US 'empire' in crisis Pt 3

Hatred
Iraq will never be democratic or free on a capitalist basis. This was underlined by Bush's visit to Iraq on 13 June. He told the new Iraqi prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki: "I have expressed our country's desire to work with you but I appreciate you recognise the fact that the future of the country is in your hands." Yet, the 'independent' Iraqi prime minister received precisely five minutes notice of Bush's flying visit, a clear demonstration of the relationship between 'Caesar' and his pro-consul in Iraq.

However, neither the Iraqi people nor the neo-colonial masses that were meant to be brought to heel by the 'war on terror' have been cowed by this. The slogan of Roman leaders towards their colonial slaves was "let them hate us as long as they fear us" (oderint dum metuant). This was the real philosophy of Bush and his gang in the aftermath of 9/11. As a consequence of the US's actions since then, the masses in the neo-colonial world continue to hate the US even more intensely but they no longer fear them!

Somalia
Events in Iraq, Somalia, Afgh-anistan, Iran and elsewhere, underline this. The victory of the 'Islamists' in Somalia, backed by the local capitalists and the masses desperate for any alternative to the unending chaos, represents "a staggering defeat for the US strategy of counter-terrorism by proxy" in the Horn of Africa [the Guardian].

Since the ousting of the dictator Mohammed Siad Barre in 1991, the country has been under the heel of corrupt warlords who have accumulated vast wealth through the control of ports, roads and airfields with no recognised national authority. The US backed these despots to the hilt because of the fear of the danger of the 'Talibanisation' of Somalia. Their miscalculation now threatens to achieve precisely the outcome they wished to avert.

Bush has made threatening noises about preventing a "new base for al-Qa'ida" but after the ignominious retreat of US forces from Somalia under Clinton in 1994 it will not be able to directly intervene militarily. The Islamists, on the other hand, will no more be capable of opening up a new road of peace and prosperity for the suffering Somali people than the Taliban were able to do in Afghanistan.

American and British military intervention in Afghanistan was supposed to extirpate all remnants of the barbaric Taliban, smash the power of the warlords and sweep away the feudal rubbish, including the persecution and discrimination against women. Yet, four and a half years after the invasion, 'Iraq' has spread to Afghanistan, with suicide bombers in Kabul, poppy production fuelling the drugs trade at its highest ever and the return of the Taliban in the south.

Afghanistan
The writ of President Karzai, contemptuously described as the 'Mayor of Kabul', does not run beyond the capital. In the south and the border country between Afghanistan and Pakistan, "the Taliban rule the night". Medieval barbarism has returned as schools have been burnt down and terrorised women are forced back into their homes. The thin line of US and British troops are incapable of holding the situation in the battle against the Taliban. Therefore the Karzai government, in desperation, is attempting to forge an alliance with the 'narco-warlords' and their militias to combat the Taliban.

The 23,000-strong US contingent of troops, together with 9,000 NATO troops, are incapable of securing the country. In fact, it is estimated that a 'foreign legion' of 150,000 troops would be necessary just to hold the south of Afghanistan! The complete collapse of the charade of 'democratic' government under the Karzai administration, propped up as it is by US and British bayonets, is posed. In desperation, Karzai is attempting to come to an agreement with the Taliban, or a section of it in the south, much as Pakistan has done.