Neo-Cons Grip Slipping as Iraqi Resistance Morphs Into Liberation War [Alternate Reality alert]

To uplift his sinking popularity and avoid becoming a lame duck President, six months after his second inauguration, on the first anniversary of the sham transfer of sovereignty to Iraqis , President George W. Bush offered nothing new to the Americans or the Iraqis - more of the same . Addressing the nation from Fort Bragg military base in North Carolina, Bush called for staying the course ( and going overboard the Niagara falls of Iraq as some critics said long ago ). An emotive defence institution was chosen again to tap patriotic fervour and rally the military, which is becoming uneasy at the falling home support for the war in Iraq. Ironically, Bush himself avoided military duty in Vietnam.

Bush tried to rally Americans to the cause of the Iraq war and sought to again connect Iraq's violent insurgency to Osama bin Laden and the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. "Iraq is where they are making their stand. So we will fight them there, we will fight them across the world, and we will stay in the fight until the fight is won," Bush said. He set out two track strategy for victory i.e, accelerating the training of Iraqi troops and supporting Iraqi politicians in constitution making, bringing in more Sunni Arabs into the process, and paving the way for referendum and elections. Bush apparently remains in a state of denial.

Democrats immediately charged that Bush failed to offer a clear plan for success in Iraq. "It is not enough for the president to say 'stay the course' and make a few minor adjustments. The president needs to lay out a concrete plan," said New York Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer. California Democratic Rep. Nancy Pelosi told NBC "You know the president is on weak ground when he exploits the sacred ground of 9/11 so many times in his speech knowing that there was no connection between 9/11 and the war in Iraq when he initiated his preemptive strike." "It is important for the president to tell the American people, to give them a strategy for success. We simply haven't had that."

After the Bush speech London’s Financial Times commented "Given the extraordinary mix of delusion and incompetence that has characterised US management of Iraq, the administration is at last engaging with reality ... US meetings with Sunni insurgents—(but ) no truck with 'people with blood on their hands'. This is, of course, an understandable position. But the reality is that the US and its Iraqi allies will end up having to talk to probably the same people, only with a lot more blood on their hands and from a weaker position."

London’s Independent commented in its editorial "It is clear that Iraq's best hope for peace is for a withdrawal of the 140,000 US troops. After that has taken place, some respected third force - preferably the UN - will be required at least partly to plug the security gap. US withdrawal may be inevitable in the long run, but the chances of the Bush administration taking any such step in the near future are nonexistent. So, tragically, Iraq must now brace itself for yet another year of hell."

A flawed and irrational policy inspired and crafted by Neo-cons embedded within his administration has come home to roost. Most people now believe that the threat posed to the US by al-Al Qaida and Zarqawi is more a consequence of the 2003 invasion than a justification for it. A majority of Americans also believe that there was no solid link between the 2001 terrorist attacks and Iraq. They have expressed opposition to the war in Iraq and irritation with the White House's persistent denials that nothing was wrong. The speech is unlikely to change that view. Iraqis living in the occupation hell reacted negatively to the speech.

Recent opinion polls before the speech found that 59% of Americans opposed the war. The Pew Research Centre also found that the number of Americans favouring an immediate withdrawal of US troops has risen from 36% last October to 42% in February, and 46% now. A recent Gallup poll revealed that 56% said the war "wasn't worth it". For the first time, a majority said they would be "upset" if Bush sent more troops, a new low of 36% say troop levels should be maintained or increased. A Washington Post poll showed that two-thirds believe the US military is bogged down in Iraq while almost three- quarters think the level of casualties is unacceptable. More than half believe the war has not made them safer while 40% believe it has striking similarities to the experience in Vietnam.

American policies and people have become hated in Muslim countries and elsewhere. It was found that even China was more popular than the US among peoples of US’s traditional allies, including Britain. Even in Australia, one of USA ‘s closest allies, American students faced with hate attacks by Australians angry at the war in Iraq are quitting Queensland universities , in spite of formal briefings before leaving home on how to cope with abusive Australians. According to The Sunday Mail the verbal attacks have become unbearable and threatening to escalate into physical violence.

Bush’s address on the first anniversary of the so called handing over of sovereignty in secretive and furtive manner inside a fortress like Green Zone in Baghdad ,is the high point of the all round effort of Bush Administration to’ rally the troops ‘after negative polls and the Senate committee hearing brought out bipartisan dismay at the degenerating situation in Iraq . While Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld , Central Command Chief General John Abizaid have been some of the main interlocutors , Vice-President Dick Cheney has been kept away as his utterances at variance with the official line and truth have mostly embarrassed the administration .

On the eve of ‘SHAM TRANSFER OF IRAQI SOVEREIGNTY IN DISARRAY ( my paper no 1015 dated 1-06-04 for www.saag.org ) I had quoted Kemal Ataturk "It was by force that the sons of Osman seized the sovereignty and Sultanate of the Turkish nation; they have maintained this usurpation for six centuries. Now, the Turkish nation has rebelled and has put a stop to these usurpers and has effectively taken sovereignty and Sultanate in its own hands." Thus admonished Ataturk the Grand National Assembly in Ankara in 1923, when some members, including Islamic clerics and scholars, opposed his proposal to abolish the Sultanate. A vote by applause after his intervention abolished the six-century-old institution.

“A nucleus of those who will take back Iraq's sovereignty by force and with blood has come into being at Fallujah and Najaf. These are the first recognizable but critical developments in the Iraqi resistance for freedom and the war for independence. “ The Shias must realize that sovereignty does not come in charity .With no apparent exit policy ,US only intends making Shias and Sunnis fight each other as the imperialists did throughout the 20th century. By now it is clear to everyone that US occupied Iraq for its oil wealth and from there to control the region and its energy resources.

Well known US journalist Seymour Hersh had said last year “I just wonder, I mean, how out of touch are they? What sovereignty? What sovereignty do we have to give? There’s no phones , there’s no electricity— no, this is a sad fact. There is no sovereignty, there’s no army. It’s a Potemkin village maybe, yes, so they’re going to go inside the CPA where the grass is green and the air-conditioning works and they’re going to have a change of command with the press monitoring it and they had all three anchors there. I thought to myself, wow, it’s really scary. We’re getting into — we’re making the pictures and we’re believing them now, more than ever. So it doesn’t have much reality. “

Hersh was quoted saying last month ,”I have a friend who is a major player who went to Iraq recently. There's been a series, unreported, a series of missions in Iraq that have all been there to study the war -- and they’ve all come back pretty negatively. This guy came back and he saw the President months ago. And he said, “Mr. President, we're losing the war in Iraq.” And there was a sort of a three-second beat and Bush said, “You mean we're not winning.” And this guy said, “Hey, I told him what I had to say. If he wants to turn it the way he wants to, that's the way it goes.” You know, so he hears what he hears. “

According to New York Times ,a still classified recent report by Central Intelligence Agency believes that the war in Iraq was potentially worse than in Afghanistan , which is creating a new breed of Islamic jihadis who could go on to destabilise other countries. This is some response to Bush’s taunt to Jihadis in 2003 to ‘ bring them on’ and Rumsfeld optimism two years ago when he had welcomed the prospect of Iraq becoming a magnet for jihadis ( to be dealt with ).

While the British have played down the fears, a senior British anti-terrorism expert warned that those trained in terror techniques in Iraq could use their newly-acquired (urban ) skills in Britain at the end of the war. ( as did the Jihadis in the Arab world , Central Asia , India and Jammu and Kashmir and elsewhere , after the end of the 1980s Jihad against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan , with its Osama bin laden led component morphing into Al Qaida and stunning the US on 11 September , 2001 ).

Neighbours like Saudi Arabia also remain potentially vulnerable because many of the Arab fighters in Iraq originate from there. Jamal Khashoggi, media adviser to the Saudi ambassador in London, while partly agreeing with the assessment said ,"It will be worse than Afghanistan," and added, "We are talking about a very brutal type, a very weird version of Islam in Iraq. It is very scary." Under Saddam Hussein Iraq was a staunchly secular state , deadly opposed to the Jihadis.

Ken Jones , a senior British police expert on terrorism , added "There is an inevitable targeting of the United Kingdom and UK interests abroad," but he added: "it is not inevitable that they will succeed." But those joining terrorism no longer necessarily came from the "excluded and marginalised" but were increasingly "highly intelligent, educated young people". (This is a result of tarring all Muslims with the same brush and mistreating, insulting and generally humiliating them, their religion and culture.)

According to a recent Los Angeles Time report , neat sectarian explanations have failed to satisfy many Iraqis still bewildered by how their nation had gone so far astray.

”The insurgency has morphed into something beyond many Iraqis' comprehension. The armed rebellion has become a cunning, lethal force that can strike anywhere, any time, mocking the frequent pronouncements by U.S. and Iraqi officials who tout the latest arrests and successes.”

While Saddam Hussein used to kill the people who opposed him, but the killing nowadays was random .Dictatorship has been morphed into something far worse. “We have lost our country," said an Iraqi. Iraq's government must perforce meet in a heavily fortified Green Zone, and no one knows when a car bomb, bullet or indiscriminate piece of shrapnel might take his or her life. With summer just a few days old, Iraqis fear a blistering season of bombings, water shortages, power blackouts and miles-long gas lines. "No light of hope can be seen on the horizon."

While U.S authorities wonder how to disengage from a conflict now increasingly unpopular in US, edgy troops grapple with an unnerving truth: Their very presence inspires the rebellion they seek to crush. "Part of the recruitment for this insurgency is fueled by the perception that we are an occupying power and have no intention of leaving," Army Lt. Gen. John R. Vines, commander of the Multinational Corps, said in a recent interview. "I think we need to make it clear that we intend to draw down, and we intend to drawn down relatively soon, and we have no aspirations here."

This is how the Guardian described the recent assault on Baya'a in Baghdad, a vast police complex in the southern suburbs; “It started with mortars. A series of whooshes from north and south followed seconds later by explosions inside the perimeter. Figures emerged from the gloom and knelt in the middle of Hi al-Elam and Qatar Nada streets, pointing rocket launchers.

“More figures materialised on rooftops overlooking the station to spray gunfire and lob grenades. Dozens of gunmen, guerrilla infantry, swarmed from houses and alleys. It was just after 5.30 am and the station was surrounded. The defenders heard engines rev and guessed what was next, suicide car bombers. Baghdad's biggest battle in months - and possibly the boldest yet by insurgents - had begun.

“The combination of heavy shelling, diversionary feints, infantry thrusts and suicide vehicles - the "precision-guided" equivalent of tanks - left parts of the district of Hi al-Elam a smoking ruin. If the objective was to overrun the station and free its prisoners the offensive failed. The attackers retreated after two hours, leaving dozens dead and captured. But if the objective was to send a message of power and determination it succeeded.

Residents said their confidence in the government and security forces was severely dented. A rash of graffiti has spread across the area: "We will be back." One taxi driver, a Shia who loathes the mostly Sunni Arab resistance, shrugged. "Yes, they will."

A nearby Iraqi army base was simultaneously targeted by mortars, gunfire and a suicide bomber, trapping the soldiers inside. When gunmen came close to overrunning Baya'a , from bases in southern Baghdad US and Iraqi ground troops rushed to Baya'a only to confront insurgents at Derwesh Square and on the Doura highway tasked with slowing the relief force. At least three suicide car bombers had been held back for this purpose.

At least 10 were killed and 40 captured. "It was our victory," said the Iraqi commander, Col Khaldoon. But residents, picking their way through rubble that had been homes and shops, disagreed. Last month the government said Operation Lightning, a sweep of the capital by 40,000 troops, would choke the violence. A spate of explosions in the past two days killed more than 40 people but it was the spectacular but less bloody attack at Baya'a that showed the resistance was still in business. “

”The key imperative for every counter-insurgency campaign is to engage sympathetically with the population." The only time most Iraqis converse with Americans is when a civil affairs officer comes to pay out compensation for killing somebody in the family," a reporter who has spent several months in Iraq observed recently. American forces bring nothing in their wake that Iraqis can perceive as good or helpful, only a cacophony of military noise, spasmodic death and destruction. “

Iraqi spokesman during the war ,Muhammad Saeed al-Sahhaf , whom the Western media nicknamed ‘Comic Ali’ made many forecasts ie how the mighty Iraq army was turning Baghdad into a mass grave for Americans, the Iraqis would hurl "bullets and shoes" at the invading U.S. military, not bouquets of roses. They are coming true. Because foolishly , USA dismissed Iraq’s well trained and battle hardened armed and security forces, which now forms the core of the Iraqi resistance.

Of the suicide bombers, a diplomat commented in Baghdad: "Is there a never-ending supply of these men? Can it really still be the case that they all come in from outside Iraq?" There is substantial help in planning and assistance from homegrown insurgents such as diehard Ba'athists, ex-regime military and security service officers, and radical Sunni Islamists. The foreign Islamists and the ex-Ba'athists and regime people have nothing in common ideologically, but tactically they both wanted to disrupt and destroy the new situation in Iraq, and they are prepared to ally to that end.

In a Washington Post interview, Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari , who was summoned to the White House to bolster Bush’s image , laid down three conditions to root out insurgency "First of all, the borders must be made very, very secure." Secondly,” Iraqi security forces must be of a caliber to carry out widespread and effective offensives against terrorists, and, thirdly, the judiciary must be activated so that justice" can be carried out. He reminded Americans of what happened to Germany after the United States left it alone after World War I, ie Nazism. "Let's go back and take lessons from history."

In any case it was a wrong example .At British insistence , a humiliating peace was imposed on Germany when the international law under Westphalian state system principles was still operative . Now there is almost an out right abrogation of international law, Geneva and other conventions. And in any case millions of Iraqi Shias had voted in 30 January elections for the ruling alliance ( of al-Jaafari) because it had given high priority to the withdrawal of US troops.

Only last week eighty three Iraqi legislators asked US troops to leave according to a time table. Moqtda As-Sadr , fiery young leader of the poor Shia masses , who fought against US troops last year has always been opposed to the presence of occupation troops. He has also tried to link up with the Iraqi Sunni resistance to avoid a civil war.

Washington Post ,in a long piece on the task of training Iraqis to possibly defend themselves called it ‘Mission impossible ‘ and said that almost to a man, the soldiers said they joined for the money -- a relatively munificent $300 to $400 a month (in a country where unemployment is over 50% ) with the military and police forces offering the few job opportunities .But the Iraqis wanted parity in more time off, air-conditioned quarters like their American counterparts and, most important, respect.

Their heart was not in the fight with cultural differences making it worse .They were upset when called cowards. Said an American officer "My soldiers are over here, away from our families for a year. We are willing to die for you to have freedom. You should be willing to die for your own freedom. If you continue to run away from the enemy, the enemy will continue to chase you. You will never win." (Why should US expect help even from Shias , who too are opposed to US occupation from the very beginning.)

The interpreter said that "Well, you shouldn't have called them women, and you shouldn't have called them" wimps. "Of course they were scared," said Cpl. Idris Dhanoun, 30, a native of Baiji with two years in the security forces, who defended his colleagues. "The majority of them haven't seen fighting, they haven't seen war, they haven't been soldiers. The terrorists want to die. A hundred percent, they want to die. It's jihad. They want to kill themselves in the path of God."

Out of US soldiers’ hearing , an Iraqi Cpl. Amir Omar looked at their home town, dilapidated and neglected "Look at the homes of the Iraqis," he said, a handkerchief concealing his face. "The people have been destroyed." By whom? he was asked. "Them," Omar said, pointing at the U.S. Humvees leading the patrol.

US troops , however well trained ,can see the injustice of the war , shortchanged in armour protection or post- injury shabby rehabilitation treatment ,and lose morale .This was brought out by Gen Abizaid, who said that U.S. troops were becoming aware of the drop in public support and were asking him "whether or not they've got support from the American people." He said troops fight best when they know people are behind them. "When my soldiers say to me and ask the question whether or not they've got support from the American people or not, that worries me, and they are starting to do that." Soldiering on he said that while confidence among U.S. forces in the field “has never been higher,” the political mood in Washington appeared strikingly different. “I’ve never seen the lack of confidence greater.”

In USA , even Republicans are worried that the hard-charging Bush political team, successful in winning re-election last year, has stumbled in its second term on foreign policy and the concerns of the voters . “The tone has been too much of a permanent campaign," said Newt Gingrich, the former Republican House speaker. "When you're the minority, you need to fight. When you're the governing majority, you need to produce." This is a commentary on the evolution of US political system where with control over corporate media , elections can be won with help from hundreds of millions of corporate US dollars to promote their interests , with little regard to voters concerns , say on social security.

The situation at home is becoming difficult starting with a Supreme Court vacancy to fill , which is likely to further inflame partisan passions and complicate the prospects for the rest of Bush’s home agenda, including his push for major new energy and trade legislation this summer. "They thought because they had slain the Kerry dragon they could claim a mandate and do what they wanted to," said one prominent Republican anonymously." Now they have to sell things, whether it's Iraq or stem cells or John Bolton - let alone Social Security - on their own merits."

Backed and still led by neo-cons, Bush and Cheney might still believe like Sancho Panzas leading a conservative revolution to transforms America , but Republican politicians are looking at the elections next year , with polls calling for a more moderate agenda. When ever a US President gets a second term, he believes that the legacy he left was more important than his popularity. ‘But you cannot get the legacy without the people behind you,' said Larry Haas, a former Clinton White House aide.

The slipping popularity polls are leading to divergence between the White House and the Republican party. The Democrats after Senator John Kerry's defeat had seemingly headed for the political wilderness but are now united and winning battles. The post-election gloom has disappeared. 'The polarisation of America is starting to crack. The next election will be all about a battle for the centre,' said John Zogby. History may just be on the move again - leaving Bush behind.

In recent US history there have been few US Vice Presidents so much out of step with the President than Dick Cheney ,whether it was on weapons of mass destruction , Saddam Hussein’s linkage with the Al Qaida or anything else ( No wonder , when Bush replied that the Vice President can be president when questioned about Cheney’s qualities during election campaign , the Democrats chortled that he was that from the first day of the inauguration )

The most recent such faux pas was Cheney’s claim that the insurgency was in its "last throes" which he reiterated again in an interview with CNN. It prompted Senator Chuck Hagel, Republican of Nebraska, to say that the administration was "disconnected from reality" about Iraq. It surprised administration officials too forcing them into semantic contortions ." The fact is that if you look at the context of his remarks, last throes could be a violent last throe, just as well as a placid or calm last throe. Look it up in the dictionary," Rumsfeld , one of the administration’s best ‘communicators’ tried to explain.

At the Senate defence committee Gen Abizaid admitted that the resistance remained about as strong as it was six months ago and acknowledged the possibility that enemy fighters still had sufficient reserves to mount "a military surprise" such as a surge in coordinated attacks. When pressed about its contradiction with Cheney’s claims, Abizaid said, "I'm sure you'll forgive me" for not criticizing the vice president.

On Guantánamo after the scathing critique from Amnesty International and others , Cheney insisted in a CNN TV interview: "They got a brand new facility down at Guantánamo. We spent a lot of money to build it. They're very well treated there. They're living in the tropics. They're well fed . They've got everything they could possibility want." He added: "There isn't any other nation in the world that would treat people who were determined to kill Americans the way we're treating these people."

Describing about 520 remaining detainees as ``terrorists , bomb-makers ,facilitators of terror and members of al-Qaida and the Taliban,'' Cheney said. ``If you let them out, they'll go back to trying to kill Americans.'' A little refection would show that their relatives , members of tribe and friends might be prompted to do so ,if innocents are so arraigned. They can not be controlled like the American Indians and Afro-Americans .Only now the Senate has apologized for stalling anti-lynch law for decades and one KKK member was convicted only last week for man-slaughter of 3 civil rights workers in Mississippi 4 decades ago .

Dick Cheney’s views on Guantánamo were roundly criticized by the Amnesty International. "It is not a matter of climate or what food prisoners get, but a question of justice," its spokesman said. "Instead of pretending that Guantánamo Bay is a kind of resort rather than a detention centre, Mr Cheney should urge a restoration of basic rights for prisoners held there." Guantanamos ( also abroad ships) ,Abu Ghraibs , Baghrams , and outsourcing of torture elsewhere would remain a blot on America’s good name .

In spite of triumphalism marketed with help from a subservient media controlled and beholden to corporate interests , anti-war sentiment was always a part of mainstream US discourse .But with the Democratic party and its presidential candidate having supported the war ( and easy victory!), such views became marginal. Now, as death and destruction in Iraq make themselves felt in the postbags and phone logs of Congressmen, the notion that not only is the war not going according to plan but that the plan might itself be flawed ,is finding bipartisan expression. Members from both parties, in view of continued violence in Iraq and uncertainty about the outcome expressed uneasiness about open-ended U.S. involvement . On June 16, the Republican congressman. Walter Jones, who was responsible for changing French fries into freedom fries on the Congressional menu, co-sponsored a bipartisan resolution to set a timetable for US troop withdrawal.

In the Senate armed services committee last week, the Republican senator from South Carolina, Lindsey Graham, said: "I'm here to tell you sir, in the most patriotic state that I can imagine, people are beginning to question. And I don't think it's a blip on the radar screen. I think we have a chronic problem on our hands. We will lose this war if we leave too soon. And what is likely to make us do that? The public going south. And that is happening."

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), a leading critic of the Iraq campaign, told Rumsfeld that the war had become a "seeming intractable quagmire." He then listed a litany of what he called "gross errors and mistakes" in the U.S. military campaign and asked Rumsfeld to resign. "In baseball, it's three strikes, you're out," Kennedy said before a standing-room-only session of the Armed Services Committee. "What is it for the secretary of defense? Isn't it time for you to resign?"

Ruffled , Rumsfeld after a long pause said , "Well, that is quite a statement," He then inquired if the three four-star generals seated besides him agreed “ with you that we're in a quagmire and that there's no end in sight." Naturally Army Gen. John P. Abizaid, Gen. George Casey, the top U.S. commander in Iraq and Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff – had to agree with the boss.

Of course, US can not cut and run so there was little support on either the Senate or House armed services committees for a timetable to withdraw U.S. troops , but Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.), a senior Senator said that giving Iraqis "an open-ended commitment" on U.S. forces was also unacceptable. He asked for increased pressure on Iraqi government to keep to their schedule for a new constitution and general elections and to warn them that failure would cause the United States "to rethink our presence there." Thus he shifted the blame for all the mess from the occupation on to Iraq's politicians.

The Sunnis would love it , also all Sunni neighbouring states .Even Shias have been saying this from day one .The government dominated by exiles like Premier Al- Jaafari and his deputy Ahmed Chalabi ,former Premier Iyad Allwi , and many quislings and others who have foreign passports , would return to West , where they spent most of their life , some as agents of Western intelligence agencies .

The Iraq quagmire is making senators and congressmen - especially Republicans - jittery. Even the badly lead Democrats scent blood .With an unpopular war no senators or congressmen suggested that the Pentagon should send more troops to Iraq. But US always loves to win at all costs, so nobody blinked and suggested that troops be withdrawn immediately. Still during eight hours of testimony to House and Senate committees in Washington, the Pentagon still refused to abandon the rhetoric of "steady progress" and "victory is certain".

Christopher Gelpi, associate professor of political science at the Duke University , an expert on public reaction to foreign policy debates explains, "The most important single fact is that the public perceive the mission as being destined for success. The American public is partly casualty-phobic but it is primarily defeat phobic. You can muster support for just about any military operation in the US so long as you can get enough of the defeat-phobic people on board." Those who are casualty-phobic have been troubled by the 1,739 slain soldiers. So far this month, the US has, on average, had almost three soldiers killed and 10 wounded, every day. And 700 Iraqis which the US still does not count.

Pepe Escobar recently wrote in Asia Times ,” In Iraq, the local, deposed, militarized Sunni Arab bourgeoisie is fighting a national liberation movement against an imperialist occupation. Yet a much harsher humiliation is being inflicted by a few thousand Sunni Arab guerrillas in Iraq, bogging down the self-described mightiest army in the history of the world. The resistance has infiltrated each and every government and official body in Iraq, Interior Ministry included.”

Finally , USA has been forced to negotiate with the Iraqi resistance and admit it publicly. Report of two such meetings appeared in London’s Sunday Times though these facts were known for some time. So Rumsfeld told Fox News: "Well, the first thing I would say about the meetings is they go on all the time." He said that Iraq had a sovereign government which could choose its own relationships with different groups of insurgents. "We facilitate those from time to time," Rumsfeld said . He added, "There's no question but that the enemy is a thinking enemy, that their attacks are more lethal than they had been previously. They're killing a lot more Iraqis."

But he clarified that the talks were held with Iraqi resistance rather than foreign fighters led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian extremist ( mostly a hyped up creation of the US administration and media) . Rumsfeld told NBC television: "It isn't a matter of negotiating with terrorists. There's no one negotiating with Zarqawi or the people that are out chopping people's heads off."

How much sovereignty Iraq or al-Jaafri has was proved by the fact that when first asked about the talks with the Resistance he said ," I have no idea. You had better ask him [Rumsfeld]."

With steady decline in support for the war in the US and conflicting signals from the Bush administration, Rumsfeld went out of his way to lower American expectations of a quick victory "We're not going to win against the insurgency. The Iraqi people are going to win against the insurgency. That insurgency could go on for any number of years. Insurgencies tend to go on five, six, eight, 10, 12 years." He added that "We're going to create an environment that the Iraqi people and the Iraqi security forces can win against that insurgency."

General John Abizaid, confirmed that the US and Iraqi officials were "looking for the right people in the Sunni community to talk to ... and clearly we know that the vast majority of the insurgents are from the Sunni Arab community."

Hersh wondered last year how 8 or 9 neoconservatives had taken the government over. “And what’s amazing to me, and what really is troubling, is how fragile our democracy is. Look what happened to us.”“[In the press, there is] self-censorship, which is the beacon word for me, you know I always think it comes more, you know there is a corporate mentality out there, but there’s also a tremendous amount of self-censorship among the press. It’s like a disease.

“But also — they not only — they took away the edge from the press, they also muzzled the bureaucracy, they muzzled the military, they muzzled the Congress, and it’s an amazing feat. We’re supposed to be a democratic society, and all of those areas of our democracy bowed and scraped to this group of neo-cons who advocated a policy.”

Talking about Gen. Shinseki who testified two weeks before the Gulf War that “we’re going to need a couple hundred thousand troops ‘ , Hersh said that it made sense but the neo-cons led by Paul Wolfowitz and the others were mad at him. “ he's talking about numbers these guys say you won’t need. They're going to go invade Iraq and you know the story, they were going to be greeted with flowers and all that stuff, we all know that story.” These soft Generals , as Hersh described the so called the Clintonized generals who believed that “We did it in Afghanistan, we’re going to do it in Iraq. Some Special Forces, some bombing, we’re going to take it over. It’s going to be like this.” He concluded “And so you have a government that basically has been operating since 9/11 very successfully on the principle that if you’re with us you’re a genius, if you’re against us you’re not just somebody [in the] loyal opposition, you’re a traitor. They can’t deal with you. I’m exaggerating very slightly.”

This US government has ignored all professional military advice ( and even from its diplomats ) in the case of Iraq .War is too serious a matter to be left only to corporate chieftains representing military-industry complex , legal con artists and energy sector wheeler dealers. But there appears to be a ray of hope , now that the instrument of regular political choice in a democracy ie elections next year , might begin to alleviate the malaise and slowly begin loosening the stranglehold of neo-cons and their pernicious ideology over USA’s body politic.

(K Gajendra Singh, served as Indian Ambassador to Turkey and Azerbaijan in1992 -96. Prior to that, he served as ambassador to Jordan (during the1990 - 91Gulf war), Romania and Senegal. He is currently chairman of the Foundation for Indo-Turkic Studies, in Bucharest. This article was also published by Saag.org. The views expressed here are his own.- Email-Gajendrak@hotmail.com)

Evidently ghost-written. Here's the real author...

But there appears to be a ray of hope , now that the instrument of regular political choice in a democracy ie elections next year , might begin to alleviate the malaise and slowly begin loosening the stranglehold of neo-cons and their pernicious ideology over USA’s body politic.

What the heck is he talking about? Next year is 2006, not 2008....

It is nuts....and written by an Indian, no less.

"Yes, but what about the 14 US military bases now under construction in Iraq."

Here's a good example. Good thing the author doesn't claim to be a journalist....but when has truth been relevant to anything or anyone associated with Al-Jaz anyway? Note, there is no evidence of signed contracts between the U.S. government and the Iraqi government to build 14 permanent installations. Why not? Because there is no such evidence.

The author also falls into the trap of invalidating the Iraqi free elections from January - claiming those elected are sham. What will he be left to say when the next elections are held? Something tells me Iraqis wouldn't take kindly to being told that NOTHING they do is legitimate and they are all just a bunch of puppets.

What the heck is he talking about?

Iraqi election, scheduled for next year, after they have ratified their Constitution, which is scheduled for later this year.

Welcome to FR.

"The Bush speech this week shows that the United States is in the same position. There was no vital interest at stake, because Bush could not state one in a sentence. The rationale was purely for political hegemony, and a view to the "justness" of the Bush executive's intentions."

I presume this is your position, and not something you plagarized from some talking points somewhere?

George $oreA$$ must be spending a lot of money to pay for all of the trolls visiting Free Republic to spew the same bs.

DUKE CALM
Since Jun 30, 2005

Always the same crap from these leftists....from his unattributed missive: "In short, Iraq has become a crisis..."

Quagmire, doomed, insurgency, blah, blah, blah. They are all so unoriginal.

Neo-Cons Grip Slipping as Iraqi Resistance Morphs Into Liberation War

I love this talk of the resistance being a liberation war.

Compare the Sunni rule in Iraq to the rule of white South Africans - similar minority rule situation, except Saddam's regime was far more vicious against the majority Shiites than apartheid ever was against blacks.

Now, imagine Nato had gone into South Africa and overthrown the apartheid regime - and a percentage of the Africaaners had started an "insurrection" to get their power and control back. Would we see the left praising their resistance as a war of liberation? Would they be called patriots?

No. They would be roundly condemned by the same folks who now support the Iraq former Baathist insurrectionists.

...more of the same

I don't think Shoeshine-Boy & Family are still filling mass graves, running REAL torture changes where inmates lost limbs, tongues or their life.

The Kurds haven't been gassed in a while!

Iraq hasn't invaded a neighbor in a while either

Iraq hasn't caused any global environmental disasters lately either.

Hummm.... I don't see anything that is the same!

They are parroting the words from recent emails from moveon.com and other Jihadist terrorists non profits in America.

They are so easy to spot in a thread with their brand new sign ups or after playing conservative for a few weeks.

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