Sorry. Something just made me think of the Aussie rendition of Silverstein's song by Bill & Boyd. I knew Bill quite well.
Here is a good balance sheet of the Bush admin's performance by the well-regarded and financially literate organ, The Age (Melbourne). It should have
a natural kind of affiliation with conservative American politics. But Bush has really missed the mark. In Melbourne, and everywhere else on the
planet...
A truly foolish adventure
November 17, 2003
The Iraq invasion has proved a gigantic disaster by almost every measure.
Seven months ago, neoconservative supporters of the war on Iraq proclaimed a stunning victory. Now, as the military situation in that country
deteriorates, it is time to attempt a balance sheet on the progress of the invasion and occupation thus far.
Concerning the justification for the invasion, overwhelmingly the most important fact is the failure to find even one "weapon of mass destruction".
Oddly enough, it is now obvious that Iraq's oft-repeated pre-war claim - that it did not possess WMDs - was true. One of the most important questions
the Anglophone democracies must now face is how and why their citizens were so comprehensively misled.
At present, best evidence suggests the near-total politicisation of the intelligence process by a Washington pro-war cabal, whose leader was US
Vice-President Dick Cheney. It is now known that this cabal created its own intelligence unit, the Office of Special Plans; that stale or worthless
intelligence, supplied either by carpetbaggers or Iraqi exiles, was re-analysed to get the required results; that the pro-war group overrode the more
cautious judgements of intelligence professionals; and that, in the end, they convinced not only President George Bush but even more intelligent
people, such as the Secretary of State, Colin Powell, of the deadly danger of Saddam Hussein's vast WMD arsenal.....
...... What, then, beyond their casualties, have the Iraqi people experienced since the invasion? According to US occupation authorities, supplies of
electricity and clean water have now finally reached their (dismal) pre-invasion levels. Urban Iraq faces massive unemployment. According to one
common figure, 60 per cent of young men in Baghdad have no work. Health problems of Iraqis seem even worse than before the invasion; that is, after a
decade of crippling economic sanctions.
These problems are overshadowed in the daily life of urban Iraqis by something quite new. Before the invasion Saddam Hussein set free 100,000 hardened
criminals. The occupying powers subsequently dismantled Iraq's army and most of its police. Iraq is awash with weapons. The consequence of all this
is the near-total breakdown of law and order. In a recent Gallup poll, 94 per cent of Iraqis said they felt more insecure now than under Saddam; 86
per cent said they or their families felt fearful about leaving their homes at night.
An enterprising American journalist, Jerry Fleischmann, visited the Baghdad morgue in September. He discovered that while before the invasion the
morgue investigated 20 firearms deaths a month, in August 2003 it investigated 581. A British journalist, Suzanne Goldenberg, recently examined the
post- invasion situation of women in Baghdad. She heard story after story of vicious assault and rape. "Under US occupation," she concluded,
"working women have reordered their lives, wearing hijab for the first time, or travelling with male relatives. Some barely venture out at
all.".........
..... As things stand, the coalition must now choose in Iraq between two different kinds of disaster. If their troops stay the course, they seem
certain to face increasing popular hostility and military threat. If they depart relatively soon, Iraq will almost certainly descend into chaos of a
fearful kind. To remain will be terrible; to leave probably worse. In my years of observing Western foreign policy, I have never witnessed a more
foolish adventure than the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq.
www.theage.com.au...