The Agenda Behind the Hoax
What the Iraq War is About
By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS
The Bush Regime has quagmired America into a sixth year of war in
Afghanistan and Iraq with no end in sight. The cost of these wars of
aggression is horrendous. Official US combat casualties stand at
4,538 dead. Officially, 29,780 US troops have been wounded in Iraq.
Experts have argued that these numbers are understatements.
Regardless, these numbers are only the tip of the iceberg.
On April 17, 2008, AP News reported that a new study released by the
RAND Corporation concludes that =93some 300,000 U.S. troops are
suffering from major depression or post traumatic stress from serving
in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and 320,000 received brain
injuries.=94
On April 21, 2008, OpEdNews reported that an internal email from Gen.
Michael J. Kussman, undersecretary for health at the Veterans
Administration, to Ira Katz, head of mental health at the VA, confirms
a McClatchy Newspaper report that 126 veterans per week commit
suicide. To the extent that the suicides are attributable to the war,
more than 500 deaths should be added to the reported combat fatalities
each month.
Turning to Iraqi deaths, expert studies support as many as 1.2 million
dead Iraqis, almost entirely civilians. Another 2 million Iraqis have
fled their country, and there are 2 million displaced Iraqis within
Iraq.
Afghan casualties are unknown.
Both Afghanistan and Iraq have suffered unconscionable civilian deaths
and damage to housing, infrastructure and environment. Iraq is
afflicted with depleted uranium and open sewers.
Then there are the economic costs to the US. Nobel economist Joseph
Stiglitz estimates the full cost of the invasion and attempted
occupation of Iraq to be between $3 trillion and $5 trillion. The
dollar price of oil and gasoline have tripled, and the dollar has lost
value against other currencies, declining dramatically even against
the lowly Thai baht. Before Bush launched his wars of aggression, one
US dollar was worth 45 baht. Today the dollar is only worth 30 baht.
The US cannot afford these costs. Prior to his resignation last
month, US Comptroller General David Walker reported that the
accumulated unfunded liabilities of the US government total $53
trillion dollars. The US government cannot cover these liabilities.
The Bush Regime even has to borrow the money from foreigners to pay
for its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. There is no more certain way to
bankrupt the country and dethrone the dollar as world reserve
currency.
The moral costs are perhaps the highest. All of the deaths, injuries,
and economic costs to the US and its victims are due entirely to lies
told by the President and Vice President of the US, by the Secretary
of Defense, the National Security Advisor, the Secretary of State,
and, of course, by the media, including the =93liberal=94 New York Times.
All of these lies were uttered in behalf of an undeclared agenda.
=93Our=94 government has still not told =93we the people=94 the real
reasons=
=93our=94 government invaded Afghanistan and Iraq.
Instead, the American sheeple have accepted a succession of
transparent lies: weapons of mass destruction, al Qaeda connections
and complicity in the 9/11 attack, overthrowing a dictator and
=93bringing democracy=94 to Iraqis.
The great moral American people would rather believe government lies
than to acknowledge the government=92s crimes and to hold the government
accountable.
There are many effective ways in which a moral people could protest.
Consider investors, for example. Clearly Halliburton and military
suppliers are cleaning up. Investors flock to the stocks in order to
participate in the rise in value from booming profits. But what would
a moral people do? Wouldn=92t they boycott the stocks of the companies
that are profiting from the Bush Regime=92s war crimes?
If the US invaded Iraq for any of the succession of reasons the Bush
Regime has given, why would the US have spent $750 million on a
fortress =93embassy=94 with anti-missile systems and its own electricity
and water systems spread over 104 acres? No one has ever seen or heard
of such an embassy before. Clearly, this =93embassy=94 is constructed as
the headquarters of an occupying colonial ruler.
The fact is that Bush invaded Iraq with the intent of turning Iraq
into an American colony. The so-called government of al-Maliki is not
a government. Maliki is the well paid front man for US colonial rule.
Maliki=92s government does not exist outside the protected Green Zone,
the headquarters of the American occupation.
If colonial rule were not the intent, the US would not be going out of
its way to force al Sadr=92s 60,000 man militia into a fight. Sadr is a
Shi=92ite who is a real Iraqi leader, perhaps the only Iraqi who could
end the sectarian conflict and restore some unity to Iraq. As such he
is regarded by the Bush Regime as a danger to the American puppet
Maliki. Unless the US is able to purchase or rig the upcoming Iraqi
election, Sadr is likely to emerge as the dominant figure. This would
be a highly unfavorable development for the Bush Regime=92s hopes of
establishing its colonial rule behind the facade of a Maliki fake
democracy. Rather than work with Sadr in order to extract themselves
from a quagmire, the Americans will be doing everything possible to
assassinate Sadr.
Why does the Bush Regime want to rule Iraq? Some speculate that it is
a matter of =93peak oil.=94 Oil supplies are said to be declining even as
demand for oil multiplies from developing countries such as China.
According to this argument, the US decided to seize Iraq to insure its
own oil supply.
This explanation is problematic. Most US oil comes from Canada,
Mexico, and Venezuela. The best way for the US to insure its oil
supplies would be to protect the dollar=92s role as world reserve
currency. Moreover, $3-5 trillion would have purchased a tremendous
amount of oil. Prior to the US invasions, the US oil import bill was
running less than $100 billion per year. Even in 2006 total US
imports from OPEC countries was $145 billion, and the US trade deficit
with OPEC totaled $106 billion. Three trillion dollars could have
paid for US oil imports for 30 years; five trillion dollars could pay
the US oil bill for a half century had the Bush Regime preserved a
sound dollar.
The more likely explanation for the US invasion of Iraq is the
neoconservative Bush Regime=92s commitment to the defense of Israeli
territorial expansion. There is no such thing as a neoconservative who
is not allied with Israel. Israel hopes to steal all of the West Bank
and southern Lebanon for its territorial expansion. An American
colonial regime in Iraq not only buttresses Israel from attack, but
also can pressure Syria and Iran from giving support to the
Palestinians and Lebanese. The Iraqi war is a war for Israeli
territorial expansion. Americans are dying and bleeding to death
financially for Israel. Bush=92s =93war on terror=94 is a hoax that
serves
to cover US intervention in the Middle East in behalf of =93greater
Israel.=94
Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the
Reagan administration. He was Associate Editor of the Wall Street
Journal editorial page and Contributing Editor of National Review. He
is coauthor of The Tyranny of Good Intentions.He can be reached at:
PaulCraigRoberts@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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