Surviving Capitalism (Not) : Iraq Withdrawal? Obama and Clinton Expanding US Paramilitary Force in Iraq

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Iraq Withdrawal? Obama and Clinton Expanding US Paramilitary Force in Iraq

by Jeremy Scahill from The Nation. Hillary changes her tune to serve the interests of her employer--the US Empire and its ruling class.

This is a developing illustration of how the governing class "pulls the wool" over the eyes of the people in the US. Corporate media will be very instrumental in this deceit by covering the phony withdrawal as if it were real.

Using private forces is a backdoor way of continuing a substantial US presence under the cover of "diplomatic security." The kind of paramilitary force that Obama and Clinton are trying to build in Iraq is, in large part, a bi-product of the monstrous colonial fortress the US calls its embassy in Baghdad and other facilities the US will maintain throughout Iraq after the "withdrawal."