Katrina déjà vu in Iraq: AWOL Leadership

I just read a NY Times article by Burns titled  “Before Hanging, a Push for Revenge and a Push Back.” In this article I learned that the US Government’s stated position was to delay the execution of Saddam. Unfortunately, the heavyweights on the US side during this crisis were on vacation.

The American push back was complicated by the absences of Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and the top American military commander, Gen. George W. Casey Jr., who were both out of Iraq on leave. The American message throughout was that rushing Mr. Hussein to the gallows could rebound disastrously, as it did.

and you are probably thinking that the president was upset about this failure of leadership in Iraq and about being so far from the scene a the time (from Bloomberg):

Bush had been briefed on the schedule for the execution and was asleep by the time Hussein died, White House spokesman Scott Stanzel told reporters. Bush, who is spending the week at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, was not awakened upon Hussein's death. ``The president concluded the day knowing that the final phase of bringing Saddam Hussein to justice was under way,'' Stanzel said.

You probably know where I’m going with this. The NY Daily news posted a similar report during the height of the Katrina crisis about President Bush and Sec State Condi Rice being AWOL.

Like President Bush, the Secretary of State has been on vacation during the Hurricane Katrina crisis, with Rice enjoying her downtime in New York Wednesday and yesterday. The cabinet member's responsibilities are usually international, but her timing contributed to the "fiddling while Rome burns" impression given by her boss during the disaster, which may have claimed thousands of lives. On Wednesday night, Secretary Rice was booed by some audience members at "Spamalot!," the Monty Python musical at the Shubert, when the lights went up after the performance. Yesterday, Rice went shopping at Ferragamo on Fifth Ave. According to the Web site www.Gawker.com, the 50-year-old bought "several thousand dollars' worth of shoes" at the pricey leather-goods boutique. A fellow shopper shouted, "How dare you shop for shoes while thousands are dying and homeless!" - presumably referring to Louisiana and Mississippi.

I wonder if General Casey was buying new combat boots, trying out for a Broadway play, or interviewing for his high-paying job in industry that he may be offered after he retires and gets his medals. I bet there are others in Iraq who wish they could have been home with their families during the holidays. The following is a list of US and UK deaths in Iraq during the period from Christmas to New Years.

31-Dec-2006      3       | US: 3 | UK: 0 | Other: 0
US Private 1st Class Alan R. Blohm Baghdad (South of) Hostile -hostile fire - IED attack US Corporal Jonathan E. Schiller Ba'qubah - Diyala Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
US Specialist Richard A. Smith Ba'qubah - Diyala Hostile – hostile fire - IED attack

30-Dec-2006      3       | US: 3 | UK: 0 | Other: 0
US NAME NOT RELEASED YET Baghdad (southern part) Hostile – hostile fire - IED attack
US Sergeant John M. Sullivan Baghdad (southwest part) Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack US Private David E. Dietrich Ramadi - Anbar Hostile - hostile fire- small arms fire

29-Dec-2006      2       | US: 2 | UK: 0 | Other: 0
US Sergeant Lawrance J. Carter Baghdad (northwest part) Hostile - hostile fire – IED attack
US Private 1st Class William R. Newgard Baghdad (north of) Hostile hostile fire - IED attack

28-Dec-2006      6       | US: 5 | UK: 1 | Other: 0
US Corporal Christopher E. Esckelson Al Anbar Province Hostile -hostile fire - small arms fire
US Specialist Luis G. Ayala Taji - Baghdad Hostile - hostile fire- IED attack US
Specialist Dustin R. Donica Baghdad Hostile - hostile fire -small arms fire
US Lance Corporal Nicholas A. Miller Al Anbar Province Hostile - hostile fire US Lance Corporal William D. Spencer Al Anbar Province Hostile -hostile fire
UK Sergeant Graham Hesketh Basra - Basrah Hostile - hostile fire -IED attack

27-Dec-2006      9       | US: 7 | UK: 0 | Other: 2          
US Sergeant Edward W. Shaffer Ramadi - Anbar Hostile - hostilefire - IED attack
US      NAME NOT RELEASED YET   Al Anbar Province       Hostile - hostile fire
US Private Clinton T. McCormick Baghdad Hostile - hostile fire -IED attack
US Sergeant Christopher P. Messer Baghdad Hostile - hostile fire -IED attack
US Private 1st Class Nathaniel A. Given Baghdad Hostile – hostile fire - IED attack
US Lance Corporal William C. Koprince Jr. Al Anbar Province Hostile - hostile fire
US Specialist Douglas L. Tinsley Baghdad (South of) – Babil Non-hostile - vehicle rollover

26-Dec-2006      6       | US: 6 | UK: 0 | Other: 0
US Specialist Joseph A. Strong Baghdad (South of) – Babil Non-hostile - vehicle rollover US NAME NOT RELEASED YET Baghdad (northwest of) Hostile – hostile fire - IED attack
US NAME NOT RELEASED YET Baghdad (northwest of) Hostile - hostilefire - IED attack US NAME NOT RELEASED YET Baghdad (northwest of) Hostile – hostile fire - IED attack
US Corporal Joshua M. Schmitz Al Anbar Province Hostile - hostile fire
US  Sergeant John T. Bubeck Baghdad Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack

25-Dec-2006      7       | US: 7 | UK: 0 | Other: 0
US      Specialist Aaron L. Preston     Baghdad         Hostile - hostile fire – IED attack
US Private 1st Class Andrew H. Nelson Baghdad Hostile – hostile fire - IED attack
US Captain Hayes Clayton Balad - Salah ad Din Hostile – hostile fire - IED attack
US Sergeant 1st Class Dexter E. Wheelous Baghdad Hostile – hostile fire - IED attack US Sergeant Jae S. Moon    Baghdad   Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
US Private Eric R. Wilkus  Landstuhl Reg. Med. Ctr. – Baghdad Non-hostile
US Sergeant Jason C. Denfrund      Baghdad  Hostile -hostile fire - IED attack

24-Dec-2006      2       | US: 2 | UK: 0 | Other: 0
US Private Evan A. Bixler Hit - Anbar Hostile - hostile fire - indirect fire
US Lance Corporal Stephen L. Morris Al Anbar Province Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack

23-Dec-2006      7       | US: 7 | UK: 0 | Other: 0
US Specialist Michael J. Crutchfield Balad (Camp Anaconda) – Salahad Din Non-hostile
US Specialist John Barta Buhritz - Diyala Hostile - hostile fire - indirect fire
US Specialist Chad J. Vollmer Salman Pak - Babil Hostile – hostile fire - IED attack
US Private 1st Class Wilson A. Algrim Salman Pak - Babil Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
US Private Bobby Mejia II Salman Pak - Babil Hostile – hostile fire - IED attack
US Sergeant Curtis L. Norris       Baghdad   Hostile -hostile fire - IED attack
US Specialist Elias Elias Baghdad (southwest of) Hostile – hostile fire - IED attack

I bet, too, that Generals MacAurthur and Eisenhower didn’t come home for the holidays to be with their families during Christmas during the height of WW II.  The president says the US is at war. Guess not.

The idea for this diary grew out of a comment I made and some responses to it (by Greatwhitebuffalo and Mash in GreatWhiteBuffalo's diary earlier this evening.

Comments

[Doug Tarnopol]

I don't really think the incompetence is as high as people think. Bush is a figurehead, anyway. I think that we have done what we wanted to in Iraq, to a large extent, as Chris Floyd points out (http://www.chris-floyd.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=989&Itemid=135). The simplest explanation is usually the best, and the simplest one, the one that requires the fewest "epicycles" or special pleading, is that the Bush regime, and fellow travelers (whatever the party, in or out of government) simply don't care that much.

This goes for Katrina: most people don't care. It was a great way to "clean up" the city -- with all that suggests. Now it's a free-enterprise zone mostly devoid of poor and brown people who are so inconvenient to look at for tourists. And since the market is always right (hosanna in excelsis), doing nothing is the most moral thing to do.

We'll never know whether the Busheviks let 9/11 happen for sure; we do know for absoultely certain they let the Katrina disaster come and go with not much of a wrinkle.

MSM went all kablooie with the truth, even on Fox, but quickly got back in line. And NOLA's still a disaster zone.

What I'm trying to say is that most elites really don't care much about Katrina victims or the holy troops -- to say nothing of Iraqis, etc. Those who do are so ignorant of what is really going down in their country that their charity ends up becoming self-congratulation. As usual, there are exceptions, but we're talking about the norm here.

I know a nice person who talked about how "they" were looting in NOLA (a lie, as it turned out); however, she spent ages saving puppies from NOLA. Interesting, no? This is a very nice person; that's what makes it interesting.

And I'm amazed that friends of mine -- liberal Democrats -- are e-mailing me truly confused as to why the Demz are going to roll over and beg Bush to scratch their bellies on the "surge," a purposely disingenuous term to begin with. Smart people, by virtually every measure, who apparently know nothing of American history, human nature, or the workings of propaganda.

Beneath that is the likelihood that they do, but the truth, like that of nuclear war or simply personal death, is too much to handle. That's how these criminals reign; the truth is too awful to contemplate. Hence, the big lie.

[Doug Tarnopol]

To continue...

What I think is happening, if the cognitive dissonance doesn't short out the painful truth, is that many people are becoming aware of our one-party system.

1. Demz want power; afraid of being labeled as cowards or not supporting the troops (by not sending more to their deaths). 2008 is in the offing.
2. AIPAC, et al, own the Demz, even more than the Rethugz. They like us over there, and later in Iran.
3. The military-industrial complex is having a field day with this war. Exactly like AIPAC, and in exactly the same lobbying way -- probably more powerfully -- they want it to continue.
4. Iraq has nothing to do with Iraq, Saddam, democracy, or even Israel, per se. It's about maintaining the artificial global dominance we've had since 1945, steadily eroding. No one really gave a shit about communism, either -- certainly made for good propaganda, but we dealt with all kinds of terrible regimes, and still do.
5. Like most wars, and most empires, the key issue is elite dominance of the masses at home as well as of other nations abroad. The Demz are mostly of that ilk, too.

That's why I'm completely unsurprised. We don't live in a representative democracy, really. 61% against the "surge" -- a deceitful term; they'll be there for years. 26% for Bush's handling of the war. 37% support Bush as president, period. Note that nothing in the vaunted 100 Days legislation does fuck-all about the MCA, habeas corpus, the Patriot Act, etc. A majority of Americans are consistently for impeachment; off the table. They're for universal healthcare, when properly asked. Not gonna happen.

At the same time, it is possible that a groundswell of revulsion and public action will force change. That happens in all but the most totalitarian nations. So, as per usual, it's up to us, collectively and individually. Note the horror with which the term "class warfare" is hysterically thrown at normal progressive policies, while true class warfare is waged on the vast majority of the population here at home.

If you know any really rich people -- and I do (my uncle's brother by marriage is the now stroke-felled Malcolm Glazer, of Man United fame...a billionaire who could give a fuck about how one of his companies was destroying the Chesapeake, and was a huge Bush supporter) -- they pretty much get that the world is going to hell, don't much care, as they have their bunkers (literally and figuratively). Big shock. Why do Americans insist on thinking themselves exceptional? What would be exceptional would be to realize, as a group, that we are not exceptional.

And so it goes. We call it a "democracy deficit" when it happens in other countries. Here, it's called "mature centrism." If you read contemporary op-eds during Vietnam, it's the same shit. So-called "liberals" saying the same stuff as wacko-proto-fascists wipe out Asians nonstop, flexing muscles twitching from the M-I complex and other issues: "credibility" being a key euphemism. Plus, with all that excess wealth and armaments, without a real enemy, the people might start getting pissed off at the owners...

As Tammany says in _Gangs of New York_, "We can always hire one half of the poor to kill the other half." There are many ways of doing this, both figuratively/economically and literally.

Dug