Rant of the Week

The Naked Army

There are moments, inevitably, when the unblushing face of real American foreign policy--as an extension of commercial corporate dominance-- reveals itself. Here it is: the treaty governing future American relations with Iraq, a little document Bush is hoping will tie the hands of future administrations.

The Bush Administration claims that the document is not a "treaty" because a treaty would require congressional approval, which would require a relatively transparent discussion of all of its provisions, which might alert the opposition parties in Iraq to the fact that they are unwillingly surrendering their national sovereignty in exchange for American military protection of a government that could never survive on its own, and would alert Americans to the fact that this quagmire grows ever more gooey.

Oh my-- all the screeching conservative voices that swore with wounded dignity that the invasion of Iraq was all about liberation, not about extending American military might into the oil-rich middle east, and -- heavens, no!-- never, ever about installing and preserving a pro-American government in Baghdad, or intimidating the Iranians. Oh my, no. What a coincidence that, due to instability and those wicked Al Qaeda insurgents, we'll have to stay for, oh, a decade or so, or at least until the oil runs out.