When victory mutates into success

international | anti-war / imperialism | opinion/analysis Friday September 14, 2007 16:46 by Seán Ryan

Bush no longer looking for victory.

30,000 American troops to be pulled.

The future of Shannon?

Will we help to bomb and subdue Iran too?

A Pyrrhic dance

For years now we have listened to Bush and his clones drawl on and on and on about victory in Iraq. Operation ‘Iraqi Freedom’ seemed to sum up, in two words what was meant by the use of this elusive term: ‘freedom.’ The Bush clique demanded that the Iraqis have a constitution and that they be put in a position where they could democratically rule themselves. All of this was part if not indeed the very parcel itself in the great ‘War On Terrorism.’ One should remember that initially this so-called ‘War On Terrorism,’ was a war where one of the sides was at first largely fictitious and stateless, and that the initiation of the war itself provided both the enemy and the territory for which they would fight. Broadly speaking it must be considered that because the Iraq invasion was part of the ‘War On Terror’ that ‘Iraqi Freedom’ must equate with a final position where the peoples of Iraq no longer live in a state of fear; where terrorism of any hue or creed cannot or will not exist and that this final position can be the only definition of ‘victory.’

We should also remember that under the tyrant Saddam, that Iraq was largely a secular state. It was for this reason that Osama Bin Laden was not a fan of Saddam, to put it very mildly. Bush was halfway there before he began. Of course when he began he had falsely established links between Saddam and Al Qaeda. His very first move was to move away from what he himself had defined as victory.

I’m pretty sure that I do not need to give history lessons on Indymedia, or indeed my own assuming political insights. I do not wish to preach, never mind preach to the converted. It’s hard to report the news in a robotic fashion, without either passion or opinion. It’s impossible to present an opinion analysis piece, without colouring it with my own character or more to the point to produce it without my own wants and desires inspiring the production of it in the first place. I know that many contributors to Indymedia understand this very well. I remember redjade describing Indymedia as a tool for activists and to date I have not heard of or seen a better summing up of what it is that we who contribute do. This summing up is not for the activists, who know and understand it well, it is for the readers and without any attempt at false pride or self-glorification, I say it is for history.

Last night, in a much anticipated televised speech, Bush dropped the word ‘victory’ from his rhetoric for the first time. It must now be considered that more than 3,000 dead Americans and close to three quarters of a million dead Iraqis have died for ‘success.’ The goal of ‘victory’ has been replaced with the goal of ‘success.’ http://www.courant.com/news/custom/topnews/hc-bush0914....story

In war there is but victory or failure. 70% of Americans want out of Iraq and 56% of Americans want to see Bush impeached. The majority of Americans realise that victory is not possible in Iraq. The very mythological monster that Bush and Co. have created has run amok and indeed has held the day. Mary Shelley couldn’t have written it better. Am I gloating at this? Many who despise us in the various anti-war movements will say that we have finally gotten what we wanted and thus a new debate will begin and the issues themselves will again fade into the background to be conveniently forgotten about. In truth, this mess in the Middle East is the very result that inspired me to begin writing on this subject to begin with, not anti-Americanism. Anti-capitalism did inspire me, I freely admit that and do not apologise for it, and I see capitalism and the current position in Iraq as being much related.

Despite what the great propaganda machine - the mainstream media - would have you believe, there is a civil war raging in Iraq. This civil war is a war whose front lines are religious ones. Religion is the divide in this war and far from averting such an abomination, the constitution foisted on the peoples of Iraq has encouraged and facilitated it. What then can Bush mean when he uses this ambiguous word ’success?’ What are the goals of the empire as opposed to the propaganda inspired goals of the American people? Does the Iraqi constitution allow for religious rule in Iraq? http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1665784,00.html For an overview of this religious civil war see http://www.stpns.net/view_article.html?articleId=537486...55840 (If one can distinguish the facts from the propaganda in this article it is frightening indeed).

Did the surge contribute to Bush’s idea of success?

Despite the empire crowing about the ‘success’ of this surge we can see that it was an abject failure. Death surging has been the only result of the surge. (See the pictures - Figures are taken from the DoD reports available at http://icasualties.org/oif/).

Aer Lingus pulling out of Shannon is a very touchy topic at the moment. I’m saddened to see the threat to legitimate jobs facilitated by privatisation. The opposition to the Irish government are shrieking like little girls but doing little else with regard to this. The government themselves are doing nothing, having coined it during the privatisation, there is little they can do or say short of hoping for it to go away, to be forgotten about. Acting as a stopover for the American war machine must now seem to be more precious than ever before. I’m sure that any protests would be treated with more vehemence than ever before and that the media spin would allow the state to assign us as blamehounds. Bush last night in his televised speech said that 30,000 troops were to be pulled from Iraq. Thus the blood money for the stopover begins to congeal and slow. It must be considered that over the next two to three years, that the US will fully exit a totally destroyed Iraq. What then, when the cash cow stops giving milk? No more worship of the golden calf will probably sound a death knell for Shannon Airport. Rather than turn Shannon into a centre for excellence, our government have fed at the trough of destruction. I predict that our government will soon join the bandwagon and facilitate a similar fate for Iran. This would keep the American red cents rolling in. It’ll be interesting to see how the Greens play a part in all of this. I remember Minister Ryan telling me that he and his party had guaranteed that some CIA planes would be searched by the Gardaí and that this was the scrap that they had received for selling their souls and ethics. No searches thus far. Not surprising. Will the Greens and the other parties, keep silent, because Shannon is a sensitive issue, or will they join the horde and bay for blood when it‘s time to start killing the peoples of Iran?

Of course Iran is not the same as Iraq. They haven’t been softened up by ten years of genocidal sanctions. Iran will have to be bombed into near submission before troops go in to mop up and secure oil. More depleted uranium, more bombings of essential infrastructure, and more violations of the Geneva Conventions. Nonetheless, Iran will require more troops than Iraq did, so the possible pickings we might grasp would be plentiful indeed. Knowing that the whole Iraq thing was a farce and that neither ‘victory’ nor ‘success’ mean nothing whatsoever about freedom from either tyranny or terrorism, would we do it all over again? Absolutely! Here’s a story from Faux News that shows the propaganda underway: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,296450,00.html

Our last hope at this stage is for the American people themselves. That they come to their senses and remove the empire from the seat of power. One should remember that those in opposition to Bush will not do the job. The last election where they took the reins of power was primarily about Iraq, they have not removed Bush nor have they stopped him. They too must answer to their paymasters. The likes of Exxon/Mobile have long feasted their hungry eyes on the likes of the Majnoun fields. It looked like they were to have their way too when legislation awarded 75% of Iraqi oil to private industries. However this law didn’t go as well as was suspected, hence the need for ‘success’ rather than ‘victory’ and hence the surge and the reason as to why the Democrats have not stopped it or Bush. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/13/world/middleeast/13ba...login

We must not be placid, we must not remain silent.