Why the US Is Not Leaving Iraq

[Jcrowley]

Why the US Is Not Leaving Iraq

"The military-industrial-complex cause military spending to be driven not by national security needs but by a network of weapons makers, lobbyists and elected officials." Dwight D. Eisenhower

"There are only two things we should fight for. One is the defense of our homes and the other is the Bill of Rights. War for any other reason is simply a racket." General Smedley D. Butler


By: Ismael Hossein-zadeh

01/10/07 "Information Clearing House" -- -- Neither the Iraq Study Group nor other establishment critics of the Iraq war are calling for the withdrawal of US troops from that country. To the extent that the Study Group or the new Congress purport to inject some “realism” into the Iraq policy, such projected modifications do not seem to amount to more than changing the drivers of the US war machine without changing its destination, or objectives: control of Iraq’s political and economic policies.

In light of fact that by now almost all of the factions of the ruling circles, including the White House and the neoconservative war-mongerers, acknowledge the failure of the Iraq war, why, then, do they balk at the idea of pulling the troops out of that country?

Perhaps the shortest path to a relatively satisfactory answer would be to follow the money. The fact is that not everyone is losing in Iraq. Indeed, while the Bush administration’s wars of choice have brought unnecessary death, destruction, and disaster to millions, including many from the Unites States, they have also brought fortunes and prosperity to war profiteers. At the heart of the reluctance to withdraw from Iraq lies the profiteers’ unwillingness to give up further fortunes and spoils of war.

Pentagon contractors constitute the overwhelming majority of these profiteers. They include not only the giant manufacturing contractors such as Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Boeing, but also a complex maze of over 100,000 service contractors and sub-contractors such as private army or security corporations and “reconstruction” firms.<1> These contractors of both deconstruction and “reconstruction,” whose profits come mainly from the US treasury, have handsomely profited from the Bush administration’s wars of choice.

A time-honored proverb maintains that wars abroad are often continuations of wars at home. Accordingly, recent US wars abroad seem to be largely reflections of domestic fights over national resources, or public finance: opponents of social spending are using the escalating Pentagon budget (in combination with drastic tax cuts for the wealthy) as a cynical and roundabout way of redistributing national income in favor of the wealthy. As this combination of increasing military spending and decreasing tax liabilities of the wealthy creates wide gaps in the Federal budget, it then justifies the slashing of non-military public spending—a subtle and insidious policy of reversing the New Deal reforms, a policy that, incidentally, started under President Ronald Reagan.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article16132.htm

[bobbolink]

1. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ ?

Whoda thunk it.....

"When will we ever learn..?"

[Drum]

2. Way to go, new Congress...holding their feet to the fire, alright. nt

[snot]

3. K & R'd -- worth it for the Butler quote, as well as the reminder to

follow the money.

[mzmolly]

4. I even heard Craig Crawford talk about how Saudi Arabia is not

comfortable with Iraq's oil being on the market. He then went on to say that the Saudi's have had convenient friends in BOTH Bush admins who have managed to assist in destabilizing Iraq - which is good for the Saudi Oil racket.

The entire MSM sounded like Michael Moore tonight, it's amazing. I find myself continually bewildered at this mass experiment in human psychology. I am both an observer and living it, it's surreal. I know I'm not alone, of course. ;)

[vickitulsa]

5. This is one I wish I could recommend 30 times!

Thank you so much, Jcrowley, for posting it.

* told us tonight in his "big speech" that we ARE going to broaden the war in Iraq to attack Iran and Syria -- he said it outright in two very clear paragraphs.

He even admitted at one point that he was taking these steps to "protect American interests in the Middle East."

A rare bit of honesty in a speech otherwise full of his usual lies and promises. The only promise he made tonight that he'll keep is for MORE WAR -- and no one should be surprised when we wake up one morning very soon to hear that we've bombed Iran and/or Syria....


Here are the two paragraphs from the odious * speech, verbatim but with emphasis added, for those who care to affirm that he did indeed announce outright and quite clearly that he will be ordering attacks on Iran and Syria:

Succeeding in Iraq also requires defending its territorial integrity – and stabilizing the region in the face of the extremist challenge. This begins with addressing Iran and Syria. These two regimes are allowing terrorists and insurgents to use their territory to move in and out of Iraq. Iran is providing material support for attacks on American troops. We will disrupt the attacks on our forces. We will interrupt the flow of support from Iran and Syria. And we will seek out and destroy the networks providing advanced weaponry and training to our enemies in Iraq.

We are also taking other steps to bolster the security of Iraq and protect American interests in the Middle East. I recently ordered the deployment of an additional carrier strike group to the region. We will expand intelligence sharing – and deploy Patriot air defense systems to reassure our friends and allies. We will work with the governments of Turkey and Iraq to help them resolve problems along their border. And we will work with others to prevent Iran from gaining nuclear weapons and dominating the region.

[spag68]

6. Don't worry

This insanity will be over when Exxon signs the oil agreements with El Maliki.

[oblivious]

7. "War for any other reason is simply a racket."

"War for any other reason is simply a racket."

"War for any other reason is simply a racket."

"War for any other reason is simply a racket."

"War for any other reason is simply a racket."

And fuck the propagandists who try to make it seem anything else!

[Jcrowley]

8. kick