Iraqi Democracy; Cluster Bombs, Assassinations and Dead Children by Mike

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The rationale for war always deteriorates beneath the daily grind of death
and suffering. Iraq and Afghanistan are no different. The week’s stories
present a clear challenge to those who believe these wars are morally
justifiable. Things are falling apart and the American response has been
extreme. The US has entered that phase in the Iraq conflict where all the
positive reasons for involvement have been discarded and the mission is
transformed into one that simply maximizes the enemy’s pain and suffering. The notion of “liberating Iraq” seems to have been abandoned altogether,
excluding its use as a rhetorical tool in Presidential speeches. The order
of the day has shifted to crushing the resistance, regardless of how many
innocent people die in the process.

In Iraq, the campaign has taken on the trappings of the Israel-Palestine
conflict, duplicating the many symbols of repression that have characterized
that struggle. Mass detentions, allegations of torture, checkpoints and
roadblocks, and the arbitrary destruction of personal property are all
becoming part of the new regimen.

Most disconcerting, are the reports that Israel is providing training to
assassination squads so that the US can engage in the same “gangster”
tactics that are routinely exercised in the West Bank and Gaza. This
represents a clear abrogation of an executive order signed into law under
President Gerald Ford forbidding such lawless acts. It also creates a clear
line for those who may have supported the war initially, but will be
hard-pressed to excuse such transparently immoral behavior. “Targeted
assassinations” will repel decent people; they are no less odious than
random acts of terrorism.

We were also learned this week of the 11,000 cluster bombs that were
dropped during the original “shock and awe” part of the invasion. It’s
shocking to think of the complicity of the media in failing to report this
story. Newspaper coverage limited itself to vivid descriptions of America’s
“smart bombs”, leading many Americans to believe that the entire affair was
“surgical” and did not involve the massive and indiscriminate loss of human
life. That was not the case. As people in the military know, the myriad
unexploded bomblets that are scattered across the Iraqi countryside are
bound to keep killing innocent children for years to come. We should think
of it as George Bush’s contribution to Iraqi democracy, a grim reminder of
how personal greed and ideology can translate into human suffering.
The first graduates of Iraq’s new security apparatus were also reviewed
this week by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. It’s widely known that many
of these candidates actually served in the Mukhabarat, Saddam’s Gestapo.
It’s impossible to imagine the fear this must put in the hearts of average
Iraqis, knowing that the murders and torturers who were disbanded at the
fall of the regime are now gainfully employed by an occupying army. These
people undoubtedly understand that democracy is not achieved by installing
the remnants of state terror. But, then, that is why men like Rumsfeld
create state media to convince them otherwise.

In Afghanistan the situation is not much better. After two years it
should be obvious that “what you see is what you get”. The Bush
Administration has no intention of rebuilding Afghanistan or even
re-establishing security. In as much as they can, they will support the
Karsai government, and try to put a happy face on an increasingly desperate
situation. Periodically Rumsfeld will show up to bribe or threaten the
warlords so the Bush Administration can get through the next election cycle
but, basically, the Afghanistan project is over. All that’s left is the
occasional flare-ups and random killings of innocent children (like the 15
who were killed this week) that distinguish this kind of callousness and
neglect. In the Bush lexicon, this is victory.