[News] Tombstone Blues
News at freedomarchives.org
News at freedomarchives.org
Fri Apr 2 08:50:49 EST 2004
http://www.counterpunch.com/jacobs04012004.html
April 1, 2004
Tombstone Blues
Dying in Vain in Iraq
By RON JACOBS
The White House finally presented one of the most timeworn and meaningless
rationales for continuing the wrongheaded war and occupation in Iraq. It is
a rationale that so-called patriots pull out of their hat (or perhaps they
pull it from that part of their body where the "sun don't shine") when all
other rationales have proven to be false. It is also a rationale that any
thoughtful parent, friend, sibling or other relation of a GI hopes they
will never hear. On March 31, 2004, as news of the deaths of five GIs and
four US non-military "security" personnel filtered through the wires, White
House Press Secretary Scott McClellan told the press: "Our thoughts and
prayers are with the families of those victims. But we will not be
intimidated. And the best way to honor those who have lost their lives is
to continue to show resolve."
In short, Mr. McClellan means that the killing and dying will continue.
That resolve he's speaking of is the resolve of men and women sitting in
their leather-cushioned chairs in boardrooms and government offices around
the United States and behind the well-guarded walls of the Green Zone in
Baghdad. In fact, the Empire's main point man Mr. Bremer echoed the White
House's comment in his own statement. At a graduation ceremony for the
Iraqi police (the next group of Iraqi targets of the resistance), Mr.
Bremer told these men that the dead occupiers in Iraq had "not died in
vain." The GIs who were killed were fulfilling an obligation they may have
regretted they ever made. Dying for a cause you don't believe in is a hard
thing to do.
As for the others, they didn't die in vain either; they died in Iraq for a
big paycheck. These guys weren't innocent bystanders, mind you. They worked
for Blackwater Security Consulting and were most likely looking for
trouble. This firm is one of the many nominally private companies doing the
US government's dirty work in Iraq and elsewhere around the world where
Washington thinks its direct involvement might cause even more problems
than that caused by so-called civilians. Like most other firms of this
nature, Blackwater (and I quote from their website) "has it roots in the
Special Operations community and continues to sustain the skills that have
been acquired over the years as effective tools that will support both
national and commercial objectives." In addition, it maintains offices in
McLean, Virginia very near the CIA headquarters. In other words, the men
that they hire are trained killers.
According to various news and government releases, there is fifteen to
twenty thousand private security "consultants" in Iraq right now. Add to
this anywhere from 500 to 3000 CIA agents and more than 100,000 servicemen
and women and one has to seriously question the myth perpetrated by
Washington that things are stable in that country. Tell that to the GIs who
don't want to be there.
An AP report flashed out of Iraq and available for a while on the New York
Times website as a video report, stated that one of the corpses had a US
passport and another had a Department of Defense ID card. In addition, the
reporter was told that the men were armed and driving through Fallujah. One
can only conjecture exactly what or who these men were looking for. If
prior counterintelligence activities are any indication, it is quite
reasonable to assume that they were involved in some kind of operation
designed to hunt out the resistance and kill them. According to a former
Special Forces member now in Baghdad and quoted in the Washington Times on
October 6, 2003, military contractors guarding ministries on behalf of
coalition authorities have killed Iraqis who were trying to loot or attack
the buildings.
"It's Iraq," he said. "You're accountable to nobody. But I guess ultimately
you're accountable to the U.S. military for what happens."
If that's the case, then there can only be more bad news for the Iraqis,
especially those who resent the US occupation of their country. Already, US
troops have killed several thousand of their countrymen. There's bound to
be more as the US pays tribute to its dead by remaining where they are not
wanted and should never have been.
The Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 863-9977
www.freedomarchives.org
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/news_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20040402/667883f5/attachment.htm>
More information about the News
mailing list