War Begins & Nobody Notices!
By Wayne Saunders
YellowTimes.org Guest Columnist (US)
9-6-2
Normally, the title for this column could be a headline for The Onion, that
hilarious, irreverent New York publication that twists things around in order
to hint at some absurd reality. The Onion presents fake news and commentary,
poking fun at politics, culture, or whatever. Nothing is off-limits and they
do a great job, so normally my title could serve as one of their satirical
jumping off points. After all, how could the U.S. deploy hundreds of thousands
of troops overseas and begin operations in Northern Iraq without around the
clock coverage on CNN? How absurd!
Well, no actually. Of what do I speak? For starters we must go offshore, or
more accurately, online, to a piece entitled, "Iraq: In all but name, the
war's on," by Marc Erikson in the Asia Times, published August 17. He notes
that back in January, when Bush began talking about "regime change" in Iraq,
he signed an intelligence order directing the CIA to topple Iraqi dictator
Saddam Hussein. (As a footnote, this violates U.S. law, but as expected there
was very little ballyhoo about that.) At the time there were approximately
50,000 U.S. and British troops surrounding Iraq.
According to Erikson and numerous overseas reports, that number has quietly
grown to well over 100,000 U.S. troops in and around Iraq. This does not
include soldiers, sailors and airmen within the expanded theater of
operations. There have been two main acceleration points: March and June. A
new airfield is operational in Qatar and thousands of U.S. troops are working
with local forces in Iraqi Kurdistan, mapping out targets, and covertly
planning what will be the long awaited major escalation of a campaign already
under way. There's more, much more. On August 9, the Turkish daily, Hurriyet,
reported that 5,000 Turkish troops entered northern Iraq and took over a key
airbase, north of Mosul.
Meanwhile the Jordanian news agency, Petra, counts thousands more U.S. troops
present to conduct joint exercises with the Jordanian army. Still thousands
more have been added to Kuwait. If you add in the surrounding region,
including allied troops, the number deployed or ready to attack on short
notice may reach upwards of 400,000. So where are the nightly reports showing
tearful loved ones waiving goodbye as their beloved sons and daughters embark
on the latest crusade against the evil doers?
Undoubtedly many units are being reassigned, but many more are shipping out
under stealth, seemingly without notice. All we seem to hear about is the
stepped up bombing campaign. But then what better way to start a new war, than
to clandestinely create a military situation with unstoppable momentum?
So the war is on, begun in cloaked fashion as it were, during the dog days of
summer.
Given these developments overseas, the factional in fighting within the Bush
administration concerning war with Iraq should be viewed not as a major turf
war, but more as a low-level distraction. (I will eat those words if Colin
Powell were to resign before his term is complete, preferably pre-invasion.)
In fact what the media circus has achieved this summer is concealment of the
aforementioned troop deployments, their actual missions, and the actual
strategy. What fellow pundit John Chuckman calls "geopolitics by an idiot" was
undoubtedly planned months ago. Even cursory research outside the bounds of
acceptable reporting leads to the inevitable conclusion that it's not a
question of 'if' or 'when' the U.S. attacks Iraq.
Historically, "The Guns of August" is not exactly an original, and yet in the
age of instant global communication, one marvels at the truly Orwellian
performance. It advances under a barrage of distortions, half-truths, and
outright lies unleashed daily in order to justify blatant aggression. The
White House knows there is no proof linking Iraq to the events of September
11, and they know the anthrax attacks were, mysteriously, domestic. Shared
hatred of the United States fails to connect Saddam's tyrannical secular state
with Osama's stateless, fanatical Islam.
Meanwhile, there is the personal testimony of former chief UN weapons
inspector Scott Ritter, who claims that Saddam's weapons of mass destruction
are largely disarmed, that the 'Iraqi threat' is built upon a framework of
deceit, and that a "handful of ideologues have hijacked the national security
policy of the United States for their own ambitions."
And let's not forget Iraq's coveted oil reserves.
Rather than closely examining any such motives, or the wisdom, legality, or
necessity of an unprovoked invasion of Iraq, and the certainty of increased
misery, mayhem and regional destabilization, the media prefer to fix their
gaze upon the timing of such an attack, on possible military strategies, and
of course, those divisions within the Bush administration.
It all makes for good gossip amongst the chattering classes. (Ok, some of it
is downright interesting: Like how a small cabal of hawks centered in the
civilian offices of the Pentagon, along with Weekly Standard editor Bill
Kristol, have essentially hijacked U.S. foreign policy.) But focusing on
questions such as whether or not Bush will attack before the November mid-term
elections, or wait until early next year, only serve to deflect attention from
ominous developments on the ground that, in more honest times, we'd hear at
least something. (As late as September 1, the Toronto Star repeated the
official story that a mere 60,000 U.S. troops are currently in the region.)
Appointed by the high court, the Bush cabal is as dangerous a sect as has ever
ruled the republic; the best and the brightest ideologues the Hard Right can
offer. It's time to awaken from summer slumber, admit that they've begun a
totally predictable and unnecessary war on Iraq, one that flies in the face of
minimal morality as well as logic. Against the wishes of nearly the entire
planet, they are determined to proceed, no matter what.
A precarious situation, it merely awaits a catalyst, planned or otherwise, for
a justified escalation. Look for the implanting of Gulf War II psychosis
within the malleable American psyche with Bush's speech to the UN general
assembly on September 12. In the coming weeks, it is expected that the
propaganda offensive will rev up to full throttle.
The absurdity of the situation reminds us that a little levity is good for the
soul, even during dire times. Thankfully, The Onion continues to pull no
punches in its social satire post 9/11 despite the fact that these are not
normal times, and quite clearly, this is a not a normal administration in
Washington. And yet there is nothing funny about deceiving a population into
fighting a war they would not support if only a few simple facts were laid
bare or if relevant developments were actually being noted by the media this
side of the pond. At the risk of losing one's sense of humor during dire
times, we must face the fact that reality has truly eclipsed satire.
It may be the first step towards resisting all this madness.
Wayne Saunders encourages your comments: planetway@netscape.net |
