It is hard sometimes to know what is real and what is fiction when it comes to the news out of Iraq. America is in its "silly season," the summer months leading up to a national election, and the media is going full speed ahead in exploiting its primacy in the news arena by substituting responsible reporting with headline-grabbing entertainment.So, as America closes in on the end of June and the celebration of the 230th year of our nation's birth, I thought I would pen a short primer on three myths on Iraq to keep an eye out for as we "debate" the various issues pertaining to our third year of war in that country.
2006-07-01
Scott Ritter: Three Iraq Myths That Won't Quit
Registered Republican Scott Ritter served as chief U.N. weapons inspector in Iraq from 1991 until his resignation in 1998. He is the author of, most recently, "Iraq Confidential: The Untold Story of the Intelligence Conspiracy to Undermine the U.N. and Overthrow Saddam Hussein" (Nation Books, 2005).
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
Very well-written, but I think his three "myths" are straw men. The American public doesn't believe any of these "myths." Americans don't believe that the Iraqi govt is standing on its own, they don't believe that the anti-US forces are mostly non-Iraqi islami-KKKers, and they don't believe that US forces found banned weapons.
Horse-hockey. One of the talking heads on CNN's exciting war adventure series "Iraq: A Week at War" just made the statement "Iraq is a sovereign nation." Rick Santorum said WMDs were found in Iraq, though he was criticized for this bogus statement. The Bush regime has constantly stated that most of the insurgency is "outside aggitators" like Zarqawi and Iranian supported "terrorists".
You may not believe these myths, but the media and your government continue to promote them as truth. They continue to wave these "straw men" at the American public, and most Americans aren't as astute as you are at researching the news.
Nadir: Some of the commentators may graciously call Iraq's govt "sovereign", but most Americans accurately regard this govt as inchoete an not yet fully viable. Even these gracious commentators do not claim that this govt can survive if US troops leave "NOW!", as you have called for.
Most Americans also accurately recognize that the leaders of this govt are not "US puppets," and that they make comments and decisions independant of what US officials want, though there is some influence and bargaining between the two. This reality is the source of those who call the govt "sovereign."
One US senator made claims about finding banned weapons. This view has not gained any popularity, even amoung backers of the war.
Most Americans recognize that the bulk of the anti-democratic violence in Iraq is homegrown. This is why so many of us are excited about the peace offering of the Iraqi govt, which would nuetralize the home-grown fighters, and leave active just the foriegn KKKers.
So if most Americans believe as you say they do, why are the neocons and the Bush regime still pushing these myths on us?
Conversely, Nadir, if Americans already believe these myths, as you say they do, then why does the Bush "regime" bother "pushing" what people already believe?
Actually, the Bush "regime" members do not advance these claims:
- They do not claim that the new Iraq govt is fully viable, but they do accurately claim that its leaders make independant decisions.
- They do not claim that WMDs exist in Iraq, and surprisingly they don't point to the opportunity that Hussein had to ship WMDs to Syria, as some have claimed. Instead they do accurately state that as of the time of the invasion, nobody could authenticate Iraq as certainly housing no banned weapons.
- I'm unsure about how much they overstate the foriegn composition of the anti-US actors. But either way, you will have something urgent to complain about. If these people compose 0% of the anti-US forces, Bush is lying (again!) and there's strong indigenous anti-US opposiont. If these people compose 100% of the anti-US forces, Bush's invasion drew into Iraq US opponents who didn't already exist there. No matter what the facts are, they prove the same thing: Bush is wrong!
Post a Comment