The Media Is Lying To You About Iraq

Unless you're living in a cave, you probably don't think the war's recently been all that successful.

'But we can't leave,' you'll say. 'I know we aren't necessarily causing dramatic good, but just think how horrendously things would escalate if we were to simply get up and go!!'

I tell you, this is the Blob speaking.

The common sentiment that "if the U.S. leaves Iraq, the violent sectarianism between the Sunni and Shia will worsen" is exactly what Republicans and Democrats want us to believe so they can "justify the continuance of the occupation of Iraq" (Dahr Jamail). This entire conception of an intense hatred between the sects has actually been manufactured and played up out of an unprofessional ignorance of culture by our leading officials, and so that the war can be more easily spoon-fed to Americans. Jamail continues, "This propaganda, like others of its ilk, gains ground, substances, and reality due largely to the ignorance of those ingesting it. The snow job by the corporate media on the issue of sectarianism in Iraq has ensured that the public buys into the line that the Sunni and Shia will dice one another up into little pieces if the occupation ends."

In reality, "prior to the Anglo-American invasion and occupation of Iraq there had never been open warfare between the two groups and centainly not a civil war." When Dahr Jamail was in Iraq in 2003, he quickly learned of the grand faux-paus it was to ask someone of their sect. When asked, the most common response (after an awkward look that told you how rude the question was,) would be, "I am Muslim," or "I am Iraqi." Further demonstrating this was the amount of intermarriages between the sects, mixed neighborhoods, and even Shia and Sunni praying in the same mosques. Quite contrary to how our media would have it depicted...

However, as soon as Americans went in, they assumed that the country was strictly divided and went on to create their own Iraqi puppet government that was numerically based on the break-down of the percentages of Sunni, Shia, and Kurds (and "for good measure, a couple of Turkoman and Christian") representatives, so we could prove just how "democratic" we really were and wanted Iraq to be. (It is important to note that when the U.S. military commander showed up and asked these Iraqi tribal and religious leaders to divide themselves by sect, they were "utterly perplexed" by the oddity of his request.)

Much later, "U.S.-backed sectarian death squads have become the foremost generator of death in Iraq, even surpassing the U.S. military machine." The U.S. military has been known to let "Iraqi police" and "Iraqi army" personnel "masked in black balaclavas, through their checkpoints to carry out abductions and assassinations in the neighborhoods. But when we get the word back home, these men are referred to as "concerned local citizens," or simply "volunteers."

Consequent to what we have birthed, "almost all of Baghdad and much of Iraq is now segregated." Although we are constantly told that the violence has lessened, the truth is that that "all that has happened is a dramatic change in the demographic map of Iraq," that because of us, "Baghdad is a divided city."

Yeah, but even so! We can't evacuate! Iraq would descend further into a sectarian nightmare! And we would be to blame! (Just to refresh- where did we get this idea? Oh, right- from what we've been reading.)

The one example that shows what would likely be expected if we did leave (that the media doesn't want you to know about) is from early September. This was when "500 British troops left one of Saddam Hussein's palaces in the heart of the city and ceased to conduct regular food patrols." And just what was the result? "According to the British military, the overall level of violence in the city has DECREASED BY 90 PERCENT since then."

No WONDER we haven't left yet... (?)

As Jamail concludes, although this obviously can't be guaranteed, "it does prove that when the primary cause of the violence, sectarian strife, instability, and chaos is removed from the equation of Iraq, things are bound to improve rapidly."

Are you still going to believe that we're what's holding Iraq together?



(All quotes come from Dahr Jamail's article, "The myth of sectarianism," out of the current issue of the ISR. Dahr Jamail is an independent journalist who spend eight months in Iraq and is the author of "Beyond the Green Zone: Dispatches From an Unembedded Journalist in Occupied Iraq")