2008:
Safari Tourism In Iraq
By Pablo Ouziel
12 October, 2007
Countercurrents.org
Shortly
after the occupation of Iraq in 2003, Coalition Provisional Authority
administrator Paul Bremer issued an edict granting immunity to U.S.
military and civilian personnel including employees of Blackwater USA,
from criminal prosecution in Iraqi courts.
On October 7th 2007, Iraqi
government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said the investigation set up by
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki had found Blackwater "deliberately
killed" the 17 people in the September 16th shooting in western
Baghdad. For this incident according to senior government sources, the
Iraqi government wants U.S. security firm Blackwater to pay $8 million
in compensation to each of the families of the 17 people killed.
US Defence Department figures
reveal that Blackwater is just one of more than 100 private security
companies operating in Iraq with more than 160,000 personnel.
To be honest in these times
of wildly justified actions and complete western indifference, nothing
shocks me anymore, so now that the puppet government of Iraq has put
a price on the head of civilian Iraqis, I would not be surprised to
hear that Blackwater USA employees and other security personnel are
going to be re-deployed, to give way for a new style of Safari tourism
in Iraq to begin - that of man-hunting.
After observing closely how
things are done in this flourishing 'free world' of ours, I am confident
about the fact that more than one venture capital company, would be
willing to invest in a well-thought out business plan for a company
offering this kind of service as a form of adventure tourism for westerners,
starting in 2008. With a bit of lobbying in Washington, a few speeches
in the UN General Assembly, and a few commissions for Iraqi officials
paid in full in a foreign tax haven, it shouldn't be too difficult to
get the operation started.
The way things are moving,
the way we as westerners have shown a complete lack of respect for Iraqi
people, we should not be surprised if come 2008 we are able to go to
our local travel operators to make reservations for these Safari expeditions.
Instead of having our governments do the killing for us, since most
of the western population seems so acceptant of such actions, we could
go and do the job ourselves. Let us finish the job, what our military
and private contractors have not achieved, we could do as part of our
relaxation.
The slogan for an ad promoting
this holiday could read; "Relax away from the buzz, take a break,
unwind and shoot some Iraqis. Contribute to your national pride."
A little footnote at the bottom of the ad could read; "Your government
endorses this effort and encourages you to stabilize the Middle East.
All killings are subsidised."
The Iraqi people live far
away from our western reality, they follow different traditions, they
speak a different language we can't understand, and more importantly
they don't have the wealth we westerners have been able to amass after
centuries of imperialistic theft. Let us westerners be honest to ourselves
for a minute, would this kind of business venture really shock us? Would
we really worry about the Iraqi people? Or would many westerners run
to their travel agents with the hope of being the first in line?
Although a few days ago in
a keynote speech at the 'Expose War Crimes: Criminalize War Exhibition',
Malaysian ex-premier Mahathir Mohamad said that war is in fact legitimized
terror orchestrated by the powerful states against the weak, and emphasized
the fact that "history should remember Blair and Bush as the killers
of children or as the lying prime minister and president," I am
not sure western society has understood that we will be remembered as
the people that allowed them free reign.
So as the words of President
Bush speaking to an audience assembled by the Lancaster County Chamber
of Commerce and Industry, still resonate in my ears; "If we left
(Iraq) before the job was done, there would be chaos." I am more
inclined to believe the comments made by Paul Rogers of The Oxford Research
Group, who in a new report emphasized that "every aspect of the
war on terror has been counterproductive in Iraq and Afghanistan, from
the loss of civilian life through (to) mass detentions without trial.
In short, it has been a disaster."
I wonder if the publicised
incident of Blackwater USA will serve as the wakeup call for western
nations to realise what we have become, or it will pave the way towards
an eventual Iraqi Safari Park for those westerners who flourish in capitalism
to indulge themselves in the 'pleasure' of shooting Iraqi civilians.
Whatever the answer to this troubling dilemma, what is certain as Edward
Said rightly said, is "that even the person doing the kicking has
to ask himself how long he can go on kicking. At some point your leg
is going to get tiered. One day you'll wake up and ask; what the fuck
am I doing?"
Pablo Ouziel
is an activist and a freelance writer based in Spain. His work has appeared
in many progressive media including Znet, Palestine Chronicle, Thomas
Paine’s Corner and Atlantic Free Press.
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