Monday, August 22, 2005

Quit Iraq? Who you kidding

By PV Vivekanand


THE affirmation by the top general of the US Army that the military intends to keep the present strength of nearly 140,000 in Iraq for four more years is the clearest revelation yet of the American designs in the Middle East. But then, it has always been a known fact in this part of the world that the US was targeting Iraq for keeps.
The general's comments only contribute to the reality that the US-led invasion and occupation of Iraq was part of a long-term strategy aimed at global domination while also securing the interests of Israel in the Middle East.
The fact has been proved that the US military action against Iraq had no reasonable justification — except in the context of American and Israeli interests. Saddam Hussein did not have any weapons of mass destruction and did not have any links with Osama Bin Laden, Al Qaeda or the Sept. 11 attacks in the US.
Well, Saddam was indeed an oppressor of his people, but US President George Bush has no business to claim that the war against Iraq was aimed at "liberating" the people of Iraq. If anyone had anything to do about it, it should have been the United Nations, and the US invaded Iraq without UN approval.
US General Peter Schoomaker, who said in an interview with the Associated Press that the army was prepared for the "worst case" in terms of the required level of troops in Iraq, spoke in strictly military terms. He did not refer to the politics behind it or the ulterior American objectives.
"We are now into '07-'09 in our planning," Schoomaker said referring to the presence of 138,000 American soldiers in Iraq.
Schoomaker's comments indicated that the US military is in Iraq for the long haul, beyond the term of Bush, which ends in 2007.