Raimondo on Iraq

Dennis Perrin dperrin at comcast.net
Mon Sep 16 06:08:39 PDT 2002


[Been awhile since I posted some of JR's gut-punch prose here. And this morn he's in fine form:]

Oh, they just can't wait to get their greedy little hands on all that oil, can they? Undeterred by even a modicum of decorum or subtlety, these pigs can hardly restrain themselves from smacking their fat greasy lips as Dubya revs up his death machine. Has a more unappetizing display of pure evil ever displayed itself so shamelessly? Tens of thousands of casualties, billions in tax dollars, an economic shock that could send the U.S. economy into a tailspin - and for what? So that Big Oil can reap what the Post refers to as a "bonanza." A U.S. invasion, we are told, would succeed in "scuttling oil deals" between Baghdad and Russia, France and other countries. The competitive advantages of this war openly touted by that tireless warmonger, former CIA director R. James Woolsey:

"France and Russia have oil companies and interests in Iraq. They should be told that if they are of assistance in moving Iraq toward decent government, we'll do the best we can to ensure that the new government and American companies work closely with them. If they throw in their lot with Saddam, it will be difficult to the point of impossible to persuade the new Iraqi government to work with them."

This is the real meaning of "multilateralism" - it's the equivalent of an international mugging. If you guys help me jump that Iraqi dude, we can divvy up the loot. It used to be that U.S. policymakers tried to mask their mercenary motives behind invocations of universal "human rights" and the worldwide spread of "democracy." Now they flaunt their avarice, as if it were a virtue. It's enough to raise the rotten corpse of Marxism from the grave, and give Bin Laden a propaganda boost.

Capitalism, naturally, will take the blame. It doesn't matter that this isn't free market economics, but mercantilism, a kind of crony capitalism with claws. The enemies of the market - the Bin Ladens and the Marxists - will cry, "See! I told you so!" As the U.S. holds up the prospect of loot as a lure to our allies, promising to cut them in on the deal, who besides the amoral Larry Kudlow can help but turn away in revulsion at the sight of these vultures? Circling over the not-yet-dead corpses of uncounted Iraqis and God-knows-how-many American soldiers, these ghouls are already drooling over the prospect

http://www.antiwar.com/justin/justincol.html

DP



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