Blowing Out the Surge Protector
The Surge.
It sounds so sexy. So overwhelming. So forceful.
But, for an administration that ignored General Shinseki's admonitions about troop requirements, it's hard to figure what they figure will happen when they surge up to 50,000 troops into a war-torn, incessantly-bombed and now-failed state like Iraq.
Or is it?
Perhaps there is a logical answer to why "they" are moving ahead with a plan that most of their GOP compatriots, except McCain and Lieberman (yes, folks...Joe is a de facto Republican now) in the House and Senate refuse to endorse.
Iran.
Yup, it's gotta be Iran.
A second Carrier Task Force is steaming towards the Gulf. Submarines abound. Fly-overs being secured. Special Forces gallivanting around the Iranian countryside. A surge is coming...to fight the in-surge-ncy.
And the "Iran is behind the insurgency" mantra is being chanted in the media so often that DC is beginning to feel like an ashram.
The media buzz is all about whether we are going to attack Iran, as if it's in question. Isn't it strangely reminiscent of the media's meaningless navel-gazing about questions regarding WMDs in Iraq before that attack?
No, the debate is being framed. A faux debate. The overall message is one of Iran as bad guy.
In fact, a group calling itself the American Foreign Policy Council is showing "Iran is evil" commercials during CNN broadcasts...roughly one per hour. Only in the DC area, though.
Take a look at what DC'ers are seeing everyday:
And this is the text of a similar American Foreign Policy Council ad clogging up the minutes between CNN's live shots of apartment fires, car chases and celebrity gossip:
The nuclear clock is ticking… and time is running out.
Iran is the world's largest state sponsor of terrorism - supporting attacks that have killed hundreds of Americans.
An Iranian group boasts 25,000 members who are ready to become suicide bombers in the US and Europe.
Now, in violation of the UN, Iran is developing a dangerous nuclear capability and has threatened to share it with others.
Stand up for peace. Call the White House and tell them to enforce sanctions against Iran today.
Check this "council" and what they are obsessed with...which reads like another Neo-Con laundry list of imperial pretexts.
What does this have to do with the surge?
Everything.
The surge is a great way to get additional troops into Iraq to deal with the backlash…the oh-so predictable chaos surge that will occur once the bombs start dropping around Iran.
It is likely that many of the surged troops will be protecting the Iran-Iraq border from friendly confines of the string of permanent bases we've quietly, at least to the tin ears of our mainstream media, been building since day one of Operation Iraqi Liberation.
Oops! Not O.I.L.
No, after reflecting on the intrinsic irony of that acronym it was re-named Operation Iraq Freedom. O.I.F.
Yeah, that’s much less...FUBAR.
Hey, when it comes to propaganda, a little goes a long way.
Frankly, the impending fun and games with Iran should surprise no one. Really. No one.
The groundwork has been laid since Bush's post 9/11 State of the Union, “Axis of Evil” speech. In fact, even earlier than that.
But now we have the lives of our boys and girls on the line. The Iranians are, according to the Bush Ashram, responsible for the deaths of American troops with their sophisticated I.E.D.s, their advanced planning capabilities...all fueled by their hatred of our ability to watch American Idol, eat Cheetos and burp up aspartame sodas. Yes, it's true...the Koran, via the Old Testament, forbids idolatry. Perhaps even American Idolatry.
So that's why they hate us!
I guess it has nothing to do with our protectorate over the Saudis and the long-standing conflict between the Western-loving, gold-plated despotism of Saudi Arabia and the Islamic revolutionaries in Iran. A people who could not be motivated by our intervention in their democracy back in 1953. Or by the Shah's Savak...a brutal Gestapo-type internal police force that enforced the rule of our Puppet Regime.
Nor does it have anything to do with the fact that Iraqis have been dying by the thousands since we invaded their country.
It’s not that Iraqis want us out.
It's that Iran is using Iraq to challenge our benevolent, democratic protectorate over the Persian Gulf. To stop the Iraqi people from practicing their own form of American Idolatry.
That’s the Kool Aid…would you like ice with that?
So take this surge for what it is and realize what it isn't. It's a Trojan Horse solution to the amazing disarray and death we've unleashed in Iraq. Really, it's a subterfuged way inside the gates of Hell...a Hell we are going to unleash on yet another country in the Middle East. It's a protection racket for our anti-democratic, beheading-friendly and summary-executing compatriots in Saudi Arabia.
And Israel gets some dirty work done, too. It's a two-fer!
But it isn't going to solve the mess we call Iraq. No, it’s simply going to increase the death and destruction of Iraq as we widen the war. Iraq, alas, it as the crossroads of the Bush Ashram's Roadmap for a New Way Forward, for a re-made Middle East.
Fire up the bulldozers, we've still got work to do...re-making the map of the Middle East is a multi-generational affair. The surge will help to make us the protector.
Let’s just hope the Iraqis appreciate it before it blows us all out.
It sounds so sexy. So overwhelming. So forceful.
But, for an administration that ignored General Shinseki's admonitions about troop requirements, it's hard to figure what they figure will happen when they surge up to 50,000 troops into a war-torn, incessantly-bombed and now-failed state like Iraq.
Or is it?
Perhaps there is a logical answer to why "they" are moving ahead with a plan that most of their GOP compatriots, except McCain and Lieberman (yes, folks...Joe is a de facto Republican now) in the House and Senate refuse to endorse.
Iran.
Yup, it's gotta be Iran.
A second Carrier Task Force is steaming towards the Gulf. Submarines abound. Fly-overs being secured. Special Forces gallivanting around the Iranian countryside. A surge is coming...to fight the in-surge-ncy.
And the "Iran is behind the insurgency" mantra is being chanted in the media so often that DC is beginning to feel like an ashram.
The media buzz is all about whether we are going to attack Iran, as if it's in question. Isn't it strangely reminiscent of the media's meaningless navel-gazing about questions regarding WMDs in Iraq before that attack?
No, the debate is being framed. A faux debate. The overall message is one of Iran as bad guy.
In fact, a group calling itself the American Foreign Policy Council is showing "Iran is evil" commercials during CNN broadcasts...roughly one per hour. Only in the DC area, though.
Take a look at what DC'ers are seeing everyday:
And this is the text of a similar American Foreign Policy Council ad clogging up the minutes between CNN's live shots of apartment fires, car chases and celebrity gossip:
The nuclear clock is ticking… and time is running out.
Iran is the world's largest state sponsor of terrorism - supporting attacks that have killed hundreds of Americans.
An Iranian group boasts 25,000 members who are ready to become suicide bombers in the US and Europe.
Now, in violation of the UN, Iran is developing a dangerous nuclear capability and has threatened to share it with others.
Stand up for peace. Call the White House and tell them to enforce sanctions against Iran today.
Check this "council" and what they are obsessed with...which reads like another Neo-Con laundry list of imperial pretexts.
What does this have to do with the surge?
Everything.
The surge is a great way to get additional troops into Iraq to deal with the backlash…the oh-so predictable chaos surge that will occur once the bombs start dropping around Iran.
It is likely that many of the surged troops will be protecting the Iran-Iraq border from friendly confines of the string of permanent bases we've quietly, at least to the tin ears of our mainstream media, been building since day one of Operation Iraqi Liberation.
Oops! Not O.I.L.
No, after reflecting on the intrinsic irony of that acronym it was re-named Operation Iraq Freedom. O.I.F.
Yeah, that’s much less...FUBAR.
Hey, when it comes to propaganda, a little goes a long way.
Frankly, the impending fun and games with Iran should surprise no one. Really. No one.
The groundwork has been laid since Bush's post 9/11 State of the Union, “Axis of Evil” speech. In fact, even earlier than that.
But now we have the lives of our boys and girls on the line. The Iranians are, according to the Bush Ashram, responsible for the deaths of American troops with their sophisticated I.E.D.s, their advanced planning capabilities...all fueled by their hatred of our ability to watch American Idol, eat Cheetos and burp up aspartame sodas. Yes, it's true...the Koran, via the Old Testament, forbids idolatry. Perhaps even American Idolatry.
So that's why they hate us!
I guess it has nothing to do with our protectorate over the Saudis and the long-standing conflict between the Western-loving, gold-plated despotism of Saudi Arabia and the Islamic revolutionaries in Iran. A people who could not be motivated by our intervention in their democracy back in 1953. Or by the Shah's Savak...a brutal Gestapo-type internal police force that enforced the rule of our Puppet Regime.
Nor does it have anything to do with the fact that Iraqis have been dying by the thousands since we invaded their country.
It’s not that Iraqis want us out.
It's that Iran is using Iraq to challenge our benevolent, democratic protectorate over the Persian Gulf. To stop the Iraqi people from practicing their own form of American Idolatry.
That’s the Kool Aid…would you like ice with that?
So take this surge for what it is and realize what it isn't. It's a Trojan Horse solution to the amazing disarray and death we've unleashed in Iraq. Really, it's a subterfuged way inside the gates of Hell...a Hell we are going to unleash on yet another country in the Middle East. It's a protection racket for our anti-democratic, beheading-friendly and summary-executing compatriots in Saudi Arabia.
And Israel gets some dirty work done, too. It's a two-fer!
But it isn't going to solve the mess we call Iraq. No, it’s simply going to increase the death and destruction of Iraq as we widen the war. Iraq, alas, it as the crossroads of the Bush Ashram's Roadmap for a New Way Forward, for a re-made Middle East.
Fire up the bulldozers, we've still got work to do...re-making the map of the Middle East is a multi-generational affair. The surge will help to make us the protector.
Let’s just hope the Iraqis appreciate it before it blows us all out.
posted by Josophist at 10:13 AM
10 Comments:
You're an idiot.
Wow...what a great, anonymous comment. So erudite, so informed.
Those determined to look for conspiracies under every rock are bound to find them. The Middle East is a complex place... just because we have made missteps in Iraq does not mean that the administration's case against Iran has no merit.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Fair enough. Obvious, but not merely an epithet. As such, I suggest you look at the Project for A New American Century and their founding document, "Rebuilding America's Defenses." Look at the signatories. It was written in 2000, well before 9/11 and the "War on Terror."
One need not look under rocks for "conspiracies" in broad daylight. You will have to read thoroughly, but it's all laid out in that plan. It reads like a business plan for domination of the Middle East.
I also direct you to read Craig Unger's latest piece in Vanity Fair...on the long-standing Neo-Con plan for Iran.
That being said, what is the Administration’s case re: Iran? If one is looking for state sponsors of terrorism, the two leading candidates are Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. The Taliban, the spread of Wahhabi Islam, the funding for the 9-11 hijackers...all from those two countries. Iraq was a study in containment before we invaded. Saddam totally neutered. Why go in?
Read the PNAC document and find out...they say regime change is a pretext for establishing a permanent military presence in the Gulf.
And criminal conspiracy is charged dozens of times a day in court rooms across the country. Dusty Foggo and Brent Wilkes are being charged with essentially that as of yesterday.
If you are a "Clash of Civilizations" type, then I can see why you'd be averse to these points. A never-ending war against an invisible enemy is attractive. Bomb Iran and regime change, also attractive. But I direct you to Chalmers Johnson's book "Blowback."
We are still dealing with blowback from the CIA overthrow of Mossadeq in 1953. From the arming of both sides of the Iran-Iraq War. Of the arming of Saddam with biological and chemical weapons by Reagan-Bush and Bush-Quayle. All proven with documnets, by the way.
We will deal with blowback from Iraq for decades. Much money will be made in the process. Look at AEI and who funds it...defense contractors. Who was on the board of PNAC (hint, hint...Lockheed Martin)?
And what do you think about Halliburton's deals with Iran, with Libya and their profiteering of Oil for Food Program prior to Cheney's tenure as Veep?
We are nearing $3.5 trillion in defense and "homeland security" spending since 9-11. Follow the money...follow the flow of tax dollars.
No need to look under rocks, anonymous. Just a need to look.
Must be nice to have everything so neatly figured out. Real life, however, is far less tidy. A bit of time in Washington would do you some good, and might educate you on the way our government actually works.
My mistake. From your profile, I see that you are in DC. Interesting... I thought those conspiracy theories about the PNAC/AEI/Haliburton crowd running the world were strictly generated outside the Beltway. I stand corrected.
Well, you are correct about one thing..."Inside the Beltway" folks are mired in ignorance of "Rebuilding America's Defenses." Frankly, I've met very few people here, particularly in the media, who know much of anything about the last seventy years of American history and foreign policy. Let alone the history of the Middle East.
My "colleagues" in the media are particularly ignorant. They continue to entertain the question of "when are we leaving" Iraq, but any one of them could simply do a little reading and realize the plan lays out the rationale for never leaving. Never. Permanent is the language used re: military bases in Iraq and the Middle East.
Actually, I've also found that people I know in politics and government have never even heard of the document.
Still, I am unsure if you've read it. I recommend that you do...and read what they propose for the militarization of space, their advocacy of using genotype-specific biological weapons as "a politically useful tool," and much more.
It's almost 100 pages and it utilizes quite a bit of defense-speak...technicalities I just happened to have learned as a defense policy analyst and researcher. But it is, despite the jargon, quite straightforward and clear.
I appreciate the fact that you've eschewed epithets in favor of a dialogue. I truly hope you take the time to read the document. It is the foundation for the Pre-emption Doctrine, for the skyrocketing of military spending and the redoubling of research efforts in biological warfare. New bioweapons labs are being opened (at Lawrence Livermore National Lab, for instance) and new vistas in warfare are being explored by DARPA which, by the way, was run by Iran-Contra pardonee Adm. John Poindexter for the fist few years of the Bush Administration. Weaponization of nanotechnology is trumpeted by the document in question...and new and interesting ways of killing people is a primary focus of the Neo-Con agenda. This, quite propitiously, dovetails with their investments in defense contractors. Their doctrine is a huge moneymaker, for Halliburton...for Lockheed Martin...for the Carlyle Group. You can dismiss these facts as "conspiracy theories," but they remain financial facts.
The Neo-Con movement is the most important political movement since Goldwater Conservatism, and it is barely understood. If you are indeed interested, I also recommend reading the philosophical treatises of Leo Strauss, the intellectual father of the movement and mentor to Paul Wolfowitz, among others. The University of Chicago has played an important role in the genesis of the movement and it's Neo-Wilsonian focus. Take a look.
Very well versed in all of the above. Can't say I buy all of it myself, but here's my beef: by lumping all organizations and policymakers who happen to share congruent viewpoints on a particular issue (missile defense, Iran, what have you) into one "Neo-con" mold, you run the risk of oversimplifying their arguments... or of discounting them outright, without weighing them on their merits. It's very easy to envision grand, malignant conspiracies; much harder to debate them on their merits. I'd counsel a bit more of the latter from your end. Good luck.
Again, I appreciate the opportunity to engage you on this issue.
My sole contention to your well taken points is that I'm identifying them based on their own language, their own definitions of what "Neo-Con" is and isn't and their quite long paper trail on the Neo-Con philosophy of governance (the Unitary Executive, the role of elites in controlling mass culture and society, the role of a Hyperpower in reshaping global paradigms and the need to engage in Keynesian economic policies vis-a-vis military spending). I also feel comfortable debating anyone on the merits of this topic. I have spent the last seven years studying all aspects of their political philosophy and agenda...and spent (or, perhaps, wasted) hours and hours of my personal time reading, discussing with scholars, theologians and documentary filmmakers...and writing...about this topic. Leo Strauss, "Team B's" ( A group led by Wolfowitz and Perle in the CIA installed by then-DCI GHW Bush) rewriting of the NIE in 1976, the RMA (Revolution in Military Affairs)...I've looked at all of it and there is a distinct pattern and a coherent agenda and philosophy. Call it a "conspiracy" if you wish, but that word has become the ultimate counter-argument to any criticism of covert and overt complicity, planning or manipulation by a group of individuals. Perhaps "E tu Brute" was the first "conspiracy theory."
I am particularly interested in the list of signatories to PNAC's founding statement and the overwhelming number of said signatories who wound up in key foreign policy, defense policy and political advisory roles in the current administration. And I think the conservative movement did not vote for the Neo-Con agenda in 2000. They thought they were getting Reaganism, not Wilsonianism or Scoop Jacksonism. You'll recall W saying over and over that he was not in favor of Nation-Building or meddling the in affairs of other countries.
It is a part of why there is such a massive rift opening up in the GOP. Traditional Conservatives, Libertarians, Goldwater Conservatives and Paleoconservatives are very uncomfortable with the Neo-Cons in the administration. Are you familiar with Richard Viguerie?
Anyway, I still hope you will take a look at some of the source material I cited.
Best Regards,
J
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