11/16/03 Operation: Iraqification? By Mumia Abu-Jamal from death row With the Iraqi Resistance now causing U.S. helicopters to plummet to earth, with casualties now exceeding 400, the U.S. has announced both an exit strategy and a proposed date for the exit. The strategy? What the White House calls the "Iraqification" of the armed forces. The date? Around June of 2024; when it's hand-picked 'Council' will stage some sort of electoral process. As one who remembers the 1960s, the term "Iraqification" stirred up a host of memories of the Vietnam War. When U.S. forces suffered heavy losses from Vietnamese nationalists, and after the dramatic (and unexpected) Tet Offensive, the White House called for a 'draw-down' of U.S. forces, and promoted a process called the "Vietnamization" of the war. What this meant in theory was U.S. support and arming of the South Vietnamese Army, who would fight (and die) against their North Vietnamese adversaries. In fact, this meant political support for the Vietnam War was falling so quickly that the Administration needed to adopt a stop-gap measure: a "war" with few (or no!) U.S. casualties! It was the nearest the White House came to proclaiming: "We're tired of our guys dying for you Vietnamese; now, it's your turn." They didn't say this publicly, of course. In the latter days of the (Richard) Nixon Regime, John Calkins, the head of a U.S. congressional committee, toured Vietnam, and reported: "The South Vietnamese Army shows every sign of being an effective and spirited security force...." [Zinn, H. *A People's History of the United States*, p. 537]. Of course, they crumbled in the face of their northern opponents, and "Vietnamization" was revealed as a smoke screen for U.S. defeat and imminent withdrawal. What does "Iraqification" mean now? That the costs of 'nation-building' is too high? That "Democratization" means the erection of rump, unrepresentative (yet, friendly to western businesses!) governments (like the so-called 'Council')? We don't have to be in Baghdad to know that, no matter what the so-called 'Council' says, the vote of one man, the American 'Administrator' Paul Bremer, overrules them all. "Iraqification," like "Vietnamization," is a political measure designed to diminish the upsurges of opposition to the War back home. It isn't about Iraqis (about whom the average American could care less); it's about the American desire to stem the tide of U.S. casualties in a "War", that was supposedly over *months* ago. It's about falling polls, and upcoming elections. Ultimately, it's about power ... and wealth. The forces that set all wars in motion.   Mumia Abu-Jamal is the author of four books: Faith of our fathers: An examination of the spiritual life of African and African American People Live from Death Row Death Blossoms All Things Censored. Write to Mumia directly at: Mumia Abu-Jamal AM 8335 SCI-Greene 175 Progress Drive Waynesburg, PA 15370