Liberating Baghdad, Again
by Ian Mosley
According to a feature article in the Times of London, the American military is planning a “second liberation of Baghdad” to be carried out with the Iraqi army when a new government is installed, which at the rate they’re going means next year some time. “Pacifying the lawless capital is regarded as essential to establishing the authority of the incoming government and preparing for a significant withdrawal of American troops,” the newspaper informs us. (Why are American military plans being published in newspapers at all? Didn’t the idea used to be that an army wanted to KEEP SECRET its plans for future activities?)
Strategic and tactical plans are being laid by US commanders in Iraq to “clean up” Iraq’s chaotic capital so that the new puppet government at least won’t be embarrassed by having to hunker down in the heavily fortified Green Zone under the protection of American occupation troops. These neighborhoods contain thousands of heavily armed Iraqis belonging to assorted gangs, militias and guerrilla groups. We are in fact talking about a God-awful mess which will leave behind very little in the way of housing or people to be hooked up to utlities, like the American flattening of Fallujah, but reality very seldom intrudes its ugly head into American military planning these days. (more…)