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It would have been nice if the 10,000+ dead Iraqis (enough to fill a few mass graves of their own, I'd assume) and their relatives had a vote on whether they wanted to be liberated by the US. Maybe the parents who had their kids maimed and killed when they played with cluster bombs might not be quite as eager about the whole exercise, or the families that lost kids when their cars were machined gunned at roadblocks might not see the liberation in quite the positive light that Ms. Dimano does.
The author is also assuming that because Iraq hasn't yet gone completely to hell in a hand basket everyone is better off than before. However the Shiites are getting increasingly restless and demanding direct elections in contravention of what the US wants. After the elections they want the US out. The US is planning on staying and building bases to maintain a presence in Iraq into the foreseeable future as per the PNAC plans to maintain bases in the Middle East in order to project US power in the region. This is not going to sit well with the Shiite majority, and is a recipe for future conflict and guerrilla war of the same type (or worse) that is currently occuring with the Sunnis.
The US is also now likely getting the Kurds hot under the collar by reassuring the Turkish government that the Kurds will not be allowed to have an autonomous form of government (which in effect is what they have now) and control of their own oil revenues. See www.turkishpress.com/turkishpress/news.asp?ID=17202
Powell stated that he also discussed the issue related to north of Iraq with Gul, adding that Iraq was a single country and one entity. The oil of this country was in the hand of the central government, Powell said adding that the U.S. supported the territorial integrity of Iraq.
Powell gave the message that the U.S. would take the necessary steps about the terrorist organization PKK.
The PKK is a Kurdish resistance group, and naturally enough would be defined as a terrorist group by Turkey. Of course one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter and the Kurds themselves might have a different opinion as to whether they were terrorists or freedom fighters. Things are not looking good for US/Kurd relations over the long term. The Kurds, could quite easily turn against their "liberators" if they see that they are actually being required to give up autonomy and loose control of oil revenues under a new Iraqi government and the US is acting against Kurdish "freedom fighters."
I think it is a bit premature to celebrate at this point in time and assume that it is downhill from here on now that Saddam has gone. Iraq is still a powder keg and there is a real chance that things could turn much nastier than they are right now, and right now things are not all that shit hot anyway. At TomDispatch.com there is an account of a US doctor recently returned from Iraq after meetings with Iraqis and occupation forces. From his account, it certainly does not sound like all the Iraqis are as convinced as Dimanno that they are so much better off than they were under Saddam.
Col. Sassaman talked expansively to us about his work. His unit, he began, engages in military action when necessary, but he is primarily interested in dialogue with local people. He acknowledged that when he first came in April, he felt "incredible sadness and incredible rage" at the plight of the Iraqis, especially since his unit had not been trained in reconstruction and there was "no help from the State Department." I was struck by the phrasing, since I assumed he knew that the State Department had been largely locked out of Iraq by the Pentagon.
<snip>
Most of my empathy for Col. Sassaman dissolved the next day, however, when Sami and Mohaned's father paid us an unexpected visit. Since phones still don't work in Iraq, they had to drive the hour down to Baghdad themselves to contact us. At 4 AM that morning, they told us, Sassaman's men had staged a raid in Abu Hishma, a town over ten miles from the base, that Sassaman had previously ordered encircled with razor wire to pressure inhabitants to give information about insurgents. Perhaps a hundred soldiers in fifteen to twenty vehicles entered the town, surrounded Mohaned's father's house, broke down the door, and smashed up some of the family's belongings. They took Mohaned and his five brothers at gunpoint out to the yard, handcuffed them, put hoods on their heads, had them sit in the rain while the house was searched, and then carted them off to the base. Later in the morning, Sami and Mohaned's father went (courageously, I thought) out to the base to inquire. Sassaman, according to the two of them, was still in muddy boots and fatigues, apparently from participating himself in the raid. He told Sami that he wanted to meet with the HROI soon and that he trusted members of CPT to be present. Exactly what kind of trust did he now expect? Mohaned, like other detainees, is likely to disappear from his world for months.
(HROI = Human Rights Organization of Iraq, and CPT = Christian Peacemakers Team /jc)
<snip>
"Under Saddam," one of the lawyers had said, "there were certainly many human rights abuses. So, at the beginning, we were pleased to receive the Coalition Forces and even welcomed the use of force to remove Saddam. But now they treat us badly. Now, things are no different from under Saddam. The Coalition Forces have become the dictators."
<snip>
There is an absolute difference between military occupation and peacekeeping. There is simply too much violence in an occupation for genuine peacekeeping to occur. As long as the U.S. military occupies Iraq as the harsh representative of a foreign power, the resistance will increase.
www.nationinstitute.org/tomdispatch/index.mhtml?pid=1218
Jeez, too bad I can't forward these Iraqis Rosie Dimanno's column so they'll know Rosie is sure they're all better off without Saddam even if they might not think so themselves.
I could see the situation easily getting nasty enough over the next few years that a new strongman is needed to maintain control over the restless natives. After all, the US hasn't had much objections to evil dictators as long as they knew their place, carried out Uncle Sam's orders and made their countries safe for US based multinationals. Some of the current US allies in the war on terror are no slouches in the evil dictator racket themselves. It does not seem to be a pressing issue with Mr. Bush that anything be done about it. For example:
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article3943.htm
Our President's New Best Friend Boils People Alive
President Karimov government was awarded $500m in aid from the Bush administration in 2002. The SNB (Uzbekistan's security service) received $79m of this sum.
The U.S. State Department web site states "Uzbekistan is not a democracy and does not have a free press. Many opponents of the government have fled, and others have been arrested." and "The police force and the intelligence service use torture as a routine investigation technique."
Now I would like to introduce you to Muzafar Avazov, a 35-year old father of four. Mr Avazov had a visit from our presidents friends security force (SNB), the photographs below detail the brutality and inhuman treatment our tax dollars subsidize, with the full knowledge of our president and his administration.
Muzafar Avazov, body showed signs of burns on the legs, buttocks, lower back and arms. Sixty to seventy percent of the body was burnt, according to official sources. Doctors who saw the body reported that such burns could only have been caused by immersing Avazov in boiling water. Those who saw the body also reported that there was a large, bloody wound on the back of the head, heavy bruising on the forehead and side of the neck, and that his hands had no fingernails.
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