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Twin Town High (vol. 8) |
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“Defending democracy . . . “
Monday 18 June @ 16:54:17 |
 
by ED FELIEN
Now, after all other excuses have failed, Bush says we’re in Iraq and in the Middle East to defend democracy.
What rubbish! What hypocrisy! What doublethink!
Just before the anticipated U. S. invasion, Saddam Hussein held a plebiscite in Iraq. He asked the Iraqi people if they supported the government. In a secret ballot almost the entire country voted to support Hussein. But, somehow, for some reason, that vote wasn’t democratic enough. So, Bush invaded and set up (what everyone else in the world believes is) a puppet government. Most international observers believe the only purpose of this puppet government is to provide a fig leaf of legitimacy to the theft of Iraqi oil by U. S. oil companies. Iraqi oil workers have gone on strike to protest this criminal theft, but their puppet government forced them back to work. This theft is supported by all major candidates for President in both U S political parties.
Oil is being pumped out of Iraq at almost the same capacity as it was before the U S invasion. New fields are being discovered and new well being sunk. It’s a boom field and, for an old Oil Man like Bush, it’s a big thrill. A strong central government in Iraq would be a threat to the oil companies’ business plans, so (it can logically be assumed) millions of dollars are probably being spent to keep the political situation destabilized. The most effective way to do that would be to continue to exacerbate tensions between the Sunnis and the Shiites. When a Muslim bombs a marketplace or a mosque, he or she always acts as a suicide bomber, as if the sacrifice of his or her own life recognizes the horror of taking innocent lives. Yet, whenever there is a major attack on a Shiite mosque it is not done by a suicide bomber but done expertly and effectively with well-placed explosives. It seems suspiciously like the work of highly paid private contractors working for the oil companies.
 Sami Rasouli, an Iraqi who lived in Minneapolis for a number of years and who returned to help rebuild his native country, comes back to Minneapolis occasionally to talk about the current situation. He believes strongly that private contractors are acting like agent provacateurs to create hatred between the Sunni and Shiite communities.
This strategy of war waged by private contractors and proxy armies was not as successful for Bush recently in Gaza. There is clear evidence that the U S and Israel were preparing a coup against the Hamas government, but it quickly unraveled and the Fatah forces were routed and driven out of Gaza. There were reports that Fatah officers were so corrupt they were selling arms to Hamas that the Israelis were giving them to fight Hamas.
The Hamas party had won an overwhelming victory in a free and democratic election to run Palestine. Israel and the U S were shocked, and they refused to recognize the new government. They withheld billions of dollars that were legitimately due the government of Palestine. They were doing everything they could to destabilize the government. In addition to an economic blockade and a propaganda war, they sent arms and munitions into Gaza and probably also a few private contractors to blow things up and shoot people. But the people of Gaza and Hamas said, “No!” They had enough of the corruption of Fatah and their treasonous collaboration with Israel and the U S and they drove them out of Gaza.
Abbas, the head of Fatah, is now attempting to set up a new government in the West Bank. It has no legitimacy other than the wishful thinking of Israel and the U S. The elected Palestinian Parliament will not recognize it. The Palestinians on the West Bank who supported Hamas or who are appalled at the naked collaboration between Fatah and Israel and the U S will not support it. But it will have financial backing. The U S will contribute an unlimited amount, and Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Premier, has promised to release hundreds of millions in frozen tax funds to Abbas.
Is this “defending democracy?” Or, is it assaulting democracy, corrupting local officials, supporting puppet regimes, destroying the last hopes of a devastated people?
Israel and the U S say they cannot work with Hamas because Hamas refuses to recognize the right of Israel to exist. But, does Israel recognize the right of Palestine to exist, to democratically elect a government of their own choosing and exist as a legitimate state independent of Israel? Israel and the U S are the power players in this game. They need to recognize the legitimacy of a Palestine state. They need to recognize the right of a Palestine state restored to something like the 1967 boundaries. If they do that, they take away the reason for Palestinian resistance, and, at that time, a two state solution will not only be possible, it will be inevitable.
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