US Between ‘Iraq and a hard place’ 8-24-2007

24, August 2007                     US Between ‘Iraq and a hard place’

Pity the new president, caught between Iraq and a hard place.

Sadly, many Americans are under the illusion that Democrats will ride into town like ‘Wild West’ gang busters to drive out the bad guys (read big, bad Republicans) and usher in an  era of honesty, integrity and a new, enlightened foreign policy. It is true that there may be a few minor gains in domestic policy but foreign policy will remain essentially the same. There has always been bi-partisan consensus that the U.S must control major foreign resources to continue feeding the US corporate juggernaut regardless of the human consequences. Under the smokescreen of ‘ushering in democracy’ and ridding Iraq of our former ally Saddam Hussein, we planned to relieve Iraq of its oil and establish permanent military bases from which to launch future military adventures and offer protection to Israel so that it could continue its ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from their homeland. The leading Democratic president contenders agree that we cannot forego our imperial designs and must therefore remain in Iraq indefinitely.

No politician, Democrat or Republican, barring the courageous Dennis Kucinich, has categorically stated that he would withdraw US forces from Iraq unconditionally. Instead, the candidates continue to support a policy of “order” and “stability” which are merely code words for continued American hegemony. Furthermore, instead of initiating impeachment proceedings to hold the president accountable for a host of high crimes, the weak and unprincipled Democrats granted the thoroughly disgraced Alberto Gonzalez and his boss unchecked powers. This was accomplished by voting to grant legality to an illegal activity by rewriting the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, euphemistically called the Protect America Act. Largely ignored is the inherent danger of granting the Bush administration such powers which he has so consistently abused to stifle dissent and intensify the propaganda war which has drawn us into disastrous conflicts. As Anthony Romero of the ACLU ruefully reflected – “this congress may prove to be as spineless in standing up to the Bush Administration as the one that enacted the PATRIOT Act or the Military Commissions Act.” It is time for readers to break their long silence and demand accountability from their elected officials.