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June 30: power handover or smoke and mirrors?According to team Bush, on June 30th the occupation ends, a fully sovereign Iraqi government takes over, and the remaining U.S. troops become an "invited presence." Yeah, and Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. The Bush adminstration came up with its phoney power handover at the end of last year, after a surge in resistance left dozens of GIs dead and it became clear that public support for the occupation - both in the U.S. and in Iraq - was eroding fast and would impact Bush's chances in the November elections. In an attempt to defuse the Iraqi resistance and bolster Bush's prospects for another 4 years, the administration decided to give the illusion of power to its handpicked puppets while in reality keeping real power for itself on June 30th. The Pentagon planned to withdraw 20,000 troops in time for the "power handover" to make Americans think that Bush has everything under control, he was right all along, he was bringing the troops home, progress was being made in Iraq and all we have to do now is "stay the course" by electing Bush. One problem: it's not going to work. June 30th is a perfect example of the old proverb, "the more things change, the more they stay the same." Paul Bremer, the boss of the Coalition Provisional Authority, will go home but over 120,000 American GIs will stay. In Bremer's place, John Negroponte will step in, but instead of being the boss of Iraq he will be an "ambassador." The diplomatic mission to Iraq will be the largest in the world, with over 1,000 staffers, and each Iraqi ministry that will be set up will have American "advisors" attached to them. The last country that the U.S. had this many "advisors" in was Vietnam, and we can see how well that one worked out. The new prime minister, Iyad Allawi, is the head of a CIA-funded exile organization called the Iraqi National Accord. As if being known as a CIA agent wasn't bad enough, Allawi's organization engaged in terrorist attacks during the 1990s inside Iraq, including blowing up a school bus and killing a bunch of Iraqi kids. To expect Iraqis to accept this man as their new prime minister when he was involved in blowing up Iraqi children is like expecting Americans to welcome the appointment of Timothy McVeigh as the president by an occupying army. On June 30th, the occupation of Iraq won't end - it will have a new mask with an Iraqi face. Page 10--> |
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