by Stephen
Phillips
It’s been four months since the
Caustic Cowboy declared that major combat operations in Iraq were over. The body
count, though, continues to mount on an almost daily basis, with more coalition forces
having been killed since the “end” than during the “main” conflict. (Or should that be, “battle to liberate the
oppressed Iraqi people and show them the true face of democracy?”)
Anyway, after all the brouhaha and
“conclusive proof” that has since been totally discredited, we still
haven’t turned up Saddam, and we don’t have a single sign of those pesky WMDs.
The situation in Iraq is growing increasingly
unstable. Far from handing control over to a liberated people, the U.S.-led
coalition is desperately trying to bolster security—not, it seems, to protect the
indigenous population, but to protect its own forces from increasingly sophisticated and
deadly attacks. With the situation deteriorating, the coalition forces are getting
spread pretty thin on the ground, and G.W. is trying to gain support from other countries
to help bolster security in Iraq.
Now, here’s the rub. When the U.S.
decided to invade, it took it upon itself to thumb its nose at the United Nations and the
diplomatic process, circumventing the Security Council completely. Now Colin Powell is back, cap in hand, trying to
get the U.N. to provide more troops to help the U.S. dig itself out of the dung hill it
created. How is it possible that on the one
hand, the Americans tell the rest of the world to take a metaphorical hike and go jump,
yet here we are, not even one year later, and they’re begging for help from the very
organization they told to go f—k itself?
No matter what your opinion of the reasons for
going to war in the first place, one cannot ignore the irony of this administration’s
wheeling and dealing. First it’s blatant
disregard for the diplomatic process; then,
finding themselves up the creek without a paddle, they run back to the Security Council,
saying “We need more foreign involvement because global terror is everyone’s
problem, and the heart of that is Iraq.”
That’s interesting. I thought that Afghanistan was the heart of Global
Terror! Come on now, George, you can’t change the rules of the game when we are
in the second quarter. That’s just not
cricket.
My
question is this: Why is America attempting to involve anybody and everybody in this
increasingly complicated and volatile situation? Is it maybe that G.W. knows there
is an election right round the corner, and the voters are starting to get restless about
the shambles in Iraq? Is he calculating that
by involving the United Nations, if things take a turn for the worse (could they get any
worse?), he and his administration will be able to wash their hands of any responsibility?
The truth is out there, my friends, and one of
these days it will all come out in the wash.
Keep watching this space.
© COPYRIGHT 2003 STEPHEN PHILLIPS. ALL
RIGHTS RESERVED.
