'Unseen war: The reality of Bush's failed Iraq policy'

[reprehensor]

Original:
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/print.php?sid=14007

By Manuel Valenzuela

As Americans everywhere sit on their couches absorbed by the circus that is the daily corporate-media-driven soap opera of Joe millionaire, Survivor and the mutant called Michael, half a world away, lost among dunes and ancient rivers, our soldiers struggle to understand a populace that is slowly but surely turning against them. The significance and symbolism of two soldiers being shot while inside their vehicle, dragged out and beaten to a pulp with concrete bricks by gangs of young Iraqi adults must not be ignored. Neither must the brutal death of six Spanish soldiers in circumstances eerily similar to that of the two Americans. It is a most ominous sign of a coming chaos, of a failed Bush policy that threatens to tear Iraq apart at the seams.

Visions of Somalia reverberate, mutilated bodies being witness to the growing frustration of the populace with the US occupation and its "nation building" policies. Every month there seems to be a steeper escalation in the resistance fighters' hatred of American soldiers, and this is manifested in their highly meticulous planning and the tenacity and savagery of their attacks. So frustrated is the population, it seems, that a growing number of Iraqis nostalgically desire for the return of the savage dictator if for no other reason that he at least provided security, stability, jobs and a reasonable semblance of normalcy.

Spanish Foreign Minister Ana Palacio, a strong advocate of the Iraq invasion, recently said that "There is a serious security problem" in Iraq..."Daily life, above all in Baghdad, is in worse condition than during Saddam Hussein's time." Without jobs, wages, electricity, water, self-government and, above all, security, Iraqis are growing increasingly impatient with the Americans. It seems promises that were once made have become nothing but lies.

Paul Bremmer and the occupation government live behind a fantasy world of concrete blast walls and razor sharp wire, in designated safe-zones protected by hundreds of soldiers and far removed from the daily life of average Iraqis. Saddam's luxurious palaces and hotels have become a bubble for the occupiers and the profiteers who live inside them, most of whom are unable or unwilling to venture out into cities and streets. This is due to the crippling mist of all-encompassing insecurity and the all-too-real fear -- or respect -- of the resistance. Because of this, Bremmer and company are out of tune with normal Iraqis and out of tune with a nation simmering in growing anger and frustration.

(More at original.)

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A fine piece of vitriolic poleme.
-reprehensor.