The U.S. Rolls the Dice in Najaf

[arendt]

http://www.motherjones.com/news/dailymojo/2004/08/08_516.html

The U.S. Rolls the Dice in Najaf
August 11 , 2004
By Tom Engelhardt
<snip>

What you can follow, now that Iraq has returned to the front pages of our papers, is the fighting in places like Najaf; what you can't learn is much of anything about the decision to fight and what to make of that decision, which is why the piece below by Michael Schwartz is important. If the foot soldiers are largely in sight; what's missing is the brain; or put another way, the main character MIA in the present Iraqi drama, the ghost in our media machine reporting from Iraq, is that over-stuffed "embassy" in Baghdad's Green Zone.

<snip>

With new regimes, of course, come new styles and the new style of this desert-bootless one is no-face-time at all. Soft-spoken Ambassador John Negroponte, a man with much brutal counterinsurgency experience in his background, has simply faded into the woodwork, as has his huge staff, while they've put Iraqis forward to do all the talking. Try to remember the last piece you've seen about them or our military high command in Iraq. Try to remember the last piece you've seen in our media even speculating on their strategies, on what they intend in Iraq. It's a simple case of out of sight, out of media mind.

But as Michael Schwartz (who last wrote for Tomdispatch on the purely "symbolic sovereignty" being transferred in June) notes, they have quietly made a momentous decision. They've decided to roll the dice, go all the way in Najaf. It's a massive gamble and its brutal results are already before us.

<snip - the following article is included in the title article>

Gambling in Najaf:
Iraq as the Twenty-first Battleground State
By Michael Schwartz

The Bush administration has embarked on a desperate military adventure in hopes of creating the appearance of a pacified Iraq. The assault on the holy city of Najaf, with its attendant slaughter of combatants and civilians, its destruction of whole neighborhoods, and its threat to Shia holy cites is fraught with the possibility of another major military defeat. But the military commanders are hoping it will instead produce a rare military victory, since they are fighting lightly armed and relatively inexperienced members of Muqtada al-Sadr's al-Mahdi Army. Nevertheless, even such a victory would be short-lived at best, since the fighting itself only serves to consolidate the opposition of the Shia population. The administration is apparently hoping that a sufficiently brutal suppression of the Sadrists will postpone the now almost inevitable national uprising until after our November election.

<snip>

Well folks, we've been misdirected once again by the media. Why,
indeed have we decided to start throwing matches in yet another religious
tinderbox? And why is that murderer Negroponte never mentioned?

Between Goss's crappy past and Najaf and the shitty economy, the
fact that the media can get away with whistling past all these graveyards
at once speaks volumes about the gullibility and cravenness of the
American public. But, what do I know, I'm just a liberal.

arendt

Mods - feel free to move if you think this is opinion, not news. Note that
the author writes "Tom's Dispatch" for the Nation.

[Charlie Brown]

1. Our guys need to come home

screw Najaf. Sadr can have it.

[NeoConsSuck]

2. And they'll come up snake eyes..

<EOM>

[Disturbed]

4. Iraq-Full Sovereignty?

The Hand-Over That Wasn't: Illegal Orders give the US a Lock on Iraq's Economy
by Antonia Juhasz

Officially, the U.S. occupation of Iraq ended on June 28, 2004. But in reality, the United States is still in charge: Not only do 138,000 troops remain to control the streets, but the "100 Orders" of L. Paul Bremer III remain to control the economy.

These little noticed orders enacted by Bremer, the now-departed head of the now-defunct Coalition Provisional Authority, go to the heart of Bush administration plans in Iraq. They lock in sweeping advantages to American firms, ensuring long-term U.S. economic advantage while guaranteeing few, if any, benefits to the Iraqi people.

The Bremer orders control every aspect of Iraqi life - from the use of car horns to the privatization of state-owned enterprises. Order No. 39 alone does no less than "transition from a … centrally planned economy to a market economy" virtually overnight and by U.S. fiat. Although many thought that the "end" of the occupation would also mean the end of the orders, on his last day in Iraq Bremer simply transferred authority for the orders to Prime Minister Iyad Allawi - a 30-year exile with close ties to the CIA and British intelligence.

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0805-07.htm

[Demoiselle]

3. "Rolls the dice?"

The phrase itself says it all. Here we are, the toughest, strongest, most righteous, etc.etc.etc. nation in the world, reduced to gambling on very risky moves in a country we were supposed to have subdued and "rescued" a year ago.
Sigh.

[bpilgrim]

5. Everybody Knows the dice are LOADED

Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows that the war is over
Everybody knows the good guys lost
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
That’s how it goes
Everybody knows

Everybody knows that the boat is leaking
Everybody knows that the captain lied
Everybody got this broken feeling
Like their father or their dog just died

Everybody talking to their pockets
Everybody wants a box of chocolates
And a long stem rose
Everybody knows

Everybody knows that you love me baby
Everybody knows that you really do
Everybody knows that you’ve been faithful
Ah give or take a night or two
Everybody knows you’ve been discreet
But there were so many people you just had to meet
Without your clothes
And everybody knows

Everybody knows, everybody knows
That’s how it goes
Everybody knows

Everybody knows, everybody knows
That’s how it goes
Everybody knows

And everybody knows that it’s now or never
Everybody knows that it’s me or you
And everybody knows that you live forever
Ah when you’ve done a line or two
Everybody knows the deal is rotten
Old black joe’s still pickin’ cotton
For your ribbons and bows
And everybody knows

And everybody knows that the plague is coming
Everybody knows that it’s moving fast
Everybody knows that the naked man and woman
Are just a shining artifact of the past
Everybody knows the scene is dead
But there’s gonna be a meter on your bed
That will disclose
What everybody knows

And everybody knows that you’re in trouble
Everybody knows what you’ve been through
From the bloody cross on top of calvary
To the beach of malibu
Everybody knows it’s coming apart
Take one last look at this sacred heart
Before it blows
And everybody knows

Everybody knows, everybody knows
That’s how it goes
Everybody knows

Oh everybody knows, everybody knows
That’s how it goes
Everybody knows

Everybody knows

Leonard Cohen Lyrics

source...
http://www.lyricsfreak.com/l/leonard-cohen/82809.html



peace

[arendt]

8. Yowch - the world's most depressing song, bar none

Hi BP-

I love Leonard, but if you listen to this song twice in a row,
you want to slit your wrists.

I must admit, it is quite appropriate to the current situation.


Regards,

arendt

[DoYouEverWonder]

11. LOL, that's one of my favorite songs

but I've always described Leonard Cohen's stuff, has music to slit your wrists by.

[bpilgrim]

12. It's coming through a hole in the air... Democracy

Democracy

It's coming through a hole in the air,
from those nights in Tiananmen Square.
It's coming from the feel
that this ain't exactly real,
or it's real, but it ain't exactly there.
From the wars against disorder,
from the sirens night and day,
from the fires of the homeless,
from the ashes of the gay:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

It's coming through a crack in the wall;
on a visionary flood of alcohol;
from the staggering account
of the Sermon on the Mount
which I don't pretend to understand at all.
It's coming from the silence
on the dock of the bay,
from the brave, the bold, the battered
heart of Chevrolet:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

It's coming from the sorrow in the street,
the holy places where the races meet;
from the homicidal bitchin'
that goes down in every kitchen
to determine who will serve and who will eat.
From the wells of disappointment
where the women kneel to pray
for the grace of God in the desert here
and the desert far away:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

Sail on, sail on
O mighty Ship of State!
To the Shores of Need
Past the Reefs of Greed
Through the Squalls of Hate
Sail on, sail on, sail on, sail on.

It's coming to America first,
the cradle of the best and of the worst.
It's here they got the range
and the machinery for change
and it's here they got the spiritual thirst.
It's here the family's broken
and it's here the lonely say
that the heart has got to open
in a fundamental way:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

It's coming from the women and the men.
O baby, we'll be making love again.
We'll be going down so deep
the river's going to weep,
and the mountain's going to shout Amen!
It's coming like the tidal flood
beneath the lunar sway,
imperial, mysterious,
in amorous array:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

Sail on, sail on ...

I'm sentimental, if you know what I mean
I love the country but I can't stand the scene.
And I'm neither left or right
I'm just staying home tonight,
getting lost in that hopeless little screen.
But I'm stubborn as those garbage bags
that Time cannot decay,
I'm junk but I'm still holding up this little wild bouquet:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

source...
http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/DEMOCRACY-lyrics-Leonard-Cohen/D97691190604B3F848256AF00028F989

hi arendt :hi:

sorry, couldn't help myself... been listening to a lot of Cohen these troubling days and nights =(

peace

[Rowdyboy]

6. Najaf this next week could be Bush's "Waterloo"...If its a disaster...

then he's toast. If its a sucess, he has a temporary reprieve.

Thanks for posting the link. I'd forgotten how wonderful Mother Jones was.

[maryallen]

9. Hell, they'll NEVER televise the "Waterloo."

We'd be lucky to hear about it on tom-toms.

[Barrett808]

21. Win the battle, lose the war

If US forces can't beat this lightly armed and ill-trained milita, it will be another pathetic display of Rumsfeld's incompetence.

But if US forces "win" it's almost certain to unify Shia opposition against the occupation. Secession, anyone?

[teryang]

7. Bushco has rolled the dice ever since Coup 2000

Every roll of the dice requires another. Constant instability is the hallmark of totalitarian government.

[Halliburton]

10. Must be oil in the shrine...

Neocons will roll the dice for oil.

[catzies]

15. Welcome to DU, Halliburton.

Wow, I never thought I'd hear myself say that. :crazy: Great handle.

[daleo]

13. Another dice song for the gamblers of Najef

Women think I’m tasty, but they’re always tryin’ to waste me
And make me burn the candle right down,
But baby, baby, I don’t need no jewels in my crown.

’cause all you women is low down gamblers,
Cheatin’ like I don’t know how,
But baby, baby, there’s fever in the funk house now.
This low down bitchin’ got my poor feet a itchin’,
You know you know the duece is still wild.

Baby, I can’t stay, you got to roll me
And call me the tumblin’ dice.

Always in a hurry, I never stop to worry,
Don’t you see the time flashin’ by.
Honey, got no money,
I’m all sixes and sevens and nines.
Say now, baby, I’m the rank outsider,
You can be my partner in crime.

But baby, I can’t stay,
You got to roll me and call me the tumblin’,
Roll me and call me the tumblin’ dice.

Oh, my, my, my, I’m the lone crap shooter,
Playin’ the field ev’ry night.

Baby, can’t stay,
You got to roll me and call me the tumblin’ dice, (call me the tumblin’)
Got to roll me, got to roll me, got to roll me (oh yeah)
Got to roll me. got to roll me, got to roll me ( keep on rolling, keep on rolling)

(m. jagger/k. richards)

On edit - Substitute "resistance" where you see "women" and it works pretty well.

[DivinBreuvage]

14. Eerily enough, "rolling the dice" is frequently used by historians

to refer to Hitler's decision to gut the Eastern Front so he could scrape together enough troops to launch the Ardennes Offensive (Battle of the Bulge) against the Western allies.

For those who don't know the rest of the story, the Ardennes Offensive failed, Hitler lost most of the remaining cream of his forces, and the Russians came pouring into Greater Germany like a seismic wave.

[SOS]

17. Terrible men

"roll the dice" (as if it were a game of Risk). And soon, beautiful and vibrant cities, home to thousands of families who never wanted war, are reduced to this....

[bemildred]

16. Lewis Lapham calls it "Chasing the Pot" in the July Harpers. nt

[bemildred]

18. Really starting to remind me of all the blather about Faloojah

back in April and May. If you scan all the headlines, you start
to gather somebody is blowing a lot of smoke.

[Rowdyboy]

19. I REALLY hope and pray you're right....

Personally, I think we're about to make a mistake of historic proportions and "take" Najaf. Out of the frying pan and directly in to the fire...

[bemildred]

20. Looks like I'm too optimistic. nt