August 17, 2005

For the last two years, there’s been no greater champion of the war in Iraq than the Washington Post. They built the case for war on their front-page day after day prior to the invasion and they have been loyal supporters of the occupation ever since. Now, after more than 2 years of the most astonishing barbarity, the Post has breezily modified its editorial position by running an article that highlights the failures of America’s blood-sport in Iraq.

Veteran journalist Robin Wright produced a front-page piece "US Lowers Sights on what can be Achieved in Iraq" (8-14-05; www.uruknet.info/?p=14645 ) that provides a summary of the Iraq catastrophe so far and an equally disturbing vision of the future. The article is harshly critical of the occupation, pointing out its many shortcomings in restoring services and providing security, but it carefully tip-toes around the crucial question of withdrawal. The motive behind the article is typically cynical; the Post is subtly making the case that the US should stay in Iraq even though it has failed to live up to any of its promises. Beyond the chronicle of disappointments, the Post still functions according to its original mandate; sanctioning the abuses of military power to support the policies of the Bush administration. That hasn’t changed.

"The United States no longer expects to see a model new democracy, a self-supporting oil industry or a society in which the majority of people are free from serious security or economic challenges," an anonymous US official admits in the article.

Should we congradulate the Post for providing the same observations that have been made on liberal web sites for the last two years?
Will there be democracy in Iraq; No!
Will there be a "self-supporting oil industry"; No!
Will there be security or jobs; No!

None of the promises made before the war will materialize; they were all lies. Iraqi society has been devastated by the conflict and Bush’s crusade has been an utter failure from start to finish. Still, there’s no sign from the Administration or the Post that the policy will change.

Wright gives a fair account of the turmoil caused by the current occupation; "Baghdad's 6 million people go without electricity for days in 120-degree heat. Parents fearful of kidnapping are keeping children indoors….unemployment is 50 percent to 65 percent… Killings of members of the Iraqi security force have tripled since January. Iraq's ministry of health estimates that bombings and other attacks have killed 4,000 civilians in Baghdad since Prime Minister Ibrahim Jafari's interim government took office April 28."

No jobs, no freedom, no security; the same thing we’ve repeated over and over again, now appearing like fresh news in the Washington Post.

Pathetic.

Wright’s interviews show the degree of callousness among the US occupation leadership. One official says, "We are in a process of absorbing the factors of the situation we're in and shedding the unreality that dominated at the beginning."

"Shedding the unreality"? Is that how US officials dismiss the destruction of the world’s oldest civilization, the poisoning of their environment, the leveling of whole cities, and the torturing of their people?
It was all a slight miscalculation? Sorry about the mess we made?

The official continues, "We set out to establish a democracy, but we're slowly realizing we will have some form of Islamic republic."
"Islamic Republic"? 100,000 lives are wasted and the country is decimated to create another Iran?

Beyond the delusion of US policymakers and the mild acknowledging of failure at the Washington Post, the same forces are still at work. The Bush administration has no intention of withdrawing and leaving the second largest supply of oil in the hands of an Islamic government. American troops will be pulled back to the perimeter so they can continue to perform their major operations and clandestine activities from the safety of permanent bases. The US never had any serious intention to rebuild Iraq anyway, that’s obvious from the fact that they’ve spent less than $2 billion in reconstruction in more than 2 years; most of that being sluiced off to friends of the administration.

The struggle for Iraqi liberation is simply entering another phase, where both sides are hardening themselves to the reality that the ongoing struggle will be resolved by force alone; the only message that Bush and his cadres understand.

The Post’s article signals a change in strategy by media leaders. They’ve abandoned the notion that the administration will accomplish its stated aims in Iraq, and they’re preparing the public for a long-term occupation regardless.

Ultimately, we may see the Post fine-tune its position by throwing its support behind pro-war Democratic candidates like Hillary Clinton or Joe Biden, but the difference is negligible. The elite media remains unwavering in its support for success in Iraq.

American elites have pinned all their hopes on success in Iraq. As we can see from skyrocketing gas prices at the pump (which were predicted in the Bush administration’s own policy papers) the only tangible asset that can shore up the struggling greenback and, therefore, the American economy, is oil. The US would be signing its own economic death warrant if it leaves Iraq.

But America will leave Iraq; the battle is already being lost and the forces arrayed against the superpower are increasing by the day. The Bush administration has sown too much bad faith and, now, even long-time allies are backing away. Expect to see a slow decline in the next 5 years of American power; a wasting away that parallels the complete dissipation of America’s moral authority. The world will not be ruled by the jailors of Abu Ghraib or Guantanamo; and you can take that to the bank.

Courtesy and Copyright © Mike Whitney