"Evolving Global Nightmare"

[greensideout]

Did anyone else go to the news section on this site and read "The Bush Administration's Evolving Global Nightmare" by Bob Zimmerman?

His liberal diatribe of our government and the war we are now engaged in really set me back! I didn't expect that here!

Semper Fi

[thedrifter]

Here is the article for you folks.........

The truth behind the American invasion of Iraq: The Bush administration's evolving global nightmare

By Bob Zimmerman

April 7, 2003—Former CIA Director James Woolsey and presidential advisor David Gergen have confirmed Bush administration preliminary plans to move well beyond the invasion of Iraq, possibly targeting much if not all of the Middle East.

Under the guise of fighting terrorism, in America the Bush plutocrats are busy dismantling our already fragile democracy, while in Iraq they claim to be delivering not death by bombing, but freedom and democracy. Does anybody anywhere believe that Bush Republicans care one whit about installing democracy in Iraq or the needs of the Iraqi people? When did "democracy" become an American export; a commodity installed wherever we see fit by means of overwhelming force?

In yet another incredibly lop-sided American act of aggression, America proceeds, uninvited, with what Bush spin-doctors euphemistically characterize as "Operation Iraqi Freedom," a war over a decade in the planning. The war has produced the slaughter of the Iraqi army and the brutal traumatizing of millions of innocent Iraqis. Egypt's president Hosni Mubarek said the war will produce "1,000 bin Ladens," and that the purported goal of freedom for Iraqi's people will be forgotten. Administration hawks want victory at any cost; they fear another Vietnam even more than plutocrats fear real freedom and democracy.

In a recent televised battlefield briefing, the chief planner and now commander of America's invasion of Iraq, four-star general Tommy Franks, declared that America will emerge triumphant and that America's mission to free the Iraqi people was evolving as planned. He called the Iraqi people defending Iraq's cities "bands of thugs" and the Iraqi people attacking his supply lines "terrorists," but would not comment on the number of freedom-eliciting bombs that have been dropped on Baghdad and other Iraqi cities, or how many non-combatants have and will be murdered, calling such matters "inputs," and stating that he was more concerned with "outputs," whatever that was supposed to mean. He merely shrugged off a reporter's comment that by definition terrorists are those who target and murder non-combatants.

In protest to the American-led invasion of Iraq, tens of millions of people worldwide are taking to the streets to voice their anger, humiliation, and disgust with Bush, General Franks and their cohorts; this, even though less than one in 10,000 of them has any enthusiasm for Saddam Hussein's abominable regime. Those who march for peace may not agree with each other about many things; nevertheless, they share the view that America's invasion of Iraq is not about installing democracy in Iraq; instead, it is about America's quest for world domination. The uninvited slaughter of innocents, clever packaging aside, is not the way to sell democracy in the Middle East or elsewhere.

Ever-changing Bush administration alibis for the Iraqi invasion, which history may describe as more a near-genocidal massacre than a war, are meaningful only in that they expose the deceitful motives and inept leadership of those who mouth them. Even if the invasion of Iraq was really a humanitarian expedition to unearth weapons of mass murder, topple a hideous dictator, and bring democracy to Iraq, which it surely is not, there is no legitimate or legal rationale for our invasion, since Iraq does not pose a credible threat to America and its allies. Our troops would be far more productive as purveyors of infrastructure for peace in the Middle East than as instruments to satisfy the ambitions of power-crazed plutocrats.

The real, but unstated, strategic objective of the Bush self-styled 100-year War on Terror, of which the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq are but the opening salvos, is the expansion of America's already considerable economic empire. Likely, America will intensify its projection of military and economic power wherever there is a plump target, like Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Latin America—the full list is far more extensive. The Bush goal is essentially a carbon copy of what Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union attempted while many of their citizens ignored what was happening. Sound familiar?

Quite possibly, Bush plutocrats are also seriously considering the suspension of democracy as we know it—the USA Patriot Act, TIPS, and the resurrection of Admiral John Poindexter are only preparatory tests of our tolerance. Once established in Iraq, the American military will dominate the Middle East and the greater part of the world's oil will be controlled by "the land of the free and the home of the brave."

Then, with fully two-thirds of the electorate safely snoring, immediately upon his "election," and with the enthusiastic support of the Iron Triangle, Bush will declare long-term martial law, using the need to protect America's newly acquired oil resources and the need to defend the "homeland" from terrorists as excuses. He will then suspend the Constitution and future elections, successfully installing himself as the King of the World. Ken Lay and Bernie Ebbers will be appointed permanent Co-World Secretaries of Commerce, and Scalia and Ashcroft will be elevated to permanent Co-World Attorneys General. Tony Blair will be recognized, rewarded, and installed as court jester. Colin Powell (whose conversion to war as a means to empire came too late), Democrats, and antiwar activists will be exorcised or exiled to France or Germany for unpatriotic behavior, for wrongly thinking that America is and should remain a democracy.

Just ask who or what can stop the world-monopolizing strategy of Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld-Wolfowitz-Perle Inc? The answer is nothing can stop them except possibly prolonged massive civil disobedience, followed by an aroused American electorate in 2004. If Bush gets another four years, the coup of the plutocrats, now a work in progress, will become a fait accompli. Perle, recently caught red-handed peddling influence for corporate cash, remains a powerful Bush purveyor of war even after credible evidence has surfaced showing that the way he pursues his quest for private personal profit from public power is a disgrace that borders on treason. To be fair, perhaps the Perle ethical doctrine is indeed the ethical doctrine of the "moral" majority of the Bush administration.

The evolving Bush global nightmare must be stopped. Our America, and the world generally, deserve better. Our planet and its peoples are far too fragile to withstand another four years of "shock and awe."

Bob Zimmerman, is a peace researcher, political scientist, economist, and author of The American Challenge: Twenty-One Winning Strategies for the 21st Century (ISBN 0–932555–04–7). Available in May 2003, it offers a strong critique of the Bush administration and concrete proposals for transforming America into a peaceable, caring nation, with liberty, social, economic, and environmental justice for all. Contact him at bobzimmerman@usa.com.

Sempers,

Roger