‘Shock Doctrine’ unmasks lies used to justify, privatize Iraq war

[Joanne98]

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The “Shock Doctrine,” a 558-page book by Naomi Klein, unmasks the “free trade” and globalization ideologies that have persuaded and permitted our governmental leaders to privatize war and disaster and grab public property for the privileged and wealthy few.

The Bush administration came into power with a powerful agenda:

What can be outsourced? What can be deregulated? What can be privatized? What unions can be broken? What governmental departments can be stacked with governmental clones? What had been subtly political in previous administrations became “in your face” political; e.g., would you like to keep your job?

Privatization can, once under way, save money. People can be found to do the work cheaper, but quality very often becomes secondary to lower cost. One recent example is China, which has been supplying a large quantity of goods to the U.S. at cheaper cost. In recent months, it has been discovered that some safety standards, which Americans believe are very important, have been ignored.


The big lie

Some way or other, a majority of Americans were convinced that Iraq was responsible for 9/11. Saddam didn’t pose a threat to U.S. security, or necessitate the “War on Terror,” but he did pose a threat to U.S. energy companies. And so we privatized the Iraq war after selling everyone on the need for it. Actually, Saddam had gotten “uppity” after being one of ours for several years; he had signed contracts with a Russian giant and was negotiating with France’s Total. (But now a new law has been unveiled that allows Shell and BP to claim Iraq’s vast oil resources)

And so Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was authorized to do his “shock and awe.” In weeks of major combat, more than 30,000 cruise missiles and 20,000 precision-guided missiles were used, 67 percent of the total number made. Shock and awe aims for mass fear (similar to mass torture), which creates a demonstration model that no nation should ever consider the temerity to flout the authority of the United States. We wiped out their communications and turned off their lights.

As of July, 2006, according to the most credible study, 655,000 Iraqis had been killed (of course some of those had been labeled “collateral damage” — terrorists, insurgents, etc. — which makes it easier to obtain public acceptance). A week before the invasion, the press corps had been invited to watch the testing of the MOAB (mother of all bombs); 21,000 pounds, the largest non-nuclear explosive ever built. It produces a 10,000 foot high mushroom cloud that looks and feels like a nuclear weapon.


War was outsourced

After our first fabricated justification to launch a war — weapons of mass destruction — we moved to the need to spread democracy. Shortly after 9/11, Bush had quietly outsourced the “War on Terror” to Halliburton and Blackwater. It was the same kind of privatized democracy that had been started at home.

We sold off much of Iraq’s industry on the privatization guise. It brought in foreign investment but threw Iraqis out of work. Until I read this book, I believed that we were letting governmental employees go because they were Saddam supporters. Paul Bremer, director of reconstruction and humanitarian assistance for post-war Iraq, ultimately took the fall for that decision, which created the backlash that upset the apple cart. Fired workers not only didn’t welcome us with open arms, they joined the opposition that wanted the Americans out of their country.


Population bomb

Global warming is getting short shrift in this review too. Probably the most important sector is population. Unsustained population growth will ultimately be the coup de grace.

A second factor is affluence. As our wealth has increased, we have had the ability to increase our choices. We were no longer limited to organic goods raised in our own gardens; the world had become our oyster in Shakespeare’s terms. We have become able to afford more technology — motor homes, speed boats, iPods, expensive vacations and the list goes on. We have grown accustomed to an existence of luxury spending. Former luxuries have become necessities.

Our increasing affluence has moved lower income workers higher on the chain; they don’t want menial work anymore. This necessitates increased immigration, more population — the list goes on. What can be done to help those who have lost work due to outsourcing and immigration? Proponents suggest retraining programs, a more progressive tax system and reduced needs for the higher levels of income and the resultant expenditures. Reduced demand will lower both prices and wages, but, decreased income will be a result even if unpleasant to contemplate.

The book gives a good deal of space to Katrina and the resultant problems. At this point, it appears many of the areas that were populated by poor people will never be rebuilt. Governmental assistance has gone, for the most part, to those with more. Housing, schools and other necessities for the poor are slow in being addressed. Many of those individuals will never be able to return, opening those areas for upscale development.

And we continue our involvement in many nations of the third world that could very well be to crack open their economies. With troops in the country (and we have them in many ) and military mayhem underway in some, they are much more ready to comply, which could end up allowing multinationals to feed off freshly privatized states.

Naomi Klein had much more to say. You’ll want to see for yourself.

Bernie Hughes, Ed.D., is a retired educator who resides in Superior. He can be reached at [e-mail].
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