What's coming in Iraq

Things are calmer in Iraq, and have been through the month of July 2008 and into August. That is clear to see from my readings and from collection of photos of Iraqis that I place on the Faces of Grief blog. I am happy that violence is down, but I am currently working on another Iraq video called “This is Baghdad” – which shows that things are not great there in the city of Baghdad.

And there is talk of pulling out some of the US troops (not ALL of them, just SOME). Meanwhile, the air power still keeps on going – bombing who knows who – although there is more bombing in Afghanistan these days. But I found this article today:

Air Force Looks to A New Drone to Keep Peace in Iraq

Well, the first question comes to mind is: why does the US have to keep the peace? And the next question is: Weren’t they at peace before the US forces arrived? Well, of course they were. And the stated reason (one of them, anyway) for staying was to protect Iraq from neighboring countries (after making them democratic, for their own good).

And the major question is – how will putting drones over Iraq make things more peaceful?

All this talk about peace is just a lie, of course. They don’t care one whit about Iraqis having peace or security – they want control of that oil. They want to keep permanent bases there, to ‘project’ their power around the area. They want to bomb people whenever they feel threatened in those two areas. Here is what Lt. General Gary North said:

Today we are in an environment where we may not need the large number or persistence of manned aircraft," he said in an interview by telephone Friday with AFP from a base in the region. "We can put unmanned aircraft -- Predator, Reaper, and other assets -- overhead for long endurance periods. We call that persistent stare.

"And with the Reaper, armed with Hellfire and 500-pound precision weapons, we'll be able to have a deadly stare if needed," he said. The Reaper was deployed in Iraq for the first time July 17 from Balad Air Base, and has been flying in Afghanistan since September. "We have turned a corner in warfare by bringing in this new platform that complements -- and I stress complements -- our incredible manned capacity today," he said. "So my task is to figure out which asset you use, where and why to get the best effect in the battlespace," he said.

I don’t suppose that Gary North even questions why we are making that country into a battlespace – he just does it. And I would bet he is quite good at killing people, and it does not cross his little mind to go back and talk to the people he bombed (if they survived) to see if his bombing did anyone any good. I doubt that he even cares.

He’s a human drone himself, and quite clever and quite evil, just like his masters.