When ya can' beat 'em, blackmail them…

posted by Bill Arnett @ 10:50 AM Permalink

…which seems to b the position of American generals in Iraq.

From an article in the McClatchy Washington Bureau:

The U.S. military has warned Iraq that it will shut down military operations and other vital services throughout the country on Jan. 1 if the Iraqi government doesn't agree to a new agreement on the status of U.S. forces or a renewed United Nations mandate for the American mission in Iraq.

Many Iraqi politicians view the move as akin to political blackmail, a top Iraqi official told McClatchy Sunday.

In addition to halting all military actions, U.S. forces would cease activities that support Iraq’s economy, educational sector and other areas _ "everything" _ said Tariq al Hashimi, the country’s Sunni Muslim vice president. "I didn’t know the Americans are rendering such wide-scale services."

Hashimi said that Army Gen. Ray Odierno, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, listed “tens” of areas of potential cutoffs in a three-page letter, and he said the implied threat caught Iraqi leaders by surprise.

"It was really shocking for us," he said. "Many people are looking to this attitude as a matter of blackmailing."

So for a quick review of bush diplomacy: first you seize every penny of Iraq's oil money (now about $80 billion), refuse to allow any Americans that have suffered injury from the Iraqi government, whom have sued in American courts and obtained lawful court judgments to recover on those judgments, and then, with Iraq's money solidly under the control of bush and cronies, attempt to blackmail the Iraqi's with their own monies if they fail to sign the Status of Forces Agreement by threatening to keep every penny of Iraq's money.

Is it perfectly clear now why no other country or government in the world counts on America to do the right thing?

Labels: blackmail, bush hypocrisy, conspiracy, corruption, diplomacy, disinformation, economics, Iraq, Oil