October 27,2006- The Refusal

   Since things seem to be not going well in Iraq, President Bush is making the cosmetic changes that I spoke of in my last column.  He laid out a tentative plan for eventual troop withdrawl, and he also laid down the law to the iraqi government. According to Washington, one of the reasons that things are going the way that they are over there is the fact that the Iraqi government has not been held accountable for anything.  The fact that it is a puppet regime that is by nature not accountable aside, the Iraqi government is being held responsible in no small way for what is going on over there now. After all, they were supposed to have had their shit together enough to govern and police themselves over a year ago, that was what those three rounds of elections that they had were supposedly about, and they seem to befarther away from being able to do that now than they ever have been. they never seem to have any sort of organized meetings, and the Pigs that they  said that they had trained and certified are turning out to be no help at all, they are becoming an ever larger part of the problem, so much so that they are being decertifed and desbanded. Civilians in Iraq are being slaughtered wholesale, and every day things get worse. Clearly, the Iraqi government has been as ineffective as it gets, and Washington has had about enough, or so they say. So the grand plan that they came up with involved setting definitive timetables for the Iraqi government to have things done by, the thinking being that holding them accountable will improve things there. Even Washington has noticed that these dudes are little more than a bunch of do nothings that sit around and stuff their pockets as fast as they can, like everyone else in Iraq, but all the others are actually doing something to create (or steal) that wealth, while the government is not doing shit. As the situation in Iraq continues to deteriorate, this looks really bad, because the very folks that were supposed to have been elected to put a stop to these types of shenanigans are not doing a thing. So they decided to lay down the law and set timetables for having various tasks done and present it to the Iraqi government, with the understanding that they would see this and realize that it was essentially an order and comply directly. This would at least look good and make it seem as if the Iraqi government was at least trying to do something, not just sitting there. That was about  all that Washington could really expect out of this, because they are familiar enough with the situation to know that even with timetables, these things could not be accomplished, but this way, it looks as if the Iraqi government sincerely tried to do something and was just foiled, and that would be beneficial for their ultimate fates. At the very least, it would serve as  a sort of wake up call to the Iraqi government, telling them that they at least have to pretend to make the  effort to help their own country because that was why all of them, said that they should be voted for in those three election rounds last year. This way, it makes not only America look good, but it makes them look like the real politicians that they claim to be instead of the helpless pupets that they really are. So the stage was set for this edict, and when they served it in Iraq, Washington got a rude surprise.

   Instead of being the weak puppets that are supposed to obey everything that Washington says, the Iraqi govrnment pulled a stunner and told Washington that they would not accept these deadlines and timetables and basically stood up to them. They said that they could not accept these things because imposing them would have a bad effect on things, because they would then be working with both eyes on the clock instead of having them focused on the matters at hand and doing their best to resolve them. They say that these issues of rebuilding a nation are so complex and difficult that they require a lot of time ,and that timetables and deadlines cannot be set for them. This is ture of course, but what they left out was the part about not even meeting much to try and solve shit, but that was not expedient for them. The bottomline here was these Iraqis standing up and saying that they were indeed a sovereign government and not puppets, and needed to do things by their own timetables, not Washington's. Needless to say, this has not gone down that well over in Washington at all, with even President Bush voicing disapproval. He lectured the Iraqis by saying that America "had patience, but not unlimited patience" and that the Iraqis needed to understand that fact. Washington was seriously pissed off that their hand picked puppets did not do exactly as they were told and continue to be that way. The hidden meaning behind what Bush said was that the Iraqis needed to remember that even though they may be a real government, that they are a government installed and picked by America, and therefore subject to Washington. That is exactly how America feels about Iraq, that it is essentially a colony of the US and therefore under the US thumb. They do not like these Iraqis suddenly standing up and asserting themselves as a real authority now after all this time where they did nothing, it smacks of disrespect towards America. Washington sees it as these Iraqis need to do more than just be installed and then be invisible, after all, if it was not for America, none of these fuckers would even have the slightest chance of being any kind of Iraqi government official, they would be starving and oppressed under Saddam. So to America, that means that by refusing the deadlines, these Iraqis are being ungrateful assholes, thumbing their noses as the very people that liberated them. That was not part of the plan, because Washington does not like to be disrespected, especially by the Iraqis. So you can bet that there is some real fury directed their way by Washington and that there are many that do not want to take this shit any more. Their argument is that these Iraqi dudes are not only fake politicians, but fake statesmen as well, and have no right standing up to anyone, especially America. They accepted their positions knowing that there were obligations attached to them, and they have blown off those obligations and wrecked everything in the process. So there is a growing cabal in Washington that feels that since these dudes said no to the timetables, that they should just be removed forthwith and a whole new bunch installed in their places.

   But why would the Iraqis stand up to America on this issue when they knew what the consequences would be? They say that it is because they are real politicians now, with hair on thehir balls and everything, and they need to run things in their own country, not America. They claim that the slow pace has been because they have been learning on the job, and that is true, as none of these dudes ever had any governmental experience before and they have been put in one of the toughest jobs on earth and expectedf to perform admirably right away. Common sense says that they needed time to learn, but in this situation, there was no time for that, so they were thrown right into the fire and have needed time to learn what to do. that's why they say that the deadlines are no good, because they are still going to be learning for a while and cannot be forced to do anything by deadlines. That is what a real politican would say, and perhaps these Iraqi guys are more serious than anyone thought, and they truly needed to say no here to get the job done right. they know that Iraq is not going back to the old form of government anytime soon, no matter how dismal things may look now, the American way shall prevail in some form or another, and that means that a new game of politics enters the picture, and they want to be around for that. They do have a huge advantage over any others, and that's the experience that they are getting now, that on the job learning, and perhaps they have decided that they want to stay around for a while. that would mean that they were just playing a giant game of politics with the issue, and that would not  be out of place at all here in America, where the war and the tactics employed in it have been politicized for a long time and many a politician has made hay out of it. It is no more horrible for an Iraqi politician to make a political issue out of the war than it is for an American one to, and the Iraqis could be learning from their American teachers more than anyone thought. Perhaps these guys are becoming real politicians after all, that is what Washington said that they wanted them to be and they could be doing just that. One day the war there will end, and that is when they may have the chance to become the real powerful politicians in Iraq, using that valuable experience that they are getting now, and they are just starting the political game now. They may have a plan in mind that they will lay on Washington sooner or later, and a political decision could be made on these isues, and that would be a gigantic first step for an Iraqi government in becoming a real entity and not just a puppet thing, and that would be in keeping with the stated goals of Washington in the beginning. The Iraqis would have no other way of doing that now except to stand up to America on a large issue to show that they are ready and Bush and the others just might not realize that yet and this act was done to make them aware of that fact. That would be a great sign for Iraq, but unfortunately, it is not the step that is being taken by these actions at all, it is something entirely different behind this.

   The Iraqis know that there is zero chance that they wil ever be around to enter any new Iraqi political landscape ,because they realize that they are on borrowed time. Washiongton has every intention of removing them, so what that does is remove any and all incentives for the Iraqis to care one whit about what Washington wants because they are going out the door soon anyway. That's why they have been so concerned with stuffing their pockets and stealing all that they can and not done much of anything to help the people that elected them. Ever since day one, they have known that Washingtoin was going to come and get them sooner or later, because everyone knows that the real government that Washington wants in Iraq is a military state type, run by the American military, and that they and the elections that produced them were little more than Hollywood shows designed to get the likes of Geraldo Rivera all breathless with excitement and brainwash the American people. So they had little incentive to do much of anything except try to get their pieces of the pie as fast as they could and that is what they have done. They know that they have no foture, because once America deposes them, they will not get picked up for another American job, it will be "see ya pal" and they'll be cut loose. that is very dangerous for them because they'll be cut loose into a society where there are many that want them dead for working for the Americans, they have those folks constantly trying to kill them now, and once they are unemployed, that shall increase greatly, and they will also no longer have any American security around to protect them, they'll be on their own. That will basically ensure their early deaths, as there's no way that they can possibly avoid these assassins for very long on their own. They see that the time for their disposal is nigh, and about the only thing that they can do about it is to cause trouble for America by standing up to the needlessly. They want to cause political trouble in America by doing this, by getting heat on Bush and those that support him, and they know that their fifteen minutes of fame are about over, so they want one last stand in the international spotlight before they are cut loose and assassinated brutally. So thery told Washington no even when they knew what that would bring, to them , it was just bringing the inevitable sooner. The Iraqis probably got sick and tired of waiting for the axe to fall, and they wanted to know when it was coming so that they can prepare. They do have a lot of loot and riches that they stole, and they could use that shit to buy themselves some kind of safe haven somewhere in the world so that the assassins can't get them, but they need to know when to start that process up. If they do it too early, then they waste valuable resources that they can't get back and may not have them when the end is really afoot. So they needed to start the process, and by standing up to America, they know that pissed off the warhawks a lot and that these warhawks want them removed and now they'll be listened to and the Americans should be coming to remove them anytime now, so they can start preparing for their eventual end. So that was why they stood up to Washington, mainly out of spite and anger for being fucked over, and that is a real barometer of what the situation actually is these days.

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