Bush Touts Outcome of Iraq Troop “Surge,” Repeats Threats Against Iran

In his final state of the union, President Bush once again defended the Iraq invasion and claimed the so-called troop surge a success. Bush also repeated his threatening rhetoric against Iran.

AMY GOODMAN We continue our State of the Union coverage, I want to turn now to Iraq. President Bush used his speech to proclaim success in the massive expansion of the U.S. occupation that he announced one year ago.

PRESIDENT BUSH While the enemy is still dangerous and more work remains, the American and Iraqi surges have achieved results few of us could have imagined just 1 year ago: When we met last year, many said containing the violence was impossible. A year later, high profile terrorist attacks are down, civilian deaths are down, and sectarian killings are down.

When we met last year, militia extremists — some armed and trained by Iran — were wreaking havoc in large areas of Iraq. A year later, Coalition and Iraqi forces have killed or captured hundreds of militia fighters. And Iraqis of all backgrounds increasingly realize that defeating these militia fighters is critical to the future of their country.

When we met last year, al Qaida had sanctuaries in many areas of Iraq, and their leaders had just offered American forces safe passage out of the country. Today, it is al Qaida that is searching for safe passage. They have been driven from many of the strongholds they once held, and over the past year, we have captured or killed thousands of extremists in Iraq, including hundreds of key al Qaida leaders and operatives. Last month, Osama bin Laden released a tape in which he railed against Iraqi tribal leaders who have turned on al Qaida and admitted that Coalition forces are growing stronger in Iraq. Ladies and gentlemen, some may deny the surge is working, but among the terrorists there is no doubt. Al Qaida is on the run in Iraq, and this enemy will be defeated. [applause]

AMY GOODMAN For more on Iraq, I’m joined now by two guests here in New York, Dahr Jamail, independent journalist, reported from Iraq extensively since the U.S. invasion in 2003, publishes his reports on a blog called DahrJamailIraq.com, author of Beyond the Green Zone: Dispatches from an Unembedded Journalist in Occupied Iraq." And joining me in Washington, D.C., Raed Jarrar Iraqi blogger, political analyst, his blog _Raed in the Middle is at RaedintheMiddle.blogspot.com, Iraq consultant for the American Friend Service Committee. Let’s begin with you, Raed Jarrar, your response to President Bush’s last State of the Union when it comes to Iraq and Iran.

RAED JARRAR I did not see anything new in the President’s address. It seems like a continuation of the US foreign-policy that is based on intervention and militarism and a continuation of the US strategy in Iraq that now has been proven that nothing will change it. When the situation – when the number of casualties is higher, that’s one reason given to the public to continue staying in Iraq and to leave permanent bases. When the number of casualties is lower, there’s another reason given to the public to leave permanent bases in Iraq and continue the occupation. So whatever the condition on the ground was, what ever the action from the Iraq public was, this administration’s foreign policy is exactly the same—it does not change based on realities or fact. So I did not see anything new in that. And we did not see anything new on Iran as well. We saw the same threats, despite the recent trip showing Iran has stopped its nuclear weapons program since the year 2003. We hear exactly the same rhetoric. As I mentioned, the strategies of this administration will not be changed by the realities. And the excuses that they give will change from time to time. They just try to address the public opinion and change the different excuses to maintain the same interventionist foreign policy.

AMY GOODMAN Dahr Jamail, it’s pretty much is universally accepted in the corporate media, the surge has worked. We speak just after five US soldiers were killed in Mosul, but what about that?

DAHR JAMAIL Well, the surge and what is very interesting too, is not only do we have a US surge according to Mr. Bush, we have an Iraqi surge, two Iraqi surges actually. The first of which he mentioned in his talk last night, the concerned citizens or the awakening groups. It is really interesting that the same time last year as Mr. Bush was happily doing during his speech, comparing where were we last year to this year, well last year, these same people, these concerned local citizens according to the US military were called Al Qaeda or insurgents or terrorists. And now that there are 80,000 of them on US payroll, they’re concerned citizens and they’re an Iraqi surge. These same people, as we look at the situation on the ground, this is causing a deepening of the political divisions in the country. US backed President Nouri Al-Maliki has been vehemently opposed to this concerned citizens group backed by the US military in Iraq. These people, most of which are former resistance fighters, because they are now a threat to the Iraqi government forces. So that is causing huge problems on the ground in Iraq today. If we look at the situation the military recently announced within the last month that there was a sevenfold increase in the use of air power last year. So these are some of the reasons why right now there are fewer US troops dying but in reality, they’re paying off resistance fighters to stand down. And Muqtadr Al Sadr who commands the largest militia in the country, has his militia on stand down until next month, where that stand down might end and things might change.

AMY GOODMAN Wire of a standing down now?

DAHR JAMAIL He put them on standout almost six months ago to basically re-vet people coming in. His militia had been infiltrated by what he called foreign elements. They’re were people posing as militiamen going out and committing atrocities, etc. I think there are other political reasons obviously as well. Why they are on stand down, but that’s about to end.

AMY GOODMAN Raed Jarrar explain who these people are who are on the US payrolls, the citizens’ groups, militias.

RAED JARRAR The new citizens from Al-Anbar and other provinces in the west a middle of Iraq, is nothing new. The US has trained and supported private militias and governmental militias during the last few years. Mostly, from the shiites and from the kurds. So there were shiite and kurdish militias either working as a part of the governmental forces or independently from the governmental forces, who have been trained and funded and supported and protected by the US forces in Iraq during the last few years. Now, the US added a new sectarian force that is mainly sunni to its payroll. A new sectarian militia. So now we have three major sectarian militias, sunni, shiite, and the kurdish militias, that are trained and funded by the US whether they were inside or outside the government. And these three major militias are actually a part of a bigger US policy of supporting sectarian leaders in Iraq who are sectarianly and ethnically cleansing the country and cutting it and partitioning it demographically. Now, the new group of tribal leaders who align themselves with the US, their numbers may reach up to 70,000 or 80,000 mercenaries or private militias, they will not change this US foreign policy in Iraq or US policy in Iraq of supporting a minority of Iraqis whether they were sunnis or shiites or kurds, against the majority of other sunnis other shiites and other kurds who are nationalists, who are for keeping the country united, and ending any type of foreign intervention. So there is nothing new about the support other than finding new partners in Al-Anbar, who are willing to take US government money and oppress and kill their own people and support the foreign powers. So If this policy continues, we will continues seeing the number of Iraqi internally displaced people increasing and the ongoing project of splitting Iraq into three confederations, going – funded with US taxpayer money and US protection in Iraq.

AMY GOODMAN Dahr Jamail, the presidential candidates and their views on Iraq—today is the Florida primary for the republicans. John Mccain saying be could be there for 100 years and going after Governor Romney for at one point suggesting – though Romney fiercely denies this, that there should be a timetable.

DAHR JAMAIL There is nothing in US policy to indicate that there is going to be any change in the policy in Iraq, meaning total immediate withdrawal or even a relatively gradual withdrawal. When we look at either republican or democratic mainstream presidential candidates there’s nobody out there that is favor of this, nobody is talking about this. I mean it’s a very interesting phenomenon where of course, Bush of course not mentioning it last night either, but we have to look at the hard facts on the ground. There are right now, between six and twelve permanent US military bases either constructed or being constructed. We have the largest embassy on the planet in Baghdad, that’s two-thirds of the area of the national mall in Washington D.C.

We have all this rhetoric coming up: Well, in March, we’re going to start this troop withdrawal. And yet in recent weeks, Bush himself has said, no, that is probably not going happen. We’re going to leave it – or rather, he said we will leave that up to the generals. Two nights ago, when interviewed by Wolf Blitzer on CNN, General Petraeus would not talk about withdrawal. He would – he continually deferred to his statement of—well, we’re going to have to monitor the situation on the ground and depending on if it improves, we might bring some troops home. And he mentioned bringing home maybe one or two divisions already. But in reality, we have between 160,000-170,000 US military personnel in Iraq right now. It is right at the highest level it’s been throughout the entire occupation. We have an even greater number of American paid contractors working in Iraq, not just mercenaries but overall contractors. They actually out-number the US military personnel in Iraq and nothing to indicate there will be much change at all, of bringing any of these people outside of the country, as we come up on the five-year anniversary of the occupation.

AMY GOODMAN I am talking to Dahr Jamail, his book is called Beyond the Green Zone: Dispatches From an Unembedded Journalist in Occupied Iraq. And Raed Jarrar, blogger, and political analyst, he came to the United States from Iraq about a decade ago and continually writes about his own country he works for the American Friends Service Committee.

[break]

AMY GOODMAN We continue our State of the Union coverage, I want to turn now to Iraq. President Bush used his speech to proclaim success in the massive expansion of the U.S. occupation that he announced one year ago.

PRESIDENT BUSH While the enemy is still dangerous and more work remains, the American and Iraqi surges have achieved results few of us could have imagined just 1 year ago: When we met last year, many said containing the violence was impossible. A year later, high profile terrorist attacks are down, civilian deaths are down, and sectarian killings are down.

When we met last year, militia extremists — some armed and trained by Iran — were wreaking havoc in large areas of Iraq. A year later, Coalition and Iraqi forces have killed or captured hundreds of militia fighters. And Iraqis of all backgrounds increasingly realize that defeating these militia fighters is critical to the future of their country.

When we met last year, al Qaida had sanctuaries in many areas of Iraq, and their leaders had just offered American forces safe passage out of the country. Today, it is al Qaida that is searching for safe passage. They have been driven from many of the strongholds they once held, and over the past year, we have captured or killed thousands of extremists in Iraq, including hundreds of key al Qaida leaders and operatives. Last month, Osama bin Laden released a tape in which he railed against Iraqi tribal leaders who have turned on al Qaida and admitted that Coalition forces are growing stronger in Iraq. Ladies and gentlemen, some may deny the surge is working, but among the terrorists there is no doubt. Al Qaida is on the run in Iraq, and this enemy will be defeated. [applause]

AMY GOODMAN For more on Iraq, I’m joined now by two guests here in New York, Dahr Jamail, independent journalist, reported from Iraq extensively since the U.S. invasion in 2003, publishes his reports on a blog called DahrJamailIraq.com, author of Beyond the Green Zone: Dispatches from an Unembedded Journalist in Occupied Iraq." And joining me in Washington, D.C., Raed Jarrar Iraqi blogger, political analyst, his blog _Raed in the Middle is at RaedintheMiddle.blogspot.com, Iraq consultant for the American Friend Service Committee. Let’s begin with you, Raed Jarrar, your response to President Bush’s last State of the Union when it comes to Iraq and Iran.

RAED JARRAR I did not see anything new in the President’s address. It seems like a continuation of the US foreign-policy that is based on intervention and militarism and a continuation of the US strategy in Iraq that now has been proven that nothing will change it. When the situation – when the number of casualties is higher, that’s one reason given to the public to continue staying in Iraq and to leave permanent bases. When the number of casualties is lower, there’s another reason given to the public to leave permanent bases in Iraq and continue the occupation. So whatever the condition on the ground was, what ever the action from the Iraq public was, this administration’s foreign policy is exactly the same—it does not change based on realities or fact. So I did not see anything new in that. And we did not see anything new on Iran as well. We saw the same threats, despite the recent trip showing Iran has stopped its nuclear weapons program since the year 2003. We hear exactly the same rhetoric. As I mentioned, the strategies of this administration will not be changed by the realities. And the excuses that they give will change from time to time. They just try to address the public opinion and change the different excuses to maintain the same interventionist foreign policy.

AMY GOODMAN Dahr Jamail, it’s pretty much is universally accepted in the corporate media, the surge has worked. We speak just after five US soldiers were killed in Mosul, but what about that?

DAHR JAMAIL Well, the surge and what is very interesting too, is not only do we have a US surge according to Mr. Bush, we have an Iraqi surge, two Iraqi surges actually. The first of which he mentioned in his talk last night, the concerned citizens or the awakening groups. It is really interesting that the same time last year as Mr. Bush was happily doing during his speech, comparing where were we last year to this year, well last year, these same people, these concerned local citizens according to the US military were called Al Qaeda or insurgents or terrorists. And now that there are 80,000 of them on US payroll, they’re concerned citizens and they’re an Iraqi surge. These same people, as we look at the situation on the ground, this is causing a deepening of the political divisions in the country. US backed President Nouri Al-Maliki has been vehemently opposed to this concerned citizens group backed by the US military in Iraq. These people, most of which are former resistance fighters, because they are now a threat to the Iraqi government forces. So that is causing huge problems on the ground in Iraq today. If we look at the situation the military recently announced within the last month that there was a sevenfold increase in the use of air power last year. So these are some of the reasons why right now there are fewer US troops dying but in reality, they’re paying off resistance fighters to stand down. And Muqtadr Al Sadr who commands the largest militia in the country, has his militia on stand down until next month, where that stand down might end and things might change.

AMY GOODMAN Wire of a standing down now?

DAHR JAMAIL He put them on standout almost six months ago to basically re-vet people coming in. His militia had been infiltrated by what he called foreign elements. They’re were people posing as militiamen going out and committing atrocities, etc. I think there are other political reasons obviously as well. Why they are on stand down, but that’s about to end.

AMY GOODMAN Raed Jarrar explain who these people are who are on the US payrolls, the citizens’ groups, militias.

RAED JARRAR The new citizens from Al-Anbar and other provinces in the west a middle of Iraq, is nothing new. The US has trained and supported private militias and governmental militias during the last few years. Mostly, from the shiites and from the kurds. So there were shiite and kurdish militias either working as a part of the governmental forces or independently from the governmental forces, who have been trained and funded and supported and protected by the US forces in Iraq during the last few years. Now, the US added a new sectarian force that is mainly sunni to its payroll. A new sectarian militia. So now we have three major sectarian militias, sunni, shiite, and the kurdish militias, that are trained and funded by the US whether they were inside or outside the government. And these three major militias are actually a part of a bigger US policy of supporting sectarian leaders in Iraq who are sectarianly and ethnically cleansing the country and cutting it and partitioning it demographically. Now, the new group of tribal leaders who align themselves with the US, their numbers may reach up to 70,000 or 80,000 mercenaries or private militias, they will not change this US foreign policy in Iraq or US policy in Iraq of supporting a minority of Iraqis whether they were sunnis or shiites or kurds, against the majority of other sunnis other shiites and other kurds who are nationalists, who are for keeping the country united, and ending any type of foreign intervention. So there is nothing new about the support other than finding new partners in Al-Anbar, who are willing to take US government money and oppress and kill their own people and support the foreign powers. So If this policy continues, we will continues seeing the number of Iraqi internally displaced people increasing and the ongoing project of splitting Iraq into three confederations, going – funded with US taxpayer money and US protection in Iraq.

AMY GOODMAN Dahr Jamail, the presidential candidates and their views on Iraq—today is the Florida primary for the republicans. John Mccain saying be could be there for 100 years and going after Governor Romney for at one point suggesting – though Romney fiercely denies this, that there should be a timetable.

DAHR JAMAIL There is nothing in US policy to indicate that there is going to be any change in the policy in Iraq, meaning total immediate withdrawal or even a relatively gradual withdrawal. When we look at either republican or democratic mainstream presidential candidates there’s nobody out there that is favor of this, nobody is talking about this. I mean it’s a very interesting phenomenon where of course, Bush of course not mentioning it last night either, but we have to look at the hard facts on the ground. There are right now, between six and twelve permanent US military bases either constructed or being constructed. We have the largest embassy on the planet in Baghdad, that’s two-thirds of the area of the national mall in Washington D.C.

We have all this rhetoric coming up: Well, in March, we’re going to start this troop withdrawal. And yet in recent weeks, Bush himself has said, no, that is probably not going happen. We’re going to leave it – or rather, he said we will leave that up to the generals. Two nights ago, when interviewed by Wolf Blitzer on CNN, General Petraeus would not talk about withdrawal. He would – he continually deferred to his statement of—well, we’re going to have to monitor the situation on the ground and depending on if it improves, we might bring some troops home. And he mentioned bringing home maybe one or two divisions already. But in reality, we have between 160,000-170,000 US military personnel in Iraq right now. It is right at the highest level it’s been throughout the entire occupation. We have an even greater number of American paid contractors working in Iraq, not just mercenaries but overall contractors. They actually out-number the US military personnel in Iraq and nothing to indicate there will be much change at all, of bringing any of these people outside of the country, as we come up on the five-year anniversary of the occupation.

AMY GOODMAN I am talking to Dahr Jamail, his book is called Beyond the Green Zone: Dispatches From an Unembedded Journalist in Occupied Iraq. And Raed Jarrar, blogger, and political analyst, he came to the United States from Iraq about a decade ago and continually writes about his own country he works for the American Friends Service Committee.

[break]

AMY GOODMAN Our guests are Dahr Jamail, author of Beyond the Green Zone: Dispatches from an Unembedded Journalist in Occupied Iraq and Raed Jarrar, Iraqi blogger, political analyst, is a consultant for the American Friends Service Committee. I want to go to the issue of Iran. Last night, President Bush repeated his threatening rhetoric against Iran, vowing to confront those who challenge “our vital interest in the Persian Gulf.” he reiterated his long standing refusal to negotiate unless Iran first shuts down its nuclear activities.

PRESIDENT BUSH We are also standing against the forces of extremism embodied by the regime in Tehran. Iran’s rulers oppress a good and talented people. And wherever freedom advances in the Middle East, it seems the Iranian regime is there to oppose it. Iran is funding and training militia groups in Iraq, supporting Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon, and backing Hamas’ efforts to undermine peace in the Holy Land. Tehran is also developing ballistic missiles of increasing range and continues to develop its capability to enrich uranium, which could be used to create a nuclear weapon. Our message to the people of Iran is clear: We have no quarrel with you, we respect your traditions and your history, and we look forward to the day when you have your freedom. Our message to the leaders of Iran is also clear: Verifiably suspend your nuclear enrichment, so negotiations can begin. And to rejoin the community of nations, come clean about your nuclear intentions and past actions, stop your oppression at home, and cease your support for terror abroad. But above all, know this: America will confront those who threaten our troops, we will stand by our allies, and we will defend our vital interests in the Persian Gulf. [applause]

AMY GOODMAN President Bush in his last State of the Union last night in Washington, D.C. Raed Jarrar, it almost sounded like he did a find and replace on the word “Iraq” from three years ago and inserted “Iran.”

RAED JARRAR I completely agree because it is the same policy. Iraq is nothing more than a symptom of this interventionist policy that is based on extending troops to occupy and control countries around the region and the world. I think at the same time that President Bush thinks his message is clear to the Iranian government and the Iranian people, I think we’re going through a time when the message of the Iranian people and the other people from the region, to the US government, is clear as well. People are saying we’re better off without your intervention. We are better off. We know how to self-rule ourselves. If we need to change our government, we will change them from inside, from within. Especially after what happened in Iraq. Iraq is an example of how the US intervention to change regimes has destroyed the country completely. At the same time that Iraqis changed their political regimes in the past, 80 years ago, I think seven or eight times without destroying their country. So I think there are clear messages that are being sent to the US government by the people of the region whether they were Palestinians or Iranians or Iraqis or Syrians or whatever in the region. That we are better off without your intervention. We are better off without your intervention, we are better off without you trying to “help us” get our freedoms or whatever the excuse is used to bomb other countries in the region.

AMY GOODMAN Dahr Jamail, finally, the issue for Iraqis on the ground every day?

DAHR JAMAIL We need to be really clear in the frame of the situation. We’re looking at a situation where even according to the former UN leader Kofi Annan who said this invasion violated the Geneva Conventions, and the reality on the ground now, how that translates for the Iraqi people coming up on the five- year anniversary. We’re looking at over one million dead Iraqis according to the conservative, as they have been told to me, by a UNHCR spokesperson in Syria last summer. They – admitting that their figures for displaced people are conservative. Those conservative figures are 4.5 million displaced Iraqis in addition to according to an Oxfam International report last July another four million in dire need of emergency aid. When we add those up, taking into consideration of the fact that Iraq’s overall population has dropped. When you have 2.5 million people leave the country and another million people killed, it has dropped from twenty-seven down to probably twenty-four million or twenty-five million people. When you add those numbers up, we’re getting close to half the population of the country that have either been displaced, one in four people alone of baghdad are displaced from their homes, one in four people in Baghdad alone are displaced from their homes, or in need of emergency aid or are dead. So we need to be really clear about the fact that Mr. Bush is a war criminal and there are countless other war criminals in his – this administration and his previous administration, and the situation on the ground for Iraqis is a complete catastrophe. Their country has been eviscerated. There is no normal life and no end in sight.

AMY GOODMAN I want to thank you, Dahr Jamail, for being with us. Beyond the Green Zone: Dispatches from an Unembedded Journalist in Occupied Iraq is his book. Raed Jarrar, blogger and political analyst, he is the Iraq consultant for the American Friends Service Committee.

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