Illusion and Reality in Iraq: The Matrix of the U.S. Empire.

Imperialism; Iraq War, 2003-2011; Bush, George W. (George Walker), 1946-; Petroleum industry; International relations

Iraq; United States

This article comments on the Iraq war. The author says that instead of relying on the illusions created within the matrix of the U.S. empire, people need to pull the plug, so to speak, in order to understand the reality of those empire building schemes. The author further says that the war in Iraq was initiated by the Administration of the U.S. President George W. Bush to control the key resource of Iraq and the region, oil. It was no surprise when the U. S. military rushed into Iraq they grabbed the oil fields and then protected the Oil Ministry when looters ran amuck in Baghdad. Oil is, of course, not merely for U.S. consumption but part of the capital flows that keep European and Japanese competitors at bay. Building on the close connections to military contractors through the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board, the Bush Administration raised the roof on military spending and began the forward basing of the U.S. military in more tries than ever before. The U.S. has bases in some 156 countries, especially in the newer regions of the Caspian Basin, where human rights violations in Uzbekistan and other locations are readily overlooked. As Iraq erupts in resistance to the U.S. matrix of empire, people in the belly of that matrix must also refuse to let the illusions of empire create our hyper-reality.