The US Plans a Long, Long Stay in Iraq

The US Plans a Long, Long Stay in Iraq
by Eric Margolis, margolis@foreigncorrespondent.com
November 24, 2005

The US Air Force's senior officer, Gen. John Jumper, stated US
warplanes would remain in Iraq to fight resistance forces and protect
the American-installed regime "more or less indefinitely."

Gen. Jumper let the cat out of the bag. While President George Bush
hints at eventual troop withdrawals, the Pentagon is busy building
four major, permanent air bases in Iraq that will require heavy
infantry protection.

Jumper's revelation confirms what this column has long said: the
Pentagon plans to copy Imperial Britain's method of ruling oil-rich
Iraq. In the 1920's, the British cobbled together Iraq from three
disparate Ottoman provinces to control newly-found oil fields in
Kurdistan and along the Iranian border. The Sunni heartland in the
middle was included to link these two oil regions.

London installed a puppet king and built an army of sepoy(native)
troops to keep order and put down minor uprisings. A powerful British
RAF contingent, based at Habbibanyah, was tasked with bombing
serious revolts and rebellious tribes. In the 1920's, government
minister Winston Churchill authorized use of poisonous mustard gas
against Kurdish tribesmen in Iraq and Pushtuns in Afghanistan
(today's Taliban). The RAF crushed all revolts against British colonial rule.

This is exactly what Jumper has in mind. Mobile US ground
intervention forces will remain at the four major "Ft. Apache" bases
guarding Iraq's major oil fields. These bases will be "ceded" to the US by a
compliant Iraqi regime.

The supreme weapon of modern warfare, the US Air Force, will police
the Pax American with its precision-guided munitions and armed drones.

The USAF has developed an extremely effective new technique of wide
area control. Small numbers of strike aircraft are kept in the air
around the clock. When US ground forces come under attack or foes are
sighted, these aircraft are vectored to the site in minutes and
deliver precision-guided bombs on enemy forces. The effectiveness of
this tactic has led Iraqi resistance fighters to favor roadside bombs
over ambushes against US convoys.

The USAF uses the same combat air patrol tactic in Afghanistan, with
even more success. In fact, this technique works well anywhere with
fairly open terrain. The US is developing three major air bases in
Pakistan, and others across Central Asia, to support its plans to
dominate the strategic region's vast oil and gas reserves.

While the USAF is settling into West Asia, the mess in Iraq continues
to worsen. Last week's so-called "constitutional deal" was the
long-predicted, US crafted pact between Shia and Kurd giving them
Iraq's oil and virtual independence. The proposed constitution
actually assures American big business access to Iraq's oil riches and markets.

The furious but powerless Sunni were left in the lurch. Sunnis ill at
least have the chance to vote on it in a 15 September referendum, but
many fear it will be rigged.

The US reportedly offered the 15 Sunni convention delegates $5
million each to vote for the constitution -but was turned down. No
mention was made that a US "guided" constitution for Iraq clearly
violates the Geneva Conventions.

Chinese Taoists say you become what you hate. In a zesty irony, the
US now find itself in a similar position as demonized Saddam Hussein.
Saddam had to use his Sunni-dominated army to hold Iraq together by
fighting Kurdish and Shia rebels. His brutal police jailed tens of
thousands and routinely used torture.

Today, Iraq's new ruler, the US, is battling Sunni insurgents,
("al-Qaida terrorists," in the latest Pentagon double-speak),
rebuilding Saddam's dreaded secret police, holding 15,000 prisoners
and torturing captives, as the Abu Ghraib outrage showed. Much of the
Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama National Guard were in Iraq this
week instead of at home.

Meanwhile, the Kurds are de facto independent, the Shia are playing
footsie with Iran, and large parts of Iraq resembles the
storm-ravaged US Gulf Coast - or vice versa.


Eric Margolis, contributing foreign editor for Sun National Media
Canada, is the author of War at the Top of the World.