Re: [Marxism] On Iraq

[Andy <esquincle@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Jan 3, 2005, at 6:47 PM, <g.maclennan@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Such is the size of the resistance (see the quote from Al-
> Jazeera above) that the American Army can offer no protection
> to those who cooperate. This is far from left-wing
> triumphalism, for I have no illusions about Islamicists.
> They will not be able to create a stable nation where the
> people flourish.  Fred is absolutely correct about that.  But
> they can nevertheless produce a collapse of the American
> effort and I think they are very close to achieving that.

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/01/03/1447225

AMY GOODMAN:  Well, you have been doing some reflection, as you also
write a book. You can talk about your observations of where we stand
today?

 ROBERT FISK:  Well, I think that the whole project in Iraq is
finished. We are not being told by Mr. Blair in my case and Bush in
yours that this is the case, and perhaps through their own misjudgment
or their own fantasies, they don't even accept this themselves. But the
American project for democracy or whatever its real purposes were, for
oil, economic expansion, Middle East fit for Israel, whatever it may
have been, that project is finished. It is hopeless. It cannot succeed.
The insurgency in Iraq is so great now that American troops, however
enormous their technology, cannot control it. The Iraqi so-called
ministers, and I include Iyad Allawi, the so-called interim prime
minister, who was of course appointed by the Americans as a former
C.I.A. asset, they behave like statesmen when they tour the world or
turn up in Washington, but in Baghdad they're not even safe inside
their little Green Zone. They're not even the Mayor of Baghdad, they
have less power than the town clerk. So, we have reached a stage now
where insurgents control much of the country. The only safe part of
Iraq is Kurdistan in the north, which is effectively an autonomous
region, outside of the control anyway of the Iraqi government. And the
elections, which are coming up, appear doomed because already we're
hearing that if the Sunnis won't take part, the Americans are trying to
persuade the unelected government to appoint Sunni Muslims to make up
for the voters who didn't vote. This is not an election, this is a
charade...


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