A new spin in the US soap opera

Donald Rumsfeld, apparently might be having pangs of embarrassment over previous other spin doctored 'facts'.

Just like Robert McNamara who did a major 'mea culpa' over the Viet Nam war, Rumsfeld is coming clean about Iraq.  He now states with equal zeal that he has found no direct link to Iraq's phantom WDMs and the 'Intel' he provided to the world.  

He also stated that he saw no direct link between Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden, which is in direct contradiction to his earlier 'absolute' statements that claimed there was a provable hand-in-hand link between the two.

Rumsfeld is in sharp contrast with his boss, Bush.  Bush absolutely maintains there is a bullet proof connection claiming that Iraq was in league with al Qaeda under Saddam Hussein's rule, and that fugitive Islamic militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi had a hand-in-hand relationship with Saddam and the terrorist network.

However, Rumsfeld is still very wishy-washy over the alleged Weapons of Mass Destruction (WDMs) that were supposed to have been in the hands of Iraq – weapons that have never been found.  If readers will remember, Iraq evicted the UN Inspectors after former president Clinton said that US spy agents had penetrated the UN inspection team, working with the inspection teams, and were reporting back. Perhaps the WDMs were bogus intel – or worse completely spin doctored. Iraq scientists have said the WDM program had been abandoned years before because Saddam Hussein feared reprisal. 

Bush used Iraq's steadfast refusal to allow the inspection teams back in as one of the justifications for the case presented to the UN for direct US military intervention in Iraq. Military action that the UN denied and the US decided on a ‘go it alone' unilateral military attack on Iraq.  The US expels suspected spies but demands the right to having overt US spies operate within the borders of other nations.  The US executed Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, using the electric chair, based only upon a suspicion that they might be spies. KGB records stated that the Rosenbergs were a pair of nothings and nobodys.

Rumsfeld continues to state without reservation that the world is better off with Saddam Hussein out of the picture, but he cannot provide clear and concise details and facts to support his statement.  The mounting civilian death toll as a result of the US war in Iraq, the poisoning of the water and land from depleted uranium, the abuse of Iraq citizens and POWs, should make one question Rumsfeld's logic.  There are a growing percentage of Iraq citizens who are now stating they are worse off under the US military government than they were under the Ba’ath party.  With the Iraq elections maybe in sight, the Iraq people can be assured that who ever they vote for, their government will be a US puppet government.

It should be noted that Iraq has not violated the sovereignty of any nation in the last eleven years.  No country has approached the UN citing fear of Iraq and asking for protection. Iraq’s HARP gun was dismantled, and their scud missiles were never properly re-engineered to increase the range from the mandated 120 mile restriction.  Saddam Hussein was nothing more than a big mouthed, impotent threat, braggart, playing huff & puff GI Joe.

Iraq was crucial to US interests in the containment of Iran – which we wanted as an enemy on a leash.  Iraq would probably been a designated staging area if the US had chosen to go to war with Iran at the time.  Tensions between the US and Iran have been mounting for years and it is just a matter of time before the US will engage military actions against Iran.  Iran has a functioning nuclear reactor and the US has committed itself to taking out the reactor. The US administration believes it is in their best interests to remain in Iraq for an indefinite period of time and do a military build up there. There are conflicting reports to the length of the US presence in Iraq, but the common denominator is a 10 year occupation.

The US still uses nuclear reactors to generate electricity and material for the atomic weapons still being produced by the US.

It is true that Hussein used torture on his own people – but what is happening to the Iraq civilian now?  Same thing. 
 
It is true he did execute a number of people - but what were the reasons?  Impoverished people tend to commit crimes as the US knows so well within it's own shores, and Texas is the execution capital of the world where executing criminals is as American as apple pie.

It is true he used lethal gas against Iran and the Kurds – but who did he get the silent go ahead from?  Rumsfeld was the US person who had direct dealings with Saddam Hussein at the time.  Hussein is reported to have told Rumsfeld he was going to use gas and Rumsfeld was supposed to have smiled and nodded yes.

Rumsfeld has been under severe scrutiny because of the Iraq POW abuse.  Unofficial sources commented months ago that Bush was furious with Rumsfeld over the stories that were hitting the press.  The context of Bush's anger has never been discussed, but one can surmise by Bush’s own words and actions that his rage was over the leaking of the stories to the press and the publications of thestories, rather than outrage over the actual abuse. The Iraq POWs were classified as illegal combatants in the US rules of engagement contrary to the Geneva Convention’s classification of POW.

Rumsfeld’s new found truths are just another example of a desperately in need of justifications US administration and an administration that has no cohesive internal communications or direction or adult leadership.  There are rumors of deep seated splits within the administration.  As for Rumsfeld, why do I get this sinking feeling that this is just chapter two of the continuing US Soap Opera: Iraq, being sponsored by the flim-flam group up on the hill and viewed by billions?

During the Viet Nam conflict, there was a song and one of its lyrics was: “Be the first person on your block to have your kid come home in a box”.  Maybe America should find a copy of that song and play it with increasing regularity over the next four years.  

Michael Berglin