Jailing away, jailing away, we must go rejoicing…

posted by Bill Arnett @ 1:12 PM Permalink

A scathingly brilliant plan has been devised to stop the insurgency in Iraq and the beauty of it is that it is so easy to affect. Truly a plan that could only be made by a country with a prison population of over two million and the basest of motivation: Let's put 'em all in prison by making their very own neighborhood a gulag, with proper papers that must be carried by all, and arresting any males of military age. Brilliant! This is General Petraeus' plan as described by The Independent Online Edition, an article by Mr. Robert Fisk that should be read by everyone, as I'm just going to hit the highlights, and not necessarily in the same order as he:

Faced with an ever-more ruthless insurgency in Baghdad - despite President George Bush's "surge" in troops - US forces in the city are now planning a massive and highly controversial counter-insurgency operation that will seal off vast areas of the city, enclosing whole neighbourhoods with barricades and allowing only Iraqis with newly issued ID cards to enter.…The campaign of "gated communities" - whose genesis was in the Vietnam War - will involve up to 30 of the city's 89 official districts and will be the most ambitious counter-insurgency programme yet mounted by the US in Iraq.…The system has been used - and has spectacularly failed - in the past, and its inauguration in Iraq is as much a sign of American desperation at the country's continued descent into civil conflict as it is of US determination to "win" the war against an Iraqi insurgency…But the campaign has far wider military ambitions than the pacification of Baghdad. It now appears that the US military intends to place as many as five mechanised brigades - comprising about 40,000 men - south and east of Baghdad, at least three of them positioned between the capital and the Iranian border. This would present Iran with a powerful - and potentially aggressive - American military force close to its border…The latest "security" plan, of which The Independent has learnt the details, was concocted by General David Petraeus…The initial emphasis of the new American plan will be placed on securing Baghdad market places and predominantly Shia Muslim areas. Arrests of men of military age will be substantial.[Please note that these "men of military age" will be arrested and jailed without stated cause, a bush trademark. Bill ] The ID card project is based upon a system adopted in the city of Tal Afar by General Petraeus's men…General Petraeus regarded the campaign as a success although Tal Afar, close to the Syrian border, has since fallen back into insurgent control.…US-Iraqi forces will supposedly clear militias from civilian streets which will then be walled off and the occupants issued with ID cards. Only the occupants will be allowed into these "gated communities" and there will be continuous patrolling by US-Iraqi forces. There are likely to be pass systems, "visitor" registration and restrictions on movement outside the "gated communities". Civilians may find themselves inside a "controlled population" prison.…

I mean, screw Big Brother, Orwell was a piker compared to the viciousness, vileness, and evil that will be wrought by this plan: Ve must haf your papers or you vill be shot! Or jailed! Or shot in jail! Or shot and then jailed!

When will the suffering of these poor people, the Iraqis who posed absolutely no threat to America but had the misfortune of sitting on top of a lot of oil wanted by bush and his cronies, end? Their country is a living hell on earth thanks to America, and now Americans are going to dictate who may live in what hellish neighborhoods using a plan that has failed spectacularly in the past and that is likely to fail now? This is a plan so poorly thought out that only a bushie could like it or even find it acceptable, because bush is and always has been a control freak. Well, a freak anyway. Who else but a freak would seek to permanently imprison entire neighborhoods?

It also gives the lie to bush's "temporary surge" and his demand for immediate money from congress under threat that the soldiers will suffer. The only suffering the troops are undergoing has been caused by bush's incompetence, war/fearmongering, and furtherance of his imperial ambitions. bush has clearly lied to America again as to his need and plans for the use of mo' money, because this "surge" was planned long ago to increase the number of our forces in Iraq to prepare for war with Iran.

This is being done in our name, America, and it must stop, for the cost is too dear and the shame of bush's actions shames us all.

Labels: Bush, Iraq war