The other night More 4 showed a Dispatches about the aftermath of the Iraq war. What is certain and will be of no surprise to anyone who has access to uncensored media is that Iraq is not the happy, peaceful, democracy we are told it is. In fact it is currently probably the most dangerous and unstable place on the planet and far from being run by a democratically elected government it is run by a collection of religious warlords.
The drive of the programme seemed to be criticising Blair and Bush for not having predicted or acknowledged that this would happen. Indeed it was clear from the interviews with experts that had briefed both leaders that despite warnings they clearly had no idea what they were in for. Some great examples:
- Before the invasion, Bush invited several Iraqi religious leaders of different faiths (Sunni, Shiite etc) to the whitehouse to watch the Superbowl and see what they were missing by rejecting western capitalism. On it’s own this demonstrates a shicking lack of understanding but it gets worse. Bush was genuinely surprised to discover that the leaders didn’t get on because, after all, they were all muslims weren’t they ?
- Before the invasion, Blair invited a bunch of experts to Number 10 to discuss the aftermath of the war. This excellent report descibes the events and suggests that not only was the war to go ahead regardless of any advice the experts my offer, but that Blair was desperately trying to justify it…to himself. One of the experts, Professor George Joffe (Cam/Lon), was alarmed by Blair’s “cryptic” interjections, perhaps the most telling of which consisted of him asking:
“But he [Saddam] is evil isn’t he ?”
This is our Prime minister.
Now, I agree that this demonstrates dreadful ignorance on the part of our glorious leaders but surely that’s not the point.
The point is that the war was not instigated by Bush or Blair, it was simply the next stage in the Ultra-right’s plan. Bush and Blair didn’t make any decision, they just do what they’re fucking well told. Did the ultra-right not predict the chaos that would ensue ? Maybe, maybe not, who cares ? Certainly not them. As far as the Neo-cons are concerned the mission objectives were met. The oil is secured and they now have a puppet government in place that, although powerless, will justify any action the U.S. needs to take in that country in the future. After all, the goverment speaks for “the people of Iraq”
Yesterday, one of the more blatant neo-cons was wheeled onto the Today programme to discuss how the world should react to Iran’s decision to continue with their Nuclear programme. His answer ? Regime change of course.
