U.S. Economic Agenda and Iraq

The more people feel the war was just the less of a psychiatric problem society will have with conducting it so the U.S. administration does the best job it can to sell the war as necessary. It requires very sophisticated public relations and this administration is very good at it.

But no matter how well they sell this war the facts are undeniable. It was necessary to invade Iraq for economic reasons. It really had nothing to do with any humanitarian concerns and little to do with weapons of mass destruction. Everyone in this administration knows there really is not imminent threat but the the U.S. national interest is at the heart of this unprovoked war of aggression against the Iraqi people.

AND there also was really little concern by the French, the Germans, China or Russia about humanity or weapons. They also have economic concerns and interests. They opposed the war because their interests are threatened by the U.S. agenda. Anyone, anywhere must be aware that the U.S. national interest and policy revolves around capital and the globalization of American capital. The U.S. will take license to go anywhere, anytime to insure it's economic agenda and the invasion of Iraq was all about economics, the Euro, oil, and projecting power in West Asia.

"The 1991 U.S. attack on Iraq in the name of evacuating Kuwait only caused a terrible immediate loss of life but systematically and deliberately devastated the entire civilian infrastructure of Iraq. Eleven years of sanctions (now 13) have already wreaked unparalleled devastation of the country's economic life and effected what a senior UN official termed "genocide" by systematically starving the country of elementary needs. Iraq is not free to spend the earnings from sale of its own oil in the way it wishes. `No-fly zones' and repeated bombings devoid of all legal cover have violated the country's sovereignty and security. Under U.S.-U.K. protection, pro-U.S. Kurdish forces hold sway in northern Iraq. Int he guise of `weapons inspection,' brazen expionage has been carried out by the United States, U.K., and Israel." [(RUPE) Research Unit for Political Economy - "Behind the Invasion of Iraq" 2003 - Monthly Press]

Before the invasion Iraq had announced it's intention to switch to the new EURO standard and get off the American Dollar standard, which caused a lot of discomfort for George Bush who is mis-managing an already faltering economy.

LONG TERM CONSEQUENCES OF AMERICAN AGENDA

Many veterans bare the scars of America's wars. The VA hospitals are full of vets suffereing from "combat shell-shock, war neurosis, effort syndrome, battle fatigue, acute combat stress, post-traumatic stress disorder, and most controversially, Gulf War syndrome - but they all essentially describe the same phenomenon: the human mind buckling from intolerable stress and the psychic wear-and-tear of witnessing and committing dehumanizing acts." [Joy Press, "Shell-Shock and Awe....." April 9 - 15, 2003 Village Voice - http://www.villagevoice.com/]

The war was supposed to be fast and the weapons precise, but more and more it is becoming obvious that the boots on the ground in Iraq are confronting the reality of a very non-precise war on civilians and soldiers and there is a lot of killing. Young men and women have been taught the art of war and have experienced for the very first time the experience of taking someone else's life - and the process can't help but leave deep psyhological scars which will never fully heal.

When there is time to think, for those with moral concerns, the only "shock and awe" will be to their emotional well being. The "'shock and awe' was supposed to eliminate or disable the bad guys, leaving invading ground troops the feel-good task of rounding up grateful Iraqi soldiers and basking in the warm welcome offered by an overjoyed populace." [Press]

NOT OVER YET And it isn't over yet. U.S. plans are a lot more far-reaching and not secret at all. The U.S. intends to reshape the politics and establish American hegemony over the entire region.

"The Bush administration is actively considering invading various countries and replacing regimes in the entire region--Iran, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Libya, Egypt, and Lebanon are among the countries to be targeted." [RUPE]

"Control of petroleum resources and pipeline routes is obviously a central consideration in U.S. imperialist designs worldwide--note the long-term installation of U.S. forces from Afghanistan through Central Asia to the Balkans; the entry of U.S. troops in the Philippines and the pressure on Indonesia to involve the United State in a campaign against Islamic fundamentalists in the region; the drive for U.S. military intervention in Colombia and the attempt to oust Chavez in Venezuela. (The systematic drive by the United States in northern Latin America has close parallels with its campaign in West Asia.) The United States is particularly anxious to install a large contingent of troops near Saudi Arabia, anticipating the collapse of, or drastic change in, the regime there. Saudi Arabia has the world's greates stock of oil wealth. Indeed the United States is contemplating using the invasion of Iraq as a springboard for a drastic political `cleansing' of the entire region, along the lines of the process long under way in the Balkans and continuing in Afghanistan-Pakistan. Indeed, it is even willing to provoke, by its invasion of Iraq, uprising in other states of the region in order to provide it with an occasion to invade these states. All this is not speculation, but has been explicity spelled out in various policy documents authoried by or commissioned by those now in charge of the U.S. military and foreign policy." [RUPE]

Iraq has the world's second largest oil reserves which is presently at 115 billion barrels, but it is expected that now that will go to 220-250 billion barrels - and it is according to experts, one of the cheapest to extract.

Hank Roth http://pnews.org/ _

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