Re: [Marxism] More about the resistance in Iraq

["Marvin Gandall" <marvgandall@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Walter Lippmann wrote:

Here are a pair of articles prepared about
the Iraqi resistance written by Ernesto Gómez Abascal, who
was the Cuban ambassador to Iraq prior to the US invasion
and occupation.
-----------------------------------
And Juan Cole brings the war home:

If America were Iraq, What would it be Like?
Juan Cole
Wednesday, September 22, 2004

President Bush said Tuesday that the Iraqis are refuting the pessimists
and implied that things are improving in that country.

What would America look like if it were in Iraq's current situation? The
population of the US is over 11 times that of Iraq, so a lot of
statistics would have to be multiplied by that number.

Thus, violence killed 300 Iraqis last week, the equivalent
proportionately of 3,300 Americans. What if 3,300 Americans had died in
car bombings, grenade and rocket attacks, machine gun spray, and aerial
bombardment in the last week? That is a number greater than the deaths
on September 11, and if America were Iraq, it would be an ongoing,
weekly or monthly toll.

And what if those deaths occurred all over the country, including in the
capital of Washington, DC, but mainly above the Mason Dixon line, in
Boston, Minneapolis, Salt Lake City, and San Francisco?

What if the grounds of the White House and the government buildings near
the Mall were constantly taking mortar fire? What if almost nobody in
the State Department at Foggy Bottom, the White House, or the Pentagon
dared venture out of their buildings, and considered it dangerous to go
over to Crystal City or Alexandria?

What if all the reporters for all the major television and print media
were trapped in five-star hotels in Washington, DC and New York, unable
to move more than a few blocks safely, and dependent on stringers to
know what was happening in Oklahoma City and St. Louis? What if the only
time they ventured into the Midwest was if they could be embedded in
Army or National Guard units?

There are estimated to be some 25,000 guerrillas in Iraq engaged in
concerted acts of violence. What if there were private armies totalling
275,000 men, armed with machine guns, assault rifles (legal again!),
rocket-propelled grenades, and mortar launchers, hiding out in dangerous
urban areas of cities all over the country? What if they completely
controlled Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Salt Lake City, Las Vegas,
Denver and Omaha, such that local police and Federal troops could not go
into those cities?

What if, during the past year, the Secretary of State (Aqilah Hashemi),
the President (Izzedine Salim), and the Attorney General (Muhammad Baqir
al-Hakim) had all been assassinated?

What if all the cities in the US were wracked by a crime wave, with
thousands of murders, kidnappings, burglaries, and carjackings in every
major city every year?

What if the Air Force routinely (I mean daily or weekly) bombed
Billings, Montana, Flint, Michigan, Watts in Los Angeles, Philadelphia,
Anacostia in Washington, DC, and other urban areas, attempting to target
"safe houses" of "criminal gangs", but inevitably killing a lot of
children and little old ladies?

What if, from time to time, the US Army besieged Virginia Beach, killing
hundreds of armed members of the Christian Soldiers? What if entire
platoons of the Christian Soldiers militia holed up in Arlington
National Cemetery, and were bombarded by US Air Force warplanes daily,
destroying thousands of graves and pulverizing the Vietnam Memorial?
What if the National Council of Churches had to call for a popular march
of thousands of believers to converge on the National Cathedral to stop
the US Army from demolishing it to get at a rogue band of the Timothy
McVeigh Memorial Brigades?

What if there were virtually no commercial air traffic in the country?
What if many roads were highly dangerous, especially Interstate 95 from
Richmond to Washington, DC, and I-95 and I-91 up to Boston? If you got
on I-95 anywhere along that over 500-mile stretch, you would risk being
carjacked, kidnapped, or having your car sprayed with machine gun fire.

What if no one had electricity for much more than 10 hours a day, and
often less? What if it went off at unpredictable times, causing
factories to grind to a halt and air conditioning to fail in the middle
of the summer in Houston and Miami? What if the Alaska pipeline were
bombed and disabled at least monthly? What if unemployment hovered
around 40%?

What if veterans of militia actions at Ruby Ridge and the Oklahoma City
bombing were brought in to run the government on the theory that you
need a tough guy in these times of crisis?

What if municipal elections were cancelled and cliques close to the new
"president" quietly installed in the statehouses as "governors?" What if
several of these governors (especially of Montana and Wyoming) were
assassinated soon after taking office or resigned when their children
were taken hostage by guerrillas?

What if the leader of the European Union maintained that the citizens of
the United States are, under these conditions, refuting pessimism and
that freedom and democracy are just around the corner?

posted by Juan @ 9/22/2004 06:53:11 AM

http://www.juancole.com/2004_09_01_juancole_archive.html#109582366638394688




_______________________________________________
Marxism mailing list
Marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism