In Which The Gorilla Says "I told You So"

This is Mohammed Ali Salman. He's nine years old. Mohammed Ali was one of the eleven people injured by a blast in Baghdad's Tahrir Square today Thursday, May 25, 2006. Three people were killed in the explosion. "Tahrir" means "Liberation" by the way, so the nine year old child Mohammed Ali was injured in a place with a singularly ironic name. Neither Mohammed Ali 'nor any other Baghdadi is experiencing "liberation" they're experiencing, a reign of terror. They don't have the freedom to go peacefully about their lawful business without fear of being blown up, shot at, beaten up, humiliated, let's not even talk about food insecurity the lack of clean water and all the other privations brought down upon Baghdadis heads by the cynical corrupt and bloodsoaked occupation of Iraq being run by the US and her allies … … This was some "liberation" brought to Mohammed Ali by America and her allies. Does Mohammed Ali look "liberated" to you, or does he look like a nine year old child whose bodily integrity has been brutally violated? The anxious looking man comforting Mohammed Ali is his father Ali Salman. They're in Baghdad's al-Kindi hospital. Mohammed Ali won't be allowed stay there as long as he needs to recover from his injuries because there are so many injured brought into Baghdad's hospitals daily that doctors there have to discharge all but the most desperatlely ill and wounded. While Mohammed Ali was recovering in al-Kindi hospital Iraq's interim minister Defense minister was according to AFP "vowing" to restore security to Mohammed Ali's hometown. Tony Blair who demonstrated his complete contempt for Iraqi independence by flying into Baghdad to "endorse" its new prime minister was making plans to visit his main partner in the dismemberment of Iraq George W. Bush to work out how to continue their violent dismemberment of Mohammed Ali's country. And the American extreme right-winger a senior advise at the neo-con think than Center for Strategic and International Studies and an "expert on counter-terrorism" Edward N. Luttwak gave the game away by writing an "opinion piece" in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz entitled "Let them fight it out." Luttwak joins a long list of neo-cons chorusing their demand that Iraq be "permitted" to tear itself apart. This will come as no surprise to my regular readers. It's not even a month since in my posting entitled "A Barefaced and Stupid Lie" I said this: " The calls by Biden and his like are further proof if further proof were needed of the rampant imperialism that has infected the entire American body politic like a cancer for more than a generation. They are proof that the American political elite is trying to disassemble Iraq. That the American political elite is trying to smash Iraq and then say: "Well the Iraqis broke it so we own it. The American political elite wants to spin this as an Iraqi initiative and pretend that Iraqis want an ethnic government. The American political elite wants to silence those Iraqi voices, calling for unity such as Al-Sadr and Grand Ayatollah Sistani. And under Bush the American political elite has shown that there is no attrocity to which they will not stoop to achieve this end. Of course the have to show their humane and caring side: "The choice I’m proposing can give all of us -- Republicans, Independents, Democrats, Americans -- realistic hope that our sacrifices in Iraq were not in vain. " (Biden's Speech last two lines - the sacrifices forced upon the Iraqis don't of course count.) Expect more from the Biden Band and Chorus along the lines of: "we lost 2,400 troops and all that money so we deserve something for all our sacrifice and anyway we're the good guys - right? " Told you so. markfromireland