Thanks for your help, but go home!

by David Grand
July 16, 2008

That, in so many words, is what Prime Minister Maliki told us to do a week or so ago. But it seems that the only ones who were listening were the Iraqis themselves, while the only reaction in the White House to his insisting on a timetable for our withdrawal was no comment.

Perhaps they figured he was just blowing off steam and didn't really mean it, or that he was simply trying to appease those Iraqis who have been clamoring for us to leave for years, notwithstanding their gratitude for us having gotten rid of Saddam's regime.

So, there you have it. The Iraqis are, as Jon Soltz said in the Huffington Post, basically telling the US that they, in effect endorse Obama's policy of setting a timetable for bringing our troops home. While John McCain's silence on the issue is, he says, severely troubling. And that his advisor saying he'll stick to his guns--Iraq's wishes be damned--is a reversal from his previous position.

Now, the fact that we've built a new U.S. embassy rising above the Tigris River (the largest of its kind in the world and the size of Vatican City) is a clear statement that we'll be there for as long as there's oil to be had.

It is truly a city within a city, consisting of 21 buildings on a 104 acres, and with the embassy staff (of 5,500 American and Iraqis) living in six apartment buildings in the new complex. What a steal that was, costing us only a little more than $1 billion for the whole shebang.

That it will have its own water wells, electricity plant and wastewater treatment facility will surely be envied by those living outside of that fortress-like compound who lack public utilities and have to rough it as best they can.

Meanwhile, developers are apparently willing to bet on Baghdad rebounding, regardless of the absence of any kind of local infrastructure. For example: an American company is moving forward with a half-billion dollar project called the Baghdad Zoo and Entertainment Experience, designed by a firm that developed Disneyland. That won't be a target for hostilities. Right.

And a deal for a new Marriot in downtown Baghdad has been completed, with anticipated room rates only well heeled foreign visitors and U.S. contractors and their employees could afford. Plus, local merchants will get screwed royally.

But to end on a brighter note, the Iraqi government has, rightfully so in my humble opinion, rejected out-of-hand the U.S. demanding 58 military bases in Iraq as part of a "status of forces" agreement that would allow American troops to remain there indefinitely. As a leading lawmaker from the Islamic Supreme Council put it: "what the Americans propose is more abominable than the occupation."

That should serve as fair warning to our policy makers who would attempt to usurp the powers of another sovereign nation to govern itself in order to satisfy its self serving interests. It'll always backfire.