Sunday, January 30, 2005
an article about the Iraqi elections from Robert Fisk
This Election Will Change the World. But Not in the Way the Americans Imagined By Robert Fisk - The Independent U.K.
Shias are about to inherit Iraq, but the election tomorrow that will bring them to power is creating deep fears among the Arab kings and dictators of the Middle East that their Sunni leadership is under threat...
The Americans originally feared that parliamentary elections in Iraq would create a Shia Islamic republic and made inevitable - and unnecessary - warnings to Iran not to interfere in Iraq. But now they are far more frightened that without elections the 60 per cent Shia community would join the Sunni insurgency...
Few in Iraq believe that these elections will end the insurgency, let alone bring peace and stability. By holding the poll now - when the Shias, who are not fighting the Americans, are voting while the Sunnis, who are fighting the Americans, are not -the elections can only sharpen the divisions between the country's two largest communities...
Depending on who you listen to, you can hear anything you want. I think our leaders are in over their heads. According to Fisk, they have to have the election now, because of the mess they made and to keep the Shias from joining the Sunnis in fighting the occupiers. The repercussions in the Middle East will certainly be seen in the near future.
Shias are about to inherit Iraq, but the election tomorrow that will bring them to power is creating deep fears among the Arab kings and dictators of the Middle East that their Sunni leadership is under threat...
The Americans originally feared that parliamentary elections in Iraq would create a Shia Islamic republic and made inevitable - and unnecessary - warnings to Iran not to interfere in Iraq. But now they are far more frightened that without elections the 60 per cent Shia community would join the Sunni insurgency...
Few in Iraq believe that these elections will end the insurgency, let alone bring peace and stability. By holding the poll now - when the Shias, who are not fighting the Americans, are voting while the Sunnis, who are fighting the Americans, are not -the elections can only sharpen the divisions between the country's two largest communities...
Depending on who you listen to, you can hear anything you want. I think our leaders are in over their heads. According to Fisk, they have to have the election now, because of the mess they made and to keep the Shias from joining the Sunnis in fighting the occupiers. The repercussions in the Middle East will certainly be seen in the near future.
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Yeah. Three unstable States, in place of one, (formerly) relatively stable one, right smack dab in the middle of the most unstable region on Earth, outside of Africa. And where much of its' oil is.
The Kurds finally get a State, until the war with Turkey starts. The Shi'ites get to meld with Iran. And the Sunni's get a terrorist State in the middle. Well, they have one now, anyway, thanks to Dubya...
Good excuse to stay in the Mideast forever, in full force. Gotta guard that oil. Even though it's only twenty per cent of our oil needs. We're rent-a-cops for up and coming China and India; and Germany and Japan, the next two largest economies in the world; all of which have no oil. Those last two tried to grab some, in WWI and WWII, but the Seven Sisters were having none of that. Five of them were American, one British, one Dutch. Now it's down to five, I think, with mergers. Still mostly American. In name.
And that boys and girls, is whom you are fighting for. Whoever THEY are...
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Yeah. Three unstable States, in place of one, (formerly) relatively stable one, right smack dab in the middle of the most unstable region on Earth, outside of Africa. And where much of its' oil is.
The Kurds finally get a State, until the war with Turkey starts. The Shi'ites get to meld with Iran. And the Sunni's get a terrorist State in the middle. Well, they have one now, anyway, thanks to Dubya...
Good excuse to stay in the Mideast forever, in full force. Gotta guard that oil. Even though it's only twenty per cent of our oil needs. We're rent-a-cops for up and coming China and India; and Germany and Japan, the next two largest economies in the world; all of which have no oil. Those last two tried to grab some, in WWI and WWII, but the Seven Sisters were having none of that. Five of them were American, one British, one Dutch. Now it's down to five, I think, with mergers. Still mostly American. In name.
And that boys and girls, is whom you are fighting for. Whoever THEY are...
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It really would have been cheaper to work on a new type of fuel to run our vehicles. Cheaper in MONEY and LIVES.
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No money in THAT for Bushco, as we now call our govt.
Imagine if the Prez, son of the Hot Dog King, invaded Frankfurt, for no reason. Except the family biz.
Could it BE any more obvious?
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No money in THAT for Bushco, as we now call our govt.
Imagine if the Prez, son of the Hot Dog King, invaded Frankfurt, for no reason. Except the family biz.
Could it BE any more obvious?
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"Fisking," hunh?
Hm. OK. Why would we CARE about "democracy" in the Middle East, if there were no oil there?
And what makes you think there were no "rumblings" about democracy in other countries in the region, before our unprovoked aggression? In fact, we've been foursquare AGAINST any regime change, or real democracy in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries, for MANY years. Most of the "rumblings" are coming from anti-Western Arab nationalists like the Baathists, or Muslim fundamentalists. And they're no great admirers of the US.
Can you say Mossadegh? The IRANIANS can! It was US & UK meddling in Middle East affairs that caused the Iranian Revolution. It's fear of another such Islamist coup or electoral victory that puts our troops in the region, for good. For oil. Not figs, dates, camels or any other local produce. The only thing they have that's of any interest to the US is "our" oil. Otherwise, why aren't we waging war for democracy in Africa, where conditions are far worse, but oil is far less?
That's what WWI and WWII were all about, in large part: Oil. The Kaiser and Hitler were headed for the Caucasus and the Persian Gulf, but they had to take out France and Great Britain, first. The Imperial Japanese were after Royal Dutch Shell's Dutch East Indies oil, in present-day Indonesia.You can't run a modern economy, or a war machine, without oil. If you seriously think that the cabal in the White House, most of whom come from the oil industry, care about anything more than oil, you're nuts.
And if all you have is "If's," you don't go into someone else's country, guns blazing. Unless you're psychotic. Keep your pipedreams to yourself: America is giving a bad name to democracy all over the Third World. Let's try it here, first, and see how it works. What we have now is plutocracy, where a few rich assholes can take over the whole government, without even actually winning an election, then do anything they want, despite all our laws and principles. If anybody needs real democracy and "regime change," it's us. Let Dubya guarantee the right, and the ability to vote without obstruction or harassment to African-Americans and other Democrats in Florida and Ohio, before he goes "crusading" abroad.
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Hm. OK. Why would we CARE about "democracy" in the Middle East, if there were no oil there?
And what makes you think there were no "rumblings" about democracy in other countries in the region, before our unprovoked aggression? In fact, we've been foursquare AGAINST any regime change, or real democracy in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries, for MANY years. Most of the "rumblings" are coming from anti-Western Arab nationalists like the Baathists, or Muslim fundamentalists. And they're no great admirers of the US.
Can you say Mossadegh? The IRANIANS can! It was US & UK meddling in Middle East affairs that caused the Iranian Revolution. It's fear of another such Islamist coup or electoral victory that puts our troops in the region, for good. For oil. Not figs, dates, camels or any other local produce. The only thing they have that's of any interest to the US is "our" oil. Otherwise, why aren't we waging war for democracy in Africa, where conditions are far worse, but oil is far less?
That's what WWI and WWII were all about, in large part: Oil. The Kaiser and Hitler were headed for the Caucasus and the Persian Gulf, but they had to take out France and Great Britain, first. The Imperial Japanese were after Royal Dutch Shell's Dutch East Indies oil, in present-day Indonesia.You can't run a modern economy, or a war machine, without oil. If you seriously think that the cabal in the White House, most of whom come from the oil industry, care about anything more than oil, you're nuts.
And if all you have is "If's," you don't go into someone else's country, guns blazing. Unless you're psychotic. Keep your pipedreams to yourself: America is giving a bad name to democracy all over the Third World. Let's try it here, first, and see how it works. What we have now is plutocracy, where a few rich assholes can take over the whole government, without even actually winning an election, then do anything they want, despite all our laws and principles. If anybody needs real democracy and "regime change," it's us. Let Dubya guarantee the right, and the ability to vote without obstruction or harassment to African-Americans and other Democrats in Florida and Ohio, before he goes "crusading" abroad.
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