Bush's folly stretches to eternity
Only the Murdoch Press, (represented at its most
rabid pro-war delusionism in the editorials of The Australian) and George Bush
still believe in the folly of Operation Freedom in Iraq. Unfortunately, the
inconvenience of all those people dying, (including those of the US military,
whose individual lives are worth at least a thousand Iraqi lives) is not enough
to put an end to the debacle. The most important thing of course, is not to
admit error, and not to lose face, so many more thousands will have to die
before some retreat with honour can be manufactured.
A recent editorial in
The
Australian, true to the rigid pro-war tone it
has set in its editorials over the past three years, counts at least one
blessing in the current state of the debacle it will go into history as being an
unabashed supporter of. It claimed that at least there are not thousands of
people demonstrating in the streets for an end to the war, as there was during
the Vietnam War. Perhaps they think that this means people support the war? That
they believed the lies that Bush as his cronies and
The
Australian peddled? That they believed the
gung-ho unquestioning support by The
Australian for all of Bush's lies?
In fact more people demonstrated
against this war, before it had even begun, than had ever demonstrated against
any war. And The
Australian treated their views with contempt.
The
Australian accepted Powell's submission to the
UN, cooking up a false case for the prescence of WMDs, (which he has expressed
his embarrassment about - but not the Oz) while the protesters viewed it with
cynicism. The Oz accepted the nuclear lies; never questioned the links with Al
Qaeda and Saddam, and totally ignored Iraq's efforts to supply all the requested
information about WMDs, and to allow unrestricted access to the weapons
inspectors. It ignored the inspectors' requests for more time to carry out
inspections, and it ignored their opinions that suggested that there were no
WMDs.
We watched in despair as
The
Australian supported the slaughter of
civilians, cooked up photo-ops of US forces treating Iraqi prisoners kindly,
skimmed over the atrocities at Abu Ghraib prison, and gave a diagonal nod to the
long term imprisonment of thousands without charge, all the while trying to
convince us that all was going well.
The irony is that it was
The
Australian which was against the Vietnam War
in this country, something it proudly reminds us of on occasion. There will be
no proud history of this debacle in future years, despite some feeble attempts
to argue that the Oz has been giving equal voice to opposing views in recent
months, as its obvious embarrassment grows. To have to resort to saying that
people are not demonstrating in the streets, as some kind of justification for
its approach to this subject demonstrates not only that its pious editorials are
increasingly on shaky ground, but that it is shaping to concede that it has been
wrong all along, and is now looking to show a more balanced appraisal of the
whole stupid mess.
As to the lack of
demonstrations. The truth is that the rotten eggs which make up the stink in the
Middle East cannot be unscrambled with any simple answers. Whether the US troops
stay, and keep killing and being killed, or whether they leave a ruined country
in disgrace, there is only one certainty, and that is on-going bloodshed. Bush
will not pull out of course - he would lose face, so there is nothing to be done
by him and the Oz but to continue this murderous escapade for years to come.
Perhaps it will give the Oz an opportunity to gradually change its attitude, but
history will show that it supported an illegal invasion in the biggest fuck-up
of the century, which the next ninety five years will struggle to
surpass.
As Colin Powell is reputed to
have said. "You break it - you fix it!" But there is not much point to him now
marching down the street with a peace banner.
The
Australian's pet escapade has gone far beyond
that.
Posted: Thu - September 21, 2006 at 04:38 PM
