On April Fool’s Day every year, many people in many countries spread lies and misinformation through the media or text messages. People spread these tales which are later seen to be wrong.
I am not going to analyze their motives because that is the specialty of psychotherapists and sociologists. But I will mention the biggest lie of all, one that was presented by the American government which said that the aggression against Iraq was not targeting the Iraqi people but the Iraqi dictator and that it was aimed at destroying Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction.
They want to bring democracy and freedom to the Middle East as long as it serves American interests in the area. Since the Iraqi opposition and the Iraqi people inside and outside Iraq are not ready for Iraq after Saddam, according to the American point of view, then the democratic American government will form a caretaker government controlled by Americans.
America will control Iraq with a military government consisting of retired American military personnel or military personnel still on active duty. To be sure, the Americans will get help from Iraqi advisers who are trusted by Colin Powell and Donald Rumsfeld.
No one believes this lie and, in fact, it became a disaster. The disaster exists in the fact that the Americans insist on continuing the war on Iraq even if it is against the law, United Nations resolutions and the will of countries around the world including the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.
Colin Powell talks about 40 countries participating in the “coalition” against Iraq; however, the only participation we have seen is from the United States and Britain in addition to the Israeli contribution. Of course there are countries, some not called by name, who are giving indirect logistic and intelligence help because of economic, political or media pressure.
The disaster occurs when the American administration, led by Bush, comes to believe the lie that the US forces are freeing Iraq. The conservative right wing and the Zionist lobby created this lie for the American administration. It is a plan to control and colonize the area and control its wealth.
This lie needed some support — such as when Rumsfeld said that the regime in Baghdad would fall quickly and the war would be nothing but a walk in the park. He said that the war would take only a few days and would end quickly. The plan included an uprising in the south against the regime because they had suffered so much from Saddam’s regime.
These calculations have all been seen to be wrong. An uprising did not occur in the south because of the presence of strong government troops in addition to the strong objections by the Iraqi people to any kind of occupation by foreign forces. Instead of welcoming the US Army, the people put up strong resistance.
These lies and the resignation of Richard Perle are indications of a change of plans by the Americans because they saw that the war would last for a long time, not a few days as they had earlier predicted. If we assume the American and British forces will win the war and destroy the Iraqi regime, then they cannot cover their losses in political and moral terms. Most probably, Bush and Blair will not escape responsibility if the war lasts long. It is even likely they will lose the next elections.
Arab News From the Local Press 7 April 2003
