The President's "nightmare scenario"

President Bush in his State of the Union address pushed again for his war plan in Iraq, saying we must avoid the “nightmare scenario” of defeat. Since the US began to focus on Iraq the following have resulted:

Over one million innocent people were killed by brutal UN sanctions, inspired and demanded by the US, and while the world begged to remove the killer sanctions, the US insisted they be maintained.
About 700,000 of those who died were innocent children.
The US invaded Iraq and killed an estimated 250,000 under George Bush Sr.
For the next 10 years the US and Britain bombed Iraq on a daily basis.
Clinton launched 23 Tomahawk missiles on Iraq in 1993.
The US invaded Iraq for the second time in 2003.
The US has killed 765,000 Iraqi citizens since the 2003 invasion.
The nation of Iraq has been reduced to rubble.
The infrastructure of Iraq has been completely destroyed.
The birthplace of civilization has been reduced to anarchy.
Two million Iraqis have fled their country due to the US invasion.
Over 100,000 flee their nation each month.
750,000 Christians have fled Iraq.
1.7 million people in Iraq have lost their homes.
Iraq was a nation of about 20 million.
Since our involvement we have reduced their population by about 5 million people.

The president says if we leave, there will be a “nightmare scenario”.

The Defense calls Donald Rumsfeld!!

The defense calls Donald Rumsfeld! That, in a nutshell, explains the very rapid execution of Saddam Hussein.

Saddam Hussein was called Hitler, mass murderer, barbarian; and the US government and mainstream media convinced the American people he was the devil incarnate, and rapid execution was only fitting. Curiously however, for all his alleged horrific crimes against humanity and mass murder, he was tried and executed for killing 148 people who participated in a coup to overthrow and kill him. Mainstream media neglects to inform us that according to Hussein’s defense, the 148 were tried for treason, found guilty, and executed. Certainly one could question the nature of the trial given to the 148, and find sufficient reason to question their execution, just as one could easily challenge the nature of the trial offered to Hussein. His trial was paid for by the US, judges were brought to the US for “training”, the court room was paid for by the US taxpayer, the salaries of judges were paid for by the US, lawyers were assassinated, judges resigned, witnesses were hidden and their identities unknown, and having been found guilty was summarily executed within days.

Certainly it is not this writer's intent to defend Saddam Hussein, but it is interesting to use his case to explore the nature of "justice" and "hypocracy". As an abstract concept, the nature of “justice” is debatable, and one merely looks back at Waco, Texas where Janet Reno presided over the execution of 90 of our own citizens, most of whom were women and children completely innocent of any criminal activity. Not only were the innocent victims denied any kind of trial, they were gassed with poison, and then incinerated. How does this incident compare or differ from the accusation and hanging of Hussein? Another alleged assassination took place in Kuwait in April 1993 when an alleged attempt to assassinate George Bush Sr. was foiled. Without a trial, without accusing or arresting anyone, the new President, Clinton, launched 23 Tomahawk missiles into Iraq killing innocent people, including one of Iraq’s most gifted artists. Despite the fact the assassination allegedly took place in Kuwait, and its accuracy has been challenged by distinguished writers like Seymour Hersh, the retaliation by the US took innocent lives in Iraq. Was this an exercise in “justice”, and was anyone held accountable, tried, or hanged, for these deaths?

Saddam Hussein was not put on trial for the horrific accusations hurled at him by mainstream media and the US government. Did he really gas the Kurds as charged by the US? Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on your point of view, his hanging prevented any answering of such questions. Perhaps that explains the rapid execution of Hussein for an insignificant crime (relatively speaking). Certainly his defenders would have called Donald Rumsfeld to the stand to explain the infamous photo of Rumsfeld embracing Hussein. Defense lawyers would have asked pertinent questions such as how did Hussein acquire the poison gas, and what role did the US government play in supplying him with either the gasses or the means to manufacture the gases? One can only imagine how Mr. Rumsfeld would answer the following additional questions put to him by defense lawyers. Mr. Rumsfeld, please explain to the court what your mission was when you visited Mr. Hussein and shook his hand representing the US government in 1983? Mr. Rumsfeld were you aware that Saddam Hussein was supplied by the US with virus cultures and a billion dollar contract to build a chemical facility to produce mustard gas, after the alleged “gassing of the Kurds”? Mr. Rumsfeld, are you aware of any chemical or biological substances, devices, or knowledge of how to produce such materials, being transferred by the US, or agents of the US, or by American businesses to Iraq and Saddam Hussein, prior to, or after the alleged “gassing of the Kurds? Mr. Rumsfeld, are you aware of a Pentagon investigation of the “gassing of the Kurds” in 1990, in which they concluded: “we find it impossible to confirm the State Department’s claim that gas was used in this instance.”? Mr. Rumsfeld; was the Pentagon study lying when it found no evidence to confirm that gas was used on the Kurds, or was the US government lying when it insisted he did use poison gas on the Kurds?

Certainly it would be embarrassing ( to say the least) to have Hussein’s legal staff accusing the US of being an “accomplice” to war crimes and asking why the US should not be put on trial for being an “accessory to mass murder” and “crimes against humanity”? The rapid hanging insured such matters will never be discussed.

Somalia for Dummies

Most think Somalia is a small, brutal, poor, war torn country of no importance, incapable of internal peace, and that is precisely what mainstream media and the US government would like you to believe, so perhaps a brief review of Somalia is needed.

First, Somalia is blessed or cursed, depending on your perspective, with abundant natural resources of oil, uranium, and natural gas. Additionally it has military strategic value as its coastal town of Berbera is situated on the Mideast oil route and is the site of a US naval base, a base unknown by most Americans.
Most think the only US foray into Somalia was a “failed humanitarian mission” when the ungrateful and barbaric people of Somalia rejected our “humanitarian mission” and shot down a US helicopter and killed 18 US soldiers in a firefight a la the movie “Black Hawk Down”? You might be very wrong again!

The US, back in the 70’s while the Cold War was still on, supported Somali dictator Mohamed Siad Barre who was our man in Somalia and who countered the influence of Russia in next door Ethiopia (just as Saddam Hussein was our man in Iraq who countered the Iranians). To minimize the influence of Russia, we encouraged Barre to invade Ethiopia (as opposed to current day when we encouraged Ethiopia to invade Somalia). With the end of the Cold War and no Russian threat, we lost interest in Somalia and Barre, but continued to fund his dictatorship, and by the late 80’s the major oil companies of Chevron, (that’s right the same company that Condoleezza Rice was director of from 1991-2001) Amoco, Conoco, and Phillips had secured control of about two thirds of Somalia and it’s oil.

Mohamed Siad Barre, over the years and with the support of US military aid and funding, established himself as a brutal ruthless dictator (something like Saddam Hussein) who repressed any opposition with brutality. Barre was finally removed in a 1991 coup during which the US envoy took cover in the offices of Conoco oil (seems appropriate) and a new government was established. The oil rights however were now threatened by the new government so President Bush (Sr.) sent 20,000 US troops to restore the oil rights to the oil companies, justifying his intervention (1992-1993) as a “humanitarian mission”.

Unfortunately mission creep occurred and soon the US was taking sides in the Somali Civil War. US soldiers showed little respect for the people of Somalia and developed the policy of shoot to kill and ask questions later, an attitude considered callous and racist by the people of Somalia. Strong resentment and hatred occurred among the people of Somalia towards US troops (much like that in Iraq) and US troops became the enemy (much like in Iraq).

After the Mogadishu event resulted in the deaths of 18 US and over 1000 Somali’s, the US withdrew its forces but continued to finance the warlords while Somalia degenerated into what some have aptly described as “Mad Max territory”. For the next 15 years anarchy ruled in Somalia with civil war and wars between CIA backed warlords adding to the instability and chaos. Finally a group of fundamentalist Islamists called the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) began to recapture and restore order to one town after another, sometimes with brutality of their own. The US government, through the CIA in February of 2006, began to finance warlords to the tune of $100,000-$150,000 per month (big money in Somalia) fearing that the Islamic Courts Union might get to friendly with Al-Qaeda, and Islamophobics feared another strong Islamic government might represent a threat to the existence of the US naval base, and might even be a threat to nearby Ethiopia even though Somalia had no military.

Unable to send troops to combat the Islamic Courts Union because of the current quagmire in Iraq, we equipped and trained the Ethiopian army and encouraged them to attack Somalia (not to be confused with our encouraging Somali to attack Ethiopia in the 70’s). The superior military might of Ethiopia easily overcame Somali resistance (as occurred in Iraq) but many now fear a strong resistance movement will develop in Somalia and this war torn nation will enter a new phase of violence ( like Iraq). Recently in a large stadium in Somalia, the Islamic Courts Union held a rally where thousands of Somali’s chanted: “Death to the Americans and Slit the throats of Americans”.

Some have suggested that people hate us “because we are free” but the Somalis hate us for a different reason. Chalmers Johnson coined the phrase “Blowback” in his book: “Blowback: the Consequences of American Empire, and surely there will be consequences in the future.