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Iraq’s
bumpy road to de-Baathification
My heart bleeds
for Iraq and its people. More than five weeks after the end of the
war supposedly conducted by the US led Allied forces, to rid the
country of weapons of mass destruction WMD and also rid it of perceived
dictatorial reign of Saddam Hussein, Iraq has slipped into chaos,
anarchy and hopelessness. It is also rudderless. The country is
now in the throes of another theatre of operations under the command
of unruly miscreants and outlaws. In spite of the ubiquitous presence
of fierce looking US and British soldiers, armed gangs have taken
over, looting every building in sight, raping and reining in an
atmosphere of terror. With virtually all its historical artefacts
stolen and banks looted of over $500 million deposits, even with
the participation of American soldiers, the second largest oil producing
country in the world stand the risk being torn to tatters.
The Iraqis are
in complete fright as disorderliness now rules their lives. According
to a The New York Times report last week, “looters had already pilfered
underground cables, carted off computers that regulate power distribution,
stolen 25 of the guards’ 30 patrol cars, emptied warehouses of spare
parts, ransacked substations and shot up transmission lines across
the country’s electric grid.” Daily news report from the country
now on the verge of the outbreak of an epidemic, is not too cheery.
It is particularly frightening. Vital social infrastructure reduced
to rubble during the war is yet to be restored. Electricity is erratic,
food, medicines and water is in short supply. The schools are only
one third full. No one appear in charge. No thanks to the infighting
between the Pentagon and the State Department on the mechanics of
Iraq’s reconstruction plan.
Although the
US has dumped General Jay Garner for Paul Bremier, no one is sure
whether this is the right remedy for a country now dangerously hanging
on the precinct of the precipice. The Americans seem to loathe every
member of the former ruling Baath party in spite of their ability
to fix and make things work. Even the Iraqi exiles and other opportunists
are feasting on the now pervasive de-Baathification campaign. The
reality notwithstanding, the Americans are paranoid on severing
the country from the rule of members of the Baath Party that took
charge under Saddam Hussein. The fact is that almost every public
servant or those who manned vital social infrastructure in the country
were members of the Baath Party. The attempt by the American overseers
to engage in a de-Baathification process may likely founder as it
is unthinkable to want to exorcise about 1.5million members of the
former ruling party from state affairs.
Although they
deny this was their motive, the Americans appear more concerned
with sharing the contracts for the prospecting of huge Iraq oil
resources than spare thought for security in the Arab country. Little
wonder that the Iraqi ministry of petroleum resources was untouched
in spite of the torrents of bombs that ravaged the country during
the war. Same for the oil production centres of Basra, Monsul and
Kirkuk which became crucial targets of the invading allied forces.
It is significant that haven brushed aside world opinion to wage
one of the most infamous war of barbarism on the Iraqi people, US
President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair now
holds the world an explanation for the ostensible reason for the
war. It certainly cannot be Iraq’s so called WMD or Saddam’s touted
tyranny We are yet to be inundated with evidence that Iraq actually
possesses WMD weeks after the guns stopped booming. Were the Americans
and Brits so enamoured by the love for democracy in the Middle East,
the place to begin is the corrupt and degenerate leadership dotting
the region. Having engaged in apparent malicious hooliganism and
conducting a barbaric war to exterminate the Iraqi people, we need
to ask Bush and Blair where are the weapons of mass destruction?
Even then, whatever
evidence that is presented now cannot but be tainted. The fact is
that the motive for the war was tall on lies and propaganda. The
US had bulldozed the entire world to legitimise its foreign policy
objectives, designed to guarantee cheap oil resources from the Caspian
Sea for its people at home. Under the facade that she was stamping
out terrorism in Afghanistan and ridding the country of the rule
of the Taliban, the US had constructed pipelines that would eventually
be fed by oil resources from Iraq. No one is sure where else they
will turn in their search for cheap oil and contracts to regenerate
the gloomy American economy. I have my fears for the Nigeria’s Niger
Delta and particularly Excravos, where the American Chevron oil
company operations have been disrupted by the intermittent brick
bath between the Ijaw and Itsekiri.
How long the
Americans will allow the continued disruption to the Chevron Tank
Farm in Ugborodo, which is said to produce over 300,000 barrels
per day is an enigma. However for any doubting Thomases, its clear
that the both Gulf War I and II had been fought more for what is
now seen as America’s oily business. First published in the Sunday
Punch on May 25, 2003.
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