March 31, 2006
Hyper
power hubris
"This
young century will be liberty's century and Iraq
and Afghanistan were poised to become examples
for the rest of the Middle East of peaceful,
democratic societies, Gorge Bush told the UN
General Assembly ,
"Propaganda is to a democracy what the bludgeon
is to a totalitarian state" — Noam Chomsky
By K Gajendra Singh
03/31/06 "ICH"
-- --
Three
years after the U.S.-led illegal invasion of
Iraq , so pronounced by UN Secretary General Kofi Anan himself, Washington and its allies are
getting sucked into a deepening quagmire . A
number of US commentators and others in the West
refuse to squarely blame US-UK leadership ,
which has been led by disciples of Leo Strauss
and his evil ideology , propounding the theory
of intellectual , cultural and racial supremacy
, emphasizing the animal side of evolving homo
sapiens , ie the rule of jungle .This Western
evolution and pagan like belief in the old
Testament fables of coming of the Christ and
slaying of the anti-Christ is inexorably leading
the world to Armageddon ,sooner than the
collapse of the planet earth by heedless and
headless consumerism.
What if
the Chinese and the Indians tried to fulfill the
American dream achieved by 2% of US population
which has cornered 25% of world resources! Of
course US would defend its untenable position by
even more lethal means of destruction .US War
Lords now spend almost as much as the rest of
the world put together on its war and terror
machine and sustain it by 'extortion' by an
inequitable international economic order .
Almost living like an alcoholic , who guzzles
more alcohol to get over the terrible hangover,
the day of reckoning may not be too far in the
future.
Since
the ignoble, unethical and inaptly planned
invasion of Iraq ,many intrepid US thinkers and
journalists , who represent the healthy part of
US polity's liver , have snorkeled out many
secrets of the neo-cons , the Vulcan group and
their allies. Now that the evil ship of invasion
is sinking , people like former US Viceroy of
Iraq Paul Bremer , US Senators and Congressmen
, many British government officials , think
tanks , who had extended full support or kept
quiet , when the rape of Iraq began , are now to
trying to come clean , to earn some Brownie
points. In their arrogance of power Leo Strauss
disciples ,who imagine themselves as the wise
ruling elite, set free of the bonds of honesty
and equality. like Paul Wolfowitz had made no
bones about US objectives of war for its oil and
control of the region and its resources .He now
heads the World Bank .
While
others have been equivocal , many like Scott
Ritter , a former Chief UN Weapons Inspector for
Iraq , have described the actions of US –UK
leaders criminal and suggested impeachment .As
has Amnesty International .Even the info
–challenged US population has learnt the
horrible truth , with approval ratings of George
Bush down to an all time low of around 30% .If
Saddam Hussein and Iraqis could be punished for
the illegal invasion of Kuwait , over which it
had some dubious claims , US led invasion was
naked aggression , followed by violations of
international law and human rights conventions
in Guantamano, Abu Ghraib and elsewhere . The
integrity and the credibility of Western
civilization , which Mahatma Gandhi quipped
would be a good idea , represented by its
leadership, the so called thinkers and corporate
media, lies shattered. USA could slip into
fascism , with its political leadership ,corrupt
to the core , as new scandals prove everyday, if
not checked by its greatUS people. People around
the world have started doubting if it were ever
true.
I had a
ringside review of the 1990 -- 91 Gulf Crisis
and the War from Amman, Jordan, which was the
only country to have its border open with Iraq,
I started writing from August, 2002 on the
brewing crisis when the US and UK War Lords had
started beating the war drums. I had thought the
invasion of Iraq irrational enough .During my
recent lecture tour of India , I was asked about
possible US/Israel attack on Iran. This will be
an even more irrational and the world would
stand altered , but not to US advantage.
Extracts
from a few of my articles, written before the
March, 2003 invasion , clearly bring out the
reasons and the likely outcome. Written almost
on a monthly or fortnightly basis ,these were
widely copied as most in the West could not even
distinguish Iraq from Iran or even now between
Sunni and Shia Muslims.
Does any
one have any idea , how the US can climb out of
the Iraq quagmire , short of immediate
withdrawal. During the Gulf crisis in 1990-91,
some one was asked if Saddam Hussein , by
withdrawing from Kuwait would confront the US
led , UN approved coalition with a night mare
scenario , the reply was , 'No.' At least Saddam
Hussein , having become fatalistic by then knew
he would be hounded ( and proved right ).US and
UK accusations against Saddam Hussein ,remind
one of the bad wolf and lamb story , with US
making a lamb out of the latter .
The only
hyper power hubris afflicts US leadership and
would not allow it to withdraw troops. Things
are going to get worse than better. Study
Turkish history after it was occupied by
victorious UK led western powers following the
Ottomans defeat in the first world war and
Algeria's bloody war of independence from French
colonial rule after the 2nd world war
for parallels . Would Iraq remain united and if
yes , who would come out on top , a ruthless
Iraqi Ataturk or an Iraqi Khomeini
Read on
.Comments in italics.
The
Bush family's phony wars
28
August, 2002.AsiaTimes on line
An entire region from Jordan to Iran is on
the brink of catastrophe as it awaits one man's
decision on how he will pursue his family's
vendetta .India's former Ambassador to Jordan
looks inside the Pandora's box which George Bush
holds in his hands. Editor
For the
Bush family, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is
the tempting Apple in the Middle Eastern Garden
of Eden. The results of succumbing to the
temptation to take a bite could be as disastrous
as they were for Adam and Eve. –
[ US
and UK leaders stand isolated, almost like
pariahs ]
In 1991
George Bush Sr sought the removal of Iraqi
President Saddam Hussein. He failed and left the
region in a mess. Now his son, President George
W Bush, having inherited Dick Cheney and other
chieftains from his father's presidency, is
pursuing the family vendetta
It is
difficult to know what to believe of the leaks
regarding the US's current options to oust
Saddam, ranging from assassination, fomenting a
coup or internal rebellion, air strikes against
Baghdad and other Iraqi command centers, to a
vast amphibious invasion with massive air
support, involving up to 250,000 soldiers The
latest plan, involving around 60,000 troops
backed by heavy air power, will begin with a
swift attack on Saddam's elite Republican Guards
around Baghdad, in the hope that the regular
Iraqi army would then abandon Saddam. Such
balderdash.
[Similar
plans to attack Iran are being leaked out , the
results would be catastrophic]
However,
there is room for hope that worse may not come
to worst: a saving grace of the US
constitutional system of checks and balances is
that Bush may be the most powerful man in the
world, but he can't ignore Congress. And,
however much George Bush Sr might hate Saddam,
he would not want his son's presidency to end in
disgrace.
[
Peoples faith lies shattered with the
nonpartisan US support for the invasion and
evasions now]
Soon another leak countered that some in the
Establishment favored an "inside-out" plan to
"take Baghdad and one or two key command centers
and weapons depots first, in hopes of cutting
off the country's leadership and causing a quick
collapse of the government". Such a plan was
once dismissed by General Anthony Zinni, the US
Middle East envoy, as a recipe for a "Bay of
Goats" disaster, like the 1961 Bay of Pigs
fiasco in Cuba.
[ How
the inapt leadership self hypnotized itself to
believe the Iraqi exile and convicted embezzler
Ahmed Chalabi that Iraqis would welcome the US
occupation forces with flowers. Now there is a
'Bay of Camels' plan for Iran]
The war's
end [First World War) did not bring freedom to
the Arabs as promised; for , at the same time,
by secret Sykes-Picot agreement, the British and
French arbitrarily divided the sultan's Arab
domains and their warring populations of
Shi'ites, Sunnis, Alawite Muslims, Druse, and
Christians. The French took most of greater
Syria, dividing it into Syria and
Christian-dominated Lebanon. The British kept
Palestine, Iraq and the rest of Arabia.
By 1917
Britain's Balfour Declaration had also promised
a homeland for Jews in Palestine. European Jews
began emigrating to Palestine, and the trickle
became a flood with the rise of anti-Semitic
policies in Nazi Germany and elsewhere in
Europe. After World War II, the state of Israel,
carved out of British Palestine, was not
recognized by the Arabs. The 1948 Arab-Israeli
war allowed Israel to expand its area, while
Jordan annexed the West Bank and Egypt took over
Gaza. In the Six-Day War of 1967, Israel
captured the West bank and Gaza. Thus were laid
the foundations for most of the problems of the
region.
[The
Iraqis do not believe that US has brought
freedom , security and development and a
majority want occupation troops out ]
The US
stumbled into the 1991 war without any strategic
thought or planning. In fact, the West had
supported Iraq's long war against Khomeini's
Iran, and the US had granted loans to Baghdad
worth billions of dollars. Amid high tension
between Kuwait and Baghdad over common oil
wells, two islands, and the return of a $10
billion loan, Iraq threatened Kuwait with war. A
few days before the Iraqi invasion on August 2,
1990, US Ambassador April Glaspie told Saddam
Hussein that his dispute with Kuwait was a
bilateral Arab affair. This was never clearly
refuted by the US and Ambassador Glaspie
disappeared from view.
The
Western media never pursued her as they do
others, and allowed themselves to become a
handmaiden of the Western propaganda machine.
(Later, they wrote little about the slaughter of
retreating and surrendering Iraqi soldiers, and
their credibility has declined further since
then.)
Meanwhile,
all attempts to find a peaceful solution to the
Iraq-Kuwait row by Arab nations, led by King
Hussein of Jordan and later joined by King
Hassan of Morocco, were rebuffed by the US, as
was Kuwait's offer of indirect negotiations.
Feelers for negotiations by the Saudis were
drowned in Western cacophony. Saddam's reported
offer to the UN secretary general to withdraw
fromKuwait, made just before the US retaliation,
was brushed aside. Efforts by Mikhail Gorbachev,
who had just unraveled the USSR, were treated
with disdain.
For the
countries of the region, the war resolved
nothing. Instead, the US made Kuwait, Saudi
Arabia and other allies pay through the nose,
weakening them by an estimated $100-$150
billion. Iraq was bombed into the Middle Ages.
Its enemy Iran, now a joint member of the "Axis
of Evil", was the major gainer [ As it is now
]
US
promises turned sour in the aftermath of the
Gulf War. George Bush Sr, without consulting his
allies, encouraged Iraqis, especially Kurds in
the north and Shi'ites in the south, to revolt.
Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states, most of which
had large Shi'ite populations, were horrified,
as a Shi'ite state in south Iraq would
strengthen Iran. The prospect of independence
for Iraqi Kurds worried Turkey, whose own Kurds
were fighting for freedom. The hapless Iraqi
Kurds, now protected by the US-UK enforced
"no-fly zone", and the Shi'ites paid a terrible
price.
Turkish
President Turgut Ozal, seduced by US hints of
winning "lost" Kurdish areas of north Iraq, had
become an energetic supporter of the Bush
coalition in 1990-91. He almost opened another
front in the war against Iraq, but was prevented
by stiff opposition from his powerful military.
But instead of getting oil-rich Mosul and
Kirkuk, the economic sanctions against Iraq and
closure of the Iraqi pipeline via Turkey cost
Ankara $50 billion in lost trade. Unemployment
rose as the sanctions halted the 5,000 trucks
that used to roar to and from Iraq daily,
aggravating the economic and social problems in
Turkey's Kurdish heartland of rebellion. A
deputy prime minister once ruefully told this
writer, "Mr Ambassador, you cannot trust the
Americans, not even their written promises." A
sobering thought for those who support the US
blindly.
[The
Nato Alliance between Turkey and USA is only in
name .Relations , almost ally like with Israel
earlier , are just about correct , with Turks
accusing Israel of terrorism in Gaza and
interference in north Iraq , undermining
Turkey's stability in its south east. .Turkey
has mended relations with its historical enemy
Russia and deep rooted differences between
Turkey and Syria has been placed on the back
burner]
Iraq's
emasculation made Israel feel bolder. Now Ariel
Sharon wants Palestinians under Israel's heel.
But the Palestinians, the most radicalized among
Arabs, will not give up. Intifada was and is
indigenous. (The PLO, now corrupted, just took
the credit.) Arab and Muslim masses the world
over watch what is happening in Palestine with
great anger. This, and random US and UK bombing
of Iraq, are among the reasons cited for the
September 11 attacks on the US.
[ The
result is there .Hamas has won and formed the
government and has been accepted by Russia,
Turkey and others .The constitution of the Irish
Republic enshrines joining of northern Ireland
to the Republic , still UK and others do
business with Ireland .Then why not with Hamas ,
which recognizes Israel's 1967 borders. The
founders of state of Israel belonged to
terrorist organizations according to British
colonial records.]
It is
difficult to trust the US, with its track record
in Vietnam, Afghanistan, Somalia, Bosnia and
Serbia. What will Pandora's Box reveal in Iraq?
How will Iran and Turkey react in a free-for-all
over Kurdish north Iraq? The US was unclear in
its strategic aims in 1991 and still is in 2002.
At least there was a solid coalition in 1991;
now there is none except for British Prime
Minister Tony Blair, whose own people are
opposed.
According
to the new Bush doctrine, an attack would be
"pre-emptive self-defense". But this doctrine
could be used to justify military adventurism
from Chechnya to Palestine, or to bomb a
schoolboy studying nuclear physics in
Rameshwaram.
[ Near
home town of Indian President .Abdul Kalam ,
regarded as the father of Indian missiles
program]
There is not even a casus belli. Unlike
1990-91, there is no clear-cut aggression. The
US administration has failed to establish any
link between Iraq and the September 11 attacks.
Blair had promised proof but has not yet
delivered. In fact, the fanatics who attacked
America came from Saudi Arabia and Egypt,
staunch US allies. No US bombs have fallen on
these American protectorates. Instead, more than
5,000 civilians have been bombed to death in
stricken Afghanistan.
There is no persuasive evidence that Iraq has
rebuilt weapons facilities dismantled after the
1991 war. Even if Iraq has small stockpiles of
lethal chemical and biological weapons and some
Scud missiles, Saddam will use them only if
attacked. Even obedient weapons inspector
Richard Butler told the US Senate that there was
no evidence that Iraq had passed weapons
technology to non-Iraqi terrorist groups. Scott
Ritter, another former UN weapons inspector in
Iraq, has said that the US has not produced
enough hard evidence to justify an attack. Rolf
Ekeus, the Swedish arms inspector from 1991 to
1997, accused the US last month of manipulating
the UN mission for its own ends. The US was more
keen on tracking Saddam's whereabouts, which
"could be of interest if one were to target him
personally".
Saudi Arabia was misled in 1991 by doctored
evidence of Saddam's intentions. The stationing
of US troops on sacred Arabian soil after the
war is resented by Arabs and Muslims all over
the world. They also oppose oppressive pro-US
Arab regimes and their siphoning off of oil
wealth. After September 11, most Muslims see the
Arab-Israel conflict and US plans to attack Iraq
as part of Crusade versus Jihad. In Saudi
Arabia, the union of corrupt princes and
fanatical Wahhabis is already under strain.
Reports
now emanating from the US say that Saudi Arabia
should be treated as a US enemy because it
supports jihadis all over the world. If
necessary, its oil fields could be occupied.
Anyway, after Saddam's replacement with a
"democratic regime", Iraqi oil will be available
as a replacement.
[`Alas the
production of oil in Iraq has been disrupted by
the resistance
, falling from 2.5 million in 2002 barrels
to 1.8 millions last year]
The morning after:
Post-Saddam Iraq
What of the post-Saddam scenario? Who will run
Iraq? In spite of Western belief, Saddam remains
popular with the masses, who blame the embargo
and frequent bombings for their misery. Given
Iraq's 40-year history of repression, it is
highly likely that blood will flow with the
settling of old scores. And who would stop the
Iraqi people turning against the occupying
Americans?
What if a Shi'ite state based in Basra declared
independence with covert support from Iran?
North Iraqi Kurds, almost autonomous since 1991,
could also declare independence, leaving a
Sunni-dominated center. This could tempt Turkey
to move into Mosul and Kirkuk. To keep
post-Saddam Iraq united would need security
forces of around 75,000, costing about $15
billion, for a year or two, and a force of more
than 5,000 for many years after if the
reconstruction effort is to succeed. But would
the result be any different than in Afghanistan?
[ The
resistance has made mockery of the western
estimates of US troops to control Iraq after
the invasion. The Iraqis had expelled the
occupying British forces after the first world
war and assassinated the UK foisted Hashemite
King.]
Most analysts scratch their heads, only to
conclude that US options make little strategic
sense. -- A US attack could dangerously
destabilize the region, harm the global economy,
and infuriate Arab and Muslim masses. Former
British chief of staff Field Marshal Lord
Bramall, warned in a letter to the Times that an
invasion would pour "petrol rather than water"
on the flames and provide al-Qaeda with more
recruits. He quoted a predecessor who during the
1956 Suez crisis said: "Of course we can get to
Cairo, but what I want to know is what the
bloody hell we do when we get there?"
Conclusion: Raging
bull
With its
vast military-industrial complex, the US needs
constant conflict, ie, wars or near wars, to
justify its staggering expenditure. The only
superpower, with the most destructive power at
its command in history, has pretensions to be an
imperial power without the grace or obligations
that go with it. After the stunning events of
September 11, it is behaving like a raging bull,
as if its manhood had been castrated. But the
enemy al-Qaeda, with its tentacles around the
world, remains free and hidden. AttackingIraq
would give the impression that the flagging "war
on terror" is going somewhere.
The
decline of the American Century
11 September, 2002 Atimes
"When there is a
general change of conditions, it is as if the
entire creation had been changed and the whole
world been altered." - Ibn Khaldun
"History is but glorification of murderers,
criminals and robbers." - Karl Popper
It is the
afternoon sun that dazzles onlookers though it
is past its prime. That sums up the height of US
power before last September 11. If the US
nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
without fear of retaliation was the acme of the
American Century, then the attacks on the World
Trade Center and the Pentagon, symbols of
economic and military might, could be termed the
beginning of the end of the American Century.
[The
limitations of US's colossal powers of
destruction have been exposed by Iraqi freedom
fighters . US is now in fast decline]
US President George W Bush's spontaneous call
for a "crusade" and "Infinite Justice" neatly
expressed the reality better than the later
slogans, "war on terrorism" and "Enduring
Freedom".
[Most
Muslims believe that it is a Crusade]
After
having thoughtlessly helped create the monster
of Islamic fundamentalism, the United States has
now succeeded in arousing it, ranging the might
of Islamic people and their faith against
itself. Earlier, the poor and the deprived could
find solace and action in communist and leftist
ideologies and programs, but after the
dismantling of the Soviet Union, many in the
Islamic world have taken to extreme religious
movements.
[US &
Western powers, Arab and Muslim nations, China
and even Israel helped create the monster of
Islamic fundamentalism to fight against USSR in
Afghanistan, spending many billions of US
dollars. Pakistan is most seriously infected
with the virus of terrorism. ]
For the first time in history, war has been
brought to US territory, making it dar ul
harab (the house of war). Even a normal air
accident now shatters the jangled nerves and
morale of New Yorkers. Apart from bearding the
Western lion in its den, inflicting direct and
collateral economic damage that may amount to as
much as US$95 billion, September 11 globalized
the feeling of insecurity and terror from which
the United States had felt immune.
[US administration
has used the fear of attacks to get re-elected,
help Military industry complex and rich friends
, while reducing freedoms at home ]
The US
spends a staggering amount of money to defend
itself. But the innovative guerrilla air attacks
that stunned the US pierced forever the myth of
homeland inviolability. Those who live in glass
houses cannot be immune from stones. The tens of
billions of dollars spent by the US government
on agencies such as the Central Intelligence
Agency (CIA) and the Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI) could not protect Americans.
And there is no guarantee that they can in the
future. Apart from killing ill-trained Taliban
and bombing to death thousands of innocent
civilians, the combined special forces of the
United States, United Kingdom and other allies
have not been able to catch the main leaders of
al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Rather, a war scare is
being created in order to pour trillions of
dollars into national missile defense (NMD) and
other defense projects, which will only fatten
the pockets of the military-industrial complex
and the corporate interests behind it.
Throughout
history, there have always been asymmetrical
wars, with the only recourse of the weak to
sacrifice his life against a powerful tyrant.
Among Muslims, Caliph Ali's son Imam Hussein,
his forces outnumbered, is revered for his
sacrifice at Kerbala for his principles. Today,
nations send their soldiers to die for country
or corporate interests in exchange for Purple
Hearts and Distinguished Service Medals.
With the
United States replacing Europe as the new focus
of Western power, it believes there is nothing
superior to human knowledge. In Greek
philosophy, from which Western civilization
derives, the idea of unwritten laws exists -
which "live always and forever, and no man knows
from where they have arisen". Western belief in
an external moral universe to which men owe
obedience has been changed to a rational secular
alternative. The late English social historian,
philosopher, and essayist Isaiah Berlin's advice
that "solutions to the central problems existed,
that one could discover them and, with
sufficient selfless effort, realize them on
Earth" has been lost. Popular religious belief
in the West still remains strong, but since the
mid-20 century its elites have become
secularized with radical autonomy and absolute
freedom to do whatever one chooses .
By now
there is enough evidence to believe that US
authorities let Pearl Harbor happen. US
president Franklin Roosevelt's son and
confidant, talking of people "scorched and
boiled and baked to death", said that the atomic
bombing should continue "until we have destroyed
about half the Japanese civilian population".
General Leslie Groves, military director of the
Manhattan Project, hastily reassured congressmen
that radiation caused no "undue suffering" and
that "in fact, they say it is a very pleasant
way to die". In 1946 a US strategic bombing
survey concluded that "Japan would have
surrendered even if atomic bombs had not been
dropped".
[ No
wonder there are theories of US Administration's
conspiracy in 911 attacks. Also look at US view
of others' suffering. No 'body counts' of Iraqis
.USA has used in Iraq all weapons of
destruction ,even forbidden ones , except for
nuclear bombs]
By the end of the 20th century US corporate
interests had acquired almost full control of
world finance and power. The nominees of the
armaments, energy and other sectors become
presidents who promote their interests at home
and abroad. Corporate interests bid for their
candidate and the highest bidder gets his man in
the White House. But even with a blind opening
bid of nearly US$65 million, only legal
jiggery-pokery, possible only in the US, could
get George W Bush into the White House.
[US
judicial system and the rampant corruption in
its political elite lies exposed.
In
his discussions at the University of Freiburg in
Switzerland, as reported by Newsweek ,US Supreme
Court Justice Scalia said terror suspects did
not deserve the right to a trial, adding "I had
a son on that battlefield ( in Iraq) and they
were shooting at my son, and I'm not about to
give this man who was captured in a war a full
jury trial. I mean it's crazy."]
While the
American people were confused, scared and
panicky after September 11, the Bush
administration did not miss the chance to enrich
its masters. As US economist Paul Krugman
pointed out at the end of last year, the US
Congress voted $15 billion in aid to airline
companies but nothing for laid-off airline
workers. Also there was almost nothing for the
unemployed but $25 billion in retroactive
corporate tax cuts, mostly to highly profitable
companies.
Abroad, the charade of globalization, a
distorted version of capitalism, enforces rapid
capital movements for quick profits with no
accountability, leaving weak national economies
in disarray and shattered. It has played havoc
around the world. The weapons used are the
International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World
Bank, the United Nations, the Organization of
Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and
now the World Trade Organization (WTO).
US leadership and
lessons from history
An astute analyst blamed the US debacle in
Vietnam on a lack of moral and integrated
leadership. The war was run like a managerial
enterprise. There was no holistic or long-term
planning. Leaders from the corporate and legal
professions, sometimes ruthless and insensitive
academics such as Henry Kissinger and Madeleine
Albright, came in for a few years to manage
Washington.
[Madeleine
Albright to General Colin Powell: "What's the
point of having this superb military you're
always talking about if we can't use it?"
Peter Cheney, when queried by Prince Hassan of
Jordan why choose Iraq when similar regimes
existed elsewhere,replied "Iraq is doable ".
]
In
history, when societies become rich and flabby
they are reluctant to engage in bloody fights.
The desert Arabs whose swords carved an empire
became soft after lapping up luxuries from the
conquered Byzantine and Persian empires.
By the mid-9th century the caliphs started
recruiting Turkish nomad slaves from Central
Asia for fighting. It was only a matter of time
before the slaves took over and upgraded the
minor office of sultan to the protector of
hapless Arab caliphs.
US and
European leaders are reluctant to risk soldiers
in conflicts and wars, even for human
intelligence. Fear of body bags - and what they
would do to their popularity - sends shivers
down their spines. Hence the use of missiles and
stealth bombers.
Both
George W Bush and his predecessor as US
commander-in-chief, Bill Clinton, avoided
military service in Vietnam - much like the Arab
caliphs. When the draft became unpopular among
whites, it was abolished; now more blacks join
the US armed forces. They may not repeat what
Alawites have done in Syria or the slaves in
Islamic history, but this nevertheless has
future ramifications for the white US political
elite and polity.
[Claims
of a brilliant US victory over Iraqi forces by
US writers are nauseating .US spent nearly US $
500.billions, compared to Iraq's a few billions
, which also faced 12 years of sanctions ,and
intermittent bombing by US-K planes]
Inequities of the
current economic order
The current international finance architecture
is founded on the US dollar as the dominant
reserve currency, accounting for 68 percent of
global currency reserves, up from 51 percent a
decade ago. Yet in 2000, the US share of global
exports ($781.1 billion out of a world total of
$6.2 trillion) was only 12.3 percent and its
share of global imports ($1.257 trillion out of
a world total of $6.65 trillion) was 18.9
percent.
Ever since 1971, when US president Richard Nixon
arbitrarily took the dollar off the gold
standard ($35 per ounce) in force since the
Bretton Woods Conference at the end of World War
II, the dollar has become the global monetary
instrument that the United States, and only the
United States, can produce by fiat, despite
record US current-account deficits and the US as
the leading debtor nation. The US national debt
as of April 4 was $6.021 trillion against a GDP
of $9 trillion.
India has
to maintain ample foreign-exchange reserves,
which have now reached $60 billion. Most of this
must be kept in low-interest US securities,
which US companies like Enron can then invest in
India and force governments to guarantee 15
percent returns. Thus US companies earn billions
of dollars by investing Indian savings in India.
One of the casus belli for the Iraqi
invasion of Kuwait in 1990 was the latter's
insistence that Iraq must return $10 billion
granted by Kuwait to fight Iran. Kuwait finally
ended up paying more than $50 billion (as did
the Saudis). The US, meanwhile, collected a cool
$150 billion or more for basically protecting
its own interests.
[US is
now financing the Iraq war by reckless
borrowings. The foreign debt has now mounted to
over $ 8 trillion ,with current account deficit
of nearly US$ 700 billion]
Globalization, much heralded since the early
1990s as a panacea has turned out to be a
gliblization of the economic and social problems
of the masses wallowing in misery in developing
countries. In the former socialist countries,
so-called shock therapy has reduced millions to
penury. The middle classes have been decimated
while wealth and power are concentrated in the
hands of a few, ironically mostly former
communist leaders or apparatchiks or their
friends. Western media rarely write about it.
Nearly $200 billion has been transferred from
former socialist countries to the banks and
other institutions in the West and become a
national debt. No wonder a current joke in
Moscow is: "What the communists said about
communism was all wrong but what they said about
capitalism is all true."
[
There is little trickle down effect , instead it
is trickle up effect as Forbes report annually
increase in the number of billionaires and their
wealth]
Transparency
If developing countries must have
"transparency", so should developed nations.
Most corrupt deals in the energy, raw-materials
and commodities sectors are controlled by
corporate interests and their servants in high
decision-making positions. The kickbacks taken
by former senior US officials from energy deals
in the new Central Asian republics or by others
in Angola or Congo and money given to the
dictators runs into billions of dollars, which
has further impoverished these poor nations
Most
African dictators are creatures of multinational
organizations and diamond dealers and the cause
of ethnic fighting, mayhem, genocide and
unashamed exploitation. The whole system is
designed to exploit the poorest of the poor.
The
leaders and people of the United States delude
themselves that other people are envious. Yes,
they admire US dynamism and the rule of law and
democracy, but these apply only inside the US.
But the rage is against injustice perpetrated by
naked US financial clout backed by coercive
military power all over the world.
The US: A law unto itself
Bush's threat of war against Iraq for defying
international law is absurd. Since coming into
office, he has torn up more international
treaties and disregarded more UN conventions
than the rest of the world in past 20 years.
The list is familiar, including but not limited
to the withdrawal from the Kyoto Protocol on
global warming, failure to ratify the Rio Pact
on biodiversity, withdrawal from the
Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and the pursuit of
National Missile Defense. It appears ready to
violate the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. It opposed
the ban on land mines and has sought to
immobilize the UN convention against torture so
that it could keep foreign observers out of its
prison camp in Guantanamo Bay and hide its
treatment of al-Qaeda prisoners. It has
sabotaged the small-arms treaty and is opposed
to new provisions of the biological-warfare
convention. It experiments with biological
weapons of its own and has refused
chemical-weapons inspectors full access to its
laboratories. It is opposed to the International
Criminal Court and is coercing other countries
to sign separate agreements not to charge US
citizens. It has permitted CIA hit squads to
recommence covert operations of the kind that
included, in the past, the assassination of
foreign heads of state. Even its threat to go to
war with Iraq without a mandate from the UN
Security Council is a defiance of international
law.
The Bush administration's foreign policy has
undermined the fragile structure of
international law and conventions built up
during the past three centuries, to which the
United States made important contributions.
Former president Billy Carter, a respected elder
statesman frequently invited as an observer to
elections, wrote in the Washington Post on
September 6 that, "formerly admired almost
universally as the pre-eminent champion of human
rights, our country has become the foremost
target of respected international organizations
concerned about these basic principles of
democratic life". He added that statements on
Israel by US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld
indicate "a radical departure from policies of
every administration since 1967, always based on
the withdrawal of Israel from occupied
territories and a genuine peace between Israelis
and their neighbors".
[ With over 100
nuclear bombs in its arsenal ,Israel is grabbing
Palestinian land illegally by building a
concrete Wall against international law . Do
Israelis envisage a Green Zone in the Middle
East Red Zone ! ]
Look
how the energy interests are trying to rule the
United States and the rest of the world. Zalmay
Khalilzad, whom the Bush administration
appointed as its envoy to Afghanistan after the
fall of the Taliban, was a Unocal consultant, as
was, according to some reports, Karzai himself
-It is well known that the Bush family acquired
its wealth through oil; former president George
Bush Sr still works with the Carlyle Group that
specializes in huge oil investments abroad. His
son's commerce secretary, Dale Evans, was
chairman and chief executive officer of an oil
company. National Security Adviser Condoleezza
Rice was on the board of Chevron before going to
Washington. (The oil company even named a giant
tanker after her, although the ship has
reportedly been quietly renamed the Altair
Voyager.) Dick Cheney, before becoming vice
president, worked for the giant oil conglomerate
Halliburton.
[ US
Energy corporate interests remain predominant
while the military –industry complex gets
fatter every day , now with the so called 'never
ending war against terrorism' .]
Dangers from
within
:: Article nr. 22147 sent on 01-apr-2006 14:59 ECT
www.uruknet.info?p=22147
:: The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this website.
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