The realities are more complex.
In the weeks leading up to Christmas, reality here at home always plunges into an even deeper than normal recession, and so this year TV fans will inevitably be served a fare of pictures of victorious US troops returning to their families and loved ones having completed their mission of freeing Iraq from the dictatorship of Saddam's regime. The Status of Forces Agreement between Iraq and the US, signed by President George Bush in 2006 calling for all US troops to leave Iraq by the end of 2012, will be seen to have been honoured.
That the troops leave an Iraq much of which is now a shattered and ruined wasteland will be the concern of only a minority of us in the West, and most will accept a Hollywood version of what in reality is an epic crime; the war of aggression, carried out 'in our name'.
This week meanwhile, with the death of Gaddafi and the defeat of his resistance, we may well have witnessed the real deciding factor for the Iraq pull out. It is perhaps no coincidence that the one event hastily followed the announcement of the other.
The ultimate 'success' of the 'humanitarian' NATO bombing campaign in Libya, combined with the deployment of a rag tag army of Western intelligence assets on the ground, aiding, abbetting and directing thousands of citizens hungry for change in their country offers the new template of conquest for a nation's resources.
NATO, in short, is now 'New Alternatives To Occupation', and the lessons of Iraq have been learned.
Libya has been secured for the benefit of the financial institutions and the transnational corporations without the need for military occupation. The importance of this cannot be overstated.
Yugoslavia, also once the beneficiary of a NATO 'humanitarian' bombing campaign, stands as an example of what 'humanitarian' intervention has been capable of achieving; and reflecting on the destiny of Yugoslavia, it is worth considering whether Libya will still exist in five or ten years time.
This is the prospect now facing many nation states. We should not forget that according to retired US general Wesley Clark, Iraq was to be just the beginning of a five year programme which would see seven countries attacked; namely Iraq, then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and finally Iran.
Listening recently to an Iraqi man explaining to me how Iraq now exists only in the hearts and memories of it's people, I was reminded of the words of ex US ambassador Joseph Wilson, speaking in November 2003:
"This war was never about WMD. It was never about terrorism. The so called front on terror didn't exist until we created it, and it wasn't about liberation of the poor Iraqi people...it is all about redrawing the political map of the Middle East. What I mean by that is returning the Arab world to its pre-Ottomon stage, so that Israel is surrounded by demographic entities that are no larger than it is and would spend all their time fighting each other and are unable to provide a monolithic block against Israel. It looks to me like they are all geared up to do something with Syria, perhaps Iran."
This is a deadly confluence of mutual interests that we are witnessing: an agenda shared by Israel and global monopoly capital.
Given everything that has happened since Joseph Wilson and Wesley Clark spoke out, it is hard not to conclude that the agenda is now well on the way to being 'mission accomplished', and anyone who opposes it is obviously still 'with the terrorists'.
For sentient people everywhere who also possess a conscience there is much to consider, and much to be alarmed about by this new turn of events.
Michael Perry October 23.
Michael Perry October 23.
