April 13, 2003
Power Without Conscience
Today the headlines scream that "Anarchy sweeps Iraq". When Saddam Hussein's government fell, public services fell too. There is no police department to stop people from looting, killing, whatever. The Baghdad museum was ransacked and archaeological treasures going back thousands of years have been turned into loot. They are valued at a billion dollars, but their value to the history of humankind has no price tag. Fires burn till they burn out because there's no fire department anymore.Even hospitals -- already desperately short of needed supplies to tend to the wounded -- are being looted. There is no law, no social structure. It was bad under Saddam Hussein. Now it is incalculably worse. The Bush administration has destroyed Iraq. They have created chaos on top of mass murder and destruction as part of the Neoconservative design to restructure the Middle East and take control of its oil resources.
Rumsfeld holds to his absurd notions about "freeing" Iraq. "Freedom's untidy," he sneers smugly. "And free people are free to make mistakes and commit crimes and do bad things. They're also free to live their lives and do wonderful things."
Such an utterly irrelevant statement might be expected from an idiot; coming from the man who just designed the destruction of Iraq, it is arrogant beyond belief. Try destroying all the public services, the police, the fire department, the hospitals and virtually every other aspect of civilization in Rumsfeld's home town and see how many "wonderful things" people are "free" to do.