THE WISDOM FUND: News & Views
The Independent (UK)
April 17, 2003

A New Colonial Oppression

America's war of 'liberation' may be over. But Iraq's war of liberation from the Americans is just about to begin

by Robert Fisk

It's going wrong, faster than anyone could have imagined. The army of "liberation" has already turned into the army of occupation. The Shias are threatening to fight the Americans, to create their own war of "liberation". . . .

And all across Baghdad you hear the same thing, from Shia Muslim clerics to Sunni businessmen, that the Americans have come only for oil, and that soon -- very soon -- a guerrilla resistance must start. . . .

Everywhere are the signs of collapse. And everywhere the signs that America's promises of "freedom" and "democracy" are not to be honoured. . . .

Were they monsters, these men? Yes. Are they sought by the Americans? No. Are they now working for the Americans? Yes, quite possibly -- indeed some of them may well be in the long line of ex-security thugs who queue every morning outside the Palestine Hotel in the hope of being re-hired by the US Marines' Civil Affairs Unit. . . .

The Americans said they couldn't be sure they had killed Saddam until they could carry out forensic tests at the site. But this turns out to have been a lie. . . .

As I said, something is going terribly wrong in Baghdad and something is going on which demands that serious questions be asked of the United States government. Why, for example, did Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defence, claim last week that there was no widespread looting or destruction in Baghdad? His statement was a lie. But why did he make it?

The Americans say they don't have enough troops to control the fires. This is also untrue. . . .

So the people of Baghdad are asking who is behind the destruction of their cultural heritage: the looting of the archaeological treasures from the national museum; the burning of the entire Ottoman, Royal and State archives; the Koranic library; and the vast infrastructure of the nation we claim we are going to create for them. . . .

FULL TEXT

Eszter Szamado, "'Free Iraq Force': Iraqi Exiles Trained by U.S. Army," Agence France-Presse, February 28, 2003

Ole Rothenborg, "U.S. Troops Encouraged Ransacking," Dagens Nyheter (Sweden), April 11, 2003

Robert Fisk, "A Civilisation Torn to Pieces," The Independent (UK), April 13, 2003

"Anti-American Protests Intensify in Iraq," The China Post (Taiwan), April 16, 2003

Thom Shanker and Eric Schmitt, "Pentagon Expects Long-Term Access to Four Key Bases in Iraq," New York Times, April 19, 2003

Patrick J. Buchanan, "Crown jewel of American empire," WorldNetDaily.com, April 23, 2003

Jonathon Fowler, "U.S. bridles as Annan calls it 'occupying power'," Toronto Star, April 24, 2003

David Kelly, "Ahmad Chalabi's critics recall the financial ruin he caused and his flight from their kingdom," Los Angeles Times, May 11, 2003

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