IRAQ: THE LEGACY OF DECEPTION AND ITS COSTS
Posted on 02. Jan, 2012 by Susan Lindauer in Iraq
George Tenet; Cashes in on Iraq
The CIA was determined to control the agenda for the advantage of the United States, however. And so quietly through my back channel, we undertook a proactive, covert dialogue over exactly what concessions Iraq would offer the United States, in exchange for lifting the sanctions. As a long-time opponent of sanctions myself, I was eager to get results.
By Susan Lindauer,
Most Americans are astonished to discover that right up to 9/11, the CIA was developing a "Real Politik" vision of Iraq that recognized the fast approaching collapse of U.N. Sanctions. The CIA was preparing for Peace—with a ruthless determination that the United States would capture the lion's share of spoils from Iraqi Reconstruction contracts in any post-sanctions period.
German pilots transporting medical supplies and doctors into Baghdad International Airport at the end of the Clinton Administration had blasted the myth of invincibility surrounding sanctions. To this day, those pilots are anonymous—but they changed the equation in total. Their courage honoring the Berlin Airlifts in the Cold War was quickly copied. Across Europe and the Arab world, activists began to organize humanitarian flights into Baghdad. On the Security Council, France and Russia argued strenuously that the ban on air travel had been self imposed, and the no-fly zone could not prohibit humanitarian flights.
By this time, UN sanctions had killed over 1.7 million Iraqis; wiped out literacy in a single generation; and created artificial starvation in the world's second most oil-rich nation. Iraq's world class hospitals that once rivaled London and New York had been ravaged. Sick of the misery, the global community refused to stay silent any longer.
The CIA saw the writing on the wall. International loathing for "genocide by sanctions" had reached such a peak of outrage that there was no possibility of re-crafting the hated policy. Secretary of State Colin Powell's vision of "smart sanctions" had come too late.
The CIA was determined to control the agenda for the advantage of the United States, however. And so quietly through my back channel, we undertook a proactive, covert dialogue over exactly what concessions Iraq would offer the United States, in exchange for lifting the sanctions. As a long-time opponent of sanctions myself, I was eager to get results.
That dialogue—even the existence of our back channel to Iraq's Embassy at the United Nations from 1996 to 2003—was strictly covert, kept close and precious— away from Washington pundits and think tanks whose ignorance would have smashed all progress on the rocks. Our dialogue was no less vigorous for that secrecy.
This was the CIA at its best. Nobody got soft on Saddam's government. By any measure, the CIA's demands far exceeded the U.N. mandate to eliminate Iraq's WMDs. If there was going to be peace, it would have to be rock solid, with zero chance that Baghdad would bite the United States in retaliation for those years of misery and death.
A Prosperous Peace for All
What emerged was a dynamic and comprehensive framework hammered out with Iraq's Ambassador Dr. Saeed Hasan and senior diplomats in New York.
The agreement required weapons inspections "with no conditions." But the deal accomplished much more. By February, 2001—nine months before 9/11—Baghdad authorized the FBI to send Terrorism Task Force into Iraq, with permission to conduct investigations and make arrests. After 9/11, Iraq sweetened its contribution with promises to hand over banking and financial documents on Al Qaeda figures. There's no question but that Iraq's cooperation qualified as the most substantial windfall in the War on Terrorism. Notably, it targeted actual terrorists— not Islamic charities or frightened taxi drivers and plumbers with the wrong accents and ethnic coloring.
Every time Senator John McCain or Dick Cheney pounded the lectern on CNN, and demanded an interview with Al Anai, or other cooperation— Iraq complied within hours.
THE PEACE DIVIDEND
Most importantly, the CIA was determined that the U.S. would retain a strong footing inside Iraq in all major economic sectors, in any post sanctions period.
The CIA envisioned a great Peace Bonanza for U.S. corporations that would have gorged American workers and shareholders with billions of dollars in revenues. It was a vision of prosperity and wealth creation, which put the United States at the center of the banquet table. The CIA wanted jobs, more jobs and profits. The goal was to rival the economic impact of the reconstruction of Germany and Japan after World War II, driving as many of those economic benefits to U.S. coffers as possible.
Iraq was happy to oblige. Those were days when the United States commanded such power on the world stage that other nations recognized Washington would have to be gratified in order for a change of policy to move forward.
And so Baghdad agreed to Every Single Demand put forth by the CIA— without complaint that U.S. conditions far exceeded the scope of the U.N. mandate for ending the sanctions.
- The CIA demanded and won Iraq's agreement to allow all U.S. corporations to return to Baghdad, post-sanctions, at the same level of market share as before the first Gulf War in 1990.
- Iraq promised first tier oil concessions to U.S. Oil Corporations in all new exploration and development leases, with priority contracts for the purchase of American oil equipment. Baghdad also promised the U.S. could join existing oil leases held by other countries on a second and third tier basis.
- In January, 2003, Iraq offered the LUKoil Contract held by Russia to U.S. oil companies instead, in a final, tragic bid to avert War.
- By December, 2001, Iraq agreed to give preferential contracts, post-sanctions, to U.S. Corporations in telecommunications
- In fact, the CIA demanded and won Iraq's agreement to give the U.S. preferential contracts in health care, hospital equipment and pharmaceuticals.
- Iraq agreed to buy 1 million American-manufactured automobiles every year for 10 years. This would have required imports from the U.S., not licensing of technology. That would have created thousands of high-paying Union jobs in the Rust Belt of America.
Imagine the modern day Global Economy if the CIA's vision had prevailed. There would be no bankruptcy of the Middle Class. No housing foreclosure crisis. No government stimulus packages to bail out Banks or the U.S. automobile industry. There would be No Great Depression on All Points of the Global Horizon. This bounty would have extended to Britain and all of Europe and Asia. All countries would have joined the Feast of Reconstruction in Iraq. The prosperity flowing from this Peace Bonanza would have multiplied like loaves of bread throughout the world.
Imagine better schools. Universal health coverage. Substantial new investment in green energy, mass transit and infrastructure improvements. That's what the Middle Class sacrificed in this Bonfire of the Vanities.
Republicans quickly recognized American voters would be irate over those costs. No longer fired with courage in the belly, and lacking the strength of conviction, Republicans shifted blame for their mediocre war policy onto the Intelligence Community—which had developed this peace framework— rather than take responsibility for their own decision making.
All three U.S. Assets covering the Iraqi Embassy in New York got thrown in prison as "Iraqi Agents," citing the Patriot Act. All of us faced secret charges, secret evidence and secret grand jury testimony. Myself, I spent a year locked up on Carswell Air Force Base without a trial or hearing, threatened with indefinite detention.
In a violent effort to force to me to recant, I was threatened with forcible drugging with Haldol, Ativan and Prozac. Only thanks to blowback from the blogs and internet radio was the truth that I had lived saved from a chemical lobotomy.
There's a reason why, and it bodes very badly for America.
THE COST OF WAR:
The tragic truth is that pulling U.S. soldiers out from Iraq will not reverse those negative consequences for the U.S. economy or taxpayers. The Middle Class is down for the count and not getting up. Our grand children will be financing this failed War in Baghdad with hefty income taxes to pay America's creditors in China for decades to come. There's serious question as to whether the War in Iraq has ended the "American Century."
The United States has hemorrhaged $4 TRILLION on the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and deficits continue to escalate in Kabul. Military spending for defense contractors has increased 81 percent since the 9/11 attack, while disability and health benefits for U.S. Veterans have stagnated.
- Over 4,000 U.S. Soldiers died in Iraq— while another 30,000 suffered serious traumatic injuries, paralysis, amputations and head injuries.
- An American soldier attempts suicide every 80 minutes, according to Veterans for Peace, which has demanded more community outreach to save their lives
- Post traumatic stress cripples tens of thousands of young American soldiers who face great difficulty returning to work and family life.
For all of the glory of U.S. military budgets, we have nothing to give our young people in uniform.
And that's not all. What of that grand vision called the War on Terrorism?
Cunning like a fox, Saddam Hussein tried to give the United States banking and financial documents that would have closed down the financial pipeline feeding terrorism. Mostly that financing derives from heroin profits, which would have resulted in substantial seizures, and killed two birds with one powerful stone.
Yet for all the rhetoric, Republican leaders so desired to attack Saddam that they left all terrorism financing in circulation. There's no question but those monies have financed attacks on U.S. and allied partners in Pakistan, India, Iraq, Afghanistan, Indonesia, the Philippines—wherever radical Islam is engaged in violent retaliation against U.S. military operations.
And so the greatest irony is that the U.S. has financed our Enemies' War on Terrorism against our own people. That's just plain stupid. And dangerous.
The damage goes farther. Former CIA Director of Operations and head of the Bin Laden Unit, Michael Scheuer argues that U.S. interventions are in danger of igniting another major terrorist attack on U.S. soil. Guaranteed to outscore 9/11, the next attack will most likely involve a dirty nuclear attack on the financial district of New York City, which would push the global economy over the edge, into the abyss.
Pulling out of Iraq creates an opportunity to reduce that risk—but only if Washington learns the lessons of its past mistakes and resists the temptation to engage in new military mis-adventures.
The Weapons Trap in Iran
Indeed, as the world weighs another War against Iran, we must engage in a serious conversation as to whether any nation is worth the risk of destruction to our own?
Veterans and anti-war activists alike must force a consideration of what our economy has suffered already—since the value of human life has become so cheap. We must examine the costs of War to our economy, our taxpayers and our soldiers, with much greater clarity and honesty than Republicans in Congress applied to the War in Iraq.
Tragically, the War in Iraq has had an unexpected consequence. It has persuaded Iran of the dangers of nuclear disarmament. Baghdad would have been much less vulnerable to U.S. military adventurism, if only Saddam's government had possessed Weapons of Mass Destruction, per U.N. accusations. Baghdad's inability to mount an effective defense created an irresistible provocation for War Hawks in Washington and London.
That lesson of the Iraq War is not lost on Teheran. On that contrary, it has proved to Iranian leaders that WMDs are vital to their future independence. Only a guarantee of "mutual assured destruction" will preserve the freedom of their country.
Unquestionably, that is the greatest tragedy of all, with more dangerous consequences to come.
One must ask: Would the CIA's vision of peace been so terrible after all?
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12 Responses to “IRAQ: THE LEGACY OF DECEPTION AND ITS COSTS”
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S Balu
02. Jan, 2012
All the above is MEDIA SPIN after the event! To give credibilty to CIA/PENTAGON etc ! and id PURE LIE!
Iraq was DESTROYED for zionist entity's BENEFIT NOTHING MORE
CIA/PENTAGON does NOT give a DAMN about the Middle class nor working class
Not for oil,not for trade
Z Abbas
02. Jan, 2012
I wish to warn our erudite readers about the slow poisoning that Pakistanis have been subjected to by the RAW-CIA-MOSSAD controlled Western-based NGOs operating in our country. All food materials that Pakistan obtains from the Jew-Hindu-Christian is heavily impregnated with heavy doses of phytoestrogens and banned chemicals like DDT and ethylene glycol, which alterb the hormonal balance of the body. Ethylene glycol is especially dangerous as it tastes like sugar and is a slow killer. In addition to this, all passenger aircraft belonging to the RAW-CIA-MOSSAD countries spew contrails full of dangerous chemicals over Pakistani air space as they overfly our territory. In fact everything they export to our country is dangerous and should not be touched. Their business concerns in Pakistan should be bombed and destroyed. We should also be aware of their lackeys in Asia (Japan, S Korea) and Australia and boycott their goods too. We are under constant attck from the Jew-Hindu-Christian axis. Nothing should be imported from countries that are linked to this evil axis, even if they are our Arab brothers. North Korea and China are our safest economic partners.
Susan Lindauer
02. Jan, 2012
Nothing in this article defends War. On the contrary, I was so outspoken in my opposition to the Iraq War that I got arrested on the Patriot Act. I was held under indictment for 5 years without a Trial, and locked in prison on Carswell Air Force Base for one year, threatened with indefinite detention and forcible drugging— in a savage effort to stop me from disclosing information about this peace framework and the CIA's advance knowledge of 9/11.
This was so real that I got gagged by indictment to stop me from sharing this information during George Bush's tough re-election fight.
I want to show the global community how EASILY this war could have been avoided in total. Every objective (including democracy reforms) were achieved BEFORE the War. I realized after publication that I forgot to mention it. Iraq had proposed a supremely creative solution. It involved repatriating Iraqi Exiles and housing them in expanded Embassy Compounds protected by Embassy security. All of you will know that Embassies are Sovereign Territory of the home country.
Saddam proposed bringing everyone back, and allowing them to create political parties, with political headquarters, opposition newspapers– Then they could move around the city protected by embassy security, if they felt it was necessary. He swore that nobody would bother them. And they could organize a campaign in front of the Iraqi people. Within 12 to 18 months, there would be elections. He proposed that Jimmy Carter would come as an election monitor.
Now– here’s the kicker– the man who floated this proposal was a face I’d seen at pictures of Revolutionary Council Meetings. He had the power to launch this. And he told me that “maybe Saddam will not be around” to join the elections (as a candidates). Those were his own words. I was so shocked to hear this that I immediately thought Saddam must be very sick. I could not imagine that Saddam would not run in these elections. But that was definitely up for negotiation.
In other words, the United States was offered Every Conceivable Objective that it could possibly have desired. Probably the CIA thought of a lot of stuff that George Bush didn’t (not a very smart boy, that one.)
Don’t ever think that I supported this War. I fought and fought and fought and fought and fought AGAINST this War. I created an email data base for every Chief of Staff, Legislative Director, Press Secretary and Foreign Policy staffer in the House & Senate. I also had a fax blast for every Congressional office and every Ambassadors’ office at the United Nations. My faxes ran 24-7 non-stop, feeding opposition papers to Congress and the United Nations. I pounded those guys with warnings that I wrote myself and excellent papers by other writers. It was a non-stop one woman battle, as an Asset, to stop that War.
I was absolutely devastated when the War started. I howled so loudly 6 months before the November elections, Republican Leaders recognized I would cause a serious problem for George Bush’s re-election. Given my knowledge of the advance warnings of 9/11 AND my direct engagement on Iraq, including my knowledge of the peace framework, Republican leaders recognized that I posed a significant threat to the Bush re-election.
musafir tariq
02. Jan, 2012
@Susan: Come to Pakistan, O knowledgable sister. We need people like you to alert us to the machinations of the Hindu-Christian-Jew axis.
S.Balu
03. Jan, 2012
Susan Lindauer, I read your REPLY!
Sorry,I DO NOT buy it! Once Meat is cooked ,you cannot UNCOOK it! i.e.DECEPTION comes to my mind!
Afriq
03. Jan, 2012
“….papers to Congress and the United Nations.”
This is were your credibility slump devastatingly to the lowest. Every school kid knows that the three most insanely barbaric savage thug groups are:
US congress
UN
UK
Plus US/UK/F/Ger frankenstein state=israHell
If you were as desperate as you claim WHY didn’t you CONTACT the independent media?
Please do not cy the “secrecy + jail+ torture” We know western history everything there is to know about US/UK/EU imperialism. WE ARE WEANED on anti-imperialism.
I have watched your video and NOT ONCE HAVE YOU MENTIONED THE INSANE FEROCIOUS BARBARITY SUFFERED BY OUR LOVED ONES.
Everyone knew from the beginning that it was an illegal war – SILENCE is COMPLICITY.
By the way what have they done to Suleiman Siddiqui – son of Dr Aafia Siddiqui which is so horrific that they have asked their partners in naTo+ else where to forbid the protest. How much insanity is there in US congress?
Susan Lindauer
03. Jan, 2012
Evil Triumphs Because Good Men Do Nothing.
It amazes me how everyone wants to claim that they would have opposed the horrific suffering of sanctions— if only they'd known. The fact is that Iraq tried desperately to get the world's attention. Only after 10 years of suffering did the humanitarian "elite" decide they cared. By then, sanctions had killed 1.7 million human beings, because THE WHOLE WORLD agreed to tolerate genocide. NOBODY would speak out against sanctions.
The corporate media smirked over the deaths. And Afriq– with due respect– there was no blog media in the 1990s. Your comment would lead me to conclude you are in your early 30s at most. Blogs are a recent phenomenon.
Today, the bodies of Iraqi children would be all over the internet. Then, the western media scarcely noticed. And if they did, they said, oh, sanctions will eventually break Saddam. So it's worth it.
I was one of the very few anti-sanctions activists who steadily protested sanctions as a violations of the Geneva Converntions of War, which prohibit targeting civilian infrastructure necessary for survival, or the collective punishment of civilian populations– The CIA & Defense Intelligence appealed to my passionate opposition to sanctions in asking me to start this back channel.
The point of the article is that Every Objective Demanded by the West could have been achieved without firing a single missile or killing one Iraqi child. Iraq wanted peaceful relations with the West. There was no reason for hostilities at all. There's not a single thing that you could have asked for that Iraq would not have given you.
All of this tragedy was avoidable. The world really ought to think about how much opportunity was lost by choosing War, before you go into a new conflict with Iran. The world lost a great deal more than you have anticiapted.
Afriq
03. Jan, 2012
Thank you for the reply. For what it is worth you are the first one to answer my comment and I am thankful for your time, understanding and consideration. Would i feel different if you were not US, US asset
YES., Blame yourselves not me. I didnot know racism still the bloody britshit +US savages came
I am sorry but YOU have misunderstood my comment. Are you saying there were no independent news 10 years ago?
You being an asset would surely know that there were.
No we KNEW how they were suffering! And this i didnot learn from bbcnnsky …EL jaz but the tears of my mother. FUCK the world/elite/the silent complicite We were there from day one. WE were taught from day one to save every penny and send it to OUR people in Iraq. Our Eid that you American scariledge at every opportunity you get had brought us to the point that it was always ruined and left a bitter taste. We would suffice with a simple meal and even that was difficult to sollow so for us to pay for the cancer drugs/antibiotics/medication was more important.
No not via UN butchering bastards, the savage ngos but by our methods- may not have been millions or even 100,000 but WE GAVE EVERY PENNY and still WE DO TO THE ORPHANS, WIDOWS/ERS the maimed and the beggars that the US has created, creates
———————–
Every Objective Demanded by the West could have been achieved without firing a single missile or killing one Iraqi child. Iraq wanted peaceful relations with the West. There was no reason for hostilities at all.
Much as I would to say "Go to HELL to the US which it is, I can assure you no one in their right mind would say YES to hostilities except the US/UK and their insane gang of thugs because being cowards they had already weakened destroyed the defences of other countries you didnot have the minimum of intentions to attack.
I mean HOW could Iraq attack US you would have to be in mad house to think this but than isn't US congress just that – insane satanic savage group
pictures over the internet – I do not know how immune you assets become -horrific content
Gaddafi’s Female Bodyguards Found Murdered, Chinese Reactions
Gaddafi’s Female Bodyguards Found Murdered, Chinese Reactions From KDNet & Tiexue: Photos of Gaddafi’s pretty female bodyguards shot dead exposed When Gaddafi fled, his female bodyguards ["The Revolutionary Nuns" or "Amazonian Guard"] also disbanded, but still many of them were tracked down. According to information organized by a Middle Eastern website, the first fled with [ READ MORE ]
Rehmat
04. Jan, 2012
Interestingly, the Zioncons (mostly Jewish) who took America to Iraq War in 2003 – are now blaming loosing Iraq to Iran.
http://rehmat1.wordpress.com/2011/12/17/lord-owen-iran-is-the-most-powerful-country-in-the-region/
Afriq
04. Jan, 2012
How I wish it was true!
The bloody britshit majesty good the best lucrative deal – BP
if iran got Irak why would they give BP any part of the contract?
I know the green mosters of kensington – the bloody murderous thugs who claim to be Iranian being financed by UK. THEY ARE AGGRESIVE thugs. if you refuse (remeber the sick freedom/democracy/free speech BS) they will attack you VERY AGGRESIVELY and UK gov gives these insane bastards IMMUNITY.
If I was against Iranian gov not that it is my business now I AM FOR THEM.
Tariq Shah
04. Jan, 2012
Pakistan is gaining ground against the Dajjals in our midst: We have got rid of the most dangerous agents of the RAW-CIA-MOSSAD axis: Mukhtaran Mai, Dr Shazia Khalid of Balochistan, Aasia Bibi, Salman Taseer (and his son), Saleem Shahazad, and now Dr. Baqir Shah. Hussein Haqani & Imran Khan only a few days away from being despatched to Jahannam. We shall pursue and cut down these Jew-Hindu-Christian agents wherever they hide in our Land of the Pure.
Ahsan Ahmed
04. Jan, 2012
Apologies are not enough. Susan Lindauer should marry a devout Muslim man and bear good strong Islamic children to carry on the message of Holy Jihad.