Iraq is not free. Far from it.
Professor Juan Cole, over at his excellent blog Informed Comment, reminds us what a farce the so-called democracy in Iraq really is. As he notes:
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said Tuesday before the United Nations: “I categorically refuse the use of Iraqi soil to launch a military strike against Syria or any other Arab country . . . “But at the end of the day my ability to confront the US military is limited and I cannot impose on them my will.”
How many thousands of civilians and soldiers have died in the name of “Iraqi freedom” again? It’s obvious that as long as the US maintains a presence in that country – and it has no plans to leave anytime soon having built the largest US embassy anywhere in the world there and while Rumsfeld “hints” at more US troops being sent in – any elected Iraqi government is powerless and impotent. What exactly did all of those purple-fingered Iraqi people risk their lives for back on election day? And what of their continued suffering to this very day – the suicide bombs, the insurgent attacks, the horrors their children live with every day? What is it all for?
As the esteemed Representative John Conyers said today, speaking at Rosa Park’s funeral, (video and transcript at Brad Blog), “We’ve got to realize that you can’t maintain a Democracy and an Empire, simultaneously.”
It’s not good for the United States and it certainly is not good for the future of the middle east.