2 posts tagged “usa”

Bad news first:

If the Iraqi Parliament refuses to pass the privatization legislation, Congress will withhold US reconstruction funds that were promised to the Iraqis to rebuild what the United States has destroyed there. The privatization law, written by American oil company consultants hired by the Bush administration, would leave control with the Iraq National Oil Company for only 17 of the 80 known oil fields. The remainder (two-thirds) of known oil fields, and all yet undiscovered ones, would be up for grabs by the private oil companies of the world...

Less bad news:

The [Iraqi] parliament today passed a binding resolution that will guarantee lawmakers an opportunity to block the extension of the U.N. mandate under which coalition troops now remain in Iraq when it comes up for renewal in December. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, whose cabinet is dominated by Iraqi separatists, may veto the measure.
...
Without the cover of the U.N. mandate, the continued presence of coalition troops in Iraq would become, in law as in fact, an armed occupation...

Normally a nation voting for an end to outside assistance would be a good thing. But in this case the 'helpers' have a vested interest in 'helping', and may not react well to being thanked and shown the door.

The U.S. invested a lot of money in taking Iraq, and will have very few options open to it if Iraq tells them to leave.

1. They could simply leave. While the this is the morally correct option, the U.S. invested billions of dollars in the operation and is unlikely to accept no ROI.
2. They could start killing off Parliamentarians. This is achievable given the unique status of law and order in Iraq, but is more likely to sway pro-American politicains to push for withdrawl than frighten anti-American ones to quieting down.
3. They could kill all the Parliamentarians, install a new Saddam and abandon the 'democracy' pretense.
4. They could simply ignore the Iraqi government and continue as they are. The Iraqi armed forces are no match for the U.S. and would not be stupid enough to fight back, but could simply let the Iraqi resistance do it for them. Without Iraqi help in identifying it's enemies, the MNF-I could be seriousy bloodied.
   

The money America rightfully owes Iraq for rebuilding is not worth the loss of oil revenue* Iraq is being forced to sacrifice for it. Free of the MNF-I, Iraq could easily afford to rebuild itself.

* I assume that the '17' number in the first article is a typo for '27', else a person can reach colonel in the U.S. armed forces without being able to do basic math.

From http://abcnews.go.com/.

Jerry Falwell, a far right U.S. priest, died a few days ago. According to the article, a few people went to his funeral to "criticize the man who mobilized Christian evangelicals and made them a major force in American politics -- often by playing on social prejudices". I do not believe funerals are an apropriate place to hold a protest, but it appears some people feel stronger than I on the issue.

Campbell County authorities arrested a Liberty University student for having several homemade bombs in his car... he reportedly told authorities that he was making the bombs to stop protesters from disrupting the funeral service.

(Despite the name, Liberty University is actually a far-right institution.)

Now, I'm all for people taking up arms to defend themselves, their family or country. As for arming yourself to stop someone else from saying something that might make you uncomfortable? This isn't a justifiable act of war, this is an act of madness and/or  hatred.

Religion scares me.

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