Post-war Iraq

ABC further reported: "A Marine at first draped an American flag over the statue's face, despite military orders to avoid symbols that would portray the United States as an occupying--instead of a liberating--force."

Yet another lie.

As anyone with eyes could plainly see, American tanks are festooned with more red, white and blue than a Fourth of July parade. And that particular flag was flying over the Pentagon at the time of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. The Defense Department gave it to the Marines in order to perpetuate Bush's lie that Iraq was involved in the 9-11 attacks.

Patriotic iconography is a funny thing. I've known that the Iwo Jima photo was fake for years, but it nonetheless stirs me every time I see it. Firdus Square's footage will retain its power long after the last American learns the truth.

It was a fitting end for a war waged under false pretexts by a fictional coalition led by an ersatz president. Bush never spent much time thinking about liberation, and even his exploitation is being done with as little concern as possible for the dignity of our new colonial subjects.

steissd- the rumor is that we are there to liberate not conquer.

DafDaf -- "Right" or "wrong" in government simply amounts to whatever you can get away with.

steissd wrote:

I see no reasons to worry: such a world will be more fair, predictable, expedient, reasonable, sensible and just than the existing one. Finally, everyone will only gain if the world is really dominated by the USA.

Even the communists said that once upon a time about themselves

Daf -- Those of us who watched Bush's campaign with interest and horror, those of us who (in forums like this) discussed what we might expect from a Bush administration, were dismissed as conspiracy theorists and/or cynics. And yet one after another of our predictions have come to pass, from extension of imperial power to restriction of civil liberties, from erasing the firewall between fundamentalist religion and state to increasing disrespect for culture and education. Those who want to defend the invasion of Iraq and the horrendous loss of 7,000 years worth of world history will have to face the pictures and descriptions of our military defending the Oil Ministry even as they turned their backs on the sacking of the museum and library. Like it or not, this is who we are at this point in our history -- we are everything we accuse our "enemies" of being.

If we are lucky, Europe and "non-western democracies" will put tremendous pressure on the US to back off. If we are even luckier, Americans will stop their dangerous know-nothing sleepwalk and will toss the felons out of office in 18 months. But I'm worried that our electoral process will go the way of the precious treasure in Baghdad which this country had a hand in trashing. Right and wrong are of no interest to these folks.