And the Mission Keeps Creeping Along

Under the forever-War Powers Resolution invested in him as unitary executive, Barack Obama has in one fell swoop just doubled the number of troops being (re) deployed to Iraq. They are being sent to "protect American interests" ( aka the plunderers from Big Oil and their taxpayer-funded Embassy support staff) and as "advisers" (armed thugs to keep on eye on the corrupt and weakening Maliki protectorate whose function has always been to provide cover to the plunderers from Big Oil).

It is the very model of a modern major mission creep. Here an adviser, there a drone, everywhere is war.

Or, as Obama put it in his letter to Congress,

In light of the security situation in Baghdad, I have ordered up to approximately 200 additional U.S. Armed Forces personnel to Iraq to reinforce security at the U.S. Embassy, its support facilities, and the Baghdad International Airport.

This force consists of additional security forces, rotary-wing aircraft, and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance support. This force is deploying for the purpose of protecting U.S. citizens and property, if necessary, and is equipped for combat. This force will remain in Iraq until the security situation becomes such that it is no longer needed. This action has been directed consistent with my responsibility to protect U.S. citizens both at home and abroad, and in furtherance of U.S. national security and foreign policy interests, pursuant to my constitutional authority to conduct U.S. foreign relations and as Commander in Chief and Chief Executive.

Translation:  He's only ordering a threatening drizzle now, but just in case he changes his mind, (and he probably will, based on ever-changing weather conditions "on the ground") he is also issuing a severe storm watch, which will last until the end of time, or until the oil is depleted. For purposes of obfuscation,  he is defining Blackwater or whatever the hell they call themselves these days as "US citizens both home and abroad." He is defining Halliburton, BP, ExxonMobil, Chevron and their various and sundry offshoots as "national security and foreign policy interests."

The Baghdad Embassy, as a de facto American state-within-a-state (much like Vatican City)  is not being evacuated. As the largest "diplomatic mission" in the world, the 5 million square-foot fiefdom was built at a cost of $750 million (allegedly with the help of slave labor trafficked in by contractors) and employs/houses more than 5,000 people. It has its own power and sewer infrastructure, as well as an Olympic-size swimming pool, so that the plunderers and rentiers can cool off between their pillaging jaunts in that desert heat.

And while Obama and the stenographers of the corporate media are spreading their propaganda, the Embassy itself is heavy into its own propaganda, still striving the win the hearts and minds of Iraqis who have managed to survive the war and the ensuing occupation. This past February, before ISIS invaded the country, Iraqi students were being brainwashed instructed on great American presidents and the great American wealth trickling down upon them like so many Heavenfire missiles and American-installed puppet leaders. The Embassy Ministry of Truth explained it thusly:

In recognition of President's Day, Embassy officers spoke with Iraqi students about visionary leaders from U.S. history. Streamed live from the Baghdad American Corner to five other corners, this engagement was an opportunity for Iraqis to learn how American leaders such as George Washington helped set the United States on a path towards democracy and prosperity.

During the question and answer session, the students discussed how to identify transformational leaders among the candidates for the April parliamentary elections.

Maybe one way they're being taught to identify "transformational leaders" is to read White House/Pentagon-planted stories in the New York Times. If they read today's front page, for example, they would have learned that discredited CIA plant and WMD story-telling plutocrat Ahmad Chalabi is being passive-aggressively "talked about" to replace Maliki as the new potted plant:

 On the face of it, Mr. Chalabi as prime minister seems, at best, highly unlikely. His exile-based, C.I.A.-financed Iraqi National Congress never built much of a grass-roots following in Iraq, and he suffered from the Americans’ growing unpopularity as the war dragged on. His role in promoting what many now view as concocted evidence of weapons of mass destruction under Saddam Hussein badly tarnished him.

Hey, but there are plenty of tarnish-removers available on the Free Market! Just look at how the corporate media has so ably removed the tarnish from such war criminals as Dick Cheney and Paul Wolfowitz and put them back on TV, all shiny and new, as though they were monarchs in exile.

The Times goes on to explain that Chalabi stalwartly stayed in Iraq throughout the war, by choice, and just narrowly escaped an assassination attempt in which six (!) of his security guards suffered unfortunate fatal collateral damage. Just like George Washington at Valley Forge! Oh, and he's also a centrist technocrat all of a sudden. Very Obama-like, as a matter of fact. Very able to co-opt the varying factions into the Big Oil veal pen.

And to prove his worthiness, he has even been invited back to the Embassy! 

Remember, citizens: Always look forward, never look backward. Why have memories when there are visions for sale?