‘Iraqi freedom’ sounds like an oxymoron




‘Iraqi freedom’ sounds like
an oxymoron


Now that President George W. Bush has assured us the "mission has been accomplished" and that "the Iraqi people have been liberated," the only remaining task is to set up voting booths to facilitate the inauguration of a self-governing democracy.


As sound bites go, this all plays well in the parallel universe of Fox News, but in the reality of the here- and-now such assurances represent jingoism at best.


The "liberated Iraqi people" are so thrilled at being liberated they are fleeing the country like the Jews fled Nazi Germany during the Holocaust. Over 2 million of the remaining Iraqi citizens are still unemployed. This leaves a sizable number of men and boys with little left to do but join the resistance to the "liberators."


But the real rub is the "self governing democracy" sham. The honorable Paul Bremer, before leaving his post as the head of the now extinct Provisional Coalition Authority and returning stateside, left 100 marching orders as a guide for self government. These orders were handed over to the U.S.-anointed interim prime minister, Ayad Allawi, and the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council.


"Uncle" Allawi and the IGC immediately acquiesced to their U.S. benefactors by developing an interim constitution which essentially locked 100 orders in perpetuity.


A sample of the orders includes Order No. 39 (which includes the following provisitions): (a) All state-owned enterprises are to become private, (b) foreigners will own 100 percent of Iraqi businesses and (c) there will be 40-year ownership licenses.


Order No. 40 stipulates that foreign banks can purchase up to 50 percent of Iraqi banks. Order No. 49 cuts the tax rate on corporations from 40 percent to 15 percent tops. Order Nos. 57 and 77 place U.S.- appointed auditors in every government ministry.


Finally, private security firms (foreign, of course) have full immunity from Iraqi laws.


Call me crazy, but it seems thousands of Americans are risking their lives, not counting those already dead, to create a neo-colonial system for Halliburton, Bechtel and other U.S. and "coalition of the willing" corporations’ profiteering. What really breaks my heart is these soldiers don’t make a third of the salary private contractors are being paid, and while they are fighting and dying over there, the Bush administration is cutting their veteran’s benefits over here.


Go figure.


If this happened in America, wouldn’t Republicans join Democrats and organize an "insurgency?" You bet your vote they would.


Ron Neal


Westlake Village



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