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building of a massive new US embassy in Iraq
A parallel universe
Paul Rogers
11 - 5 - 2006
Paul Rogers
11 - 5 - 2006
The building of a massive new United States embassy and military bases in and around Baghdad signals the US determination to remain in Iraq for the long term.
As the Iraq war becomes increasingly unpopular within the United States and President George W Bush records exceptionally low approval ratings, the administration needs to redouble its efforts to present the situation in Iraq as one of steady improvement. It can point to the fact that a new prime minister has at last been agreed, while the Pentagon holds back on replacing several thousand troops due to return home from Iraq. The political and media line follows: the trend of events in Iraq is positive, and this will allow plenty of troop withdrawals by the time of the congressional mid-term elections on 7 November 2006. (....)
There is nothing new in the idea of a long-term occupation indeed it was raised by an article in the New York Times just over three years ago and within weeks of the termination of the Saddam Hussein regime, and analysed in an earlier column in this series (see "Permanent occupation?", 24 April 2003).
That column noted:"If the prime intention were to ensure a completely independent and democratic Iraq, then the signs would include the early and substantial involvement of the UN and other intergovernmental organisations in reconstruction and in the democratic transition, the rapid withdrawal of military forces and their replacement by an international stabilisation force, and the absence of any intention to maintain a long-term military presence in the country. The early indications are that none of this will happen. Indeed, all the signs point to long-term US control."
continue reading: OpenDemocracy, http://www.opendemocracy.net/conflict/parallel_universe_3529.jsp
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