Iraq's Endless "False Hopes"

Iraq's Endless "False Hopes"
By Robert Parry
Consortium News
Saturday 01 September 2007


Two-and-a-half years ago at another "turning point" in the Iraq War, columnists at the Washington Post and other leading American newspapers were ecstatic over how the Iraqi national election was finally fulfilling the neoconservative dream of remaking the Muslim world.

Now, however, some of the same columnists who praised the Jan. 30, 2005, election are denouncing it as a failure that must be undone so George W. Bush's newest "turning point" - the American troop "surge" - can achieve its fullest potential.

But remember back to those happy days in winter 2005 when Bush was the toast of Washington after his Second Inaugural Address that used the words "freedom" and "liberty" a staggering 42 times. Just 10 days later, U.S. commentators cheered themselves hoarse over the "purple-finger" election in Iraq.

"Could it be that the neocons were right and that the invasion of Iraq, the toppling of Hussein and the holding of elections will trigger a political chain reaction throughout the Arab world?" marveled Post columnist Richard Cohen.

Another influential Post columnist, David Ignatius, was swept up in the excitement, too.

"The old system (in the Middle East) that had looked so stable is ripping apart, with each beam pulling another down as it falls," Ignatius wrote. Crediting the U.S. invasion of Iraq for the "sudden stress" that started this collapse, Ignatius wrote, "It's hard not to feel giddy, watching the dominoes fall."


Rest of article at: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/090107A.shtml

America will get out of Iraq the exact same way America got into Iraq - with lies.