The US media has made the leap from selling the Iraq War to explaining it’s catastrophic failure. Both the selling and the explaining are based on the same false premise, that America tries to do what is right in its dealings with the rest of the world.
According to our media, the US invaded Iraq to "save" its people from Saddam Hussein, to "restore" democracy, and to protect the world from weapons of mass destruction. The fact that these reasons have all proven to be false has not stopped the next round of propaganda: describing US failures as stemming from an excess of idealism.
Having killed a million Iraqis and made four million homeless, such protestations of innocence might seem to be preposterous. But America loves its fairy tales of self-sacrifice, benevolence, and legality. Facts like huge, permanent bases being build by the US around Iraq's oil fields are just not reported. Why spoil our national infatuation with righteousness?
To really end the the occupation of Iraq, we will have to start questioning our naive assumptions about war and empire. Not only do our leaders lie to us through the media, they get filthy rich in the process. The war crimes perpetrated against Iraq have brought billions in profits for our politicians and corporate heads. Whether it is the weapons makers, the oil companies, the defense contractors, or the mercenary armies, their intentions are little better than organizing slaughter to satisfy obscene greed.
