December 18, 2006 at 13:49:09

Bush's Mad-dash to History's Dustbin

SAVE AS FAVORITE

VIEW FAVORITES

By Mike Whitney (about the author) Page 2 of 5 page(s)

opednews.com Permalink

The US already undermined what little authority al-Maliki had by forcing him to meet with Bush in Jordan. That triggered a "walk-out" of al-Sadr loyalists, al-Maliki's main body of support. Now the Prime Minister has been reduced to a meaningless figurehead who neither controls the Defense or Interior Ministries. He has no army, no militia, and no power.

What does Bush expect him to do? Or is this just another farcical kabuki the Bush public relations team concocted to shift the blame onto someone else?

If Bush chooses to replace him; so be it. It won't make a bit of difference? (except to remove the pretense of "Democracy")

The outcome of the present conflict will not be affected by Bush's throwaway stooges who govern nothing beyond the block-walls of the Green Zone. Even the American people know that.

The rumors in the Times suggest that Bush is snuggling up to his new throat-slitting buddy who runs the Iranian-trained, death squads, Abdel Aziz al-Hakim. Al-Hakim is the slipperiest guy in all of Baghdad and oversees the most feared militia in Iraq, the Badr Brigade. You've probably seen their handiwork in the form of the mutilated young Sunnis bobbing along the Euphrates after being tortured and shot gangland-style in the back of the head.

That's our new soul-mate, al Hakim. Sounds like Bush's kind-a guy.

In fact, Bush refers to him as "His Eminence" (I kid you not) and gave him the "red carpet" treatment when he paid a visit to the White House last week.

Does Bush really think he can out maneuver this guy? You can't put-one-over on a thug like al Hakim. Guys like al-Hakim invented treachery, Bush is just a novice. He'll use Bush until all of his enemies are removed and then he'll start to work on the occupation. Anyone can see that.

Or is there someone who believes that an Iranian-backed cleric who runs a 10,000 man death squad, really wants to serve the greater regional interests of the United States of America?

Nonsense.

As soon as the Sunni resistance and his arch-rival al-Sadr are pulverized, al-Hakim will make his move. He's probably sharpening his daggers already.

Death Squad Diplomacy

The tragic irony of the of current turmoil in Iraq is that many of the death squads, which operate out of the Interior Ministry, received financial and material aid from US intelligence agencies. In A.K. Gupta's article "Unraveling Iraq's Secret Militias" (Z Magazine) the author states:

"Not only are many of these militias linked to Iraqi politicians, but the Pentagon is arming, training, and funding them for use in counter-insurgency operations."

Gupta's story has been corroborated by numerous other sources that have provided the sordid details of US plans to invoke the "Salvador option" in Iraq, that is, use the same strategy of terrorizing the public as was used in El Salvador in the 1980s. Somewhere along the line, the plan ran amok and the "nearly autonomous" militias began carrying out massive ethnic cleansing and serial-killing operations.

In other words, the Pentagon and US intelligence services, in their eagerness to fight this "new kind of war", created a Frankenstein which they can no longer control and which is destroying the very fabric of Iraqi society.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5