More fallout re: Iraq war

Folks,

It’s with some reluctance
that I forward you these articles about the war in Iraq, for I think that most
people have their minds made up about it at this point, so it’s a bit like
beating a dead horse. But for those of you who haven’t, or who are interested in
hearing some current points of view about it, here are some articles you may
want to check out. I hope to leave off this topic for a while…but I’m not
making any promises.

I guess I think this line of discussion
is still relevant because so many people on the right seem so sanguine about
having been led down the garden path about our reasons for going into Iraq,
because the Bush administration has been so disingenuous about it since they’ve
been caught in their distortions of the facts, and most of all, because the
administration has never, never admitted that we created this monster,
which is the most reprehensible lie of all. To listen to our President, you’d
think that Saddam was some monster who grew up out of the ground like a weed and
we’ve been fighting him the whole way, when that is so patently untrue. I’m sure
there are plenty of right-wing hawks who will now attack me for being a Saddam
apologist and having a “blame America first” attitude, but that’s just another
ploy to distract one from seeing things aright. I believe that if we are ever to
set things straight in the Middle East and have a successful approach to
fighting terrorism, it must begin with acknowledging how our own policies and
spook games and covert military operations have contributed to creating these
monsters in the first place. And that is no less true for Osama bin Laden! We
ignore our own hand in these situations at our own peril, because we continue to
play these games in other parts of the world, and you can bet that those games
will bear their own bitter fruit in years hence.

First,
here is a really excellent article that very briefly traces our history
of military engagements with Iraq since 1980. Written just before the war
started last year, it’s still a worthwhile review of how we got where we are
today, especially for those who are a bit fuzzy on how we created the monster of
Saddam Hussein and armed him, or those who champion WMD as the real reason we
went to Iraq this time. This reminds me of that joke that was going around
before the war:

“Mr. Rumsfeld, how are you so sure that
Iraq has weapons of mass distruction?”
Mr Rumsfeld: “Because we kept the receipts.”

Arming Iraq and the Path to
War
by John King
31 March 2003
http://www.ratical.org/ratville/CAH/armIraqP2W.html

And along the same lines:

Baker Helped Finance
Hussein
AP – Sunday 11 January 2004
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/011304A.shtml

“Now assigned the task of reducing
Iraq’s debt, presidential envoy James A. Baker III once gave crucial support for
continuing a billion-dollar loan program to Saddam Hussein’s government that
accounts for most of the money Iraq still owes the United States. As
secretary of state in 1989, Baker urged the Agriculture Department to offer $1
billion in loan guarantees for Iraq to buy U.S. farm products after Iraq said it
would reject a smaller deal.”

Next, Sen. Ted Kennedy
lambastes Bush for lying to us about our reasons for going to
war:

Sen. Ted
Kennedy | A Dishonest War
The Washington Post – Sunday 18 January
2004
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/011904A.shtml

Finally, “The respected and nonpartisan
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington released on Jan. 8 a
long-awaited study whose major conclusion is that the Bush administration
“systematically misrepresented” the threat from Iraq’s weapons programs.
“

Where’s the Outrage?

by Ruth Rosen
Published Monday, January
12, 2004 by the San
Francisco Chronicle

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0112-02.htm

–C