Saturday, October 22, 2005
You just can’t trust those darn Iraqis
The U.S. leadership and military (not to mention the chickenhawks who are all over the internet) keep assuring everyone that the U.S. and its puppet regime in Iraq are winning the war. They point to the supposed success of their bogus elections as proof of Iraqi’s supporting the current regime there.
However, there was something in the news that I think was much more telling about how much support that regime really has. There was a report on the Univision network (and an abbreviated report here on their website ) about Peruvians being recruited to perform guard work in Iraq:
In the television report it was shown that a number of Peruvians have already gone to Iraq. Others were shipping out to the consternation of relatives who feared for their safety.
Now what does this tell us about Iraq? One very important point – that the Iraqi government doesn’t trust its own people. One thousand dollar a month security jobs would be highly coveted by Iraqis given that unemployment is very high there and what jobs there are generally pay less than $100 per month. So why doesn’t the Iraqi government kill two birds with one stone – ie employ locals to do this work thereby getting the security they need and at the same time help the local employment situation? Because it doesn’t trust Iraqis to be on its side. It knows that if it hired people locally many of them would be insurgents or at least supporters of the insurgency. Hence they wouldn’t work out very well as government security guards.
And this is the same reason the U.S. military imports U.S. citizens to Iraq to drive trucks and run cafeterias. They know if they hired Iraqis to do those jobs the supply trucks would likely be driven off and handed over to the insurgents and any food cooked by Iraqi kitchen workers for U.S. troops could well be poisoned. They know they can’t trust the local population. Hence the need to bring in the foreign mercenaries who they know are interested in nothing more than making a buck.
This has been a tactic used by invaders and occupiers over and over throughout history. When the British and Dutch colonized southern Africa they imported South Asians do keep the local population at bay and be a reliable source of labor. When the Europeans colonized the North American continent they found the Native American population wasn’t docile enough to be enslaved so they brought slaves from Africa. And even in Venezuela the ruling classes never felt they could trust the local population so under Perez-Jimenez they tried to bring to Venezuela as many Europeans as possible.
The end result of all this is the cheerleaders for the war can talk all they want about their support but facts like this which clearly demonstrate the Iraqi government doesn’t even trust their own population give lie to the propaganda.
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However, there was something in the news that I think was much more telling about how much support that regime really has. There was a report on the Univision network (and an abbreviated report here on their website ) about Peruvians being recruited to perform guard work in Iraq:
The Peruvian government is investigating a foreign company that is contracting Peruvians to go to Irak to work as security guards for the Iraqi government, said Jorge Lazarte, secretary of Peruvian Communities Abroad.
The company, 3D Global Solutions, through its affiliate in Lima, Gesegur SAC, is in charge of contracting the personnel.
In advertisements in Lima’s dailies they offer work in Iraq with salaries of $1,000 per month, life insurance, and food. Those interested need to have experience in security work, be former members of the military or have been police.
In the television report it was shown that a number of Peruvians have already gone to Iraq. Others were shipping out to the consternation of relatives who feared for their safety.
Now what does this tell us about Iraq? One very important point – that the Iraqi government doesn’t trust its own people. One thousand dollar a month security jobs would be highly coveted by Iraqis given that unemployment is very high there and what jobs there are generally pay less than $100 per month. So why doesn’t the Iraqi government kill two birds with one stone – ie employ locals to do this work thereby getting the security they need and at the same time help the local employment situation? Because it doesn’t trust Iraqis to be on its side. It knows that if it hired people locally many of them would be insurgents or at least supporters of the insurgency. Hence they wouldn’t work out very well as government security guards.
And this is the same reason the U.S. military imports U.S. citizens to Iraq to drive trucks and run cafeterias. They know if they hired Iraqis to do those jobs the supply trucks would likely be driven off and handed over to the insurgents and any food cooked by Iraqi kitchen workers for U.S. troops could well be poisoned. They know they can’t trust the local population. Hence the need to bring in the foreign mercenaries who they know are interested in nothing more than making a buck.
This has been a tactic used by invaders and occupiers over and over throughout history. When the British and Dutch colonized southern Africa they imported South Asians do keep the local population at bay and be a reliable source of labor. When the Europeans colonized the North American continent they found the Native American population wasn’t docile enough to be enslaved so they brought slaves from Africa. And even in Venezuela the ruling classes never felt they could trust the local population so under Perez-Jimenez they tried to bring to Venezuela as many Europeans as possible.
The end result of all this is the cheerleaders for the war can talk all they want about their support but facts like this which clearly demonstrate the Iraqi government doesn’t even trust their own population give lie to the propaganda.
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