No War

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Exporting McDonalds to Baghdad, and other NeoCon jokes - Rated
Baghdad Year Zero, by Naomi Klien, is the first of three sections to this short, no-holds-barred, account of the truth behind the spin.

Much comment, even from supporters of the Iraq War, has focussed on how the coalition lost the peace. Accepted mythology has it that the allies had no plan of action: they assumed they would be made welcome, but the ungrateful Iraqis had other ideas.

This book explains why. Bush and his NeoCon Junta had a plan for postwar Iraq which involved a giant experiment in NeoCon theory. Iraq would be the first country in the world to be rebuilt by private enterprise, US corporation style. McDonalds and Wal Mart would enter Iraq, and the population would enjoy burgers, and slap their buttocks in delight for ever and a day.

How to do it? Simple, whilst the Iraqis were in a state of shock, all state industries would be privatised, and a corporate paradise would be created in a matter of weeks, if not days.

Bremer's first action was to sack 500,000 public sector workers. The reaction of many was to join the armed resistance as a kind of "alternative employment" scheme.

Not what Bush et.al. had in mind.

Pragmatists, like Colin Powell, and General Jay Garner planned to "fix the infrastructure, hold quick and dirty elections, (and) leave the shock therapy to the IMF." (Just like in Russia, where the IMF's money found its way to a certain football team.)

Cheney, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz (soon to be running the World Bank) had other ideas. They were supported by exiles like Ahmad Chalabi - whose assets had been confiscated in 1958 - whose aim was the "de-Baathification" of Iraq.

The rest, as they say is history, or would be if only we would listen to Blair and "move on."

How much, I wonder, did Blair actually know of Plan Corporate Paradise? Was he told? Or was he jetting off on his next crusade?

The making of a corporate paradise? - Rated
Baghdad Year Zero, by Naomi Klien, is the first of three sections to this short, no-holds-barred, account of the truth behind the spin.

Much comment, even from supporters of the Iraq War, has focussed on how the coalition lost the peace. Accepted mythology has it that the allies had no plan of action: they assumed they would be made welcome, but the ungrateful Iraqis had other ideas.

This book explains why. Bush and his NeoCon Junta had a plan for postwar Iraq which involved a giant experiment in NeoCon theory. Iraq would be the first country in the world to be rebuilt by private enterprise, US corporation style. McDonalds and Wal Mart would enter Iraq, and the population would enjoy burgers, and slap their buttocks in delight for ever and a day.

How to do it? Simple, whilst the Itaqis were in a state of shock, all state industries would be privatised, and a corporate paradise would be created in a matter of weeks, if not days.

Bremer's first action was to sack 500,000 public sector workers. The reaction of many was to join the armed resistance as a kind of "alternative employment" scheme.

Not what Bush et.al. had in mind.

Pragmatists, like Colin Powell, and General Jay Garner planned to "fix the infrastructure, hold quick and dirty elections, (and) leave the shock therapy to the IMF." (Just like in Russia, where the IMF's money found its way to Stamford Bridge!)

Cheney, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz (soon to be running the World Bank) had other ideas. They were supported by exiles like Ahmad Chalabi - whose assets had been confiscated in 1958 - whose aim was the "de-Baathification" of Iraq.

The rest, as they say is history, or would be if only we would listen to Blair and "move on."

How much, I wonder, did Blair actually know of Plan Corporate Paradise? Too much detail?