Every Day Is Waco Day in Allawi’s “Liberated” Land
Sarah Whalen
Before Allawi leaves town, the Senate might invite him to chat under oath. Maybe it’s time for Allawi to solemnly swear Iraq is no longer a “Republic of Fear.” Because right now, everything indicates it’s become a Republic of Horror, and fear cannot be far away.
Allawi himself and other US-groomed Iraqis are letting us know, quite publicly, what they have in store for the Iraqi people. And it doesn’t sound like democracy. It sounds like Saddamism – a totalitarian police state, ruled by a strong man. And since Allawi fits that “strong man” bill, what the new Iraqi police state needs is secret police, whose basic job is to spy and report back to the “government” on its own citizens.
On July 15, 2004, Allawi announced creation of a “General Security Directorate” (GSD). Kind of like America’s FBI. Except the GSD will do something extra, in addition to spying on citizens and solving crimes. Allawi says one of its special tasks is to “annihilate terrorist groups.”
In America this sometimes happens, as when the FBI used deadly force against the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas. But under Allawi’s plan, every day will be Waco Day. For a long time. Or at least, until things calm down. Likely after thousands more die. Just like under Saddam.
And don’t think Iraq’s new secret police will act wholly on their own. No. “Annihilating” enemies is a dangerous enterprise, and the GSD will need to be protected by US-led “coalition” troops. So says Iraq’s new ambassador to the US, Rend Rahim Francke, also interviewed July 15, 2004. Francke claims US troops occupying Iraq must “stay as liberators” protecting Iraqi leaders while they “take care of the day-to-day running of the country.”
Iraq’s GSD, bolstered by the US military, will not only “annihilate” insurgents but also will carry out Iraq’s amnesty plan, differentiating between “good and bad insurgents.” Francke says Iraq’s secret police are ideally suited “because that kind of weighing and distinguishing between those who can be given amnesty and those who can’t is in fact a matter of rebuilding, reforming the history of the individuals who are going to be amnestied.”
So “bad” insurgents will be “annihilated,” “good” insurgents will be “rebuilt and reformed.” This is actually a step beyond Saddam, whose Mukhabarat usually stopped with “annihilated.” It sounds almost Maoist, like China’s infamous “re-education” camps. And what might these “rebuilt, reformed” insurgents look like? A good guess is, like Americans and Londoners. They will be unashamedly “secular” Muslims, or if non-Muslims, self-declared atheists like Kanan Makiya, famous Iraqi exile author of “Republic of Fear: The Politics of Modern Iraq.”
Iraqi Neocons. With their own secret police. Protected by the US military. Oh, brave new Iraq, that has such people in it. A republic of horror, and fear.