02 September 2010 By Stephen
Lendman In an August 2 speech to disabled
veterans, Obama touted his planned withdrawal,
saying: "As a candidate for president, I
pledged to bring the war in Iraq to a responsible
end....Shortly after taking office, I announced our
new strategy....for a transition to full Iraqi
responsibility. And I made it clear that by August 31,
2010, America's combat mission in Iraq would end. And
that is exactly what we are doing - as promised, on
schedule." At two or more recent
fundraisers, he repeated the "pledge:" "We are keeping the promise I
made when I began my campaign for the presidency: by
the end of this month, we will have removed 100,000
troops from Iraq, and our combat mission will be
over." Unmentioned was combat readiness
remaining, paramilitary army additions replacing
those leaving, shifting Iraq forces to Afghanistan,
increasing hostilities against Pakistan, committing
daily war crimes throughout the region, planning more
conflicts ahead, continuing America's permanent war
agenda, glorifying them in the name of peace,
destroying generations of US youths by a never-ending
cycle of imperial wars, not liberating ones. No matter. US cable channels
hailed the Iraq pullout like VJ day, none more
cloyingly one-sided than MSNBC, devoting an entire
evening for "embedded" coverage - "in bed with" for
Studs Terkel (1912 - 2008), to report propaganda, not
truths, regular media fare, round the clock on cable
TV, MSNBC reporter Richard Engel exiting with troops
in a specially equipped "Bloom-mobile" (named for
NBC's late correspondent David Bloom), host Rachael
Maddow in Baghdad, and Keith Olbermann anchoring
coverage in New York, a trio doing what they do best -
deceiving, not informing viewers, defending imperial
wars, not condemning them. According to MSNBC news executive
Phil Griffin, the decision to go wall-to-wall was a
"no-brainer," saying "We've got something unique and
it's an important story. We said, 'Let's go for it,' "
so they did in embarrassing overload, misrepresenting
and suppressing the real Iraq story. More on it
below. On August 19, New York Times
writer Steven Myers hailed the wind down "even though
Baghdad remains without the permanent government" that
Obama's strategy envisions, the "stalemate" casting a
shadow over the 50,000 troops remaining in an "advise
and assist" role. A supposed "agreement" plans
their withdrawal by end of 2011, the State Department
then taking over in charge of an army of contractors,
including thousands of paramilitaries for private
security, hired assassins like Blackwater USA,
rebranded as Xe Services LLC to hide the company's
dark past, continuing unabated under its new name. Doubling or tripling them won't
matter. Daily violence rages, in July at the highest
level in the past two years, media reports downplaying
or suppressing the facts, pretending a liberated Iraq
is now healing, enhanced by our presence and
commitment to "democracy," what's not tolerated at
home or anywhere abroad, especially in countries we
attack, destroy, and occupy. Saddam's Iraq no longer exists,
the country divided into the Basra south, Kurdish
north and Baghdad center, a puppet government serving
US interests. In addition, two decades of war and
sanctions killed, maimed or otherwise harmed or
displaced millions, causing horrific depravation and
an epidemic of cancers, typhoid, dysentery, cholera,
hepatitis, other diseases, and newborn deformities
from scores of pollutants, including depleted uranium
(DU), chemicals, toxic metals, oil, bacteria, and
other poisons, America's deadly legacy. Twenty years of war, sanctions,
and occupation demolished Iraq. The Gulf War was an
economic and environmental disaster, destroying power
and chemical plants; factories; dams; water
purification facilities; sewage treatment and disposal
systems; oil wells, pipelines, refineries, and storage
tanks besides ravishing the entire country and its
people, the result of gratuitous destruction and
slaughter. In 2003, it was repeated, a
"shock and awe" blitzkrieg intermittently continued
even with US forces withdrawing. Throughout the
country, thousands remain on super-bases, equipped
with sophisticated weapons to reign death and
destruction from land, sea or air, leaving rubble and
a deadly cocktail of oil, gasoline, heavy metals, DU,
pesticides, benzene, and other chemicals and
pollutants. Also, a GMO-contaminated food supply;
water too unsafe to drink; sanitation, electricity,
and decent housing in short supply; and most Iraqis
deprived of adequate medical, education and other
essential services. Today's Iraq is nightmarish,
portrayed as democratically liberated, Obama's bravado
as stage-managed as Bush's declared victory on the US
carrier Abraham Lincoln on May 1, 2003, a captive
audience assembled to cheer failure and imperial war
crimes. Iraqis live them daily,
devastated by one of history's greatest ever crimes,
ongoing for two decades, what the major media won't
touch, instead delivering "in bed with" "mission
accomplished" reports, inventing their own version of
reality. Nightmarish human depravation and
suffering prove otherwise. Most Iraqis are unemployed
or underemployed, impoverished, and without basic
services. Under permanent occupation, the country is
being strip-mined for profit, its resources stolen,
its people exploited and abused, compounded by a
poisoned environment, daily violence, major media
suppressed crimes, thousands detained, tortured and
ill-treated without charge under horrific conditions.
Obama's promise to withdraw all
US forces by December 2011 will also be broken. As
long as the region's oil rich and strategically
important, America's there to stay, Iraqis to be used,
abused, and cheated until they succeed in driving us
out. The hated occupation motivates
them to resist, cleric Moqtada al-Sadr vowing to "rise
up and fight to the death," Abu Mohammed (in charge of
the Sadrist cemetery) saying if US forces aren't out
by end of 2011, "we will fight and give our blood.
This will be our solution," one they expect will be
needed knowing Washington came to stay, a status
millions of Iraqis won't tolerate nor should they. Echoed by shameless major media trumpeting, Obama's bravado is brazenly bogus, the staged-managed Iraq pullout more retreat than success. The occupation's now rebranded, yet US combat readiness remains, accompanied by daily violence, atrocities, and depravation. They plague Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and US-financed proxy wars in Somalia, Yemen, Colombia, and elsewhere, realities the major media suppress, as well as the war at home on human need, not addressed or discussed. Since 2001 alone, trillions of dollars have been wasted on militarism and war making, badly needed funds domestically at a time of deepening depression. As a result, growing millions of Americans are hemorrhaging - suffering from unemployment, lost savings, homelessness, ill health, hunger, hopelessness and despair, another unreported story, media stooges hailing a "recovery" for Wall Street, not Main Street. Unsurprisingly, US workers are experiencing the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, perhaps surpassing its severity before it ends because US leaders don't give a damn, mindless of human suffering, their audacity of power corrupted, brutal and uncaring, Obama as bad as the rest.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening. http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.
Comments 💬 التعليقات |