'A sad, sorry, tragic story for Baghdadis'

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.jordantimes.com/Thu/opinion/opinion2.htm

<snip>“They Americans don't care about us, only about their soldiers and officials,” is the constant Iraqi refrain. They are right. US troops and officials are now living behind razor wire, barricades and high concrete block walls which remind me of the so-called “separation walls” the Israeli government is building all over the West Bank, allegedly to protect Israeli civilians from Palestinian bombers. The walled and wired “Green Zone” has been expanded to embrace the Jumhurriya Palace complex, where ousted President Saddam Hussein had his offices, the Rashid Hotel, the International Conference Centre and the hall where the US-appointed Governing Council convenes. The zone consumes at least 12 square kilometres of territory in the heart of Baghdad, a city of 5 million. Baghdadis cannot enter without permits and must drive round this isolated fortified island. They must also deal with countless fixed check points and flying barricades which disrupt and divert traffic, wasting precious petrol. Baghdad is being turned into a second West Bank.

Most foreigners living inside the Green Zone rarely leave. They have little contact with the people they rule and are afraid of them. Foodstuffs for the occupation regime are flown in from outside the country so that poison cannot be introduced by Iraqis. Fear of local produce and foodstocks has exacerbated the stockade mentality of those living within the zone. For them, Iraqis are not a “liberated” people, but “hostiles”. To make matters worse, the US-appointed Iraqi interim Governing Council has failed to bridge the wide gulf between ordinary Iraqis and the occupation regime. While some members have made the attempt to do so and have established political parties with the aim of creating popular constituencies and representing their people, the five core council members favoured by the US care no more about the urgent needs and demands of Iraqis than the US officials in the Green Zone. The favoured five are Ahmed Chalabi of the Iraqi National Congress (INC), Ayad Alawi of the Iraqi National Accord (INA), Kurdish leaders Jalal Talabani and Massoud Barzani and Ibrahim Jafari of the Islamist Da'wa Party. Abdel Aziz Hakim, head of the Tehran-backed Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) is associated with this group.

According to authoritative sources, these figures are simply interested in forwarding their own agendas and securing personal power. Pentagon-supported Chalabi seeks to become Iraq's next dictator. He may even manage this if US Viceroy L. Paul Bremer III fails to implement his plan to turn over power to the Iraqis by next June. Bush wants to effect a political exit by July 1, to boost his prospects for election in November. He intends, however, to secure arrangements for a permanent US military presence in Iraq and for the exploitation of the country's oil resources before handing over sovereignty to an Iraqi provisional government.

The extent to which Chalabi will go to promote himself was revealed last week in the aftermath of the capture of Saddam Hussein by US forces, on Dec. 13.

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[nadinbrzezinski]

1. Note for thsoe who will miss this

The Jordanian Press is NOT free, it is rather
State Controled

This is aproved content

Now this tells you where the Government of Jordan is standing, truly
on the fence...

This is what makes readign teh Arab press so damn fascinating....

Not taht there are no kernels of truth in here, there are... like the siege mentality, but take this far more for what it also tells us of
US Jordanian Relations... and how much they dislike Chalabi (who for the record has been convicted of Embezzlment in Amaman) and who will probably be the Next "king Faisal." Aka the one we appoint, just as the brits apointed King Faisal

[leftchick]

2. IF he lives that long.....

I see chalabi with a big old target on the back of his fat head.....

[Mikimouse]

3. Is it possible that King Abdullah is finally

waking up to what is happening around him? When he first ascended the throne, I was very impressed with his approach to international affairs, as well as his close involvement with his people. He seemed to be a contemporary extension of his father. When the * administration started posturing about Iraq, he seemed to waffle and I became concerned that he was simply selling out. Just my perspective, which, as usual, may be completely incorrect.