Our Mess in Iraq: But "we meant well"!

Wisdom Quarterly, Peter Van Buren, National Geographic

National Geographic's "Inside the [US War on] Iraq" about Operation Enduring Free[trade for the Oil Industry]

Empire is a funny thing. Of course, no one we colonize is laughing. Killing in the name of [fill in the blank].

But some of us (outside the gun and bomb wielding military) can at least say, as State Dept. employee Peter Van Buren does in the title of his new book, "We Meant Well: How I Helped Lose the Battle for the Hearts and Minds of the Iraqi People."

Bush lied to invade Iraq then claimed no link to 9/11.

Efforts in our name go from from to preposterous to sinister. Our efforts to make up for illegally targeting civilians and bombing an independent nation back into the Stone Age could not be remedied by bureaucrats. "Nation building" on the ground was contradicted by our illegal occupying force.

(WeMeantWell) We Meant Well author Peter Van Buren discusses life in Iraq as a State Department Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) leader and his time at FOB Hammer, stationed alongside Bradley Manning.

Our government was (is) there to systematically steal oil and exert undue influence on the geo-political Middle East. And other than crippling debt, what do we have show for it? Many American citizens actually believe the propaganda that we were there to "help" Iraqis suffering under an out of control dictator we installed, armed, and betrayed. No wonder everyone there and most people here say, It's time to get out! Enough damage has already been done!

Of course, we were always there for other reasons. And we will be staying for a long time, even if we "officially" withdraw. Our bases, clandestine agents, and newly installed dictators are not leaving anytime soon.

• Peter Van Buren: "Freedom isn't free at the State Dept."
• AUDIO: The greedy battle for Iraq's hearts and minds (NPR)
  

  

The only State Dept. employee who may be fired because of WikiLeaks
One morning earlier this month, a man named Peter Van Buren was seated inside a drab, windowless interrogation room at the State Department and grilled for an hour and a half by agents from the Bureau of Diplomatic Security, the department's internal enforcers. The agents told Van Buren [author of We Meant Well] that he was under investigation for exposing classified government data... "Name names!" the agents demanded.

Gilgamesh's tomb found in Iraq

The Fertile Crescent from Egypt to ancient India now Afghanistan (blogs.ei.columbia.edu)

Archaeologists in Iraq believe they may have found the lost tomb of King Gilgamesh -- the subject of the oldest "book" in history.

The Epic Of Gilgamesh -- written by a Middle Eastern scholar 2,500 years before the birth of Christ -- commemorated the life of the ruler of the city of Uruk, from which "Iraq" gets its name.

Now, a German-led expedition has discovered what is thought to be the entire city of Uruk -- where the Euphrates river once flowed, including the last resting place of its famous king.

"I don't want to say definitely it was the grave of King Gilgamesh, but it looks very similar to that described in the epic," Jorg Fassbinder, of the Bavarian Dept. of Historical Monuments in Munich, told BBC World Service's Science in Action program.

Magnetic

In the book -- actually a set of inscribed clay tablets -- Gilgamesh was described as having been buried under the Euphrates river, in a tomb apparently constructed when the waters of the ancient river parted following his death.

"We found just outside the city an area in the middle of the former Euphrates river¿ the remains of such a building which could be interpreted as a burial," Mr. Fassbinder said.

Who can compare with him in kingliness?
Who can say, like Gilgamesh, I am king?
- Epic of Gilgamesh

He said the amazing discovery of the ancient city under the Iraqi desert had been made possible by modern technology.

"By differences in magnetization in the soil, you can look into the ground," Mr. Fassbinder added.

"The difference between mud bricks and sediments in the Euphrates river gives a very detailed structure."

This creates a magnetogram, which is then digitally mapped, effectively giving a town plan of Uruk.

"Venice in the desert"

"The most surprising thing was that we found structures already described by Gilgamesh," Mr. Fassbinder stated.

"We covered more than 100 hectares. We have found garden structures and field structures as described in the epic, and we found Babylonian houses."

But he said the most astonishing find was an incredibly sophisticated system of canals.

"Very clearly, we can see in the canals some structures showing that flooding destroyed some houses, which means it was a highly developed system.

"[It was] like Venice in the desert." Source

• Gilgamesh was believed to be two-thirds [deva], one-third human. That is to say partly divine, the result of hybridization with humanoid creatures from space. Iraq has long been a rich source of archeological findings.
• Read the Epic of Gilgamesh
  
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