Order 17

It's been clear from the get-go that Iraq has a state that is less than a state as we've come to know the term, but I didn't know how their status as a colonial entity had been codified. Now I know and it's available for all to read, it's 'Order 17'.

TomDispatch has a must read article that covers Order 17, and a lot more. It takes a hard look at what we mean by freedom today, it's good to remember it whenever Feckless Leader speaks about freedom:

In other words, when, in June 2004, Bremer handed over "sovereignty" to an Iraqi "government" lodged in the foreign-controlled Green Zone and left town as fast as he could, he essentially handed over next to nothing. He had already succeeded in making Iraq a "free" country, as only the Bush administration might have defined freedom: free of taxes, duties, tolls, accountability, or responsibility of any kind, no matter what Americans or their allies and hirelings did or what they took. In Iraq, in a twist on the nightmare language of Orwell's dystopian novel 1984, freedom meant theft.

It's hard to have a lot of sympathy for Maliki & Co. They know what they signed up for, they know the sham that they're part of, but compared to the US politicians that want to make the Iraqi government live up to 'benchmarks' they deserve sainthood. In fact, we should set up a new award, like the 'Medal of Freedom', we could call it Martyrs of Liberty and make it available to US toadies who get whacked on our behalf. Someday Saddam might even get one!