by James Glaser
June 30, 2004

The truth is that the United States and George Bush have lost the War in Iraq. Most of the world knew that when the pictures of the American torture chambers came to light. They knew it when the United States Marine Corps had to back down from taking Fallujah. They can see that we have lost, every night on the news, when the videos of daily car bombs are shown and when the new American death toll is given. They knew that we lost, when they learned that President Bush would not allow a photograph of an American coffin or when they hear that Bush refuses to acknowledge even one military death, by attending even one funeral.

The people in Iraq and most of the rest of the world know that the 138,000 American troops still in Iraq have been given immunity from Iraqi Law and Iraqi courts. Does that even sound like the US has given sovereignty to the new Iraqi government?

The new Iraqi government, which will hold power until elections some time in the future, does not have the power or the authority to change the interim constitution or even change the Transitional Administrative Law.

Another law that Americans have been kept in the dark about, is that US Defense contractors have been given complete immunity from Iraqi law. That means that these contractors, with their reported 15,000 armed mercenaries can get away with MURDER, and the Iraqi government can do nothing about it. Remember those 138,000 American troops are there to protect American interests.

Sovereignty means "supreme authority, the supreme power in a state." That is not what we have given to the Iraqi people or the puppet government we have set up there.

This whole (as the UN calls it) "Transfer of Sovereignty" is phony.

This is an election year and George Bush has to get Iraq off the television and off the front page if he wants to win, so he has put together this sham government transfer. The American media is helping out by not reporting everything about what is going on. They play right along and pretend that this new Iraqi government has real authority.

The rest of the world looks at our over 150,000 troops and mercenaries, the 20,000 coalition troops, they see the fourteen permanent American military bases, they look at the immunity to anyone from the west, and they know that the United States still occupies Iraq and calls the shots. They also watch as America bleeds.

The world knows that this is just another part of the American game to own Iraq and control its oil. The world knows we have lost this war and they can see that this "transfer of power," is just a political ploy to help a failing President.