The World Hegemony

Fourteen months have passed since I came back from Indonesia and my savings account has dwindled down as well. I started to think what I can do to earn some income without being part of the problem. I put my resume in some jobs & recruitment online database as Seek.com etc. and registered myself as a volunteer to go to East Timor if they could use my expertise in building their electricity network.

Instead of volunteering in East Timor (Timor-Leste), I received offers from three different Consulting Companies at the same time for the same job as a SCADA Engineer as part of UNDP team in their Electricity Network Rehabilitation Program (ENRP) in Northern Iraq under the UN Oil for Food Program for Iraq.

I flew to Amman, in Jordan and from there the UNDP had arranged a taxi for me to go to Baghdad – crossing the desert that took around 10 hours. I entered Iraq on 17 January 2001, exactly 10 years after the first Gulf war that put Iraq under sanctions. The next day a UNDP car took me from Baghdad to Erbil in Northern Iraq, another four hours drive.

As we crossed the border to Northern Iraq, it rained. The driver, a local Iraqi said to me:”You must be bringing luck for us. It has not been raining in the past three years. We are in a very bad drought”.

Yeah!, both Dokan and Darbandikhan lakes are nearly empty. And as they are also irrigation dams, they can only release a limited amount of water to generate electricity to save water for agriculture. One of the emergency activities for our UNDP team was to install over 1000 sets of Diesel Generators in the villages in the three Governorates, Dohuk, Erbil and Suleimaniyah, especially for hospitals and water pumping stations.

And as the driver said to me that I brought luck to the area, the rainy season of that year (2001) brought both lakes filled to the brink.

Having experienced the economic meltdown in Indonesia and being woken up about the Global Economic System, apparently without my conscious knowledge, the Company of Heaven has brought me to Iraq to learn about the real world and its real problems.

Iraq is actually a very rich country. They have arbitrarily the world largest oil reserve under their land. My Irish roommate, who was in Iraq 10 years earlier, before the first Gulf War, told me that Baghdad was once “The Place to be”. They have the world’s best library and the most modern hospitals employing no less than 1000 Irish nurses. And by the way, Iraq literacy rate is 100%. Everyone can read and write.

But after 10 years of economic sanctions, the people are in dire straights. The few lucky ones who live in the city could have electricity for four hours a day. In Kurdistan whenever we installed a diesel generator and turned it on, people are so happy. They treated us as if we are their rescue angels and always invited us for dinner as a celebration enjoying their superb hospitality.

Another case of life experience; what is wrong with this world?

Unlike Indonesia with limited resources forced to take loans to uplift their people’s standard of living that turned into a disaster due to the economic crisis, Iraq is very rich in resources but the people are suffering too due to economic sanctions. Two opposite cases but the global political-economic system is keeping people poor in both countries.

As the stories go, Saddam Hussein was ‘tricked’ to invade Kuwait. He was told that Kuwait stole Iraqi oil via a directional drilling method crossing the Iraqi – Kuwait border. The American Embassy said that it is his problem, America would not have anything to do with it if he punished Kuwait. However, once Saddam Hussein sent his troops into Kuwait, the Gulf war broke out and resulted in the economic sanctions.

Another story I heard from some Iraqi friends was about the Iraq – Iran war. After 8 years long war (1980 – 1988), the Iraq – Iran border has not moved an inch, but both countries have spent their oil revenue for weapons and ammunition.

On 11^th September 2001, some colleagues and I were watching a newly released movie on CD at the Chwar Chra Hotel in Erbil. The movie we watched happened to be “Pearl Harbour”. As the movie finished and we went out to the restaurant for dinner, we watched the news on TV about what happened a few hours ago in New York. The twin Tower of The World Trade Centre is collapsing. We thought we just saw the continuation of the movie we just watched.

Later I learned that ‘coincidentally’ both are ‘false flags’[1]. The movie we watched was the reason for the Second World War and the news we saw thereafter (911) was the reason for The War on Terror, which created more terror. It is my view that 911 is a starting point for the Project for New American Century – PNAC[2], towards American Global Leadership – World Hegemony.

Eighteen months after that fateful day, in March 2003 we were all evacuated out of Iraq as the US troops moved in – operation code name “Shock and Awe”[3], under the pretence that Saddam Hussein had a Chemical and Nuclear weapon program – WMD (Weapons of Mass Destructions).

We remember Hans Blix of UNMOVIC (United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission) who came to Iraq in 2002 with his team to search for Saddam’s WMD. In February 2003 Hans Blix reported to the UN Security Council that UNMOVIC has not found any evidence of WMD in Iraq. Despite UNMOVIC findings, the US army still invaded Iraq one month later.

On the background, this could be the early part of the PNAC implementation. In an interview with Amy Goodman of “Democracy Now” in 2007, General Wesley Clark mentioned that he was told by one of his ex-staff at The Pentagon that their objective was to take out 7 countries in 5 years: Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Iran.[4]

In June 2003 I was called back to Baghdad to join UNDP / World Bank Task Force team to do the Need Survey for the Iraq Reconstruction Project. From the survey, we put together a long list of Infrastructure projects needing to be undertaken at a total cost of 36 billion US$ for the next three years and around 55 Billion US$ for the long run. This document was then submitted for the Iraq Donor Conference held in Madrid in October 2003.

A total amount of 33 Billion US$ was pledged at the conference with close to 20 Billion US$ pledged by the USA via USAID with the condition that the US will lead the Reconstruction projects. By the time I completed my assignment with the UNDP in December 2006 it was estimated that only about 25% of the money spent turned into a concrete result. The remaining was spent for security reasons and other things. It is beyond my capacity to judge.

The dismantling of the Saddam Hussein regime by the Americans has unleashed the animosity between Shia and Sunni that has long been suppressed. This resulted in civil revolt and mass looting of many infrastructures. During the Need Survey, I took hundreds of pictures from at least over 40 Electric Substations 500kV and 150kV throughout Iraq that had been severely damaged and looted during the civil strife.

Below is a picture of over $50 million 500kV SF6 Substation in Qurna (4QRN) burnt and looted by the people. Cooper wire was the main looting target.

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[1] The term “false flag” originally referred to pirate ships that flew flags of countries as a disguise to prevent their victims from fleeing or preparing for battle. Sometimes the flag would remain and the blame for the attack be laid incorrectly on another country. The term today extends beyond naval encounters to include countries that organize attacks on themselves and make the attacks appear to be by enemy nations or terrorists, thus giving the nation that was supposedly attacked a pretext for domestic repression and foreign military aggression

[2] Sourcewatch.org: Project for New American Century

[3] Recently I watched a movie “Shock and Awe” based on a true story showing the grand deceptions and manipulation by Bush’s Administration through the Main Stream Media. Although there is no direct connection between 911 and Iraq/Saddam Hussein, the US Admin targeted Iraq one day after 911, because there is nothing in Afghanistan that can be destroyed. Part of the top military brass already knew the danger of civil war between Shia and Sunni if Saddam Hussein is removed.

[4] To watch the interview: “Gen. Wesley Clark, Democracy Now! interview, 2007”   URL: https://youtu.be/bSL3JqorkdU

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