“Then, with a movement which was as nearly as possible unconscious, he crumpled up the original message and any notes that he himself had made, and dropped them into the memory hole to be devoured by the flames.”
Nineteen Eighty-Four Part 1 Chapter 4, p. 36 by George Orwell.[1]
The Search for Iraqi WMD Flushed Down the Memory Hole
Within 18 months of the US invasion of Afghanistan, the Bush (R) administration segued to an invasion of Iraq to prevent Saddam Hussein’s use of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD). But when President Obama (D) declared the end of US combat in Iraq over seven years later on August 31, 2010, he didn’t dare mention the original reason for the preemptive invasion of Iraq—the search for WMD.
Did Obama remind anyone of how Condoleezza Rice (R), then-National Security advisor and later Bush administration Secretary of State, made headlines in 2002 by warning about a “mushroom cloud” from Iraqi WMD? Did he remind everyone how 9/11 was linked to non-existent WMD in Iraq in the minds of many Americans?
Obama couldn’t tell you that the Bush administration lied to Americans about the reasons to invade Iraq. If he did, how could he justify his leaving 50,000 troops and 100,000 mercenaries stationed in Iraq? The lie that the war was about WMD had been flushed down the memory hole.
Instead Obama talked about how “our troops fought block by block to help Iraq seize the chance for a better future.”
Bush followed a similar theme in his May 1, 2003 speech:
“In this battle, we have fought for the cause of liberty, and for the peace of the world. Our nation and our coalition are proud of this accomplishment — yet it is you, the members of the United States military, who achieved it. Your courage — your willingness to face danger for your country and for each other — made this day possible. Because of you, our nation is more secure. Because of you, the tyrant has fallen, and Iraq is free.”
Because the real reason the US preemptively invaded Iraq—the search for WMD—had been flushed down the memory hole, history has been rewritten so that now, liberating Iraq was the reason the US invaded.
President Obama said he was “awed” by the sacrifice of US troops who “defeated a regime that had terrorized its people.” According to the latest spin, Saddam Hussein’s Baathist regime terrorized his people, so he had to be removed. Obama couldn’t mention US contributions to terrorizing the Iraqi people. He couldn’t mention the US contributions because they are all destined for the memory hole:
- The only WMD Hussein possessed were chemical weapons (pdf) known by, and their use against Iranians and Kurds accepted by the US under the Reagan (R) administration when it supported Iraq in its war against Iran.[2][3]
- The 13 years of US-supported UN sanctions on Iraq from 1990 to 2003 that contributed to an estimated 500,000 Iraqi deaths before the US invasion.[4]
- The torture and abuse of Iraqis by their “American liberators” at Abu Ghraib after US troops deposed Hussein.
- The WikiLeaks video showing two Apache helicopters flown by “American liberators” killing civilians in Iraq in 2007.
If Obama mentioned any of the above, how could he pretend that the sacrifice of US troops in Iraq was to liberate Iraq?
If he mentioned any of the above, how could he justify leaving (“non-combat”) troops in Iraq?
“He, Winston Smith, knew that Oceania had been in alliance with Eurasia as short a time as four years ago. But where did that knowledge exist? Only in his own consciousness, which in any case must soon be annihilated. And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed — if all records told the same tale — then the lie passed into history and became truth.”
Nineteen Eighty-Four Part 1 Chapter 3, p. 32 by George Orwell.
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[1] Nineteen Eighty-Four, by George Orwell, New American Library, N.Y., 1949, p. 36.
[2] "De-classified Report" (PDF), House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, June 21, 2006, (Accessed at http://intelligence.house.gov/Media/PDFS/DNILetter.pdf on Oct 1, 2010).
[3] “U.S. DOCUMENTS SHOW EMBRACE OF SADDAM HUSSEIN IN EARLY 1980s DESPITE CHEMICAL WEAPONS, EXTERNAL AGGRESSION, HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES,” George Washington University, National Security Archive, (Accessed at http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB82/press.htm on Sept. 30, 2010).
[4] Estimates of how many Iraqis died because of the UN-sanctions vary. Some are over one million. Critics dispute the claim that sanctions killed any Iraqis:
- They claim that instead Hussein’s government caused their deaths by misusing resources.
- They also claim that they were UN sanctions, not US sanctions, so don’t blame the US.
Critics ignore the purpose of sanctions (embargoes)—to make life so uncomfortable for people in a country that they force their government to submit. The following US State Department summary ignores that fact and practices doublethink:
1. It pretends that sanctions aren’t intended to harm civilians in a country.
2. It ignores the question of why anyone should expect Hussein’s or any tyrannical government without a free market to be good and efficient at taking care of people even before sanctions are imposed.
Impact of Sanctions
Summary
Sanctions were imposed on Iraq by the international community in the wake of Iraq's brutal invasion of Kuwait. They are intended to prevent the Iraqi regime access to resources that it would use to reconstitute weapons of mass destruction. Sanctions can only be lifted when Iraq complies fully with all relevant UN Security Council resolutions.
Saddam Hussein's regime remains a threat to its people and its neighbors, and has not met any of its obligations to the UN that would allow the UN to lift sanctions.
The international community, not the regime of Saddam Hussein, is working to relieve the impact of sanctions on ordinary Iraqis.
Impact of Sanctions
Sanctions are not intended to harm the people of Iraq. That is why the sanctions regime has always specifically exempted food and medicine. The Iraqi regime has always been free to import as much of these goods as possible. It refuses to do so, even though it claims it wants to relieve the suffering of the people of Iraq.
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The following state department Executive Summary also practices doublethink. Again, if Hussein is so bad and his government is a dictatorship, then why expect him to be efficient at distributing resources? It takes a free market for that. Hasn’t the US learned that any and all foreign aid to dictatorships gets “taxed” by a huge middleman commission to the foreign government?
SADDAM HUSSEIN'S IRAQ
Prepared by the U.S. Department of State
Released September 13, 1999
(Updated 3/24/00)(PDF version - 2.62MB)
Click here to get a free Adobe Acrobat Reader for PDF files.
Executive Summary
The purpose of this report is to present the facts concerning Iraq under Saddam Hussein.
There are a wealth of charges and counter-charges concerning actions undertaken by Saddam and by the international community towards Iraq.
Based on publicly available information, the facts contained in this report demonstrate that under the regime of Saddam Hussein, Iraq continues to repress its people, threaten the region, and obstruct international efforts to provide humanitarian relief.
We are helping the Iraqi people in their efforts to bring about a regime that is committed to living in peace with its neighbors and respecting the rights of its citizens.
We want to see Iraq return as a respected and prosperous member of the international community, and as the evidence shows, this is unlikely to happen as long as Saddam Hussein is in power.
As long as Saddam Hussein is in power, we are determined to contain the Iraqi regime and prevent it from threatening the region or its own people. We will also continue our efforts to increase humanitarian relief for the people of Iraq, over the obstructions of the regime.
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This US State Department page on the Hussein regime’s Misuse of Resources also ignores the fact that non-free market economies are inefficient. Imposing an embargo only makes things worse.
Misuse of Resources by the Regime
Summary
Rather than spend money to help its people, Iraq's leaders enrich themselves.
Mismanagement
With Iraqi oil revenues burgeoning, it's hard to understand why the people of Iraq aren't better off. The reason is because the government of Iraq is mismanaging the oil-for-food program, either deliberately or through incompetence.
Despite reports of widespread health problems, the government has still not spent the full $200 million for medical supplies allocated under phase five of the oil-for-food program (which ended in May). Only 40% of the money was used to purchase medicines for primary care, while 60% was used to buy medical equipment.
While the average Iraqi needs basic medicines and medical care, the government of Iraq spent $6 million on a gamma knife, an instrument used for complicated neurosurgery that requires extremely advanced training to use. Another several million was spent on a MRI machine, used for high-resolution imaging. Such exotic treatment is reserved for regime bodyguards and other members of the elite. This total of $10 million could instead have benefited thousands of Iraqi children if it had been spent on vaccines, antibiotics, and the chemotherapeutics necessary to treat the large numbers of children that are allegedly dying due to lack of medicine.
Personal Enrichment
While the people of Iraq go wanting, their leaders enrich themselves.
In July 1999, Forbes Magazine estimated Saddam Hussein's personal wealth at $6 billion, acquired primarily from oil and smuggling.
Medicines received through the oil-for-food program are sold by the regime to private hospitals at exorbitant prices.
Members of the government and top military and security officials are provided with extra monthly food rations, Mercedes automobiles, and monthly stipends in the thousands of dollars. By comparison, the average monthly government salary is 6,500 dinars, or about $3.50.
Saddam's Excesses
In addition to the revenues generated under the oil-for-food program, the government of Iraq earns money from other sources which it controls. Rather than spend these funds to help the people of Iraq, Saddam Hussein chooses to build monuments to himself. In addition, he deprives those in need of water and other scarce resources in order to favor elites and other supporters of the regime.
Saddam celebrated his birthday this year by building a resort complex for regime loyalists. Since the Gulf War, Saddam has spent over $2 billion on presidential palaces. Some of these palaces boast gold-plated faucets and man-made lakes and waterfalls, which use pumping equipment that could have been used to address civilian water and sanitation needs.
Photo 2: Saddamiat al Tharthar, Iraq, a resort city built for Regime VIPs, April 1999. View larger imageIn April 1999, Iraqi officials inaugurated Saddamiat al Tharthar. Located 85 miles west of Baghdad, this sprawling lakeside vacation resort contains stadiums, an amusement park, hospitals, parks, and 625 homes to be used by government officials. This project cost hundreds of millions of dollars. There is no clearer example of the government's lack of concern for the needs of its people than Saddamiat al Tharthar (see photo 2).
In July, Baghdad increased taxes on vehicle ownership and marriage dowries, after earlier increases in taxes, fees, and fuel and electricity prices. This is in part what pays for Saddam's palaces. Saddam also uses food rations, medical care, and other state resources to buy the loyalty of his inner circle and security forces.
Iraq is facing its worst drought in 50 years. As a result, the government is restricting the planting of rice and told farmers not to plant summer crops without permission from the Ministry of Irrigation. The water levels of the reservoirs supplying Saddam Hussein's region of Tikrit, however, were at normal seasonal levels, while the flow of water to the southern cities was dramatically lower than during the previous two years. Saddam is diverting water to serve his political objectives, at the expense of the general population.
Here’s another US State Department link defending the UN-sanctions on Iraq. Yes they’re UN sanctions. But who doesn’t think the US was directing the UN on the Iraq embargo and the 1992 Gulf War? And why do you think the US State Department put out so many pages supporting the “UN sanctions”?
Iraqi Obstruction of Oil-For-Food
Summary
Thanks to the oil-for-food program, the people of Iraq, especially those in the north, are getting needed foods and medicines.
The program would be even more effective if the Iraqi regime were cooperating. Iraqi obstruction of the oil-for-food program, not United Nations sanctions, is the primary reason the Iraqi people are suffering.
Oil-for-Food Program Helps Iraqis
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