Bush's Grand Plan? Incite Civil War in Iraq

[struggle4progress]

by MIKE WHITNEY, Counterpunch
January 16th, 2005

<snip> When you destroy a man's home and kill and disgrace his friends, he'll fight back. And, when you rob a man of everything he has, including his dignity, you leave him with one, solitary passion: rage. This rage is now animating the resistance in ways that no one had previously anticipated. The world's lone superpower is roped to the ground like Gulliver and the Pentagon high-command is getting increasingly agitated. <snip>

James Dobbins of the conservative Rand Corporation was equally ferocious, stating bluntly that "The beginning of wisdom is to realize that the United States can't win." <snip>

The siege of a Falluja was a crossroads for the American occupation. The right-wing punditocracy insisted that the resistance in Falluja be crushed by any means possible; preferably overwhelming force. The Baghdad enclave of 250,000 was decimated by the relentless pounding of US aerial bombardment and a full-fledged ground assault that left over 700 civilians dead; 70% of whom were women and children. <snip>

Months ago, Baghdad correspondent, Patrick Cockburn warned that the United States was "in danger of losing the war" in Iraq. Since then the security situation has steadily worsened and vast swaths of the country have come under rebel control. Every promotional device the administration has used (the forming of the Coalition Provisional Authority; the transfer of sovereignty and, now, the elections) has backfired; bringing on larger attacks and stiffer resistance. Rumsfeld's "high-tech" warfare has degenerated into death squads and torture chambers; a pitiable return to medieval combat. The civilian leadership, drunk with hubris and greed, never noticed the wave of insurgency looming in the distance. Now, they,re facing daily trauma and death without a clear plan for success. The Iraq mission is like a 21st century Striker-vehicle buried up to its axels and lolling in the dessert sand. As the Jan 30 deadline approaches, there's little sign that things will improve.

http://www.occupationwatch.org/article.php?id=8832

[paineinthearse]

1. Ditto Iran

I've been watching FAUX news this afternoon. One of their commentator "experts" (a retired Lt. Col.) was talking about special forces now on the ground in Iran mapping strategic locations. He alluded to fighting there by inciting the bubble of the population born after the Iran fundamentalist revolution.

[izzie]

2. So do it. Blow up people and places,

We are living in a world of crazy people,

[theresistance]

3. The US created a civil war in Iraq and

the US is losing in Iraq. The very fact that the American military has to unleash ever greater amounts of force and killing is proof they are losing. You don't do a Fallujah in November 2004 unless you're losing and need to wipe out your numerous enemies.

Further, over 2000 (at least) were killed in Fallujah in November alone although with the US in charge there, we'll never know the true number: http://www.news24.com/News24/World/Iraq/0,,2-10-1460_1626870,00.html

[fedsron2us]

4. None of his plans has worked so far.

All the high tech weapons, all the shock and awe tactics, all the horrors of Abu Ghraib, all the Negroponte inspired death squads can not disguise the fact that he is losing the war. The tide of history has turned against the US war machine. It is now just a question of how long it is going to take to unravel.