We’ve Done It Before, So Why All The Shock?

[bemildred]

Very long, worth the trouble, some very interesting things to say.

Introduction

The last three years have not been kind to the US-led, British-assisted, and collaborator-facilitated occupation of Iraq. They’ve been less kind to Iraq and its people. The lies, deceit, and fabrications on which the United States based its attack, were obvious from the first, at least to anyone who didn’t need to believe in the rightness of all the US state does abroad. Now, these deceptions have been laid bare, though a rearguard action is being pursued to obfuscate the imposture by re-defining deliberate deceptions as unfortunate “intelligence failures.”

The occupation marks not the end, but the continuation of a war on Iraq, which began, not three years ago, when US and British troops marched into Iraq as an invading force, but more than a decade ago, with the Gulf War. The war on Iraq has shifted form in the interim, from military assault, to economic assault through sanctions with results even more deadly than strategic bombing, and again to stepped-up military intervention, and now to low-level warfare and bombing raids to suppress uprisings against the continued presence of US, British and allied troops. The mass media in countries that have been at the center of this war prefer the term “war in Iraq,” as if there’s a struggle between two sides or many sides, provoked by neither or by all equally. This is as much a deception as the bogus claims were that Iraq concealed banned weapons for use against “our friends, our allies and against us,” as US Vice-President Dick Cheney warned.

“War on Iraq” draws attention to the reality that the conflict originates in a decision made by US policy makers to launch an unprovoked attack on Iraq, and to enforce an occupation by violence. In reality, there are two sides: The US, its British subaltern, and a collection of collaborators; and on the other side, the people of Iraq. The first side is that of the aggressor, responsible for initiating the war and enforcing and facilitating the occupation. The second side resists its oppression, by the means at its disposal.

Public opinion against the war, on a worldwide basis, is almost uniformly negative, with the greatest support for the war concentrated in the two principal aggressor countries, the United States and Britain. Elsewhere, minds have not been poisoned by years of indoctrination by the US (or British) mass media, schools and government into the cult of US (or British) moral authority (though they have been shaped by the mass media, schools and governments of their own country.) Outside these countries, the reasons invoked by the US and Britain for war on Iraq are rejected by majorities as blatantly spurious– as they also are by a substantial part of the US and British populations. But if justifications offered by Washington and London for waging war on Iraq are conspicuously self-serving and deceptive, what are the real reasons?

What's Left

[raccoon]

1. Thanks for the link. It looks interesting. I've bookmarked it.

The title, "We've done it before, so why all the shock?" is a quote from
Phil Ochs' kick-butt song, "Cops of the World."

Cops of the World
Written by Phil Ochs

Come, get out of the way, boys
Quick, get out of the way
You'd better watch what you say, boys
Better watch what you say
We've rammed in your harbor and tied
to your port
And our pistols are hungry and our
tempers are short
So bring your daughters around to the port
'Cause we're the Cops of the World boys
We're the Cops of the World

We pick and choose as please, boys
Pick and choose as please
You'd best get down on your knees, boys
Best get down on your knees
We're hairy and horny and ready to shack
We don't care if you're yellow or black
Just take off your clothes and lie down on your back
'Cause we're the Cops of the World, boys
We're the Cops of the World

Our boots are needing a shine, boys
Boots are needing a shine
But our Coca-cola is fine, boys
Coca-cola is fine
We've got to protect all our citizens fair
So we'll send a battalion for everyone there
And maybe we'll leave in a couple of years
'Cause we're the Cops of the World, boys
We're the Cops of the World

Dump the reds in a pile, boys
Dump the reds in a pile
You'd better wipe of that smile, boys
Better wipe off that smile
We'll spit through the streets of the
cities we wreck
We'll find you a leader that you can't elect
Those treaties we signed were a pain in the neck
'Cause we're the Cops of the World, boys
We're the Cops of the World

Clean the johns with a rag, boys
Clean the johns with a rag
If you like you can use your flag, boys
If you like you can use your flag
We've got too much money we're looking for toys
And guns will be guns and boys will be boys
But we'll gladly pay for all we destroy
'Cause we're the Cops of the World, boys
We're the Cops of the World

Please stay off of the grass, boys
Please stay off of the grass
Here's a kick in the ass, boys
Here's a kick in the ass
We'll smash down your doors, we
don't bother to knock
We've done it before, so why all the shock?
We're the biggest and toughest kids on the block
'Cause we're the Cops of the World, boys
We're the Cops of the World

When we butchered your son, boys
When we butchered your son
Have a stick of our gum, boys
Have a stick of our bubble-gum
We own half the world, oh say can you see
The name for our profits is democracy
So, like it or not, you will have to be free
'Cause we're the Cops of the World, boys
We're the Cops of the World

http://www.protestmusic.org/ochs/

[bemildred]

2. Yes, he mentions that.

Enjoy the read when you can.

[Clara T]

3. Very good article n/t