- The White House finally presented one of the most timeworn
and meaningless rationales for continuing the wrongheaded war and occupation
in Iraq. It is a rationale that so-called patriots pull out of their hat
(or perhaps they pull it from that part of their body where the "sun
don't shine") when all other rationales have proven to be false. It
is also a rationale that any thoughtful parent, friend, sibling or other
relation of a GI hopes they will never hear. On March 31, 2004, as news
of the deaths of five GIs and four US non-military "security"
personnel filtered through the wires, White House Press Secretary Scott
McClellan told the press: "Our thoughts and prayers are with the families
of those victims. But we will not be intimidated. And the best way to honor
those who have lost their lives is to continue to show resolve."
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- In short, Mr. McClellan means that the killing and dying
will continue. That resolve he's speaking of is the resolve of men and
women sitting in their leather-cushioned chairs in boardrooms and government
offices around the United States and behind the well-guarded walls of the
Green Zone in Baghdad. In fact, the Empire's main point man Mr. Bremer
echoed the White House's comment in his own statement. At a graduation
ceremony for the Iraqi police (the next group of Iraqi targets of the resistance),
Mr. Bremer told these men that the dead occupiers in Iraq had "not
died in vain." The GIs who were killed were fulfilling an obligation
they may have regretted they ever made. Dying for a cause you don't believe
in is a hard thing to do.
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- As for the others, they didn't die in vain either; they
died in Iraq for a big paycheck. These guys weren't innocent bystanders,
mind you. They worked for Blackwater Security Consulting and were most
likely looking for trouble. This firm is one of the many nominally private
companies doing the US government's dirty work in Iraq and elsewhere around
the world where Washington thinks its direct involvement might cause even
more problems than that caused by so-called civilians. Like most other
firms of this nature, Blackwater (and I quote from their website) "has
it roots in the Special Operations community and continues to sustain the
skills that have been acquired over the years as effective tools that will
support both national and commercial objectives." In addition, it
maintains offices in McLean, Virginia very near the CIA headquarters. In
other words, the men that they hire are trained killers.
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- According to various news and government releases, there
is fifteen to twenty thousand private security "consultants"
in Iraq right now. Add to this anywhere from 500 to 3000 CIA agents and
more than 100,000 servicemen and women and one has to seriously question
the myth perpetrated by Washington that things are stable in that country.
Tell that to the GIs who don't want to be there.
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- An AP report flashed out of Iraq and available for a
while on the New York Times website as a video report, stated that one
of the corpses had a US passport and another had a Department of Defense
ID card. In addition, the reporter was told that the men were armed and
driving through Fallujah. One can only conjecture exactly what or who these
men were looking for. If prior counterintelligence activities are any indication,
it is quite reasonable to assume that they were involved in some kind of
operation designed to hunt out the resistance and kill them. According
to a former Special Forces member now in Baghdad and quoted in the Washington
Times on October 6, 2003, military contractors guarding ministries on behalf
of coalition authorities have killed Iraqis who were trying to loot or
attack the buildings.
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- "It's Iraq," he said. "You're accountable
to nobody. But I guess ultimately you're accountable to the U.S. military
for what happens."
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- If that's the case, then there can only be more bad news
for the Iraqis, especially those who resent the US occupation of their
country. Already, US troops have killed several thousand of their countrymen.
There's bound to be more as the US pays tribute to its dead by remaining
where they are not wanted and should never have been.
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- Ron Jacobs is author of The Way the Wind Blew: a history
of the Weather Underground, which is being republished by Verso.
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- He can be reached at: rjacobs@zoo.uvm.edu
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- http://www.counterpunch.com/jacobs04012004.html
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