How’s that “extraordinary achievement” of “the surge” going over in Iraq? Iraqi academic Sami Ramadani — who fled persecution by Saddam’s regime and also opposed the America war of aggression against his country — has this report, in the wake of the latest round of carnage in the civil war set off by the American invasion:
There is no doubt that the situation has improved for US forces, while British troops were airlifted from the fires of Iraq to be thrown into the flames of Afghanistan. The US plan for Iraq has so far succeeded in reducing its own casualties by pushing more of the Iraqi forces into the battle against the “insurgency” – better known in Iraq as the “honourable patriotic resistance” to distinguish it from the hated al-Qaida-style terrorists attacks.
But try to tell Iraqis who are not part of the ruling circles that their situation has improved since the occupation and they will remind you not only of the countless dead and injured but also of the million-plus orphans and widows, the 2 million who fled the country, and the 2 million internal refugees, most of whom live in dreadful squalor.
They will tell you about the sewage covering the streets of many towns and cities, the lack of clean water, fuel and electricity, and the ever deteriorating health and education services. They will tell you about the more than 50% unemployment, the kidnapping of children, the fear of women to move freely, and the rapid rise in drug abuse and prostitution. They will describe the horrific methods of torture inflicted on the tens of thousands of prisoners in Iraqi and American jails. … Iraqis will also instantly refer you to the corrupt rulers who came to Iraq “on the backs of US tanks”. They will tell you of the division of ministries and senior posts among the various sectarian and ethnically identified political allies of the US….
While Iraq and its people continue to suffer, with most of the western media ignoring their plight, President Obama is still pursuing President Bush’s goal in Iraq – to have a government in Baghdad that is closely allied to the US. This is incompatible with bringing about a stable, peaceful and democratic Iraq. What US strategists have yet to learn is that the Iraqi people will not freely accept a pro-US regime in Baghdad and that the “exit strategy” will inevitably result in long-term occupation, and bring only more bloodshed and destruction.
But what does Ramadani know? He’s just an Iraqi. The bipartisan best and brightest back in Washington will no doubt find a way to make it work. They always do, don’t they?