Het Amerikaans Imperium 3

Maureen Farrell is a writer and media consultant who specializes in helping other writers get television and radio exposure. Voor Buzzflash schreef ze: 'Footprints and Messianic Missions: Staying In Iraq Till Kingdom Come.
"I have been pleading with the American press corps for months to ask the Bush administration one simple question, a question designed to expose our true agenda: 'Are we, or are we not, constructing permanent military bases in Iraq?'" -- Sen. Gary Hart, March 31, 2006
"Some analysts believe the desire to establish a long-term military presence in Iraq was always behind the 2003 invasion." -- The Independent, April 3, 2006
"The growing skyline of the US embassy in Baghdad is only the most recent indication that the US has no intention of leaving." - Kevin Zeese, April 22, 2006
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Remember the spring of 2003? Back when Americans were basking in promises of "cakewalks" and flowers strewn at U.S. soldiers' feet? Saddam's statue fell, the President dressed up in his flight suit, and all was well with the world. The national mood (i.e. arrogance) reverberated on television, magazines and in newspapers. What was not to love? Then came summer, and doubts began to fester. "They kept telling [the troops] that as soon as you get to Baghdad you would be going home," one soldier's wife told the Guardian in July, 2003. "The way home is through Baghdad, they said." And though Bush promised troops would not remain in Iraq "for one day longer than is necessary," within weeks, officials began talking about "maintaining perhaps four bases in Iraq." At the time, Sen. Richard Lugar, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, scoffed at Mr. Bush's promise. "This idea that we will be in just as long as we need to and not a day more -- we've got to get over that rhetoric," he said. "It is rubbish. We're going to be there a long time. We must reorganize our military to be there a long time."' Zie:
http://www.buzzflash.com/farrell/06/04/far06006.html Over the American Empire of Bases zie: http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0115-08.htm En:
http://stanvanhoucke.blogspot.com/2006/04/chalmers-johnson.html Overigens: na hoeveel euro's worden de Nederlandse troepen uit Afghanistan weer terug getrokken. Met andere woorden: hoe lang gaat het duren voordat dat geisoleerde land een bloeiende parlementaire democratie is? Heeft u mijn collega's hierover vragen horen stellen?