on US soil.

When, where, and why did George suddenly make a sharp right turn towards Iraq?

When: Ironically, right as he had kingpin Osama bin Laden cornered, he suddenly contracted out that "clean-up"
to some of the temporarily aligned Afghani tribesmen. Somehow Osama was able to "slip away."
Where: Duh. Because that's where the oil is.
Why: He thought he could carry the new allegience he had in Congress to begin his dream war--with Iraq!!
Gee Dubs reasons:

1. he killed my dad
2. finish what dad had started
3. Saddam was too weak to fight back
4. gain ground for bases in mideast that AREN'T in Saudi Arabia
5. have a front on BOTH Syria AND Iraq
6. Tony was hot to go
7. whats the use of the largest super-army in the world if you cant use it??
8. he could just say "9/11" and "Iraq" in as many sentences as possible
9. Saddam was giving $25,000 checks to Palestinian suicide bombers
10. lots of TALK about POSSIBLE Weapons of Mass Distruction

I never remember "bring democracy to the Iraqi people" there.
Not that I am against Iraqi democracy, but in the past, elections in
Muslim countries happen once, they elect a theocratic regime,
and no one ever votes again. Thats not MY version of democracy.

We all know how he used the mythical and nonexistant WMD's
to trick the US public into supporting the war.

So now here we are. Three years after the invasion. After securing the oil fields.
After killing Uday and Qsay, capturing Saddam, and two Iraqi elections.
But also after over 2000 US soldiers killed, the US treasury wiped out,
and our relationships with our allies hopelessly ruined. Shiites vs Sunnis
violence all around, with the US cowering in the tiny "green zone".

I think we can just claim victory and get the hell out of there.

In this interview, Fisk keeps repeating "someone wants a civil war in Iraq".
He claims he doesn't know who.

but arent there websites where groups claim credit for the bombings?
How can Fisk not know this? the way he kept saying it...

Call me paranoice. But it sounded like he was blaming the Americans.

Isn't it just rival tribes fighting for
control in George Bush's newist Islamist nation?