IRAQ

John McCain is riding on

THE BANDWAGON OF WAR.

His patriotic hands want to hold the reins of Bush’s Iraq…

A CHARIOT ON FIRE.

If the world is lucky and blessed, Cheney and Bush will not start a war with Iran; but

Mr. Bomb-Bomb Iran McCain could do it for them if they don’t.

There is even talk that Barack Obama would bomb both Pakistan and Iran.

(Two for the price of one I guess)

Hillary Clinton will be too busy answering the phone and keeping her eye on Bill.

As a tortured veteran, and as an aspiring candidate who, if elected, would be the oldest president in American history, John McCain wants the arrow of war to pierce the patriotic hearts of all American citizens---or as he calls them---his friends.

New twists and nuances will soon be given to us by General Petraeus now that the boat of diplomacy (Peace?) is no longer being rocked by the booted General Fallon.

Just as they fabricated and concocted their Iraq war debacle so that they could fool the American people (at least temporarily), in order to invade, bomb and occupy Iraq---Bush and Cheney still want only their version of reality to be given.

Why do they continue to stay in their state of denial?

Meanwhile, Iraq is surging again in violence.

Bin Laden, if he is still alive, cheers and celebrates every day that Bush remains in Iraq.

Bin Laden never really comes right out and says,

“America, leave Iraq now!”

If the U.S. leaves Iraq, Bin Laden’s mission and purpose are weakened.

Insurgents and jihadists will stay angry and get angrier only if the U.S. continues to occupy Iraq.

It’s good for Bin Laden’s business.

Bin Laden knows that a weaker and weaker American military, and therefore a more vulnerable America, is easier to attack.

If the U.S. leaves Iraq, the Islamic impulses for exploding their IEDs or themselves largely go away.

Bush’s occupation is the best thing that Bin Laden’s jihad could ever wish for.

Bush’s occupation is the best cheerleader for jihad that Bin Laden could ever hope for.

George W. Bush’s experience as a cheerleader has finally paid off.

Bush and Cheney clothe and feed the jihadists and insurgents.

I wonder what those American bases look like in Iraq?

They may be needed sooner and not later.

The Green Zone is becoming more and more a dangerous Red Zone.

Mad Plato

IT'S THE OIL STUPID!

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Though many Baghdad communities are now experiencing their lowest levels of violence in two years, their situations are neither viable, nor stable. The cement barriers, which help to reduce violence, also make social and economic life nearly impossible. Most Baghdadis are now locked into their individual ghettos, terrified of strangers, often afraid to send their children to schools across barriers and neighborhoods, and unable to reach previously held jobs. Employers, deprived of needed workers and customers, have shuttered their establishments. The economy has largely ground to a halt.

For most of Baghdad, the Iraqi government is simply irrelevant. It has no administrative apparatus in any of these communities or the capacity to restore needed services. Its only visible presence, the Iraqi army, is commanded or controlled by American officers; insofar as Iraqi soldiers do act independently, they follow the leadership of Shia militia commanders, not the central government. In neighborhoods even a few hundred feet from the Green Zone, the Iraqi government does not exist.

The Americans remain a major presence, but not a sovereign one. They maintain the most fearsome of the militias in Baghdad, capable of militarily overwhelming any adversary, but incapable of creating stable rule, even in cement-encircled ghost areas like Haifa Street. They cannot deliver electricity, or water, or jobs, or even, often enough, safe passage to the next neighborhood.

As early as May of 2006, Nir Rosen, one of the most informed and insightful journalists writing about Iraq, presciently described the American military's unenviable position in this way: "[T]he American Army is lost in Iraq, as it has been since it arrived. Striking at Sunnis, striking at Shias, striking at mostly innocent people. Unable to distinguish between anybody, certainly unable to wield any power, except on the immediate street corner where it's located… [T]he Americans are just one more militia lost in the anarchy." This description was never truer than today in Baghdad.

The residents of Baghdad are waiting. They are waiting for the walls around their neighborhood to come down, public transportation to be restored, and roads to be re-opened so they can begin to move around the city in something like a normal fashion. They wait for public services to be rebuilt so they can count on turning on the lights, having clean water come out of taps, and perhaps even being able to contribute to "spontaneous economic development." They wait for employers to begin rehiring, so they can begin to support their suffering families.

They wait for the Americans to leave.

In a few weeks, General David Petraeus will tell the President and Congress that violence is dramatically reduced in Baghdad, that there are signs of political progress inside the Green Zone, and that these gains will be lost if the United States does not "stay the course." He will not say that Baghdad is an urban desert of half-destroyed buildings and next to no public services, dotted by partially deserted, mutually hostile mini-ghettos that used to be neighborhoods, surrounded by cement barriers reminiscent of medieval fortifications.

By Michael Schwartz

[Michael Schwartz, professor of sociology at Stony Brook University, has written extensively on popular protest and insurgency. This report on the battle of Baghdad is adapted from his forthcoming Tomdispatch book, War Without End: The Iraq Debacle in Context (Haymarket Books, June 2008). His work on Iraq has appeared on numerous Internet sites, including Tomdispatch, Asia Times, Mother Jones, and ZNET. His email address is Ms42@optonline.net.]

Copyright 2008 Michael Schwartz