When Wars Backfire [col. writ. 7/12/07] (c) '07 Mumia Abu-Jamal
For most Americans, the Iraq War is a wrap.
Polls taken today overwhelmingly reveal the deeply held belief that the Iraq War was an error of epic proportions, and barely a third of those polled now claim to support the policies of the incumbent president, George W. Bush.
With the exception of a few true believers, most folks want to push that era blithely into the past, to be forgotten, if not forgiven.
That deeply held belief is now echoed by all segments of society, even among elites who were previously silent, or even supported the war.
The 'stay the course' crowd has been whittled down nearly to the bone. Witness the presidential ambitions of Sen. John McCain. His joined-at-the- hip support of the Bush administration has cost him dearly, as his poll numbers surge--downwards.
Recently, British newspaper and TV journalist, Jonathan Freedland, gave some sense of the breadth of opposition to the administration in a June 2007 essay in the New York Review of Books. Freedman wrote:
"One of the few foreign policy achievements of the Bush Administration has been the creation of a near consensus among those who study International affairs, a shared view that stretches, however improbably, from Noam Chomsky to Brent Scowcroft, from the antiwar protestors on the streets of San Francisco to the well-upholstered office of former secretary of state James Baker. This new consensus holds that the 2003 invasion of Iraq was a calamity, that the presidency of has reduced America's standing in the world and made the less, not more, secure, leaving its enemies emboldened and its friends alienated. Paid-up members of the nation's foreign policy establishment, those who have held some of the most senior offices in the land, speak in a language once confined to the T-shirts of placard-wielding demonstrators. They rail against deception and dishonesty, imperialism and corruption. The only dispute between them is over the size and depth of the hole into which Bush has led the country he pledged to serve." (From: Freedland, J., "Bush's Amazing Achievement" , NYROB, June 14, 2007, p. 16)
His words had an almost eerie quality to them when the news recently reported that Al-Qaeda is stronger now, especially with the influx of recruits, than at any time since 9/11.
If, after 4 1/2 years of war, your enemy is stronger, then to claim to be "winning in Iraq" (as some Bushites do), is a kind of madness, if not profound self-delusion.
Wars either weaken combatants, or strengthens them.
As journalist Larry Everest has reported in his 2004 book, Oil, Power & Empire: Iraq and the U.S. Global Agenda (Monroe, Me.: Common Courage Press, 2004), the highest levels of government sought to use any lie to tie the Hussein regime with Al-Qaeda, including sending then CIA head, James Woolsey, to London with fake 'evidence' to get the Brits on board. As Everest wrote:
Woolsey then began raising various charges against Iraq: that Iraqi agents met with Mohammed Atta, the alleged "ringleader" of the September 11 attacks: that Iraq provided fake passports for all 19 hijackers; that Al Qaeda members traveled to Baghdad in 1998 to celebrate Saddam Hussein's birthday; that Iraq trained Al Qaeda members; and that Iraq was linked to anthrax mailed to U.S. Senators in October 2001. There was no real proof for any of these charges...in fact it later turned out that the most likely source for the anthrax letters was someone associated with the U.S. military. Yet these charges were widely reported in the mainstream U.S. media nonetheless. (p.12)
And now, with the U.S. Army recruiting down, Al Qaeda is flourishing, mostly in the country that the U.S. claims as 'ally', Pakistan.
Amazing.
If this is winning, what does failure look like?
--(c) '07maj
Mumia Abu-Jamal is a political prisoner in the United States, with what could be the final decision on his legal appeals possibly coming down this summer. That decision could give Mumia his freedom, life in prison, or execution. It is time to turn up the heat against this injustice. Free Mumia Abu-Jamal!
For more on the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal read:
Top Ten “Fry Mumia” Myths Debunked
(Myth #1) “Five eyewitnesses saw Mumia shoot officer Faulkner.”
www.phillyimc.org/en/2007/07/41176.shtml
For most Americans, the Iraq War is a wrap.
Polls taken today overwhelmingly reveal the deeply held belief that the Iraq War was an error of epic proportions, and barely a third of those polled now claim to support the policies of the incumbent president, George W. Bush.
With the exception of a few true believers, most folks want to push that era blithely into the past, to be forgotten, if not forgiven.
That deeply held belief is now echoed by all segments of society, even among elites who were previously silent, or even supported the war.
The 'stay the course' crowd has been whittled down nearly to the bone. Witness the presidential ambitions of Sen. John McCain. His joined-at-the- hip support of the Bush administration has cost him dearly, as his poll numbers surge--downwards.
Recently, British newspaper and TV journalist, Jonathan Freedland, gave some sense of the breadth of opposition to the administration in a June 2007 essay in the New York Review of Books. Freedman wrote:
"One of the few foreign policy achievements of the Bush Administration has been the creation of a near consensus among those who study International affairs, a shared view that stretches, however improbably, from Noam Chomsky to Brent Scowcroft, from the antiwar protestors on the streets of San Francisco to the well-upholstered office of former secretary of state James Baker. This new consensus holds that the 2003 invasion of Iraq was a calamity, that the presidency of has reduced America's standing in the world and made the less, not more, secure, leaving its enemies emboldened and its friends alienated. Paid-up members of the nation's foreign policy establishment, those who have held some of the most senior offices in the land, speak in a language once confined to the T-shirts of placard-wielding demonstrators. They rail against deception and dishonesty, imperialism and corruption. The only dispute between them is over the size and depth of the hole into which Bush has led the country he pledged to serve." (From: Freedland, J., "Bush's Amazing Achievement" , NYROB, June 14, 2007, p. 16)
His words had an almost eerie quality to them when the news recently reported that Al-Qaeda is stronger now, especially with the influx of recruits, than at any time since 9/11.
If, after 4 1/2 years of war, your enemy is stronger, then to claim to be "winning in Iraq" (as some Bushites do), is a kind of madness, if not profound self-delusion.
Wars either weaken combatants, or strengthens them.
As journalist Larry Everest has reported in his 2004 book, Oil, Power & Empire: Iraq and the U.S. Global Agenda (Monroe, Me.: Common Courage Press, 2004), the highest levels of government sought to use any lie to tie the Hussein regime with Al-Qaeda, including sending then CIA head, James Woolsey, to London with fake 'evidence' to get the Brits on board. As Everest wrote:
Woolsey then began raising various charges against Iraq: that Iraqi agents met with Mohammed Atta, the alleged "ringleader" of the September 11 attacks: that Iraq provided fake passports for all 19 hijackers; that Al Qaeda members traveled to Baghdad in 1998 to celebrate Saddam Hussein's birthday; that Iraq trained Al Qaeda members; and that Iraq was linked to anthrax mailed to U.S. Senators in October 2001. There was no real proof for any of these charges...in fact it later turned out that the most likely source for the anthrax letters was someone associated with the U.S. military. Yet these charges were widely reported in the mainstream U.S. media nonetheless. (p.12)
And now, with the U.S. Army recruiting down, Al Qaeda is flourishing, mostly in the country that the U.S. claims as 'ally', Pakistan.
Amazing.
If this is winning, what does failure look like?
--(c) '07maj
Mumia Abu-Jamal is a political prisoner in the United States, with what could be the final decision on his legal appeals possibly coming down this summer. That decision could give Mumia his freedom, life in prison, or execution. It is time to turn up the heat against this injustice. Free Mumia Abu-Jamal!
For more on the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal read:
Top Ten “Fry Mumia” Myths Debunked
(Myth #1) “Five eyewitnesses saw Mumia shoot officer Faulkner.”
www.phillyimc.org/en/2007/07/41176.shtml
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