The long farewells
The Independent today (1/5/2007) leads with the attempted assassination of Muqtada al-Sadr by luring him to a peace meeting.
I am finding great difficulty in understanding what the U.S. plan of a final assault is attempting since such actions would seem likely to inflame feeling. The U.S. led idea of building a wall also appears to drive a wedge between communities as the latest entry to "Baghdad Burning" believes.
Mr Blair included Baghdad as part of his final world tour avowing, amidst all the evidence against, that we are all on top of the "war on terror": part of his and Bush's imagination in the first place. The situation in Gaza as well as Baghdad worsens by the hour. Try telling the people living this nightmare everything's fine.
The only explanation we're left with - to many this has been apparent throughout! - that there are vested interests to continue conflict, hence Blair's triumphalism, even more marked than Bush! Once the fighting is finished in this theatre then others will be sought: the emerging socialist regimes bringing hope to the dispossessed in South and Central America are the more obvious examples.
Posted by John Tyrrell at May 21, 2007 9:58 AM
