Query
I, more than or as much as anyone, am against war, and regular readers know I believe all wars are planned and managed by TPTB to their benefit. I have had a blood stake in every war this country has ever had and have been against every war this country has had. So with that in mind, I ask fellow anti-war folks the following:
If US troops are brought home, I say brought home, not "redeployed" to take chaos into neighboring States of the Middle East, but H-O-M-E, what do you believe will occur in Iraq?
Will the US puppet Shia government collapse? And if it does, would chaos continue and who, if anyone, will step in to "bring peace" to the internal affairs of Iraq? Would it be Iran? Saudi? Russia? China? The US return bigger and badder? All of the above? Or no one?
Optimistically, if the US withdraws, and if the current Shiite dominated government does not collapse and the sects in Iraq manage to form a peace pact of sorts and begin rebuilding their country, who will infuse Iraq with sufficient funds to rebuild/maintain the oil fields which the US currently guards? (Notice we rarely hear of oil fields being destroyed.) Will it be Russia, China, Iran, India, Saudi, US, all of the above?
Remember, it's going to take a few years for Iraq to rebuild and begin marketing oil at the level the world market needs. Perhaps if the US withdraws from the ME a united Iraq will forgive and deal fairly to meet US energy needs? Or will the US consumer be buying Iraqi oil through a third or fourth nation-state?
Danny Glover, Sean Penn, Sarandon and Fonda can afford $10 per gallon at the pump, can you? They can HVAC their mansions, villas, NY apartments, ranches, regardless what price energy, can you? I doubt the steaks and salad they eat are trucked to Wal-mart, are yours?
Rather than walking away from the mess which US "leaders" and their spoiled congressional children have created, would not demanding the billion$ being pilfered by profiteers be better spent on providing water, energy, food and housing, security to the Iraqi people? A population safe, with sufficient simple comforts, food/shelter, jobs, are less inclined to wage guerrilla war.
Is it possible that perhaps the stage-managed anti-war movement is supposed to "win" - so that in the end the profiteers make even bigger profits with the excuse of being forced to make less than favorable energy deals through unfriendly States?
As I recall, right around the end of the Vietnam War there was an energy crisis, the beginning of cultural decline, urban decay, the cost of living rose dramatically, manufacturing left the country, greed became good, and the majority of America decided status quo was okay – don't worry - be fat, dumb, and happy.
Sometimes I suspect "we the people's" position is not what's best for all concerned, but nothing more than MSM feeding the public its pablum, telling folks the flavor package says "grassroots movement" - but made and marketed by TPTB Propaganda, Inc.
You know how the pundits love to cry "crisis." If we achieve the goal of "end the war now" and eventually it will have an ending of some sort, I expect the coming crisis with the next staged "peace" will be a doozy. But I'm ready, are you?
9 comments:
I appreciate your questions.
Kate, you infuriate me so much that I had to stop reading you... for a while.
My short answer to your post is: it seems to me that the Western govt. actions are biased toward serving Saudi and other monied interests.
Hope you won't mind if I avoid your questions here and simply hawk my Blog (Bill Giltner's News Review)
Hi Bill,
Hawk all you wish. I'll link it.
I'm not so sure who is serving who in this chaotic world. And gauging the level of Anglo loyalty, the number of friends who became evil enemies in the last century, Heil today, gone tomorrow - I would not be surprised if the US&Pals found "just cause" to attack Saudi or any other nation.
I do think Americans will not come out on top, but they were never meant to this time around.
Hi Kate, Guy in the Box here. Well, not anymore. I don't know how I stumbled onto your site a few years ago but so I did. I fell in love with the pic, fondly remembering my two girlfriends from when I was 15 (luckliy, they lived on opposite sides of town).
I was kinda surprised and happy that you began your latest column with a question. I thought to myself, this is nice, she wants to know what I(we) think. But then, you provide your answers and it's the same ole, same ole. How's about some dialogue for a change? Be a sport, just say "Bill, I love you". I'm not the above Bill that posted, I'm another one.
But, to answer, yes, we could leave Iraq with not much problem. I hope we do too. I did 20 years in the Air Force with 1003 days in IndoChina, 17 years out of 20 oversea. My son is in OCS right now and he did 6 years in the Army enlisted, got out and went to college, and now he's going to be an officer. I know how it is.
I was taling with my girlfriend last night, I had been going thru my box of old photos and found a picture of myself that was taken 3 days after I left Da Nang, it's me of course eating a bowl of noodles in Thailand. I looked at the picture and said to myself, now - there's a guy who spent nearly 3 years in Italy, a GI that travelled, smoked a ton of hash, got in the pants of some really nice girls and then went off to war. He's just a child, you can look yourself if you want to, I'll scan and send. Well, not really going to send it but I think you get the picture. Funny some how. I just look at that picture and think, geez - he's just a little kid.
Well, how are you? Well, I hope. I hope your kids are all coming home soon safe and sound. Sue, my girlfriend, and I saw my son at Christmas, she told him that she had bought me a Rosetta Stone Thai language course DVD for Christmas as a present to me and wondered if he might want an Arabic language one - he said, "nah, that's ok - the Army would pay for it for me if I wanted it, anyway Farsi is more appropriate". dear dear Kate. What the f,,, are we gonna do?
Hi Bill out of his box -
Yes we could leave Iraq easily. But what happens then? There's a major power struggle going on globally.
I'm glad your son is doing well. After OCS, he'll be a member of the new upper middle class of the new Banana Republic America.
Hell, feels like the world is in a box one way or another. If you find the answer to what we're gonna do, let me know.
One thing you have to realize...we get very little of our oil from the ME, about 5%. So if you think by leaving it will cause a shortage for us, it won't. The war in Iraq WAS all about the Oil, but not so we could get, but so China, Russia and France couldn't get it. As it turns out, Saddam was in full compliance of UN resolutions and the sanctions would have been lifted and China, Russia and France already had signed contracts with Iraq. Haliburton and Cheney were not going to put up with such a situation...
Import breakdown for US.
* 17.8% from Saudi Arabia
* 16.5% from Canada
* 12.8% from Venezuela
* 12.0% from Mexico
* 7.5% from Nigeria
From January to May of 2003, the U.S. received 42.8% of its imported oil from OPEC nations and 23.5% from Persian Gulf countries. During that timeframe, Canada was the top exporter to the U.S., supplying 16.9% of our oil. Future-speaking, most of the world's proven reserves are in the ME, so the balance will tilt for more US supplies to come from the ME.
It's predicted that within a decade China will be importing 75 percent of its petro needs from the ME. Also, there are other factors to consider, refineries, shipping cartels, interdependent corporations, the fact that some African nations are sitting on oil to die for. The owners (players) of such have a stake in ME oil supplies.
But you are right in that the war is about oil. In fact, previously I've blogged the same sentiments, somewhat, that is that the sanctions were about to be lifted... etc. But that still was no guarantee that China and/or Russia would control or have the oil, Russia still recovering from collapse and China just acquiring the technology and manufacturing economic wealth to buy, refine, transport the oil they will desperately need now and in the near future. It takes years to get shipping and refining needs setup so China (and India) still need to deal with Anglo/US to have those needs met.
Shell just signed a gas deal with Iran so BushCo's "pressure" isn't stopping the wheeling and dealing. Possibly TPTB are proceeding b/c they know US Thugs, Inc. is going to take the money and run.
Slaughtering thousands, wasting and stealing billions+, and then leave hanging on the helicopter, would not be mere chance - but by design. I'm sure the banksters know how the story ends.
The nation that eventually determines where the oil will go will determine the living standard of their citizens. And I for one do believe the US ruling class do not care about Joe Blow; he is just not as profitable as he used to be.
It would really piss off TPTB if Joe demanded the US "win" in Iraq, rebuild it, and give it back to Iraqis.
I would hope that all Americans are preparing for very difficult times when the globocorporate "winners" of the ME call game over.
My two cents:
No surge - hold troop levels for 6 months (at least);
Abandon all palaces and at least one airport; and
Take a few steps back from the “training Iraqi forces” plan - these folks are capable of forming a militia/army/police/whatever organization without micromanagement from the US.
Anti-war citizens of the US could begin holding Congress and the press accountable for:
Monitoring, scrutinizing, and publishing defense contracts (re: US forces maintenance and support costs, and Iraqi infrastructure projects), including every last dime of the financials - monthly reporting, at the very least. (eg. Those fools who made the last set of ACUs need to refund our money.)
Publishing the names, addresses, and ages of dead insurgents and civilians.
Antiwar folks (including myself) might focus our energies by making specific demands rather than the generalized “end the war” demand. We bounce from pillar to post championing closet antiwar candidates who talk real pretty for a sentence or two. I say we hold still and think this thing out a bit - there’s more than one way to skin a potato. We need more figures and facts. If we start demanding specifics, things could well begin to change for our military so that they are no longer used for defending US “interests” as determined in secret by a president or the great collective - congress. Our senators and congressfolks need to be retrained - by us.
Ever notice that even the few Iraqi/Middle East supporters rarely list names, locations, and ages of the dead? We can get on their butts too.
Thanks for the prompt!
Anonymous here, with a p.s.:
The US should halt construction of any embassy or permanent military installation in occupied nations.
anon
Good points, great points. I read one of the US contractors in Iraq was sentenced yesterday.
Searching on his company I find he's actually one of the small potato outfits making money on war. On the oversight page there were dozens and dozens of investigations on abuse, waste, fraud, overcharges, etc. involving apparently nearly every business that got a deal. Although I'm not finished searching, for the moment it seems the bigger boys get off and the smaller thieves are slapped around a bit.
Retrain our congress yes. I prefer sending them home after a 6 year term limit and let some of the 300 million other Americans have a chance to do a stint at service to the country. I read long ago that in the beginning of the nation most pols were reluctant to go to Washington as they had lives - political service was a sacrifice.
My sons tell me the US is building and expanding in Iraq at a rapid pace and the US isn't going anywhere anytime soon. Well, at least not until the international "peacekeeping" forces arrive to take over.
You're so right - demanding specifics is exactly what we need. Corp execs are sticklers for that sort of thing, as we all should be.
Thanks
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