Ending the farce

It is clear the insurgency, contrary to the Bush administration’s view, is homegrown and is exacerbated by every week longer that the U.S. occupies Iraq. American troops are still dying daily and the security situation in Iraq is still a mess two years after Saddam’s ouster.

It is also clear now that ousting Saddam wasn’t the primary goal.

The Bush administration has steadfastly refused to tell Americans the real reasons for invading Iraq: having a permanent U.S. military presence in the heart of the Middle East that will allow U.S. forces to leave Saudi Arabia, gaining control over Iraqi oil reserves, privatizing the state-run Iraqi economy and, most of all, sending a message to other Arab nations that they, too, will be attacked if they fail to fall into line with U.S. policy.

All these goals were sought by the Bush administration long before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, but few dared to talk openly about them.

Instead, we were fed nonsense such as "weapons of mass destruction," "fighting terrorism" and "bringing democracy to Iraq."

It’s time to give up on the administration’s real plan of turning Iraq into an oil-rich, pseudo-democracy under U.S. influence that serves as the forward base for U.S. forces fighting the Jihadis. Iraqis want to see a real government, not a bunch of American puppets, and they want a chance to decide their own political and economic destiny instead of having American corporations plunder their economy. They want electricity, a functioning water and sewer system, hospitals, schools and to simply be able to walk the streets of their cities without the threat of being killed.

A bipartisan resolution circulating in the House now calls for the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq starting in October 2006.

"The American people are getting to a point here: How much more can we take?" Rep. Walter Jones Jr., R-N.C., a co-sponsor of the resolution, told The Boston Globe last week.

"We have ousted Saddam Hussein. That’s a victory. We’ve given them an opportunity to develop a democracy. That’s a victory. We’re training Iraqi troops. That will be a victory. Have we achieved our goals, and if not, what are these goals."

The question is whether the Bush administration will see it that way.

The president is deluding himself if he believes the nation must stay the course. He and his administration must acknowledge what has become obvious for more than two years — it’s time to start withdrawing U.S. troops and give full control of Iraq back to the Iraqis.

As U.S. forces withdraw, Iraq should be put under some form of United Nations trusteeship. The UN can put together an international peacekeeping force to maintain civic order. It can start the negotiation process with the Kurds, Shiites and Sunnis for how they will share power.

It can also start shipping in food and medicine as well as engineers and construction supplies. It can throw Haliburton and the rest of the war profiteers out and give the jobs to Iraqis so they can rebuild their own country and take control of their economic destiny.

We can’t do anything about what has already happened to put our nation into this mess in Iraq. We can, however, do something to prevent it from getting worse. Without an honest timetable to internationalize the political and economic rebuilding of Iraq that will keep U.S. involvement to a bare minimum, we can expect to see more chaos and death in Iraq and American troops bogged down in a tragic, unwinnable war.

http://www.reformer.com/Stories/0,1413,102~8854~2929606,00.html#