Violence... The story so far

Willaim Pfaff; Tribune Media Services International.

31 May 2007

Selected excerpts on how to murder a nation while saving it. [Commentary]

"Paris, April 26, 2007 –

The disputed wall in Baghdad, meant to separate Sunnis from Shia, is the admission, as if another were needed, that the situation in Iraq is out of American control. It is a desperate measure, taken in despair of anything better.

[See: "The Iron Wall" for an historic precedent. Israel is living today behind a wall for the exact reasons predicted by Ze'ev (Vladimir) Jabotinsky, a guiding light for the Zionists who have overplayed their hand ever since the Six-Day War. In much the same way, America, full of itself, overplayed its hand after Afghanistan. It is easy to blame it all on Bush--except that many Democrats in Congress continue to go along with him. It seems the rhythms of history are now quick enough to repeat within our lifetimes!]

"President George W. Bush’s reinforcement of American forces, announced at the start of the year in the guise of a final “surge” to “victory,” has merely displaced the sectarian attacks from one place to another, while doing nothing to solve the crisis that is destroying the Iraqi nation: inspiring sectarian murder on a huge scale, and sending its elites -- and others – into exile, or more likely, eventually, to refugee camps. If this goes on, when we Americans leave, there will be no Iraq, in any meaningful sense. We will have murdered the Iraqi nation, as a nation (-- “to save it”).

"There is no alternative to getting out. Simply getting out as rapidly and efficiently as possible, with as much political help (or otherwise) as can be found from other governments in the region, who have an interest in containing the crisis. But getting out.

[Our feelings exactly, see: Cut And Run - Orderly And Soon. This won't happen until the Democrats in Congress find some backbone. Denying funds for the war will not doom our troops. Mr. Bush will simply be forced to bring them home; the responsibility is all his. Some Democrats seem to have bought into the Bush propaganda, others seem to be blind to the ramifications of enforcing "American Interests" ahead of humanitarian interests.]

"No bases or troops left in Iraq. No new bases nearby. Hands off Iraq’s oil. Is that possible? Personally, I doubt it. It goes entirely against the interventionist mind-set and globalist strategy convictions that have dominated Washington for the last four decades. But without this, the region is left ablaze.

[In a sense, "Survival of the fittest," a law of nature, is influencing "civilized society" if we call ourselves civilized. On the one hand, we claim dominion over all species. On the other hand and at the same time, "WE" claim dominion over all nations. This is not at the conscious level of very many of us. It is just the foremost thinking (judging by their actions) of the sociopathic politicians in control just now. But since it is not yet in the common awareness, America as an entity, has a most serious, perhaps fatal hang-up. A feature common to all hang-ups is denial--see it on the street as often as on the media. See "Little Boy Saved" for more on hang-ups.]

"... If we leave now, or leave completely, there will be chaos! There is chaos now. The crucial factor in precipitating this terrible situation was the American invasion, and the principal factor in its continuation is the continued American presence in that country. When we leave, what follows will be the Iraqis’ responsibility.

"For any solution to be possible the United States must leave. This certainly may be followed by intensified violence in the immediate term, but no long-term resolution of the civil struggle is imaginable with American forces still there. They haplessly stand by, witnesses to the conflagration George Bush and his colleagues have loosed. Democrats as well as Republicans in Congress cling to the belief that the American intervention was well-intentioned, and therefore American good intentions could still be a positive force in the country."

[We are reminded of Vietnam. We are also not so sanguine as Pfaff about the intentions of Congressional Democrats and Republicans. We think hegemony is part of the psyche of the Authoritarian Personality and the Sociopathic Fringe who run things just now.]

[Pessimists say: "Absolute power corrupts absolutely." Is the pendulum of history about to swing back to optimism? Not soon we fear.]

About Willian Pfaff:

Author of eight books on contemporary social and political issues. Long-term columnist for The International Herald Tribune with globally syndicated articles. Pfaff is the most widely influential of all American commentators internationally.