Uri Avnery
March 29, 2003
The Devil's Dictionary
Yet some more thoughts about the war (3):
# The Coalition. No name could be more
appropriate to the cooperation between the United
States and the United Kingdom against Iraq.
In "The Devil's Dictionary" of the American humorist
Ambrose Bierce, published some 100 years ago,
"coalition" is defined as (I quote from memory) the
cooperation between two thieves who have their hands
so deep in each others pockets that they cannot rob a
third person separately.
# Reconstructionists. The problem of the Brits and
the Americans is that they are possessed by an
unquenchable thirst for reconstructing.
They dream about it day and night. They cannot
think and speak about anything else.
Trouble is, in order to rebuild something one has to
demolish it first. No destruction, no reconstruction.
Therefore the British, together with the Americans,
are occupied with destroying Iraq systematically.
Missile and bombs, tanks and artillery, ships and
infantry - everything is employed in order to facilitate
the reconstruction of the country.
The main objective of the urge for reconstruction is,
of course, Baghdad. A city of five million people, miles
upon miles of buildings and streets, which can be
reconstructed after their demolition. If Baghdad
becomes indeed the site of Stalingrad-style street
fighting, house after house, street after street, there
will be indeed a lot to reconstruct.
# The New Mongols. The appetite for rebuilding
separates the new conquerors from their
predecessors, the Mongols, who conquered Baghdad
in 1258, killed the Caliph (who had already
surrendered) and destroyed the city completely, after
butchering all the inhabitants, men, women and babies.
They did not bring with them reconstruction crews,
but laid waste to Iraq. The irrigation canals that had
been built throughout thousands of years of civilization
were devastated. The event has gone down in history
as one of the biggest disasters ever to befall the Arab
world.
By the way, two years later the Muslims annihilated
the Mongol army in the battle of Ein-Jalud (today's
kibbutz Ein-Harod), a major chapter in Palestininian
history. That was the end of the Mongols in the Middle
East, but the region never recovered from the Mongol
devastation to this very day.
# Demolish and profit. Apart from the idealist aim of
helping the Iraqi people, there is also a more material
side to reconstruction. It will be huge business. The
big American corporations - some of which are
connected with the paladins of the Bush administration
- are already quarreling about the spoils. They will, of
course, allow no foreigners to come into this. To quote
an American saying: "To the victors belong the spoils".
A rather obnoxious sight: even before the Iraqi
towns are destroyed, corporate giants are dividing
among themselves the profits of their rebuilding.
# Humanitarians. The unquenchable idealism of the
Anglo-Americans finds its _expression also in the drive
for humanitarian aid. This is becoming quite an
obsession. Humanitarian aid must be brought to the
Iraqi people, whether they want it or not.
The inhabitants of Basra do not want the promised
aid? Ha, we'll see about that. We shall bomb them,
starve them - until they open their gates and allow the
humanitarian aid in. After all, one cannot aid people as
long as the city is controlled by the evil Saddam,
cursed be his name, whose only aim is to prevent
humanitarian aid from reaching his people.
The coalition could, of course, drop food and water
- instead of bombs - from the air. One could also
arrange for a short cease-fire, so as to bring the
humanitarian aid into the besieged city. But that has
been forbidden by Donald Rumsfeld, another great
humanitarian. So there is really no alternative but to
bomb them until they are ripe for aid.
# Masters and natives. As a preview of the
humanitarian aid to come after the occupation of
Basra, the British have distributed a film about the
arrival of aid to a village on the way. They were so
satisfied with this piece of reporting, that they ran it
dozens of times on TV.
It looks like this: a British truck brings food and
water. The villagers, mainly desperate women and
children, besiege the truck. They beg for water. The
soldiers distribute mineral water to the maddened
crowd - one bottle to every child and woman. After
days of thirst, one (one!) liter per family.
The whole scene is nauseating. The hunger and
thirst of the population, caught in the middle of the
fighting, are exploited for crude propaganda. The
British look again as they have always looked in Iraq:
overbearing colonial masters, doing a favor to the
natives. For every Arab beholder, this is the ultimate
humiliation.
# Robbing for the robbed. In order to finance
everything - the destruction, the reconstruction, the
humanitarian aid and what not - money is needed.
Where will it come from? From the Iraqi oil, of course.
Therefore, it is the humanitarian duty of the
Americans to take hold of the oil fields as quickly as
possible. Not for their own good, perish the thought,
but for the Iraqis. In order to help them and do good.
Every child knows by now that this war is about oil.
The US intends to take possession of the Iraqi
reserves, the second largest in the world (after the
Saudi reserves), and control the neighboring reserves
of the Caspian Sea, Iran and the Gulf. Now it appears
that it is all for the benefit of the Iraqi people
themselves. So that they shall have something to eat
and medicines for the children.
All this after the UN sanctions, imposed as
demanded by the Americans, that have for many years
caused general malnutrition, the death of hundred of
thousands of children from hunger and disease and the
destruction of the Iraqi infrastructure - all in the name
of "oil for food".
# Oh, Orwell, Orwell. What would he have said about
this war?
In his book "1984", he had the Ministry of Truth coin
phrases like "War is Peace", "Freedom is Slavery" and
"Ignorance is Power". He would be right at home in this
war.
Occupation is Liberation, War is a Humane Duty,
Toppling a foreign government is Regime Change,
Starvation is Humanitarian Aid, Struggle against a
foreign invader is Serving a Tyrant, Bombing a city is
Service to the People.
Truth is always the first victim of any war. But it
seems that in this particular war it suffers even more
than usual. Mendacity, hypocrisy, dis-information and
plain brainwashing are having a ball. Four-star
generals parrot manifestly mendacious slogans, star-
journalist from all over the world accept them eagerly,
world TV networks repeat them diligently and the
Israeli media lap it all up.
Bon appetite. |
