"It's sovereignty but (some) of
that sovereignty they are going to allow us to exercise on their behalf and
with their permission," he added. "It is not as if we are seizing
anything away from them.��Colin Powell in describing the future relation� between
occupiers and occupied under the terms of Iraq �sovereignty.� [Emphasis added]
"The president is not going to trim his sails
or pull back. It's a continuation of his principles [sic], his policies [sic],
his beliefs [sic]," Colin Powell commenting on the
second term of George W. Bush.
Colin Powell�s hollow knowledge on the issue of liberation is a
masterwork of self-importance. He cites the case of Europe during WWII as proof
of American �liberation enterprise.� Powell pompously related that experience
to the invasion of Iraq, but in doing that, he tripped on pertinent methodical
differentiation. For instance, he interchanged the concept of �liberation from occupation� which is noble, with the concept of �occupation as liberation,� which is
colonialist.
Powell, � . . . We have done a lot of
liberation in Europe after Europeans occupied other parts of Europe. We restore sovereignty; we do
not deny freedom or sovereignty to those who own the land.�
Undoubtedly, Powell knows that �Iraq�s liberation� is about imperialism,
colonialism, and Zionism, regardless, he talks about it as if it were really
about liberation. For all practical reasons, and after 19 months of occupation,
Iraq is an occupied, not liberated country. Irrefutably, Iraq was free
until the U.S. occupied it.
1.
Powell disregarded the fact that at the end of WWII, Europe itself was
still occupying most of the planet. Because Powell pretended that the U.S. was
in the business of liberation, why did it not liberate those nations from the
yoke of European colonialism?
2.
The United States alone could not have �liberated� not even one eighth
of a square inch of Europe from Nazism without the military forces and people
of the Soviet Union, Britain, France, Italy, Greece, Yugoslavia, etc.
3.
The crisis of capitalism following the Great Depression, and not
opposition to Hitler or his occupation of some European countries, made the
U.S. entry into the war a profitable economic enterprise to rescue a system in
trouble.
4.
Powell boasted that the U.S. is a �restorer of lost sovereignty.� This
is pomposity. Powell translated WWII events to an immutable American standard
to gauge successive world events. The falsehood in such a premise is that
Powell superimposed American mythology of Europe�s �liberation� over today�s
U.S. hyper-imperialist reality. He then updated that mythology to resuscitate
America of 1945 and recast it as a unique �restorer of sovereignty� in 2003.
5.
Powell�s phrase, �We restore sovereignty� means that the U.S. is not an
imperialist state, as it did not claim formerly occupied France and other
European states as spoils of war; hence, this was equivalent to �restoring
sovereignty.� This is nonsense, and a tricky proposition when applied on
occupied Iraq. After the defeat of Germany, the emergence of the USSR as a
world power and despite the presence of hundreds of thousands of American
forces in Europe, the U.S. could not have imposed occupation regimes on
European states, nor claim them as a prize simply because of geopolitical and
strategic considerations.
6.
Moreover, there are structural differences between waging a unilateral
war to conquer Iraq, and the temporary Nazi occupation of most of central
Europe during war and counter-war.
7.
Powell arrogated to himself the right to bestow sovereignty to those who
own land. We can demolish his pretension immediately: just look around you! Can
you see if Native American Indians have an exclusive county, state, or an
independent country on the 3 million square miles of a land that once belonged
to them?
8.
Two questions to Powell: 1) what do you think of giving sovereignty back
to the Palestinians over Palestine? And 2) is it not odd that Russian, Yemeni,
or Romanian immigrants to Palestine have sovereignty over a land their
ancestors never set foot on?
Powell�s Theory on Iraq�s Weapons of Mass
Destruction
Iraq�s possession of WMD was the only rationale that Bush
and U.S Zionists used to invade Iraq. Although this subject requires special
space and extensive treatment, I shall present here a primer on the issue
including three points by Colin Powell and one by John Pilger.
From Powell's speech
at the World Economic Forum, Davos (Switzerland), January 2003:
�After six weeks of inspections, the international community
still needs to know the answers to key questions. For example: Where is the
evidence�where is the evidence�that Iraq has destroyed the tens of
thousands of liters of anthrax and botulinum we know it had before it expelled
the previous inspectors? This isn't an American determination. This is the
determination of the previous inspectors. Where is this material? What happened
to it? It's not a trivial question. We're not talking about aspirin. We're
talking about the most deadly things one can imagine, that can kill thousands,
millions of people. We cannot simply turn away and say, 'Well, never mind.'
Where is it? Account for it. Let it be verified through the inspectors.�
[Emphasis added]
Comment: The evidence that Powell was searching for, was in front of
him. Up to the moment of his speech, and after the most meticulous inspections
in history, weapons inspectors found no WMD in Iraq.
From Powell's Speech at the United
Nations in February 2003:
�Iraq declared 8,500 liters of anthrax. But UNSCOM estimates
that Saddam Hussein could have produced 25,000 liters. If concentrated into
this dry form, this amount would be enough to fill tens upon tens upon tens of
thousands of teaspoons. And Saddam Hussein has not verifiably accounted for
even one teaspoonful of this deadly material. And that is my third point. And
it is key. The Iraqis have never accounted for all of the biological weapons
they admitted they had and we know they had.� He then added, �They
have never accounted for all the organic material used to make them. And they
have not accounted for many of the weapons filled with these agents such as
their R-400 bombs. This is evidence, not conjecture. This is true. This is all well documented.� [Emphasis added].
Comment: with his �evidence,� his �not conjecture,� and his
�documentation,� etc., Powell confirmed that as far as it concerns Iraq, the
U.S. has become the only prosecutor, judge, jury, and executioner. From an
analytical perspective, this also confirms that the United States considered
Iraq as its exclusive domain and private business, where all historical and
legal codes regarding its status cease to exist.
From Powell's
Testimony to the Congress Business Affairs Committee on September 14, 2004:
�There was every reason to believe there were stockpiles. There was a question about the size of
stockpiles, but we all believed there were stockpiles. It turned out that we
have not found any stockpiles. I think it is unlikely that we will find any
stockpiles.� He then added, �The job now, to go back and find out why we
had a different judgment.� [Emphasis added]
Comment: Powell presented the Iraq War as if it were a
consequence of faulty judgment, and not a deliberate action. All of us, who
followed the build up of the case to invade Iraq, expected that after the
invasion, the US would plant evidence to validate its pre-war claims over WMD.
Because the entire world was watching and warning against such eventuality, the
U.S. abandoned this plan and adopted the ruse of faulty intelligence. With
this, Powell intended to put the matter to rest, as if the killing of thousands
of Iraqis and the ravaging of Iraq were a criminal case where one can get a
mitigated sentence if he admits wrongdoing.
Powell, however, did not admit wrongdoing. He only talked
about different judgment. In a sense, Powell obliquely admitted to committing
�negligence� by using �faulty intelligence.�
Just like that, and with his �The job now, to go back and
find out why we had a different judgment,� Powell attempted to sweep U.S.
Hitlerian crimes in Iraq under the rug. A fascist Zionist junta that vehemently
wanted to invade Iraq, is now covering up its coveted object of desire with new
spins��different judgment,� �intelligence mistake,� and �go back and find why,�
etc.
Emphatically, the war and occupation of Iraq were not
an act of negligence or faulty intelligence�they were the most calculated plans
in history, where the Bush administration committed all premeditated degrees of
murder. The question is: Will a country that brags about the rule of law prosecute
its own administration�the Bush administration�for crimes against humanity?
No, it will not. A country ruled by two identical parties; a
country whose democracy, Congress, House, committees, and subcommittees are
controlled; a country whose institutions are permeated by fascist edicts; and a
country manipulated by oilmen, large corporations, Zionists, Christian
Zionists, and militarists will never dare to prosecute itself for crimes it
committed abroad. Simply, our dilemma is that the self-feeding American system
will never incriminate itself, nor can we force a change to its nature through
elections.
From John Pilger's
Documentary Breaking the Silence: Truth and Lies in the War on Terror:
Australian Journalist, John Pilger discovered a videotape
taken in Cairo, Egypt on February 24, 2001. where Powell admitted the
following:
"He [Saddam Hussein] has not developed any
significant capability with respect to weapons of mass destruction. He is
unable to use conventional power against his neighbors.� Pilger�s
documentary reports that Powell had even boasted that �containment� had
effectively disarmed the Iraqi dictator. [Emphasis added]
Pilger also discovered another videotape shot on May 15,
2001, where Powell stated that Saddam Hussein had not been able to
"Build his military back up or to develop weapons of mass destruction,�
and added, � For the last 10 years, America had been successful in keeping him
in a box."
In October 2004, Charles A. Duelfer confirmed John�s
Pilger�s discovery and dismantled permanently the hoax of all times. In his
conclusive report on Iraq�s WMD, Duelfer shredded all remaining lies that
dotted Bush�s invasion of Iraq, but not before advancing a new sterile
imperialist speculative alibi, that Hussein kept his �strategic intent� to
produce such weapons. Because Duelfer�s report is of exceptional significance,
we shall address it separately in the upcoming parts of this series.
The prominent aspect of Duelfer�s report that no one dares
talk about is while the U.S. knew there were no WMD in Iraq since after the
Gulf war in 1991, it still maintained comprehensive economic sanctions for 13
years, thus killing over 1.5 million Iraqis to �punish� Saddam for weapons that
the U.S.-U.N. destroyed 12 years ago.
Conclusion
As a diplomat and a gregarious imperialist, Powell�s
position toward Arabs of all religions and Muslims of all nationalities are a
reflection of U.S. Zionism that propelled his access to power. As an adulating
sycophant of Zionism, Powell knows who rules the United States. (Powell could
not have assumed a sensitive position such as that of a national security
advisor under Reagan without swearing allegiance to Zionist causes first.)
Powell is the embodiment of arrogant fascism. In his interview with the
British �Financial Times� on November 8, 2004, and after the news of Iraqis
that had perished by his invasion traveled around the globe, Powell had this to say: �So the president has had an
active foreign policy that has been controversial in the sense of should we
have done what we did in Iraq? We did it.� He then added, �Now what
we're going to do is complete the effort to give the Iraqi people a democracy.�
Powell scorned the world by his �we did it,� which meant, �We did it, so
what! Now beat it,� and insulted the lives he wasted in his imperialist war. He
also stressed that he would continue in his war by wanting to �complete the
effort . . . etc.� However, by proposing to give the Iraqi people the
�democracy� toy as compensation for their devastation, Powell touched the apex
of homicidal cynicism�he considered the mass killing of Iraqis, as a fair
colonialist quid pro quo. Essentially, Powell�s �generous bonus� to
�ease� his criminal burden is similar to that of a vicious rapist who, after
assaulting, torturing, and raping a woman, he cynically wishes her a happy
pregnancy.
Powell is pathetic. In the same interview, he complained. �Sometimes
I get attention deficit syndrome when I listen to people argue with me, why aren't you being more unilateral
in Korea and Iran? Why are you, quote, �working with the Europeans or with the
six-party framework, when you ought to be doing it one-on-one or unilaterally,
or doing something?�" [Emphasis added].
Secretary Powell, inadvertently, exteriorized a suppressed problem. In
complaining that he gets Attention Deficit Syndrome when arguing complex
issues, Powell exposed several personality disorders as a diplomat. These
include an inadequate intellectual capacity to handle arguments requiring
reasoning; nervous impatience when a party to an argument refutes his
explanations; irritation for having to expose his limited political preparation
in explaining the war in terms different from those that he memorized; and
hostility toward those who dare to question his diplomatic authority.
But Powell�s Attention Deficit Syndrome is broader than he pretends. It
extends to visualizing and hearing the loud rumble of history. His imperialist
distraction and personal arrogance did not allow him to listen attentively to a
timeless truth: the entire history of humanity is about the struggle for
freedom from subjugation.
As an opportunist Zionist and violent imperialist craving to subjugate
the Iraqis to his monovision of the world, Powell did not learn anything
significant about the struggle against slavery, colonialism, and imperialism.
Next: Part 22: Dick Cheney, Reshaping History with an Ax
B. J. Sabri is an Iraqi-American anti-war activist. He
can be reached at bjsabri@yahoo.com.