Withdrawal from Afghanistan: We're going, we're going... Just not quite yet and stop pushing!

[Better Believe It]

June 23, 2011

Nine War Words That Define Our World
Defining an American State of War
By TOM ENGELHARDT

Withdrawal: We're going, we're going... Just not quite yet and stop pushing!

If our bases are shots of heroin, then for the U.S. military leaving anyplace represents a form of "withdrawal," which means the shakes. Like drugs, it's just so darn easy to go in that Washington keeps doing it again and again. Getting out's the bear. Who can blame them, if they don't want to leave?

In Iraq, for instance, Washington has been in the grips of withdrawal fever since 2008 when the Bush administration agreed that all U.S. troops would leave by the end of this year. You can still hear those combat boots dragging in the sand. At this point, top administration and military officials are almost begging the Iraqis to let us remain on a few of our monster bases, like the ill-named Camp Victory or Balad Air Base, which in its heyday had air traffic that reputedly rivaled Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. But here's the thing: even if the U.S. military officially departs, lock, stock, and (gun) barrel, Washington's still not really planning on leaving.

In recent years, the U.S. has built near-billion-dollar "embassies" that are actually citadels-cum-regional-command-posts in the Greater Middle East. Just last week, four former U.S. ambassadors to Iraq made a plea to Congress to pony up the $5.2 billion requested by the Obama administration so that that the State Department can turn its Baghdad embassy into a massive militarized mission with 5,100 hire-a-guns and a small mercenary air force.

In sum, "So Long, It's Been Good to Know Yuh" is not a song that Washington likes to sing.

Read the full article at:

http://www.counterpunch.org/engelhardt06232011.html