Here is what our troops are killing and dying for

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=40367

Iraq is now a Shiite Islamic Theocracy, thanks to Bush

<snip>Even though the Act stated the noble objective of establishing democracy as the pretended goal, actually democracy was never the real issue. The more important issue to American corporations was the economic system of Iraq. The Republican NeoCon master plan was to remove the socialistic economic system of the Hussein government and replace it with a capitalistic system in which there were no state owned industries. This was a clear violation of international law. An occupying nation is forbidden from changing the economic system of an occupied nation. The Hussein government had complete ownership and control of all of the major industries, the oil industry, about 200 major businesses and the major banks. This socialistic system was preventing private ownership of the oil industries and was an obstacle to U.S. capitalistic ambitions in the Middle East. This grandiose attempt to change the fundamental nature of an entire nation overnight, has resulted in total chaos, confusion and civil war. Almost everything that the Bush administration has done in Iraq since 2003, has been in violation of the articles of the Geneva Convention. Numerous books have already been published detailing these many violations and these actions by the administration should be investigated in the future by an independent commission or an international tribunal.

The more immediate issue should be to clarify what has happened since the Iraq invasion and the alternate outcomes that may result from this U.S. occupation.

The fallacious façade that was presented by the Bush administration proclaimed that the U.S. was invading Iraq for the noble purpose of liberating the people and establishing democracy. This goal was only declared after it was learned that the original claim of removing the Weapons of Mass Destruction, was a phony excuse, since Iraq had none of these. The U.S. has always promoted the peaceful spread of democracy in all nations. This was an honorable excuse that the American public could accept, if they believed it was true. In reality, the invasion was never about establishing democracy in Iraq, but solely about privatizing the lucrative Iraqi oil industry. Truthfully, U.S. corporations have very little interest in whether or not the Iraqi people, or any people, have freedom or democracy. Multi billion dollar corporations have only one focus, which is purely economical, and that is to increase their revenues. Billionaire American CEO’s don’t spend a lot of time worrying about religious freedoms, equal rights for Iraqi women, civil rights or free speech. They are however, concerned with free enterprise.

The concepts of American democracy and Islamic democracy should be compared and contrasted. These two are not the same. Whenever the Bush administration made the claim that they were on a noble mission to establish democracy in Iraq, the American people understood that Bush meant the same type of American democracy that our nation currently has. This was never possible in a Muslim nation like Iraq, or any other Islamic nation in the Middle East. The concept of American democracy, as it is conceived in our nation, includes the Bill of Rights, a Constitution which is secular (non-religious), and three equal branches of government which have separate powers and are able to enforce the liberties and civil rights of all citizens. The American concept of democracy is more than just mob rule. Mob rule has been called the ‘Tyranny of the Majority’. When there are no restrictions or legal restraints, the majority (political or religious) will usually impose their will on the weaker minority. This produces discrimination against the minorities and civil rights violations. The American system of government was intended to prevent these abuses. Preserving and establishing equal rights is still a continuing struggle in our own nation. snip

Whenever Bush boasts that he has created democracy in Iraq, he should read the present Iraqi Constitution. The Iraqi Constitution clearly states that the President, Prime Minister and all members of the government must be Muslims. This is a religious test that is forbidden by the U.S. Constitution. This Iraqi religious requirement for government leaders, jurists, legislators, civil servants and most people employed by the government defines the Iraqi government as a theocracy. The supreme law of the land is still the Koran (Qur’an) and Islamic Law (or Shari‘a Law). In the U.S. the supreme law of the land is the non-religious U.S. Constitution, not any religious texts or documents. The U.S. has a separation of religion and state and Iraq has a unification of religion and state. Iraq absolutely does not have a democracy (by American standards), it has a Shiite Islamic theocracy. This was made possible by the U.S. invasion and the short sightedness of the Bush administration.

[liberal N proud]

1. Theocratic governments don't bother the bu$h regime

They have been trying to turn this nation into a Christan government since taking office.

[malaise]

2. Nice read.

BBC has a month long program called Why Democracy? It's worth watching if you bear in mind that democracy is very different from stealing the planet's resources. You can't kill people to make them free since rational people know you're only interested in 'freeing up' their resources for your corporate backers.

Bushco has made it real easy for the planet's people to understand raw naked imperialism.