Democracy in Iraq

Ibrahim al-Jaafari, the duly elected Prime Minister of Iraq is not the choice of George W. Bush. Bush has apparently sent word to the Iraqis that he (George W. Bush, Emperor of Emporers, King of the World, God's Representative on Earth, Lion of Lions, George the Infallible, Mental Midget of Mental Midgets, etc., etc.) does not want al-Jaafari to serve a second term. Sooo...so much for democracy in Iraq. Democracy seems to be fine as long as the democratic process produces precisely the outcome that Bush desires. Otherwise, not. The recent elections in Gaza are a similar case in point. Actually, all this does is make public what has been obvious all along. The U.S. wants a puppet government in Iraq, a government that will do as they are told by the U.S. If that goal cannot be achieved (or probably even if it can) the U.S. will have to maintain a presence in Iraq. As there was never any plan not to maintain a presence in Iraq this should not come as a surprise. We are, definitely, positively, without doubt, building permanent bases in Iraq, along with the most heavily guarded Embassy ever conceived. This is not to say that someday, somehow, we will be forcibly pushed out. But that is certainly not the plan.

We have now announced that we are economically abandoning Iraq. They will have to do reconstruction on their own. How they might do this under the circumstances is not at all clear. Remember all the talk about how Iraqi oil would pay for the reconstruction, we were committed to reconstructing Iraq, and blah, blah, blah? Well, we aren't going to do it. They will be on their own. Oh, yeah, we were going to rebuild Afghanistan too. It must have just slipped our minds. The extent of our aid it appears will only be earmarked for more prisons. Whee! Just what they need in Iraq. More prisons. After all, if you insist on incarcerating everyone, guilty of anything or not, you need a lot of prison space. In Iraq you don't even have to smoke pot to go to jail. You only need to exist at all. American justice is a wonderful thing. Just ask the detainees at Guantanamo. But don't ask Justice Scalia. He has already decided they have no rights as they were caught on battlefields during a "war." The fact is, there is no "war." Thus they cannot be prisoners of war. If they were truly prisoners of war they would be entitled to rights under the Geneva Convention. So, if they are not prisoners of "war," what are they. I guess they must be criminals of some kind. But if they are criminals they should be entitled to a fair trial. Actually, most of them are neither soldiers or criminals, merely poor unfortunates that happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

But not to worry, General Peter Pace has spoken again. As the Turks and the Saudis, along with others in the neighborhood are concerned about U.S. intentions in Iraq, General Pace on a trip to the area, has assured them we are staying until "we get the job done." I, for one, have no idea what the "job" is, nor do I have any idea as to how we will tell if it gets "done." If he means bringing democracy to Iraq and the Middle East the job will never be done. NEVER! As bringing democracy there is not really the intention anyway, perhaps he means once we have established Iraq as a 51st state, with all the oil secured, we will be done. I suspect we will be done when we slink away with our tails between our legs as we were forced to do in Vietnam. If there are any people left at all in another 50 or 100 years they can explain to their children that for the want of oil the earth was lost.

I guess it must be obvious I am not in a happy mood. Please Great Mystery, let truth and beauty and justice prevail. We promise to do better. Honest. Scout's honor.