"Various ideas for replacements have been aired over the years and none so far look convincing. But another Ba'athist or military dictator from the Sunni/Tikriti minority might be found with whom we could do business"[1]
Simon Webb, UK MOD Policy Director 2001-2004 [2]
I wonder how convincing it would have been to Iraqis to have the UK graciously find them another military dictator. Presuming that Simon is not completely stupid then we would have to assume that he knew this would not be what Iraqis wanted and that in fact Simon was merely following longstanding British imperialist doctrine to control other countries by whatever means.
"But there was a more serious and considered answer given by the National Security Council, the highest planning agency. They pointed out that there's a perception in the Arab world that the United States supports status quo regimes which, of course, are brutal and oppressive, and does so in order to secure its own interests in obtaining oil, and then they said, well, it's hard to counter this perception because it's correct." [3]
There is little for me to add as it's all been said before.
[1] Letter/Memorandum : "Bush and the War on Terrorism"; 12/04/2002, MOD reference : "D/Policy Dir/6/2/2 (171/02); Obtained from URL : "http://www.iraqinquiry.org.uk/media/52573/webb-ps-sofs-bush-war-on-terrorism-2002-04-12.pdf"
[2] http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8375439.stm
[3] "The Campaign of Hatred Against Us", Noam Chomsky interview by Four Corners, January 26, 2002, http://www.chomsky.info/interviews/20020126.htm
No comments:
Post a Comment