JAZZMAN CHRONICLES: DISSEMINATE FREELY.
By Jack Random
As the neocon warlords grudgingly admit that everything they told us to justify an aggressive war on Iraq was not only wrong but intentionally so, that sound you hear in the background of every White House communiqué is the drone of neocon snarls, snickers and chortles.
Yeah, we lied. So what? What are you going to do about it?
The idea that we owe it to the Iraqi people to remain in country to repel an insurgency is predicated on the patently absurd assumption that we are good guys and, therefore, whoever chooses to fight with us (Kurdish independents and Shiite fundamentalists) are somehow more worthy of controlling Iraq’s future than those who fight against us (foreign jihadists and Iraqi nationalists).
Forget the emotionally charged rhetoric (well deserved and fully justified) and consider it in simple, logical terms: We invaded the wrong nation for the wrong reasons. After Shock and Awe and the fall of Baghdad, with anarchy on the streets, we rushed in to guard the oil fields and the oil ministry. We destroyed the nation and contracted with predominantly American corporations for “rebuilding” and restoring the flow of oil. While promising to withdraw at first opportunity, we secured the oil contracts and established a dozen fortresses.
I have held back writing on the theme of civil divide not because I am uncertain of the principle but because I was uncertain of its application to the conquest and occupation of Iraq. I have listened to all the arguments, while observing a rapid deterioration of the situation on the ground, and I am no longer in doubt.
There is absolutely no moral and no compelling practical reason for maintaining the geographical integrity of Iraq.
Precedent was set in the early nineties with the civil divide of the former Czechoslovakia. At the end of 1992, Czechoslovakia split into the Czech Republic (Bohemia and Moravia) and the Slovak Republic (Slovakia). The former Soviet satellite, birthplace of the Velvet Revolution, conquered by a long line of empirical powers, chose to divide amicably into two nations rather than to fight a bloody, Kosovo style civil war.
It was a monumental moment in history. For the first time in recorded history, two sovereign nations chose to reject an artificial boundary rather than fight for the spoils.
What is good for ancient Bohemia is as good for ancient Mesopotamia.
Like Czechoslovakia, Iraq is the artificial creation of colonial powers. It is not one nation. It is divided by thousands of years of history and a cultural heritage Americans can only imagine. Let the Shiites have the south. Let the Kurds have the north. Let the Sunnis have the valley of the Tigres and the Euphrates. Let them share the oil revenue according to their numbers.
This is the equation that will solve the impenetrable problem that an ill-conceived invasion and occupation has put in place. Let there be no error in historical interpretation: The American action was among the most irrational and unjustifiable in modern history. There is little in the result that will favor American interests. We have defied international law. We have broken the covenant of modern civilization. We have committed an act of unjustified aggression against a sovereign nation and we deserve no advantage.
We have lost a war owing to our unbridled arrogance and we will pay the price. The only questions that remain are: How many lives and how much treasure?
Those who continue to push for prolongation, escalation and perseverance, would trade lives for money – in the end, to no avail.
Resolve the conflict. Give up the installations. Void the contracts.
End the occupation.
Jazz.
JACK RANDOM IS THE AUTHOR OF THE JAZZMAN CRONICLES (CROW DOG PRESS) AND GHOST DANCE INSURRECTION (DRY BONES PRESS). THE CHRONICLES HAVE APPEARED ON DISSIDENT VOICE, COUNTERPUNCH, ALBION MONITOR AND BUZZLE.
