Caesar The Terror
2003-12-05 07:50:24 UTC
Subject : [Liberation_News] OPERATION: IRAQIFICATION?
OPERATION: IRAQIFICATION?
=========================
[Col. Writ. 11/16/03] Copyright 2003 Mumia Abu-Jamal
With the Iraqi Resistance now causing U.S. helicopters to plummet
to earth, with U.S. casualties now exceeding 400, the U.S. has
announced both an exit strategy and a proposed
date for the exit.
The strategy? What the White House calls the "Iraqification" of
the armed forces.
The date? Around June of 2004; when it's hand-picked 'Council'
will stage some sort of electoral process.
As one who remembers the 1960s, the term "Iraqification" stirred
up a host of memories of the Vietnam War. When U.S. forces suffered
heavy losses from Vietnamese nationalists,
and after the dramatic (and unexpected) Tet Offensive, the White
House called for a 'draw-down' of U.S. forces, and promoted a process
called the "Vietnamization" of the war.
What this meant in theory was U.S. support and arming of the
South Vietnamese Army, who would fight (and die) against their North
Vietnamese adversaries. In fact, this meant
political support for the Vietnam War was falling so quickly that the
Administration needed to adopt a stop-gap measure: a "war" with few
(or no!) U.S. casualties! It was the nearest
the White House came to proclaiming: "We're tired of our guys dying
for you Vietnamese; now, it's your turn."
They didn't say this publicly, of course.
In the latter days of the (Richard) Nixon Regime, John Calkins,
the head of a U.S. Congressional committee, toured Vietnam, and
reported:
"The South Vietnamese Army shows every sign of
being an effective and spirited security force...."
[Zinn, H. *A People's History of the United States*,
p. 537].
Of course, they crumbled in the face of their northern opponents,
and "Vietnamization" was revealed as a smoke screen for U.S. defeat
and imminent withdrawal.
What does "Iraqification" mean now? That the costs of 'nation-
building' is too high? That "Democratization" means the erection of
rump, unrepresentative (yet, friendly to western
businesses!) governments (like the so-called 'Council')?
We don't have to be in Baghdad to know that, no matter what the
so-called 'Council' says, the vote of one man, the
American 'Administrator' Paul Bremer, overrules them all.
"Iraqification," like "Vietnamization," is a political
measure
designed to diminish the upsurges of opposition to the War back
home. It isn't about Iraqis (about whom the average American
could care less); it's about the American desire to stem the tide of
U.S. casualties in a "War", that was supposedly over *months* ago.
It's about falling polls, and upcoming elections.
Ultimately, it's about power ... and wealth.
The forces that set all wars in motion.
Copyright 2003 Mumia Abu-Jamal
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OPERATION: IRAQIFICATION?
=========================
[Col. Writ. 11/16/03] Copyright 2003 Mumia Abu-Jamal
With the Iraqi Resistance now causing U.S. helicopters to plummet
to earth, with U.S. casualties now exceeding 400, the U.S. has
announced both an exit strategy and a proposed
date for the exit.
The strategy? What the White House calls the "Iraqification" of
the armed forces.
The date? Around June of 2004; when it's hand-picked 'Council'
will stage some sort of electoral process.
As one who remembers the 1960s, the term "Iraqification" stirred
up a host of memories of the Vietnam War. When U.S. forces suffered
heavy losses from Vietnamese nationalists,
and after the dramatic (and unexpected) Tet Offensive, the White
House called for a 'draw-down' of U.S. forces, and promoted a process
called the "Vietnamization" of the war.
What this meant in theory was U.S. support and arming of the
South Vietnamese Army, who would fight (and die) against their North
Vietnamese adversaries. In fact, this meant
political support for the Vietnam War was falling so quickly that the
Administration needed to adopt a stop-gap measure: a "war" with few
(or no!) U.S. casualties! It was the nearest
the White House came to proclaiming: "We're tired of our guys dying
for you Vietnamese; now, it's your turn."
They didn't say this publicly, of course.
In the latter days of the (Richard) Nixon Regime, John Calkins,
the head of a U.S. Congressional committee, toured Vietnam, and
reported:
"The South Vietnamese Army shows every sign of
being an effective and spirited security force...."
[Zinn, H. *A People's History of the United States*,
p. 537].
Of course, they crumbled in the face of their northern opponents,
and "Vietnamization" was revealed as a smoke screen for U.S. defeat
and imminent withdrawal.
What does "Iraqification" mean now? That the costs of 'nation-
building' is too high? That "Democratization" means the erection of
rump, unrepresentative (yet, friendly to western
businesses!) governments (like the so-called 'Council')?
We don't have to be in Baghdad to know that, no matter what the
so-called 'Council' says, the vote of one man, the
American 'Administrator' Paul Bremer, overrules them all.
"Iraqification," like "Vietnamization," is a political
measure
designed to diminish the upsurges of opposition to the War back
home. It isn't about Iraqis (about whom the average American
could care less); it's about the American desire to stem the tide of
U.S. casualties in a "War", that was supposedly over *months* ago.
It's about falling polls, and upcoming elections.
Ultimately, it's about power ... and wealth.
The forces that set all wars in motion.
Copyright 2003 Mumia Abu-Jamal
------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
Buy Ink Cartridges or Refill Kits for your HP, Epson, Canon or Lexmark
Printer at MyInks.com. Free s/h on orders $50 or more to the US & Canada.
http://www.c1tracking.com/l.asp?cid=5511
http://us.click.yahoo.com/mOAaAA/3exGAA/qnsNAA/k2holB/TM
---------------------------------------------------------------------~->
DAMN THE CROSS!!!
Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/