Iraqi insomnia?Try valium [Archives:2003/629/Opinion]

Hassan Al-Haifi
All this talk about freedom and democracy, with all the talking being carried out by the screech of Tomahawk Cruise Missiles, laser guided bombs and sophisticated artillery – stationary and mobile – leaves the observer spellbound. It is certainly enough that war, for any reason, is a tragic consequence of the failure of men to settle their differences through dialogue and arbitration. However, one is bound to be awestruck that so much power and vehemence should fall in the hands of a few men, who feel that they can manipulate the world and the minds of men to suit their evil designs.
How can the public at large in the rest of the world adjudicate the events unfolding before their eyes minute by minute, casualty by casualty, wreckage by wreckage, explosion by explosion? For months, prior to this damned charade unleashed in Iraq by President George W. Bush and his clique of arrogant right wing fanatics, the whole world was not just telling the United States that this war would never be forgiven by history, but was literally screaming that such war only reflects sheer madness.
Never mind that, the guns are now the only thing doing the talking, in the cities and countryside of Iraq. Why? Why has the awesome power of the United States been allowed to fall into the hands of a bunch of arrogant “policy makers” of the likes of George Bush, Richard Perle and Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, (for all intents and purposes Powell and Rice are just there for show more than they are for conviction), who believe they can just sit down and set out the fate of the whole world in their secret “planning sessions” and to hell with all the rest of the world.
No matter, as long as the narrow interests of those who really stand to gain from all this madness are right there to give their support – and to split the profits later, when all the smoke has cleared.
That is not all folks. What about it, if a violent ugly meaningless conflict is subjected to a distorted dissemination of the facts, through a continuous ugly play on words, and doubletalk (Remember George Orwell's 1984), we really have a lot to worry about. Now, our minds must also submit to the will dictated by these institutional warmongers and their Zionist mentors, working behind the scenes, who have been blessed by the presidency of George Bush II in the United States.
Over the last ten days or so, we have all the media channels churning out the “news” of the War of Freedom that Mr. Bush is delivering to the children of Iraq. Why? The opportunity may never come again for the American military industrial complex to solidify its tight hold on the resources of the world – especially that ugly black fluid that God has sent to the bottoms of the Earth, while there is no power, which can get in the way of such lucrative evil designs. One just has to listen to all the talk of freedom and democracy – and let us not forget the humiliating talk of the “hundreds of thousands of metric tons” of humanitarian aid, which Mr. Bush says he has ready to hand out to the bleeding population of Iraq after his forces “liberate and secure their areas”.
This is the scene ladies and gentlemen that is unfolding before our very eyes, while the screams of the Iraqi children are ignored and their bleeding mothers are unable to find the medicine to heal their tarnished bodies from the flying shrapnel coming at them from those “smart bombs”, cluster bombs and get this, 21,000 pound bombs. In fact these poor mothers are unable to even get their infants to shut their eyes for their needed slumber (some Iraqi parents have resorted to feeding their children doses of barbiturates!), because the sounds of explosions fills the skies of Baghdad, Basra and Al-Najaf round the clock.
Of course, Mr. Bush is unaware of all these trivialities, since he is enjoying the peace and quiet of Camp David and holding his “war councils” far away from all the noise, fire and smoke that has dominated the skies of the Fertile Crescent. (We are now being giving hints that Syria and Iran will have their own smoke as well soon! What more could Ariel Sharon want?)
A whole world watches every dramatic development, while Goliath unleashes his war muscle (and Sharon relishes in his free hand in Palestine). Against whom, is all this ferocity? A helpless people who has been starved for 12 years, and who fate has set over what could be the largest underground oil lake. For what? In order to carry out Bush's “unrelenting will” to rid Saddam of his horrible end. How? By the greatest splattering of weapons of mass destruction that anybody could ever come up with. Not even CNN would be able to convince even the most ignorant to believe such hogwash could be so easily digested. As CNN's Richard Blystone so aptly put it, it is time for a new World Oil Order.
The fact of the matter is that the arrogant mob in Washington has proven it is not any better than the evil that it claims to be clearing up in Iraq. On more than one front, this evil is turning out to be more polished, sincere and maybe even determined than the really evil aggressors that the Iraqis are facing. The observer cannot help but pray that somebody can cease the mad carnage and bring some sense back into America. But hopes are still dimmed. Richard Perle is still a bona fide member of the Defense Policy Council (He resigned as Chairman of the DPC amidst questionable conflict of interest). Wake up, America!
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