Tuesday, June 01, 2004

You read it here first: US TROOPS HAVE LEFT IRAQ
I watched the Iraqi puppet proceedings this morning. AlJazeera's Arabic website (but not the TV) is implying that the deliberate news leaks about the search for the puppet president were motivated by the need to lend legitimacy to the new choice, and to portray him as an Iraqi (not American) choice. The selection of Iyad `Allawi (as puppet prime minister) and Ghazi Al-Yawir (as puppet president) represents a victory for US AND Saudi foreign intelligence. `Allawi's ties to the US are known; less known are his ties to Saudi and Jordanian intelligence. `Allawi, it has to be remembered, cut his teeth while working for Saddam's brutal intelligence service. Would you not want to know what kind of work he had done for Saddam? And what kind of work does one do for Saddam's intelligence service except torture, surveillance, brutality, and oppression? Are these the qualifications needed for the leader of the "new" Iraq? And the selection of Ghazi Al-Yawir as puppet president is a victory also for Saudi Arabia and for traditional tribal values. He hails from the powerful Shummar tribe which has extensions in Saudi Arabia, and he has studied in Saudi Arabia and lived there for years, where he became very close to the royal family. So will the House of Saud, as the experts in democracy and "freedom" that Bush keeps invoking, supervise the construction of the "new" Iraqi democracy? I watched `Allawi read his speech: he really could not pronounce the names of most people of his large cabinet, and many were not even present for the august ceremony. At one point he read the name of a male minister as a female, not knowing him. He then broke into English to thank the US for its role, and seemed to be reading a line that was given to him. And the new line, I noticed, is that Iraq "will be needing" the assistance of foreign forces, and that Iraq "will be needing" security agreements and arrangements. And `Allawi referred to a "multinational" force in Iraq. So US forces will hitherto be referred to as a "multinational force." This of course will please the Angry Arab as it will pay tribute to the gallant Micronesian soldier and to the 38 soldiers from Macedonia serving bravely in Iraq heat. It was amazing how much the new "leaders" of Iraq have internalized the mentality and discourse of colonial powers. They kept referring to the "new" "civilized" Iraq. This will of course rationalize the need for the preservation of the "multinational forces" who will help "civilize" Iraq. The mission civilizatrice is back; please cheer for the new "multinational" force in Iraq. US troops are now withdrawn.