June 19, 2006
To hear our Fearless Leader tell it; things In Iraq are going great and
they're only getting better (in fact the future's so bright, he'll let Wallsten wear shades.)
Bush even went so far as to demonstrate the progress towards peace and
stability in Iraq by sharply banking into Baghdad Airport for a
quick, absolutely clandestine,(for security reasons), hello.
He apparently wanted to see first hand how peaceful and
prosperous, the insides of the most secure buildings in the Green
Zone are, when 70,000 troops patrol the surrounding city.. An Boy Howdy, he was certainly impressed; he held up Iraq as the model for transforming the Middle East.
His Iraqi listeners however, could be forgiven for suspecting Bush had
inhaled a little too much of the glue he used to put the model together
however. A leaked secret State Dept cable from the US embassy in Baghdad
paints a much grimmer picture of a Baghdad and the situation in Iraq,
and puts lie to the Sunshine and flowers being offered by W.
Let's compare and contrast:
From Bush's speech to US troops:
We expect an Iraqi government to honor its traditions and its histories
and its religious faiths. But we do expect the Iraqi government to
honor the right of every man, woman and child to live in a free
society. And when Iraq succeeds -- and it will -- the rest of the
world, particularly in the Middle East, will see such a hopeful example
of what's possible.
.....I believe the Iraqi government that's formed does respect human rights and human dignity.
Now Let's see what the Cable has to say
Beginning in March and Picking up in Mid-May Iraqi staff in the public
Affairs section have complained that Islamist and/or Militia groups
have been negatively affecting their daily routine. Harassment
over proper dress and habits have become increasingly pervasive.
One Shiite who favors Western clothing was advised by an unknown woman
in her upscale Shiite/Christian neighborhood to wear a veil and not
drive at all Indeed, she said, some groups are pushing women to cover
their faces completely A step not taken in Iran even at its most conservative
...
Another, A Sunni, said people in her middle class neighborhoods are
harassing people and telling them to cover up and stop using cell
phones...A female in the PAS Cultural section is now wearing a full
abaya after receiving direct threats in May.
....
They also tell us that some Ministries, notably the Sadrist controlled
Ministry of Transportation have been forcing females to wear the Hijab
at work.
Staff members have reported that ti is dangerous fro men to wear shorts
in public and that they no longer let their children play outside in
shorts. People who wear jeans in public have come under attach
from what staff members call Wahabis ( Uber-conservative hard line Sunnis -ed) and Sadrists( Uber-conservative hard line Shiites -ed)
okay Swing and a miss, but hey, he was just getting warmed up, he had a
long flight, and the phrases "suppress human rights and "support Human
rights" are so close. So let's give him another shot.
Showing the remarkable positive effects of the occupation W also
highlighted the striking contrasts between the Iraq of today and
Saddam's Iraq:
Saddam Hussein destroyed many of the institutions necessary for this
society to succeed. It is clear that he was a selfish, brutal leader
who was willing to sacrifice infrastructure and civil society in order
to meet his narrow objectives. ...the Iraqi people have a chance to
realize the great blessings of liberty because Saddam Hussein is no
longer in power.
{ not Counting of course, the ones that were demolished by US firepower during "shock and Awe"}
Well, at least we fixed that, right? Hundreds of Billions of
dollars in Halliburton contracts later why the infrastructure now
is....is....is, well let's let the cable speak for itself:
Temperatures in Baghdad have already reached 115 degrees (46 C for the rest of the world that measures funny, and Goddamned Bloody Hot on the British Imperial Gin and Tonic scale -ed)
Employees all confirm that by the last week of May they were getting One hour of power for every six hours without
.....
The Central Baghdad neighborhood Bab Al Mu'atham has had no city power for over a month
Areas Near hospitals political Party headquarters (emph added) and the Green Zone have the best supply In some cases reaching 24 hours
The cable goes on to describe how fuel shortages (in IRAQ!) are
so bad that lines for gas can last 12 hours or more and the black
market price for gas is 4x the offical rate. And keep in mind
this is happening in Baghdad, the Capital City conditions here are as good as they get anywhere.
And the Security Infrastructure is even worse. (after all, the
power does work occasionally) Not only are embassy workers afraid
to tell even their own families where they work but:
Personal safety depends on good relations with the "neighborhood" governments, who barricade streets and ward off outsiders. the central government, our staff say, is not relevant even local mukhtars have been displaced or co-opted by militias
The US is widely perceived as fully controlling the country and tolerating the malaise---
...{many believe} that the US is punishing populations as Saddam did. Otherwise the allocation of power and security would not be so arbitrary
Okay, no human rights, Not so much on the "great blessings of liberty"
thing,. Well, at least W still has that whole "goal of a stable
and unified Iraq" thing:
I met with the cabinet officials from all walks of life here in Iraq,
and came away with the distinct impression that they are unified in
serving the people of Iraq. They want to succeed. The faith and future
of Iraq is in their hands, and our job is to help them succeed -- and
we will
Well, While it can be said that the some Iraqi officals do want a
unified Iraq, it should be noted that others are already actively
engaged in ethnic cleansing:
{[describes a Kurdish woman forced from her home after 30 years through
the use of an Antique law] Such uprootings may be a response to by new
Shiite government authorities ti similar actions against Arabs by Kurds
in other parts of Iraq (NOTE: An Arab Newspaper editor told us he is
preparing an extensive survey of ethnic cleansing which he said is taking place in every Iraqi province
as political parties and their militias are seemingly engaged in
tit-for-tat reprisals all over Iraq. One editor told us the KDP
(Kurdish Defense Party) is now planning to set up tent cities in Irbil to house Kurds being evicted from Baghdad.
And Lest the author of this cable be denounced as some gloomy liberal
flunky at State who Hates America, lets compare the opening lines of
Bush's speech:
You know, one of the things I try to do is put good people in place who accomplish hard jobs. And I can't think of two better leaders than Zal Khalilzad and General Casey to lead this important effort. (Applause.) I thank you all very much for your service to our country. Your sacrifice is noble and your sacrifice is important.
and the signature line of the Cable
KHALILZAD
I strongly urge you to read the whole memo. While it's only about
six pages long, and focuses mostly on the troubles the Embassy is
having with its own staff, it provides the clearest and most honest
picture of what life is REALLY like in Iraq right now.
The embassy staff are very good proxies for ordinary Iraqis
living under nearly the best possible conditions Iraq has to offer.
Unfortunately, even for them those conditions are bad and getting
worse every day.
If you want to truly understand the anger, hatred and resentment the
common people are feeling twoards the US consider only this sentence,
and imagine yourself in his place:
One collegue told us he feels "defeated" by circumstances, citing the
example of being unable to help his two year old son who has asthma and
cannot sleep in the stifling heat
If you are a parent, or even you aren't, its very easy to imagine how
such a sitauaion would first make you depressed and hopeless, then
scared, and then finally very, very, angry at those who would hurt your
child this way. Now consider that this kind of situation is
happening every day in every city in Iraq, to hundreds more people.
As the memo noted earlier, WE are the ones being held responsible
for these failures, they happen so often that people are
convinced they are deliberate. Given this situation, and
the infinite recruiting possibilities it provides the other side;
does anyone seriously think that there exists a military solution
to "defeat" the insurgency anymore?
