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Right to the Very End in Iraq, Our Masters Denied Us the Truth
The sentence ‘millions of Iraqis now live free of oppression’ is pure public relations
'We acknowledge," the letter says, "that violence has claimed the lives of many thousands of Iraqi civilians over the last five years, either through terrorism or sectarian violence. Any loss of innocent lives is tragic and the Government is committed to ensuring that civilian casualties are avoided. Insurgents and terrorists are not, I regret to say, so scrupulous."
This quotation comes from the Ministry of Defence's "Iraq Operations Team, Directorate of Operations" and is signed by someone whose initials may be "SM" or "SW" or even "SWe". Unusually (but understandably), it does not carry a typed version of the author's name. Its obvious anonymity – given the fact that not a single reference is made to the civilians slaughtered by the Anglo-American invasion and occupation of Iraq – is no surprise. I, too, would not want to be personally associated with such Blair-like mendacity. What is astonishing, however, is that this outrageous letter should have been written this year.
I should say at once that I owe this revelatory text (actually dated 20 January) to a very un-anonymous Independent reader, Tom Geddes, who thought I would find its "economy with the truth" interesting. I certainly do. We are now, are we not, supposed to be in the age of Brown-like truth, as we finally haul down the flag in Basra, of near-certainty of an official inquiry into the whole Iraq catastrophe, a time of reckoning for the men who sent us off to war under false pretences. I suspect that this – like the Obama pretensions to change – is a falsehood. Well, we shall see.
Mr Geddes, I hasten to add, is a retired librarian who worked for 21 years at the British Library as head of Germanic collections and is also a translator of Swedish – it turns out that we share the same love of the Finnish-Swedish poet Edith Sodergrund's work – and he wrote to the Ministry of Defence at the age of 64 because, like me (aged 62), he was struck that John Hutton, the Secretary of State for Defence, described those who jeered at British troops returning home as "cretins".
"Such jeering is clearly not meant to denigrate individual bravery and sacrifice," Geddes wrote to Hutton on 28 October – readers will notice it took the Ministry of Defence's "SM" (or "SW" or "SWe") three months to reply – "(but) is a political comment on the general dubious legality and morality of recent military actions."
I'm not so sure the jeering was that innocent, but Geddes's concluding remark – that "unless you or the Government can explain and justify Britain's war activities, you cannot expect to have the country on your side" – is unimpeachable.
Not so "SM's" reply. Here is another quotation from his execrable letter. "It is important to remember that our decision to take action (sic) in Iraq was driven by Saddam Hussein's refusal to co-operate with the UN-sponsored weapons inspections... The former Prime Minister has expressed his regret for any information, given in good faith, concerning weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, which has subsequently proven to be incorrect."
I am left breathless by this lie. Saddam Hussein did not "refuse to co-operate" with the UN weapons inspectors. The whole problem was that – to the horror of Blair and Bush – the ghastly Saddam did co-operate with them, and the UN weapons team under Hans Blix was about to prove that these "weapons of mass destruction" were non-existent; hence the Americans forced Blix and his men and women to leave Iraq so that they and Blair could stage their illegal invasion. I saw Blix's aircraft still on the ground at Baghdad airport just two days before the attack. Note, too, the weasel words. Blair did not give his information "in good faith", as SM claims. He knew – and the Ministry of Defence knew (and I suppose SM knew) – they were untrue. Or "incorrect" as "SM" coyly writes.
Then again: "We can assure you that the Government would not have engaged in military action if it were not satisfied that such a decision was justified and lawful. The former Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, confirmed on 17 March 2003 that authority to use force against Iraq existed from the combined effect of UN Security Council Resolutions 678, 687 and 1441."
But as an outraged Tom Geddes points out in his reply to this remark, "You must be aware that the decision to wage war on Iraq was neither justified nor lawful. The Attorney General's advice has been widely described as 'flawed'. Given that his previous advice was that an attack would be unlawful, we all know what 'flawed' means. I suspect the MoD (Ministry of Defence) also knows." So do I.
I'm also sure that this is a standard "reply sheet", sent out to all dissenting English people. The sentence "millions of Iraqis now live free of Saddam's oppression and have control of their own destiny" is pure public relations – not least because it fails to mention that up to a million Iraqis have not been able to control their own destiny since 2003 because they happen to be dead as a result of our invasion.
There's a lovely bit at the end of "SM'S" 's letter where he (or I suppose it could be a she) says that "our brave servicemen and women ... are ... preparing Basra airport for transfer to Iraqi control..." Well of course they are, because – since their own retreat from Basra city -- Basra airport is the only square mile of Iraq in which the British are still in occupation.
The letter ends with "SM'S" 's surely sublime hope that this "letter goes some way to addressing your concerns" and I can only repeat Tom Geddes' reply: "I am grateful for the length of your response, but shocked by its contents." So am I. No doubt, when the Brown Government – or the Cameron government – holds its inquiry into this illegal war, "SM" will re-emerge as a witness or at least a spokesperson. By then, I suppose the "Iraqi Operations Team" will have been closed down – even, perhaps, by then transmogrified into the "Afghanistan Operations Team" with a parallel set of historical lies – but I trust there will be a retired librarian on hand to point this out.
- Posted in
29 Comments so far
Show AllThe US / British alliance could rightly be compared to Hitler and Mussolini's combination during the 1930s. Territorial aggrandizement, control and manipulation of natural resource base of conquered territories, captivity, torture and death for those who resist the aggression; the rise of right-wing hate groups and arming of same; renewed and reinvigorated racism; state control of the press; military and private armies in domestic control status; greatly increased domestic surveillance. The only thing left is actual, physical, domestic repression / incarceration - but I guess that has happened in St. Paul during the Republican National Convention. And,the possible genocide of peoples who have grown weary of the lies and attempt to correct the system.
Congress is both moribund and morbid. The citizenry is so poorly educated, apathetic and desensitized that it is incapable of any meaningful resistance, and the bankers, insurance companies and big corps continue to suck the life-blood from the nations of the world.
The war was only the beginning. The worst is yet to come.
As I told my US senator last week, "What say Ye Senator - will it be justice, or will it be politics?" I have yet to receive a reply.
odoco - this about sums it up:
"The coups, wars, and slaughters to install and maintain pro-corporate regimes have never been treated as capitalist crimes but have instead been written off as the excesses of overzealous dictators, as hot fronts of the Cold War, and now of the War on Terror. . . . that suppression is explained as part of the dirty fight against Communism or terrorism - almost never as the fight for the adveancement of pure capitalism."
from "The Shock Doctrine," page 20, by Naomi Klein
The former Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, confirmed on 17 March 2003 that authority to use force against Iraq existed from the combined effect of UN Security Council Resolutions 678, 687 and 1441."
And Yoo, Bybee, Bradbury and Haines said torture was perfectly legal because they said it is and they had law degrees. Punks like these Brits and Gringos are no better than some jackroller off the streets sticking a gun in your face. Solitary confinement for life for all of them! Let 'em live on crackers and tap water until they die.
M O R D E C H A I , extending the analogy :
the crime is immensely worse when the robber is holding the gun and it "accidently fires" causing terrible collateral damage of several million dead and displaced Iraqis and Afghanistan's.
Of course the robbers were never planning to kill anyone, as witnessed by the fact that they only took that dude's wallet, and let him go unharmed.
It was just a terrible accident that all of those other miilions 'got in the way' of grand theft economics …
Like un-diapered unprincipled 2 year olds, saying "when ya got'a go, ya got'a go … ", yeah shit happens ( a lot around these dudes ).
Namaste
Good Article; Basra is actually now going to USA forces.
I certainly agree with those British who mocked the return of their soldiers as being cretins. One of the definitions of the word cretin is mentally deficient. It does not take a great deal of intelligence to blindly obey the orders that one is given especially when those orders can involve, if not the deaths, then certainly the continued occupations of the Afghan and Iraqi people. It is not bravery when one is blown up by people who are defending their country; on the contrary, it should be viewed correctly for what it is and that is stupidity. The truly brave soldiers are those who have said NO to taking part in the illegal and immoral occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq and who have refused to fire drone missiles at innocent Pakistanis.
"It is the job of thinking people not to be on the side of the executioners."- Albert Camus
START AT THE BEGINNING!
Start with all the disinformation building up in 1999.
Clearly, there was an agenda through the PR firms; who was behind that?
Never an investigation into the events leading up to THE event of Shock Doctrine legislature where we "must accept" the world will never be the same.
Who was behind all of this? THAT'S WHAT I WANT TO KNOW.
Just the facts please!
[ _______ Watch _ G O L D M A N _______ ]
[ ________ S A C H S _ the rules _______ ]
.
¿ Does bankster greed, deceit, immorality, and ruin know any bounds ?
Nano thermites gnawing through their subtrafuge,
exposed demolitions and trillion$ theft.
¿ Who else benefits at EVERY turn ?
Namaste
Oregoncharles
Speaking of Goldman Sachs, I think it's interesting that Hillary's daughter Chelsea is marrying a Goldman Sach's man, one whose father was part a group of thugs who stole money from innocent people. These people are all in the same social network. We are not in the "in-crowd." so don't expect to gain their attention without first causing a really big stink!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/01/marc-mezvinsky-chelsea-cl_n_194862.html
"Chelsea Clinton will marry Marc Mezvinsky on Martha's Vineyard this summer, the Boston Globe reported.
Mezvinsky is the son of former Iowa congressman Edward Mezvinsky and former Pennsylvania congresswoman Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky. Like Clinton, he studied at Stanford University in California. He's also familiar with parental scandal: his father pleaded guilty in 2002 to tricking investors out of over $10 million."
O R E G O N _ C H A R L E S
The elites preferences to the genetic horrors of long endured in-breeding, likely explains much of their predilection and preponderance of expression towards troubling cold-blooded reptilian thinking and psychopathy.
Shamelessness has often used by the monied elites to break down "uppity" woman, when we all know theirs is an ocean of shame unacknowledged and unfelt -- compared to a mere drop or two, that can demolish most people.
Very interesting that Mezvinsky's history merges so well with Chelsea's. Are you a teacher and a potter ?
Read this about Clinton, and wonder : Meeting with Thierry Meyssan
http://www.sott.net/articles/show/183233-Meeting〓snip〓
Paste below, at the end of truncated URL above:
-with-Thierry-Meyssan
Namaste
This is a great research project, who were the pr firms sourcing the disinfo? Who were their accountants? where were they being paid from?
You know it's CIA and Pentagon slush funds. You know it was the petrolium lobby.
Where is our Hassan Al Sabah? Why isn't DOG THE BOUNTY HUNTER roaming K street?
Our bounty hunters are snooping down white trash child support dodgers in podunk, when the real red meat is eating brie in manhattan.
Who was behind all this? Just follow the $$$$$$$$$$!
Isn't it nice that the English can write "Right to the very end in Iraq" already?
Bardamu--I suspect that is because the British public was never behind that caper and got more and more angry as it went on. There isn't the kind of brain-dead wingnuttery there that we have to deal with all the time--or, at least, nobody takes it seriously because "know-nothingism" isn't given any respect there. On top of that is the fact that Tony Bliar's toadying up to Wanker Bush got him labeled his "poodle" from the beginning and it was all downhill from there.
Rainborowe
Too friggin' many lies for the sheer persistence to deconstruct them all around the war in Iraq as it happened and happens - for most of us. Any lie countered has simply led to another set of lies. And - ubelievably - it keeps going on, right now, after more than seven years since the headline drumroll for the faked war on Iraq began. Again.
My deep respect to Robert Fisk for keeping at it.
Calling it a shit-storm of lies will actually be to understate the case immensely - a six-year bomb-storm of lies is a metaphor matching literal truth. A shit-storm would be preferable that bomb-storm any day.
Shit we can take. But I see in my fellow humans a bombed-out look entering their eyes when the Iraq-war is mentioned. Like their brains have burst from the storm of lies that've hit them for so long. That's scary.
Why isn't there more outrage over all the lies that our government has enslaved us with? When I ask this I'm told that all politicians lie. That may be true during campaigns when making false promises. But lying about reasons for bombing a nation into the stone age and then imposing the harshest economic sanctions killing over a million children and when people protested and started to break the sanctions the U.S. lies about Iraq's threat to the world and invades this poor devastated bombed and starved nation. America with the help of the United Kingdom has been torturing the innocent Iraqi people for many years.This will be a blight on the soul of these two countries for many years to come. Soldiers are betrayed by a government that uses them as decoys to be sacrificed along with innocent Iraqis so the Bush administration could say it kept us safe from the terrorist by taking the war to Iraq.[ lying about Iraq's connection to the terrorist of 9-11.] I did what I could to prevent this cruelty but no one would listen. I hope people will listen to Robert Fisk.
Mr. Fisk sings only to the choir and he knows it. The choir doesn't, never has, and never will have any power to do anything - and they recoil from the challenge. He 'believes' in what he does, he's been beaten for what he does, and what he reports is authentic - just one thing - America doesn't read.
Cheney
Rumsfeld
Rice
Wolfowitz
Feith
Libby
Bush
.
.
.
Some people say it is not safe for them to be out in public these days, without the full power of the Government protecting them every minute of every day. With all the guns in America, and the ugly mood about how they caused illegal wars and economic meltdown, I wouldn't be surprised to hear they are all dead by 2010 or 2011.
The Sixties was a similar time for America, but for leftist leaders.
Yes, Herodotus, some of us remember Ritual Defamation; False Imprisonment; and Extra Judicial Execution - and we also remember how White America cheered every single one. Nixon & Hoover were elected, "...to put those fucking niggers, those filthy fucking cunts, and those god damned long haired anti-war commie fucking protesters in their fucking place!" Nothing will be allowed to interfere with Authoritarian Patriarchy; White Male Supremacy; Gender Slavery; Constant War as the force that gives our lives meaning; and Feral Oligarchy. Vietnam to Iraq - same people, same story, same bodies stacked like cord wood to feed the myths and feed the Oligarchy.
That's why nobody is going to touch the ones you listed. They were doing the job they were hired to do and Master always rewards dutiful service. Practice saying, "Total Impunity".
(to the tune of Masters of War)
hey tony blair, you said you meant well.
so how come you fear you'll end up in hell?
a fine catholic soul you claim to be,
but your name will be damned for eternity.
and you gordon brown, what did you buy?
you let tony sell you some pie-in-the-sky.
you signed all the cheques, bought all the bombs.
gave my money away for nothing but tombs.
and hey georgie bush, get your ass over here.
got something to tell you, you gotta hear.
ain't nothing but lies when you say you do good.
if killin' was right then kill you I would
but I know that death is not mine to give.
I cannot give life, I can only live.
and come the day when we're dead and gone,
your lies will have died but my truth will live on.
Good song.
thank you.
None of the lies about Iraq really mattered.
As Mr. Fiske accurately recalls, Hans Blix was thrown out of Iraq by the Americans only two days before the invasion. The weapons inspectors who had found nothing and who would have soon concluded that there was nothing to find were shut down, and all possible doubt about the veracity of Mr. Bush and Mr. Blair was swept away.
It was all lies, and everybody knew it.
"LIES!"
There should have been screaming headlines across every front page from London to Washington and New York.
But no such headlines appeared.
Why?
Newspapers and television are still controlled by the same right-wing corporations, and all the old categories like truth and falsity are obsolete.
Who can make the biggest noise?
Nothing else matters.
--Jacob Freeze
JakobvonFries
As former Green Beret Staff Sgt. Donald Duncan's title of an article that he wrote in Ramparts in the 1960s regarding the Vietnam war accurately stated:
"It was all a lie!"
And Iran is persuing nookular weapons to wipe Isreal off the map....
~Some people live their whole lives without ever waking up ~
and many who do push the snooze button.
Robert Fist is right about the Iraq war being a war on the basis of lies, deception and greed. But as is usually the case, his articles are high on condemnation ( appropriate or otherwise ) and low on concrete suggestions on how to remedy difficult situations.
prosecute!