"And the people of Iraq are now free!" Among many other unsupported claims, George W. Bush insisted that, thanks to resolute and unyielding leadership on his part, "the people of Iraq" are now able to enjoy the benefits of freedom.
I wonder what that means.
The citizens in Iraqi today are "free" to fully enjoy a 60% unemployment rate and watch as Halliburton and other U.S. corporations import thousands of foreign laborers to "rebuild" Iraq. They're also "free" to spend their time thinking about why their country needs to be "rebuilt" (which just might explain why they seem a little ungrateful for their "freedom").
And they have lots of other ways to enjoy their newfound "freedom," like watching the wholesale privatization of their nation's natural resources, infrastructure, economy and everything in between by the same U.S. corporations that are importing workers. No doubt they'll cry, "But at least we're free! Hooray for our liberators!"
They are also "free" to wonder why they no longer have drinkable water or electricity for more than a few hours a day. And they're free to watch as their fellow citizens are subject to arrest and detention followed by torture and murder in the same prisons that Saddam used for the very same purposes. But since those horrors are now being carried out by the U.S. appointed "interim" government, they'll sleep better knowing that at least they are "free."
General Accounting Office (GAO): Rebuilding Iraq: Contracting for Iraq Reconstruction
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