The mantra, since the bloody and illegal war in Iraq started, has been: “we will leave Iraq when the job is done.” 

What exactly does this mean? Why doesn’t anyone ask Mr. Bush/Blair what “job done” means? 
 
On Thursday, Mr. Blair told MP’s at Question Time: “Troops will be out of Iraq in 16 months.” No one asked him about an earlier report by Kim Sengupta in The Independent (22.09.06), who wrote: “A force of around 4,000 British troops will stay behind in Iraq for an indefinite period, even after all provinces controlled by the UK are handed over to the Baghdad government in nine months' time, senior defence sources said yesterday.” The soldiers will be positioned at a base in Basra ready to act to "protect the investment" made by US and British forces in the country, it was disclosed.” 
 
What “investment”? 
 
It is important to read Mr. Holland’s well researched article, "Bush's Petro-Cartel Almost Has Iraq's Oil" [1]: “Even as Iraq verges on splintering into a sectarian civil war, four big oil companies are on the verge of locking up its massive, profitable reserves, known to everyone in the petroleum industry as 'the prize.'” This “prize” is probably also why there is reportedly a new US base being built near the oil fields in Northern Iraq.

With regard to the disintegration of Iraq, a recent Washington Post article (October 14) spoke of Iraqi death squads and their connection with the Facilities Protection Service (FPS). Ms. Knickmeyer neglected to mention that Donald Rumsfeld, with the enthusiastic support of President Bush, was the originator of the FPS. Rumsfeld was/is ultimately thus responsible for the training of these Iraqis, now labeled as “death squads.” One must then ask if the reason for the disintegration of Iraq is directly related to U.S. Government policy. This breakdown goes “shoulder to shoulder” with corporate control of resources remaining in the hands of the occupiers. It no longer matters whether there are troops in Iraq or not, as long as “some” US-UK troops are in the Green Zone and at key US/UK bases [2] surrounding Iraqi oil resources to safeguard Bremer’s Laws and to "protect their interests.”

That Iraqis are being tortured and murdered in obscene numbers is irrelevant to the more important matters at hand for the US/UK governments. “Job Done.”

Sarah Meyer is a researcher living in the UK. She is on the Brussels Tribunal Advisory Committee.

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FOOTNOTES
 
[1]See also: PNAC: Rebuilding America’s Defenses, Part II: “Special Interests: The Persian Gulf. 

[2] See: US Bases in Iraq: Baghdad; and US Bases in Iraq: The South.