Dreams Can Come True

So can lies, hysterical delusions, and fabricated threats.

The claims that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction turned out to be lies. The war privateers needed a war and they lied in order to have one. They told other lies. They also said that Iraq had ties to the terrorists that plowed airplanes into the twin towers.

Bush was not alone in his lies and war schemes. He had plenty of help within his administration, abroad, and in the mainstream media as well. They presented these war lies, when they did mention them, as if the President and his cronies were misled by sinister speech writers or spies or ‘sources’, such as the present Prime Minister and Oil Minister in Iraq, Ahmed Chalabi.

The Bushies had deliberately taken aim at Iraq long before the invasion. The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace published a report on the Bush Administration’s dealings with intelligence information on Iraq. They claim that the Bush administration exaggerated and lied about the Iraqi military to portray Iraq as a credible threat to the United States. For stubborn and loyal followers of the hawks, there is the disturbing and infamous Downing Street memo. If there was any doubt that Bush was intent on making war in Iraq no matter what, read the memo. The memo states, in part, “Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy.”

This memo suggests a culture of lies. It’s not only Bush – unfortunately. It’s also the political and media elites working together against the people of the United States, Iraq, Britain and many other countries; but most especially, against the people of Iraq. The spin doctors know about the lies and do they mention it? No. We all know that these people are maintaining lies in their tacit acceptance and their uncritical posturing following clear evidence that the whole war was sold through lies. What’s most baffling is how many people accept all this with hardly a raised eyebrow.

The history of Iraq is unfolding, not as it should from the invaders point of view. But it is unfolding nonetheless. And what we can see emerge from the cocoon of Saddam’s world, a world made considerably more miserable by a decade of crippling sanctions, is a very Islamic society and likely, an Islamic state based in Islamic law. The Americans lopped the head off the monster of Iraq and what did we see? We saw the masses tear down a statue of the Dictator, Saddam. But that scene belied the reality of the head being ripped off an Islamic hydra.

Now, as we watch history unfold in that terrorized country, it looks as if some of the hype may have been prophetic in some ways.

Does Iraq have Al Qaeda connections as the Bush party claimed? They didn’t then when Bush said they did. But they very likely do now.

Is Iraq a base for terrorists? There is nothing to suggest that Iraq had been when the liars were making the claim, but they certainly have plenty of people willing to blow themselves up to attack Americans or anybody connected with them now. On top of that, the antipathy against the West in Islamic societies and the on the job training occurring in Iraq will likely have Westerners watching over their shoulders for many years.

Mark Sherman recently reported in an AP article that “An American accused in court papers of having ties to Osama bin Laden is now working for the Iraqi government’s Foreign Ministry”; this, according to U.S. officials and a former counterterrorism spook. Once the Sunnis get on board with the governance of Iraq, the likelihood of Al Qaeda connections inside the government will be far greater than it is now.

The Iranian Ayatollah, Sistani, was one of many flies in the ointment Bush didn’t count on when he invaded. Muqtada al-Sadr is another and the resilience of the Sunni resistance yet another. And there are many others. It’s hard to imagine a scenario that would better play into the hands of fundamentalist Muslims and generally, anybody that wishes to eject the USA from the region, than the one that has played out over the past several years.

The dream of building a Western democracy in Iraq was either immensely stupid or just another lie. Pick the latter, that’s the truth. There was never any such intent just like there was never any such intent in Haiti, Guatemala, or anywhere else.

The new Iraq that will emerge will present enormous problems in the future. Israel will feel threatened by the emergence of an intensely fundamentalist Islamic state in Iraq; a state that will be very close to Iran. American puppets in the region such as the Saudi government, the Egyptian government, and the King of Jordan will also feel the heat. Threats will abound for many years to come, thanks to Bush’s “war on terror.”

What follows is a list of some of the lies that preceded the war:

Al Qaeda and Iraq: The claim that Al Qaeda is connected to Iraq may have been false before but it isn’t false now. Al Qaeda may soon enjoy connections in both the government and the insurgency, if that has not already happened.

Oil: The claim that this war is not about oil is a lie and will forever remain a lie.

Nuclear Weapons: They made the claim that Iraq was on the road to building nuclear weapons and were convincing enough with their visions of mushroom clouds that many Americans still believe them. Before the invasion, Bush had claimed that the Iraqis were six months away from developing a nuclear weapon.

Threat of Attack: They claimed that Iraq had a fleet of unmanned aircraft that could be used to attack the United States.

Quantity of chemicals: They said that Iraq has 500 tons of chemical weapons.

Chemical weapons: They said that Iraq has 30,000 weapons and planes capable of distributing lethal chemicals.

Nuclear Threat: They said that satellite photos show that Iraq is rebuilding nuclear facilities.

Saddam’s refusal to cooperate: They said that Saddam Hussein wouldn’t allow weapons inspectors into Iraq.

That’s a few of them and the beat goes on.

These things will always remain lies for that time, but it’s hard to predict the future. Some of these claims may close to the truth someday just as the claim that Al Qaeda was in Iraq has come true. As long as the madmen scream for war, the threat of terrorism will remain and it will grow. And if any of those horrific things do happen, or others, we can thank the liars for making their own lies, dreams, and delusions come true.