US consolidates occupation of Iraq

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US consolidates occupation of Iraq
9 June 2010

As the Obama administration escalates its war in Afghanistan, Iraq is cautiously
being declared a success. The top American commander in Iraq, General Raymond
Odierno, declared last Friday that the country had held “a legitimate and
credible election”, its security forces had improved and plans were “on track”
for the withdrawal of all US combat troops from Iraq by September 1.

Speaking at the West Point military academy late last month, President Obama was
even more upbeat, declaring that as US troops depart, “a strong American
civilian presence will help Iraqis forge political and economic progress”
towards establishing “a democratic Iraq that is sovereign and stable and
self-reliant”.

The reality is entirely different. Even after the September deadline, the US
military will maintain a huge military presence of 50,000 troops, ostensibly in
“non-combat” and “training” roles, to prop up a puppet regime in Baghdad, which,
three months after the national election, is yet to be formed. While the
character of the American occupation of Iraq is changing, its underlying
purpose—to maintain the country firmly under US domination—remains the same.

In his comments last Friday, General Odierno declared that the “drawdown” was
ahead of schedule—600,000 containers of gear and 18,000 vehicles moved out; and
the number of bases down from 500 last year to 126 and set to decline to 94 by
September 1. What is actually underway, however, is not a withdrawal, but a vast
consolidation in preparation for the long-term occupation of the country by US
forces.

The Stars and Stripes newspaper noted in an article on June 1 that the
ratification of the US-Iraq security agreement in November 2008 governing the
drawdown was followed by a massive expansion of base construction work. “In all,
the military finished $496 million in base construction projects during 2009,
the highest annual figure since the war began and nearly a quarter of the $2.1
billion spent on American bases in Iraq since 2004. An additional $323 million
worth of projects are set to be completed this year.”

While the number of US bases may be declining, the Pentagon is establishing what
are known as “enduring presence posts”—including four major bases: Joint Base
Balad in the north, Camp Adder in southern Iraq, Al-Asad Air Base in the west
and the Victory Base Complex around Baghdad International Airport. These are
sprawling fortified facilities—Balad alone currently houses more than 20,000
troops. In addition to the 50,000 troops that will remain, there will be up to
65,000 contractors after September 1.

Under the 2008 agreement, the US military handed over internal security
functions to Iraqi forces last year, but, under the guise of “training” and
“support”, retains tighter supervision of the army and police. Moreover the
Iraqi government can always “request” US troop assistance in mounting
operations. As Odierno explained in a letter to US personnel on June 1, even
after all US combat troops leave, “we will continue to conduct partnered
counter-terrorism operations and provide combat enablers to help the Iraqi
Security Forces maintain pressure on the extremist networks.”

The 2008 agreement sets December 31, 2011 as the deadline for all US troops to
quit Iraq, but the construction of huge new US bases indicates a long-term US
military presence under a Strategic Framework Agreement that is yet to be
negotiated. As Stars and Stripes pointed out, “the nascent condition of the
Iraqi Air Force… could lead the Iraqi government to request that a US training
force remain in the country beyond 2011, most likely at Balad.”

Accompanying the troop drawdown is a buildup of civilian operations centred on
the US embassy in Baghdad. The new embassy, situated in the fortified Green
Zone, is the largest and most expensive in the world. Opened in January 2009,
the complex includes 21 buildings, occupies 0.4 square kilometres and houses
1,000 regular employees as well as up to 3,000 additional staff. The embassy’s
No 2 diplomat Cameron Munter told the Washington Post last month: “Our
commitment will not be on the scale of numbers and money that the military has.
But it will be extraordinarily substantial.”

The Post also touched on certain sensitive projects that would not be handed
over to embassy staff, including “the collection of intelligence, initiatives to
counter what the military calls ‘malign Iranian influence’, and the integration
of tens of thousands of former insurgents the military turned into Sunni
paramilitary groups.” In other words, the US military will remain actively
involved in monitoring and manipulating the sectarian divisions that Washington
has exploited since the 2003 invasion to assert its control.

The “ending” of the insurgency, trumpeted by the Pentagon and White House, has
involved the ruthless suppression of opposition to the US occupation, resulting
in the deaths of more than a million Iraqis, another two million driven into
exile, and tens of thousands detained and tortured. Iraqi “democracy” rests on a
police state apparatus developed and honed by the US military. The “legitimate
and credible” election in March was only open to those parties and politicians
that accepted the occupation.

Seven years of war has had a devastating impact on the Iraqi people.
Unemployment and underemployment remain high. According to last month’s
Brookings Iraq Index, as of last year, only 20 percent of the population had
access to proper sanitation, 45 percent to clean water, 50 percent to more than
12 hours a day of electricity, 50 percent to adequate housing and 30 percent to
health services. A 2007 World Bank survey found that 23 percent of people were
living in poverty on less than $US2.20 a day.

The criminal US invasion of Iraq was not aimed at helping the Iraqi people.
Rather, its purpose was to subjugate the country in order to establish control
over its vast energy reserves and to transform it into a base for wider American
strategic objectives in the Middle East and Central Asia. Having bloodily
suppressed resistance in Iraq, the Obama administration is pulling its troops
out in order to expand its neo-colonial war in Afghanistan and for new military
aggression in other parts of the globe.

Being left behind is an extensive American civilian and military apparatus that
will continue to control the levers of power in Baghdad, bully the Iraqi
government into line on matters concerning US interests, keep a watchful eye on
the country’s festering sectarian tensions and leave the door open to a rapid
return of US troops.

Peter Symonds

http://wsws.org/articles/2010/jun2010/pers-j09.shtml

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