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the face of evil .....

the face of evil .....

US Vice-President Dick Cheney declared the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq a 'successful endeavour' during a visit to Baghdad, on the same day a woman suicide bomber killed 40 people. 

'If you look back on those five years it has been a difficult, challenging but nonetheless successful endeavour ... and it has been well worth the effort,' Cheney, an architect of the invasion, said after meeting Iraqi leaders. 

The Iraq war is a major issue in the US presidential campaign. 

Entering its sixth year this week, it has cost the United States $US500 billion ($A533.73 billion). 

US Democratic hopeful Hillary Clinton said the final bill could be $US1 trillion. 

Tens of thousands of Iraqis and nearly 4000 US soldiers have been killed. 

The military said two more soldiers died today when a roadside bomb hit their vehicle near Baghdad. 

Shortly after Cheney spoke, a woman wearing a suicide vest blew herself up in a cafe in the southern holy Shi'ite city of Kerbala, killing 40 people and wounding 71, police and health officials said. 

Bombs in Baghdad killed four and wounded 13. 

'I was talking with a friend and eating bread a few metres away from the cafe. Suddenly I heard a huge explosion and I was thrown to the floor. I saw smoke and bodies,' witness Mohammed Kadhem, 39, recounted after the Kerbala blast. 

Cheney arrived as Republican presidential candidate John McCain was meeting Iraqi leaders as part of a Senate Armed Services Committee fact-finding mission. 

'I was last in Baghdad 10 months ago and I sense, as a result of the progress that has been made since then, phenomenal changes in terms of the overall situation,' Cheney said after meeting Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. 

'This visit is important because it comes at a time when there's a great deal of progress taking place in Iraq,' Maliki said through a translator. 

A poll of 2,000 people from across Iraq, commissioned by international broadcasters including the BBC and US network ABC, found rising optimism among them. 

Cheney said there had been a 'remarkable turnaround' in security after 30,000 extra US troops were sent to Iraq last year to help quell sectarian violence that threatened civil war. 

Despite the improved security, however, some four million Iraqis are still displaced, and the International Committee of the Red Cross said in a report on Monday that millions were still deprived of clean water and medical care. 

Like McCain, Cheney is in Iraq as part of a wider visit to the Middle East. 

He was due to spend the night at a military base and will also visit Saudi Arabia, Jerusalem, the Palestinian territories, Turkey and Oman on a nine-day tour. 

Both men have been staunch supporters of the US troop build-up or 'surge'. 

The US military says violence in Iraq has dropped by 60 per cent since last June, although it acknowledges an upsurge in attacks since January. 

Cheney Lauds 'Successful' Iraq Invasion

crappy aftermath...

Robert Fisk: The only lesson we ever learn is that we never learn

Wednesday, 19 March 2008

Five years on, and still we have not learnt. With each anniversary, the steps crumble beneath our feet, the stones ever more cracked, the sand ever finer. Five years of catastrophe in Iraq and I think of Churchill, who in the end called Palestine a "hell-disaster".

But we have used these parallels before and they have drifted away in the Tigris breeze. Iraq is swamped in blood. Yet what is the state of our remorse? Why, we will have a public inquiry – but not yet! If only inadequacy was our only sin.

Today, we are engaged in a fruitless debate. What went wrong? How did the people – the senatus populusque Romanus of our modern world – not rise up in rebellion when told the lies about weapons of mass destruction, about Saddam's links with Osama bin Laden and 11 September? How did we let it happen? And how come we didn't plan for the aftermath of war?

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Gus: as proposed before on this site, the fact that the post-war plan was a bit wonky appears to be deliberate.

First, the US did not want the Shia to gain control of Iraq, which, as the majority in the Iraqi "democracy", they would. Second, nor could the minority Sunni win control either. I would say the US did not want anyone in control. Should someone manage to "control" Iraq, he/she would have to play ball with the Americans anyway, thus no-one could ever gain "control" and turn Iraq into a fully independent nation. The US plan thus had to appear to try to fix the problems, but not fix them... It has been the old tactic of divide and conquer, to weaken the place, and loot. Imagine Iraq, becoming a nation, rebuilt and prosperous taking on the US as an equal trading partner... :

A) there would not be much pay off for the Americans, except a few barrels of oil, but far from enough. And the new nation would acquire a Muslim mind of its own...

B) knowing the make up of Iraq ethnic groups, the new strong nation would align quickly with Iran, making a mockery of the "US desires" to thump.

C) The Americans want to be in Iraq for a minimum of 25 years. The only way they can be present is if the bad political and terrorism "climate" requires them to be there.

D) Groups like Al Qaeda seem to be providing the slow burning fuel for the US to stay. But resentment of US troops by the general population is by far the main worry. And the more they resent and start to"rebel", the more the US troops "have to stay"... Thus the general population reacts in various ways, mostly disunited, a way which suits the Yanks.

E) Many people knew the war would "go wrong" or take much more time than the silly plan by Rummy Ducky to sort out... and said so. But the neocons — the psychopathic leeches of humanity — did not care much beyond the oil to be wrestled from the "Euro'... The unrest and other side issues are being dealt with, in a ad-hoc fashion, while appearing to be genuine in "wanting to get out". The secret desire and plan of the US administration is to stay for another 25 years or more...

F) There is nothing to be learned... Just oil to be pumped. The rest is only annoying side issues — a bit like flies, contained by "the troops being there".

The social damaged done to Iraq by the Americans is far worse that Saddam ever did. At least, he had committed Christians in his ministry (not that would be a reference of good will)... Now the only way to stop the violence has been to barricade each sectarian area, thus physically dividing the place... This situation maintaining the hatred... making sure the US troops are needed...

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How did the people – the senatus populusque Romanus of our modern world – not rise up in rebellion when told the lies about weapons of mass destruction, about Saddam's links with Osama bin Laden and 11 September? How did we let it happen?

Gus: we're too comfy in our little corners of the world, worrying mostly about our next buck, our next sleep and our next amusement... That's why we did not revolt en mass... and also we were conned by our media willingly spreading fibs... and also some of us like to sock it to someone, like to fudge things, like to lie. The governments counted on all that to get away with it. And still get away with it...

warmongers...

Where are they now? Nine men of war

Dick Cheney
Still in vice-president's office, but much diminished by events in Iraq and by battles with other branches of government.

Donald Rumsfeld
Forced out of office as defence secretary in November 2006 after Republican drubbing in mid-term elections; now a fellow at conservative thinktank, the Hoover Institution, at Stanford University.

Paul Wolfowitz
Rumsfeld's number two was made president of World Bank only to be ousted after scandal involving promotion of his partner. Now at neoconservative hub, the American Enterprise Institute.

Tony Blair
Left Downing Street and became Middle East envoy to Quartet group; will lead international team to tackle climate change and is to teach religion and politics at Yale. Paid up to £5m for memoirs.

Jose Maria Aznar
Stood down as Spanish PM in 2004. Has been teaching at thinktanks and universities in Spain and US, and is on board of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation.

John Howard
Australian PM ejected in spectacular style last November. Now on international speaker circuit.

Ahmed Chalabi
Blamed as conduit of false intelligence about WMD. Failed to win seat in Iraqi parliament. Now adviser to Iraqi government.

Osama bin Laden
Despite rumours of death, still likely to be in tribal regions of northern Pakistan. Most recent recorded tape produced in December.

Tariq Aziz
Saddam Hussein's right-hand man is awaiting trial on human rights abuses in Iraq.

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Gus: I would add George W Bush and George Bush senior on this list... and to make it an even dozen I would add much of the media... the main culprit knows who he is...