}

Saturday, June 07, 2008

Bush plotting permanent occupation

George Bush is rushing to strong-arm Iraq into accepting an agreement that would lead to a permanent US occupation of Iraq, regardless of who’s elected US president in November. His main tactic has now been revealed to be extortion.

The Independent revealed yesterday that the Bush-Cheney regime has demanded that Iraq give them permanent leases to 50 Iraqi military bases, along with total immunity from Iraqi law for US military and contractors like Blackwater (which is currently facing a grand jury investigation into charges that their employees murdered innocent Iraqis). The agreement would also give the US absolute control over Iraqi airspace and the right to launch military campaigns without consulting the Iraqi government, as well as the right to arrest Iraqi citizens.

Today The Independent revealed that the Bush-Cheney regime is holding $50 billion in Iraqi money in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and won’t allow Iraq to have it when UN sanctions end unless it agrees to the Bush-Cheney demands. Most people would call that extortion, particularly since the current Iraqi government would fall without US support.

The Bush-Cheney regime is desperate to push through the agreement by the end of July so they can declare “victory”, which will also support the main cheerleader of the Bush-Cheney Iraq War, John McCain. It would also make it harder for Barack Obama to withdraw US troops as he’s promised to do.

The Bush-Cheney regime is calling this an “alliance” instead of what it really is, a treaty, because the latter would require the approval of the US Senate, which would be impossible to obtain. However, the Bush-Cheney regime has overlooked something: As a mere “alliance”, President Obama could withdraw from it. Even so, it would be yet another huge Bush-Cheney mess that the next president will have to clean up. Barack Obama will clean it up; John McCain would only add more layers to the mess.

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