Russ McBee

Contrary to the will of the American people, the US Congress, the Iraqi parliament, the Iraqi president, and the Iraqi people, George Bush is engaged in secret negotiations with Iraqi president Nouri al-Maliki to establish fifty permanent US military bases inside Iraq. Bush is excluding Congress from these negotiations, and he thinks he can sign the agreement without Congressional approval.

Here's a shining example of the disdain Bush holds for our Constitution:

A British newspaper reports new details about the ongoing secret negotiations: Bush wants to retain the use of more than 50 military bases in Iraq and is insisting on immunity from Iraqi law for U.S. troops and contractors, as well as a free hand to carry out military activities without consulting the Baghdad government. The pact, which Bush has said he does not intend to submit for Congressional approval, would take effect shortly before he leaves office. Reversing it, while possible, would force a future president to break an international commitment.

Nouri al-Maliki can't stay in power without American military backing, so he's in the process of making a deal with the devil to preserve his own craven political hide. Bush knows he has al-Maliki painted into a corner, so he's also trying to include a guarantee of permanent US military control over Iraqi airspace.

This is rank imperialism, pure and simple. It's also a childish, cynical dare aimed at his successor.

To Bush and his handlers, it doesn't matter that a permanent occupation of Iraq will continue to destabilize the country, that it will continue to foster internecine violence, and that it will continue to empower the Iranians. Then again, maybe that's what they want: a permanent state of war easily justifies contracts for their friends in industry, and it also fosters a permanent state of anxiety in world oil markets, keeping petroleum prices elevated.

Conspiratorial speculation aside, the only sure winners of a permanent US occupation of Iraq are the Iranians. With a permanent bogeyman crouching on their western border, hard-liners within the Iranian government will be assured of re-election. They will also become an even more attractive source of support by Shi'ite groups within Iraq. As long as the US continues to occupy Iraq, unity within that country will be impossible, and the Iranians will look ever more attractive to Shi'ite groups as an ally against the conqueror.

Furthermore, Congressional approval is required for any international obligations which commit the United States to an agreement with another country, regardless of whether such agreements have the word "treaty" in their titles. If Congress doesn't step in and put a stop to Bush's imperious diktats, they can (and should) withhold funding for any such bases he negotiates.