“We Cannot Save the Iraqis from Themselves”: Bipartisan Blaming of the Iraqi People

by Gary Leupp

The project to subjugate Iraq, and to convert it into a compliant US client-state, has failed. There is no “Mission Accomplished” but rather a hellish mix of anti-occupation resistance (the “insurgency”) and civil war. These were predictable ramifications of the decision to invade, a decision which has never been objectively examined by the mainstream press to say nothing of the Congress supposedly representing the American people. Many war critics are expecting that the newly empowered Democrats are going to investigate the prewar manufacture of pro-war “intelligence” manufactured by Douglas Feith’s Lie Factory (the “Office of Special Plans” in the Defense Department), and to thus clarify -- to any still confused -- the fact that the chaos in today’s Iraq is the fruit of an illegal, immoral invasion rejected by the Iraqi people. They’re hoping that that historical information will provide the basis for an expeditious pull-out. After all, if the invasion was a crime based on lies, how can one support the continuance of the criminality?

(full article)