Rumsfeld’s list

Rumsfeld has a list. It’s a list of things that could go wrong in Iraq. It doesn’t mention those things that you think, though. It doesn’t mention risks to troops, or a long, drawn-out war, or the possibility of retaliation here in the States. It does have these things, quoted from the New York Times in SwissInfo’s article, War planners considering risks.

There is “concern about Saddam Hussein using weapons of mass destruction against his own people and blaming it on us [the States]”. This is a relatively transparent setup to allow the States to use WMDs of their own, then when Saddam blames the States for using chemicals or biologicals, Rumsfeld can grimace, shake his head sagely, as if to pity the sad subterfuges of dictators who don’t know they’re already dead, and say “See, told you he would blame us.” With this pre-emptive self-accusation, it deflates the eventual veracity of the real accusation to a degree that it will be much more easily managed by the media, on Rummy’s behalf. Note that his concern is not about the effects on the people in the region, be they Iraqi citizens or US troops, but about the effects on his reputation.

He’s actually concerned about the Iraqi people in the next item on the list, noting that Saddam “could do what he did to the Kuwaiti oil fields and explode them, detonate [them], in a way that lost that important revenue for the Iraqi people.” Yes, that is a concern, but it’s a lie to say that he’s concerned because the Iraqi people won’t have the resources at their disposal anymore. The expressed goal is, once Iraq is ‘liberated’, to use oil revenue to pay back the cost of the war. In any other country, this would be called ‘plunder’, but the complicit media happily swallows this justification, even though it’s piracy, pure and simple.

He “also warns of Saddam hiding his weapons in mosques, hospitals or cultural sites and using citizens or captured foreign journalists as human shields”. This is just preparation, again, for the massive civilian toll expected, and also preparation for the inevitable bombing of hospitals, etc. that the US engages in when attacking from 10,000 feet. It’s almost as if, since he mentioned these concerns first, he’s absolved of any guilt when they actually happen. Again, this will be useful when the US blows up an apartment building, with, oh, say, 3000 Iraqis in it. He can simply say, I told you Saddam would force us to do that. And the press will nod sagely and scribble furiously, rewriting history for us.

The existence of the list in no way means that a war shouldn’t go forward, but simply that poor Rumsfeld’s shoulders are heavy with the weight of these guilts. He’s a good man who deserves our support as he marches toward the inevitable; toward a fate he didn’t choose (paraphrasing the equally conscience-heavy Mr. Bush).