American imperialism is set to cause chaos again this year. The Pentagon and the CIA have begun preparations for a deadly assault on Iraq involving up to 200 000 United States troops that is likely to be launched this year to remove Saddam Hussein from power.
George Bush is in Asia, touring a potential future battlefield in Korea, the Chairman of Joint Chiefs is in India touring another, while the US Vice-President is preparing for a trip that will take him, and senior military and CIA operatives, to nearly a dozen countries that surround Iraq.
US arms manufacturers are working overtime with windfall profits. The US has nearly run out of high-tech computer/satellite guided “cruise missiles”, possibly contributing to the delay in moving the “war against terrorism” to Iraq. But an order for thousands of even more lethal cruises has been placed and they are to start being delivered in larger numbers than ever soon.
Countries like Iraq will soon face a weapon, once confined to the Star Wars films, which brings death at the speed of light. The special operations AC-130 Spectre gunship, whose weaponry has been used to devastating effect since Vietnam, is to be fitted with a laser that can shoot down missiles, punch holes in aircraft and knock out ground radar stations.
One wonders where this “war on terror” is taking the world. The Bush administration represents the emergence of a gangster element. Musa M Sithole, Johannesburg