Financial Collapse will End the Occupation of Iraq

“Come and see our overflowing morgues and find our little ones for us…
You may find them in this corner or the other, a little hand poking out, pointing out at you…
Come and search for them in the rubble of your “surgical” air raids, you may find a little leg or a little head…pleading for your attention.
Come and see them amassed in the garbage dumps, scavenging morsels of food…
Come and see, come…”

— “Flying Kites” Layla Anwar

The US military has won every battle it has fought in Iraq, but it has lost the war. Wars are won politically, not militarily. Bush doesn’t understand this. He still clings to the belief that a political settlement can be imposed through force, but he is mistaken. The use of overwhelming force has only spread the violence and added to the political instability. Now Iraq is ungovernable. Miles of concrete blast-walls snake through Baghdad to separate the warring parties. The country is fragmented into a hundred smaller pieces each ruled by local militia commanders. These are the signs of failure not success. That’s why the American people no longer support the occupation. They’re just being practical; they know Bush’s plan won’t work. As Nir Rosen says, “Iraq has become Somalia.”

The administration still supports Iraqi President Nouri al Maliki, but al-Maliki is a meaningless figurehead who will have no effect on the country’s future. He has no popular base of support and controls nothing beyond the walls of the Green Zone. The al-Maliki government is merely an Arab facade designed to convince the American people that political progress is being made. But there is no progress; its a sham. The future is in the hands of the men with guns; they’re the ones who have divided Iraq into locally-controlled fiefdoms and they are the ones who will ultimately decide who will rule the state. At present, the fighting between the factions is being described as “sectarian warfare,” but the term is intentionally misleading. The fighting is political in nature; the various militias are competing with each other to see who will fill the vacuum left by the removal of Saddam. It’s a power struggle. The media likes to portray the conflict as a clash between half-crazed Arabs — “dead-enders and terrorists” — who relish the idea killing their countrymen, but that’s just a way of demonizing the enemy. In truth, the violence is entirely rational; it is the inevitable reaction to the dissolution of the state and the occupation by foreign troops. Many military experts predicted that there would be outbreaks of fighting after the initial invasion, but their warnings were shrugged off by clueless politicians and the cheerleading media. Now the violence has flared up again in Basra and Baghdad, and there is no end in sight. The only thing that’s certain is that Iraq’s future will not be decided at the ballot box. Bush has made sure of that.

The US military doesn’t rule Iraq nor does it have the power to control events on the ground. It’s just one of many militias vying for power in a state that is ruled by warlords. After the army conducts combat operations, it is forced to retreat to its camps and bases. This point needs to be emphasized in order to understand that there is no real future for the occupation. The US simply does not have the manpower to hold territory or to establish security. In fact, the presence of American troops incites more violence because they’re seen as occupiers rather than liberators. Surveys show that the vast majority of the Iraqi people want the troops to leave. The military has destroyed too much of the country and slaughtered too many people to expect that these attitudes will change anytime soon. Iraqi poet and blogger Layla Anwar sums up the feelings of many of the war’s victims in a recent post on her web site “An Arab Women’s Blues”:

At the gates of Babylon the Great, you are still struggling, fighting away, chasing this or the other, detaining, bombing from above, filling up morgues, hospitals, graveyards and embassies and borders with queues for exit-visas.

Not one Iraqi wishes your presence. Not one Iraqi accepts your occupation.

Got news for you Motherfuckers, you will never control Iraq, not in six years, not in ten years, not in 20 years… You have brought upon yourself the hate and the curse of all Iraqis, Arabs and the rest of the world… now face your agony.” (Layla Anwar; “An Arab Women’s Blues: Reflections in a sealed bottle”)

If Bush hoping to change the mind of Anwar or the millions of other Iraqis who have lost loved ones in the war, he’s wasting his time. The hearts and minds campaign is lost. The US will never be welcome in Iraq.

According to a survey in the British Medical Journal Lancet more than a million Iraqis have been killed in the war. Another four million have been either internally-displaced or have fled the country. But the figures tell us nothing about the magnitude of the disaster that Bush has created by attacking Iraq. The invasion is the greatest human catastrophe in the Middle East since the Nakba in 1948. Living standards have declined precipitously in every area — infant mortality, clean water, food-security, medical supplies, education, electrical power, employment etc. Even oil production is still below pre-war levels. The invasion is the biggest policy blunder since Vietnam; everything has gone wrong. The center of the Arab world is in chaos and the suffering is incalculable.

The main problem is the occupation; it is the catalyst for the violence and an obstacle to political progress. As long as the occupation persists, so will the fighting. The claims that the so-called surge has changed the political landscape are greatly exaggerated. Retired Lt. General William Odom commented on this point in an interview on the Jim Lerher News Hour:

The surge has sustained military instability and achieved nothing in political consolidation . . . Things are much worse now. And I don’t see them getting any better. This was foreseeable a year and a half ago. And to continue to put the cozy veneer of comfortable half-truths on this is to deceive the American public and to make them think it is not the charade it is… When you say that the Lebanization of Iraq is taking place, yes, but not because of Iran, but because the U.S. went in and made this kind of fragmentation possible. And it has occurred over the last five years . . . The al-Maliki government is worse off now . . . The notion that there;’s some kind of progress is absurd. The al-Maliki government uses its Ministry of Interior like a death squad militia. So to call Sadr an extremist and Maliki a good guy just overlooks the reality that there are no good guys.

The war in Iraq was lost before the first shot was fired. The conflict never had the support of the American people and Iraq never posed a threat to US national security. The whole rationale for the war was based on lies; it was a coup orchestrated by elites and the media to carry out a far-right agenda. Now the mission has failed, but no one wants to admit their mistakes by withdrawing; so the butchery continues unabated.

Iraq: How Will It End?

The Bush administration has decided to pursue a strategy that is unprecedented in US history. It has decided to continue to prosecute a war that has already been lost morally, strategically, and militarily. But fighting a losing war has its costs. America is much weaker now than it was when Bush first took office in 2000. The army is stretched to the breaking point and US prestige has never been lower. Still, the troops probably won’t be withdrawn until all other options have been exhausted. And that could turn out to be a serious miscalculation. Deteriorating economic conditions in the financial markets are putting tremendous pressure on the dollar. The corporate bond and equities markets are in disarray, the banking system is collapsing, consumer spending is down, tax revenues are falling, and the country is headed into a deep and protracted recession. The US will leave Iraq sooner than many pundits believe, but it will not be at a time of our choosing. More likely, the conflict will end when the United States no longer has the capacity to wage war, that is, when the Chinese and the oil-producing countries (The Gulf States) stop financing our enormous current account deficit. When the funding stops, the bloodshed will end.

The Iraq War signals the end of US interventionism for at least a generation or more. The sting of withdrawal will not be quickly forgotten. The ideological pillar upon which the war was built — regime change — has been exposed as a fraud, a baseless justification for unprovoked aggression. Someone will have to be held accountable. There will have to be tribunals to determine who is responsible for the deaths of over one million Iraqis.

Mike Whitney lives in Washington state. He can be reached at: fergiewhitney@msn.com. Read other articles by Mike.

35 comments on this article so far ...

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  1. tommy said on April 17th, 2008 at 7:24am #

    I appreciae Mike’s perspective and his hopefulness, but I think he is reading the fundamentals of capitalism/imperialism backwards. At the risk of conjuring up Marx and Lenin (long ossified and made ironically trite by most of the hip American left), economic crises lead to wars, not the other way around. It wouldn’t matter if America was stone broke and the printing presses at the Fed were rusted over and unworkable. Bottom-line: war serves as the purgative function for a declining economy, the way that the captalists reorganize capital investment and empire. It would be nice to believe, as Mike appears to, that our sinking economy will get America out of Iraq and delimit American intervention for at least a decade. If it wasn’t such a dangerous set-up for the American people, I’d love to believe it too.

  2. evie said on April 17th, 2008 at 7:28am #

    You know, all my life there have been doomsters predicting the coming economic collapse of America. Reminds me of the scraggly bearded man in a robe on the corner holding a sign “Jesus Returns Soon – Repent.”

    The “Chinese and the oil-producing countries” do not want to be stuck holding billions of worthless US dollars so I don’t foresee those folks pulling the rug out anytime soon.

    Americans could collapse the US economy by simply not shopping for anything but basics and riding bikes for a few months. My dad used to say ‘the US economy is built on war and Christmas.’

    I believe it’s a mistake to think the US alone initiated War. It’s the same centuries old money/power fight between white folk, the US and Europe. Making profit, one and all.

    I ignore the public pandering of European pols who yap they are anti-war; they love US military contracts and watch their industrial portfolios fatten from war profits.

    The good ol’ boys could win the war if they wanted – but it has become economically and politically more feasible to suck the treasury teats as long as possible, then run from the chaos – to the counting houses counting all their money.

    Eventually, some sort of “treaty” will be initiated in Iraq. The Anglo “ruling class” will designate heroes and villains, give citizens of the West a couple of new “free” stuff programs; found foundations to pretend to aid the brown victims of this, their latest money venture; and the “left” intelligentsia vanguards will pat themselves on the back and claim they won the “peace” – as they re-arm and head off to “bring democracy” to Africa.

  3. Michael Hureaux said on April 17th, 2008 at 7:35am #

    Great stuff as usual, Mike. I’m not sure we’ll live long enough to see any such tribunal, but one can only dream, I suppose. The only thing I’m grateful for is that when I go to a Labor Council meeting here in King County these days, passing anti war motions and calling for anti war actions is like gravy. no problem. What a changed atmosphere from five years ago, even here in so-called progressive Seattle. It does feel as though things are right on the edge, but we all sit waiting for that other shoe to drop, and this being Amurika, it could take a long time.

    On the other hand, it has been fun trying to watch the dynastic secession senator Clinton try to pose as a non-elitist this week, people have had a real ration of that shit, too. Mr. McCain’s luster, should he be elected, won’t last long, and Mr. Obama’s novelty will wear off in short time given the war he embraces and the war he speaks of waging. So things could shift up in short time, also. We’ll see what happens.

  4. Michael Hureaux said on April 17th, 2008 at 7:38am #

    Cool comment, Tommie. Yes, Marx and Lenin made trite by the pseudo hip left. My attitude exactly. There’s more to be learned from Lenin at his worst then any of the mewings of most of the so-called left in this country at their best.

  5. Binh said on April 17th, 2008 at 8:53am #

    the conflict will end when the United States no longer has the capacity to wage war, that is, when the Chinese and the oil-producing countries (The Gulf States) stop financing our enormous current account deficit.

    Do you see any signs of this on the horizon? I don’t.

    The war might end if/when Hillary/Obama draw down U.S. forces to 30-80,000 troops in Iraq and a Sadr-Sunni alliance initiate a Tet Offensive/Dien Bien Phu assault on the Green Zone. But that’s a long way off and may never materialize.

  6. Max Shields said on April 17th, 2008 at 9:51am #

    First, I think the historical lesson that Mike seems to be pointing to is the decline of empire. The trajectory of empires has been consistent for over a millenium. No reason to think US empire is any different. They decline and collapse. The collapse can happen very precipitously.

    evie I agree about the sense we have in our lives of hearing the demise of US/capitalism and yet…here we are. But ours is not even a spec in time. If we judged such a collapse by our daily existence it would be like a cold day disproving gloabal warming.

    I do think if we frame Iraq, not as a war, but a conflicted occupation, then I think Mike’s piece has historical credibililty. We know about the outposts the US holds throughout the globe. The end of US empire is not the end of war (with or without US participation). The financial demise of the US economy does force a retreat from all of these outposts – Iraq being the most visible.

    When will that collapse happen: It’s hard to tell. There are natural powers which are far superior to China’s dependence on US imports. That decisive moment may be escaping the grasp of the our species – time will tell.

  7. evie said on April 17th, 2008 at 11:06am #

    Max
    While there may be a demise of US/capitalism as we know it, perhaps similar to previous economic fall of “empires” (British, Roman, Bonapartist, German, USSR,etc.) the epicenter of power/wealth remains more or less stable – at least for selected bankers/shareholders/familial dynasties and heads of religion.

    Those future outposts may not be owned and operated by the US – others (China/Russia/India and various up and coming smaller nations) will be glad to stand watch and build the next “empire”.

    My question is : Knowing the end of American empire is not the end of war, nor will it be the beginning of US social utopia, why do so many Americans pant eagerly and cheer for their own empire’s demise?

  8. Max Shields said on April 17th, 2008 at 1:03pm #

    evie, I think you may be taking my point a bit further than intended. While we pretty much know what causes war and therein lies the answer to peace, we haven’t gotten a fix on implementation.

    As far as cheering for the demise of the American empire, I suspect most don’t. The motives of those who do are debatable but I prefer to think they are based in the better side of our nature – the side that believes in justice and fairness, that bullies should be checked, the side that believes that it is cynical not to hold those principles as core. (In fact, it is that cynicism which seems to the at the root of our inability to immplement peace…)

    Max (:

  9. hp said on April 17th, 2008 at 1:48pm #

    Peace? What’s that?
    Where’s the bench mark, the template?
    Name me a place and/or a time where there was ever peace.
    Not a brief lull between wars, but a real time of peace.
    Fictional Shangra Las don’t count. Ask Tibet.
    I submit that this peace I hear so much about is a theory.
    Like evolution or the equality of barnyard animals.
    Like the ‘big bang,’ e=mc2 or the yeti.
    The best anyone can recollect a time of peace, is, like I said, simply that lull between wars which can hardly be construed as peace when it’s just retooling and rearming while playing games of statesmanship and political maneuvering.
    Now I’m not saying there literally is no such thing as peace. I do say, however, it is reserved for individuals alone.
    And very few individuals at that.
    And please spare me the name calling and lectures of idealism and surreal connotations of responsibility or lack of.
    I’m off to experience the only other known source of peace on earth… A nap.
    Wake me when the war is over.
    Cynical enough for you , Max?

  10. Max Shields said on April 17th, 2008 at 3:19pm #

    Yep

  11. D. R. Munro said on April 17th, 2008 at 4:58pm #

    Im willing to concede that we are all just along for the ride. History is not made by you and I, it is made by elitest pigs who want their name in a book, or a quick buck – or both.

    Sure, I still do what I can here and there, try and give my best to help – but I’ve realized over the last few weeks that praying, hoping, and dreaming of change – is just that. What we are experiencing now is not new, I’m sure some citizens in the far reaches of Rome were in the same straights. And two-hundred, a thousand (basically until we finally destroy own species) years from now, people will be in this situation again.

    This is as much as part of being human as is being powerless.

    Hey, who knows, maybe we’ll get some good literature out of all this. That seems to be only the thing that hoping and praying for peace brings.

    Nihilistic? Yes. Cynical? Yes. True? Yes.

  12. D. R. Munro said on April 17th, 2008 at 4:59pm #

    you and me*

  13. reza said on April 17th, 2008 at 5:21pm #

    Yo hp,
    My good person, you are not synical

  14. Rosa said on April 17th, 2008 at 5:42pm #

    Yo hp,

    My good person, you are not cynical at all, and I believe Max is just being nice to you because he’s a decent guy.

    But, I do believe you are sick, my dear. You need to see a doctor. Can’t remember exactly the correct term for it, but I can detect at least three different types of symptoms.

    First, irrational lapses of logic and skipped breathing: simply because something has not existed before (say, ‘peace’), does not necessitate that it CANnot exist. It just means we still have work to do. Just relax, take your time, and do as much as you can. Nobody expects you, alone, to do anything. If you prefer to sleep, do so. If you are that sick, you should just rest and relax; believe me nobody will come knocking on your door; why read these lunatic leftists websites? Why waste your time, when you could be resting and getting better?

    Second, you clearly have some vision problems as well. About yourself. You sound like you must be in your early twenties (if older, your mind stopped growing, then) AND listen to right wing radio often enough; both of which contribute greatly to delusions about one’s own real potentials (intellectual and otherwise). So, again, rest and this condition should hopefully disappear at some point in the future.

    Third and final, you seem to have some aggression issues too, so you need to see a shrink or something; you get an obvious kick out of your own in-your-face-ness, which clearly explains why you hate the sound of the word ‘peace’.

    But, hey … Good luck with finding a doctor. You’re gonna need a good one!

  15. Max Shields said on April 17th, 2008 at 6:18pm #

    “synical” Yep

  16. hp said on April 17th, 2008 at 7:07pm #

    Rosa, I’m simply a realist, but thanks for your concern an advise and thanks for making my point(s) for me.

  17. papercut said on April 17th, 2008 at 7:13pm #

    whats the matter with you people! is it all you can do to complain and whine on commondreams. have you come to the conclusion that nothing can be done! you idiots don’t deserve habeas corpus or any other rights that you gave away while whining about… something.

    evie knows, she said it in comment here,
    “Americans could collapse the US economy by simply not shopping for anything but basics and riding bikes for a few months. My dad used to say ‘the US economy is built on war and Christmas.’ ”

    but you fuckers wont even stop buying gas for one day. fuck, you could shut down this sitty country in 2 weeks easy if you just realize that some amount of sacrifice and hardship is needed to make real change. you could do it. honest you could but you wont because you are weak and stupid and ignorant. like the man said, “god damn amerika” . what a shitty country now! because you wouldn’t stand up when the time came.

  18. papercut said on April 17th, 2008 at 7:14pm #

    dissident voice

  19. evie said on April 17th, 2008 at 7:32pm #

    hp,
    Lol.

    My dad would say you’re not a pessimist but an optimist with all the facts.

  20. hp said on April 17th, 2008 at 7:59pm #

    evie, your dad sounds like a wise man with a sense of humor. You lucky girl.

  21. Shabnam said on April 17th, 2008 at 8:48pm #

    Thank you very much for this article, but I think you have overlooked Americans’ responsibility for the war. You write:
    “Still, the troops probably won’t be withdrawn until all other options have been exhausted. More likely, the conflict will end when the United States no longer has the capacity to wage war, that is, when the Chinese and the oil-producing countries (The Gulf States) stop financing our enormous current account deficit. When the funding stops, the bloodshed will end.”
    If we keep in mind that countries have no permanent friends or enemies, but permanent interests, then we understand why do others like Japan, China and the puppet Arab head of states pay their shares to support mass killings of Muslims by the Zionist/imperialist forces to expand the empire.
    Mr. Whitney you have written a nice paper but you have overlooked a crucial internal enabler, American public, who support Bush’s war and continue to support and finance the killings, torturing, raping of Muslims by their tax contributions and their human capitals, soldiers, to protect their INVESTMENT. Americans, European decent, always have supported wars, either actively or passively. I believe, first and the most, it is the duty of American people to stop killing of others and stop stealing other people’s resources and take their mercenaries immediately out of Iraq, Afghanistan and the Middle East. I hold Americans responsible for million of deaths already in Iraq and
    elsewhere because American public allowed Bush to invade and continue to occupy and kill Muslims. They were Americans who looted Iraqi museums. It was Americans who were fooled again in 2004 and kept the MASS MURDERER and his Associates in the office because American population benefit from the massacre of other groups. America became an empire through massacre of others and stealing of their resources not because of “American exceptionalism” a phony construct to fool themselves.
    Today Bush and his Zionist partner and the Kurdish terrorists in northern Iraq, ANOTHER ISRAEL, using the Iraqi script AGAIN to destroy more Muslim countries, Iran and Syria, with more than 7000 years of civilization through campaign of lies and misinformation, bringing endless phony charges and presenting them in congress and in
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shaOZnhHuQw&feature=related

    the media to FOOL the population AGAIN to prepare them for another mass killing.
    Few writers of this site have also repeated lies of Bush and the Zionists, intentionally or otherwise I don’t know, to influence public opinion to present Iran as a threat.
    https://new.dissidentvoice.org/2008/04/from-one-dictator-to-the-next/
    George Bush sold his lies on Iraqi WMD to Americans, he sold Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) with “made in Iran”, with date on them, American style, and made fool of himselves because Iranian date is European style and DAY comes first and month second.
    American occupiers are beating hard on the war drum again and making more lies and presenting them to the ignorant people to form public opinion to prepare them for another ride. This time their generals and the Zionist politicians, such as Joseph Lieberman, using the whorehouse, congress, to allow their generals, OCCUPIERS, to come up with new lies such as “special groups” who supposedly are coming from Iran to kill Americans, the occupiers. Petraeus, the liar, has said in the congress:
    “The violence involving the Mahdi Army of Moqtadar al Sadr
    “highlighted the destructive role Iran has played in funding, training, arming and directing the so-called ‘special groups'” which, he added,
    “pose the greatest long-term threat to the viability of a democratic Iraq.”
    American people must know that Northern Iraq has become a terrorist camp where Israel and the US are training the Kurds as “special groups” like Al-Qaeda, Taliban, in Name of PEJAK, offshoot of PKK, a terrorist group, and the Mujahedin, MEK, an exile Iranian terrorist group who are against the Iranian goverment and is supported by both the US and Israel, where the MEK organization’s former spokesperson, Alireza Jafarzadeh, currently works as a FOX news Channel Foreign Affairs Analyst and gives you more lies to influence public opinion and smoothening the path for another war that you ARE GOING TO SUPPORT FINANCIALLY and continue your passive and active support and cooperation with political and military elites to help them to achieve their goal of destabilization and partition of the entire region for “divide and conquer,” an old game of the west.
    Your active and passive support of the war has caused million of
    deaths, produced destabilization of the entire region, over 20 – 30 million of refugees in Iraq, Palestine, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sudan. These atrocities can not easily be forgotten. These destruction of human and capital and culture can not be continued, these Mass killings, rape, torture, imprisonment of innocent people can not be overlooked. Enough is enough and your silence and cooperation can not be tolerated anymore. You have the ability to write your history. Iranian people with nothing have let many movements and revolutions and have reacted against oppressors and imperialist forces and have shaped their history and continue their struggle even today to improve their conditions. They have suffered at the hand of the Russian, European and American imperialism, and have sacrificed their lives and their wealth for the interest of their community. Why don’t you do the same and shake your behind and bring your troops home by stop financing the war through your tax dollars? You have to start immediately by not working ONE DAY A WEEK to send a message that we do not tolerate more killings, destruction of cities, and destruction of the environment by using so many weapons of Mass destruction, depleted uranium, illegal economic sanction which kills so many children younger than 5 years old. All these actions are considered WAR CRIMINAL and YOU ARE PART OF IT.
    http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8698

  22. Max Shields said on April 18th, 2008 at 4:06am #

    evie something tells me you dad had somethng else in mind when he fashioned that quip.

    hp “reality”? It’s called your narrative.

  23. Don Hawkins said on April 18th, 2008 at 6:19am #

    The time has come and now it is time to stand up. We only buy the basics and only drive to get food we live in the country.

  24. D. R. Munro said on April 18th, 2008 at 6:40am #

    “contribute greatly to delusions about one’s own real potentials (intellectual and otherwise). So, again, rest and this condition should hopefully disappear at some point in the future”

    If this is a symptom – well, then you too need a doctor.

    You are attempting to prove your superiority over HP by derailing his comments with your own form of pathetic wit and tired intellect. Basically, you’re saying his opinion is worthless, and yours is the only right one.

    I love irony. Apparently, you don’t even know what it is.

  25. Don Hawkins said on April 18th, 2008 at 6:42am #

    The setup looks right for another dramatic ice loss this summer.
    March 2008 compared to Marches past
    March 2008 monthly maximum extent was 780,000 square kilometers (301,000 square miles) greater than the past record low, set in March 2006, but 540,000 square kilometers (208,000 square miles) less than the 1979 to 2000 mean. Including 2008, the linear trend for March indicates that the Arctic is losing an average of 44,000 square kilometers (17,000 square miles) of ice per year in March. Although March 2008 extent is greater than in recent years, the setup looks right for another dramatic ice loss this summer.
    A look at sea ice thickness
    Another way to study sea ice thickness is to look at freeboard, or the amount of ice and snow that protrudes above the water surface. New information on ice thickness is coming from NASA’s ICESat instrument, a spaceborne laser altimeter. Colleague Ronald Kwok at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory uses data from ICESat to study freeboard. His findings indicate that freeboard in the spring of 2008 is 5 to 10 centimeters (2 to 4 inches) less than in spring 2007, pointing to thinner sea ice.
    Probably a good idea to start now. In two more summers things could start to get tuff. What is already in the pipeline tuff times ahead. Still not to late to slow then stop the real fun stuff. It’s time to stand up

  26. Don Hawkins said on April 18th, 2008 at 7:19am #

    HP this is the media. This conversation would never happen on the National news. The nonsense we now see is going to take this planet down the tubes. When James Hansen said think of it as a War he was serious. It’s called short term financial interest and believe me they know not what they do. It’s that little addiction they have. The way many of these people think has nothing to do with a better World. It is time to stand up. Will that happen? I like to think so

  27. hp said on April 18th, 2008 at 8:49am #

    Yes Don, the truth sucks and pretending it doesn’t in order to feel better is childish.

    Max, I guess you know better than Evie’s dad, evie and me, what evie’s dad was saying.
    I bow to your perspicacity.

  28. Max Shields said on April 18th, 2008 at 9:50am #

    hp you now evie’s dad?

    I must say I don’t have the same grasp on reality as you do – that piss in the eye view that you seem to have so clearly and persistently projected.

  29. hp said on April 18th, 2008 at 10:32am #

    No Max, I don’t know evie’s dad, but neither do you. I never said I did nor did I presume to read his mind.
    I believe evie knows him though.

    And Max, I certainly am not in denial of the fact that ‘we all got it coming,’ if that’s what you mean.
    Beats the hell out of pissing in the wind..

  30. hp said on April 18th, 2008 at 10:43am #

    And Max, careful of that pot-kettle-black stuff.
    As I peruse the many posts you’ve made, you sure do contribute your fair share of pissing and moaning.
    Some fairly critical narrative , I’d say.

  31. Max Shields said on April 18th, 2008 at 12:14pm #

    To each his own narrative, hp.

    The sun’s out here.

  32. hp said on April 18th, 2008 at 12:48pm #

    Good, we’ll leave it at that.
    This is Texas. The sun is always shining.

    ( Hey, I heard that)…..

  33. JO said on April 18th, 2008 at 1:21pm #

    Boy…some of the comments following Whitney’s article are quite entertaining…reminds me…social change will not happen in america in Our lifetime.

  34. hp said on April 18th, 2008 at 2:08pm #

    Jo, in order to not be a hypocrite I have to say, yes it will.
    Social change will happen in our life time. It’s happening at this moment. It never ends. In this age of Kali yuga, it’s down hill all the way…

  35. Mulga Mumblebrain said on April 21st, 2008 at 4:40am #

    Well, I don’t agree Iraq has been a disaster from the perspective of its Judeofascist and Christian Zionist proponents. The aim, just as Oded Yinon outlined in the ‘Zionist Plan for the Middle East’ and Netanyahu et al re-iterated a few years ago, is to smash all the Arab and other Moslem states of the region into powerless, easily dominated by Israel, statelets. The slaughter of a couple of million ‘Amalekites’ is just icing on the cake. Getting Sadr and the Mehdi Army is simply preparation for the onslaught on Iran. Whether it is George Bush or President John ‘100 years’ McCain and Vice-President Lieberman, the plan is ineluctable and inviolable because divinely inspired. This is a ‘Clash of Civilizations’ after all.