'AFTER THE SHOE ATTACK'

[International Herald Tribune, France]

La Jornada, Mexico

Punishing Bush's Crimes Must Be Focus for Obama

"In the name of 'freedom,' 'security' and 'democracy,' Washington killed thousands of innocent civilians, set up centers of torture and extermination and organized an international network of clandestine rendition and murder. … If the U.S. government is to recover its moral authority in the eyes of its own people and the world, Barack Obama will have to embark on an exercise in fact-finding and the pursuit of justice for these crimes."

EDITORIAL

Translated By Halszka Czarnocka

December 15, 2008

Mexico - La Jornada - Original Article (Spanish)

On a furtive visit to Baghdad yesterday U.S. President George W. Bush, during a press conference in the fortified Green Zone, collected a small symbolic sampling of the disgust that his person provokes among the Arab people, in the form of the shoes, insults and recriminations directed at him by a journalist from the occupied country. It might seem that with this incident, and with the Orwellian lie of naming the Iraq catastrophe "one of the greatest successes in U.S. military history," Bush declared an end to the bloody adventure that was launched - also on the basis of lies - in 2003. For Iraq and the United States, however, this tragic story is far from over. Barack Obama, who will assume the presidency of our neighboring country next month, will have to confront the details of a difficult and complex military withdrawal and find adequate terms to allow U.S. society to assimilate this "great success," which is, in fact, a historic defeat for the greatest world power.

In military terms, for five and a half years the invading forces led by Washington have been incapable of vanquishing the Iraqi resistance. And this in spite of massive repression, destruction of cities and massacres perpetrated to this end. In fact, the occupiers have failed in their efforts to control the Arab country's territory. And if the pace of casualties has dropped significantly this year, it's mostly because U.S., British and the forces of other nations have given up leaving their fortified strongholds and have transferred the task of patrolling to forces composed of Iraqis.

In this way it has been possible to reduce the deaths of U.S. soldiers to "only" 83 during the second half of 2008. Outside Iraq, the outcome of the war launched by Bush has been the strengthening of Iran, the spread of armed Muslim fundamentalism to numerous countries and the unexpected resurgence of al-Qaeda and the Taliban - which was supposedly defeated in 2001 - in Afghanistan and Pakistan. As of yesterday, U.S. military casualties in Iraq had reached 4,209, plus between 30,000 and 40,000 wounded, many with permanent disabilities.

The amount of money invested in this adventure of war is really incalculable, but according to investigations done in the United States, dozens or even hundreds of billions of dollars have disappeared in a sea of corruption, bureaucracy and ineptitude. Referring only to the costs of the "reconstruction," an official document entitled Hard Lessons: the Iraq Reconstruction Experience, published yesterday by The New York Times , shows that Pentagon planners squandered $100 billion due to bureaucratic rivalries, the spiral of violence and "ignorance of the basic elements of the society and infrastructure of Iraq."

'PREVENTING THE SHOE THREAT'

[Le Temps, Switzerland]

Moreover, the war of aggression against the Arab country has inflicted lasting damage to the credibility of the institutions and information media within our neighboring country. Today, an average American doesn’t know which was worse: the lies concocted by the Executive branch to launch the war, or the obsequiousness of Congress and the major news conglomerates that yielded to the lies (weapons of mass destruction, imminent threats to U.S. territory, ties between Baghdad and Afghan terrorists), gave them legitimacy and presented them as truth without the slightest compunction.  

Posted by WORLDMEETS.US

But the most disastrous outcome of the "war on terror," which included the invasion, destruction and occupation of Iraq, was without doubt the moral one: In the name of "freedom," "security" and "democracy," Washington killed thousands of innocent civilians, set up centers of torture and extermination and organized an international network of clandestine rendition and murder - and by these actions set in motion a historic regression within its own territory and the world at large. Under the pretext of preventing further attacks like those of September 11, 2001, civilians and soldiers of the United States perpetrated grave and numerous crimes against humanity, most of which continue unpunished. Moreover, it is justifiable to presume that political and criminal responsibility for these transgressions rests with Bush himself, Vice President Dick Cheney, former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other senior and former officials of the outgoing administration.

If the U.S. government is to recover its moral authority in the eyes of its own people and the world, Barack Obama will have to embark on an exercise in fact-finding and the pursuit of justice for these crimes. More important than his handling of the economic and social consequences of the crisis left by Bush, will be the challenge that the next president of the United States confronts in having the strength to fulfill the promise of change with which he won that office.

SEE ALSO ON THIS:

Al-Iraq News, Iraq: Baghdad Bids Bush Farewell ... With a Journalist's Shoes

Kurdish Media, Iraqi Kurdistan: Middle Easterners Must Reject 'Barefoot Journalism!'

El Khabar, Algeria: Iraq Invents Weapon for Rulers that Lie … 'The Nuclear Shoe'

The Daily Star, Lebanon: Bush's Record and the Shoes Heard 'Round the World

The Times, U.K.: Journalist Who Threw Shoes at Bush, 'Has Broken Arm and Ribs'

Guardian Unlimited, U.K.: How to Insult Bush Anywhere In the World

Financial Times, U.K.: Bush's 'Sole' is Bared

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[Posted by WORLDMEETS.US December 18, 1:58am]