Freedom Rider: Rest in Peace al-Maliki
by Margaret Kimberley
"My
message to him (al-Maliki) is, when we catch you playing a non-constructive
role, there will be a price to pay." - George W.
Bush
On December 20, 1983, Saddam Hussein met with U.S.
special envoy to the Middle East, Donald Rumsfeld. Even then the neo-cons
wanted war against Iran and encouraged Hussein to act as the surrogate to carry
out their plan for American domination. He did so and began a war that
ultimately cost one million lives. Saddam seemed to be sitting pretty with
Uncle Sam. He could gas Iranians or Kurds and still get all the American
military hardware and diplomatic support he wanted. He could hardly have
imagined that he would end his life hanging from the gallows, and all because
of the machinations of fair weather friends.
"The United States now blames the Iraqis for the ever
worsening disaster they visited on that luckless nation."
The Hussein example is very telling and
certainly not lost on Nour al-Maliki, the current prime minister of Iraq and
now the favorite punching bag of American politicians. Like a brazen home
invader expressing dismay at the sorry state of the house he destroyed, the
United States now blames the Iraqis for the ever worsening disaster they visited
on that luckless nation.
Every week a different member of Congress
visits Baghdad and returns home expressing disgust that the Iraqis aren't
managing the American made chaos any better. Al-Maliki is wisely looking for
help elsewhere. He recently visited Iran and thereby elicited a not very veiled
threat from president Bush about a "price to pay."
Maliki is, in the words of George H.W. Bush,
in "deep doo doo." No self-respecting person wants to be a puppet, even if they
think the end result may be worth temporary humiliation. Maliki and Afghan
president Karzai have been acting up a bit too much for the string pullers in
Washington. Both have either praised or personally visited Iranian president
Ahmedinejad, the man Bush and the rest of Congress are just itching to bomb.
As always, America brings nothing but ruin in
the wake of its foreign policy involvements. That ruin continues despite
changes in administrations because both Republicans and Democrats believe that
America must be the world's only super power and have an empire to go along
with that awful designation.
"Maliki and Afghan president Karzai have been acting up a
bit too much for the string pullers in Washington."
Democratic Senators Hillary Clinton and Carl
Levin both recently demanded that al-Maliki step down. Maliki, having been
brave enough to visit the latest target for American aggression, was having none
of it. "There are American officials who consider Iraq as if
it were one of their villages, for example Hillary Clinton and Carl Levin. They
should come to their senses."
It is difficult to be optimistic about the state of the
world when the most likely Democratic nominee proves that she will continue the
occupation of Iraq and the call for America to wage war elsewhere in the world.
She recently said that the Bush "surge" in Iraq is "working in some areas." Not
content to give Bush her blessing for continued destruction, she made it clear
that she will act in the same manner should she become president. There is no
problem in waging war as long the tactics succeed, i.e. kill
so many people that resistance disappears. "We can't ever let that
happen again. We can't be fighting the last war. We have to keep preparing to
fight the new war."
Just in case anyone was confused, it is clear that Hillary
Clinton is all in favor of American military might being used wherever she
thinks it should be. She and the rest of the Democrats play the obvious game of
appearing to be tough if the Iraqis are kicked around. She also hopes that if
she is blood thirsty enough, the arguments against her candidacy will disappear
to all but a few hardcore GOP dead enders.
Al-Maliki is right to visit Iran. He needs as many friends
as he can get, even if they are living under the threat of American warfare.
Al-Maliki knows the punch line of the Saddam Hussein joke. American loyalty is
an oxymoron.
"Will al-Maliki end up like President Diem of Vietnam,
killed when John F. Kennedy lost confidence in him?"
Bush may continue to be supportive, but a second president
Clinton may not be. If she declares that al-Maliki should step down when she is
merely a presidential candidate, what does he look forward to if she takes the
oath of office? Will he end up like President Diem of Vietnam, killed when John
F. Kennedy lost confidence in him? There is a long line of foreign leaders who
rued the day that an American president declared support and undying
friendship.
Poor al-Maliki. He is just the latest to discover that in
certain circumstances, being a friend of the United States is a terrible
position indeed. Uneasy lies the head of America's allies. Just ask Saddam
Hussein.
Margaret Kimberley's
Freedom Rider column appears weekly in BAR. Ms. Kimberley lives in New York
City, and can be reached via e-Mail at
Margaret.Kimberley(at)BlackAgandaReport.Com. Ms. Kimberley' maintains an
edifying and frequently updated blog at freedomrider.blogspot.com. More of her
work is also available at her Black Agenda Report archive
page.
Ann Garrison spoke to Professor Danny Shaw, who speaks fluent Haitian Creole and returned from his last trip to Haiti one month ago.
"Sitting Shiva in South Florida for Our souls/slivers of democracy …" is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence.
Politicians and the liberal media cite "voter apathy" as the cause of reduced voter turnout, but the reality is that their devotion to corporate interests over those of the people creates a seeming…
Settler colonialism has caused the destruction of indigenous lands around the world and, as a result, the environment in which we all live. The path forward is an global struggle against these forces.
For Africans in the U.S., anger is an important first step in mentally emancipating themselves from empire and declaring war on it.
