The Shock Doctrine Page #6

never been contemplated before.

Halla Ullman is one of the authors of the "Shock and awe" concept,

which relies on a large number of "precission guided weapons".

... so that you have this simultaneous effect rather like nuclear weapons in Hiroshima...

not taking days or weeks, but a minute.

You also take the city down, what I mean, you get rid of their power, their water

And you begin this relentless campaign to wear them down

so that in 2,3,4,5 days

they're physically, emotionally, and psychologically exhausted.

Last night, a square mile in central Baghdad seemed like hell on earth.

During the first wave of the bombing

citizens of Baghdad suffered the version of "sensorial deprivation"

described in the KUBARK manual.

In the chaos that followed the overthrown of Saddam Hussein

the US did little to stop the looting.

Some US officials even thought it gave them a head start

dismantling the Iraqui state.

John Agresto, director of higher education reconstruction

said he saw the looting of schools as the "oportunity for a clean start".

In fact, before sanctions

Irak had the best education system in the region.

89% of the Iraquis were literate.

By contrast, in New Mexico, John Agresto's home state

46% of the population were functionaly illiterate.

Irak had three distinct forms of shock

they were all working toghether and reinforcing each other.

You had the shock of the war,

which was immediatly followed by economic Shock Therapy

imposed under Paul Bremer.

And as resistace to that economic transformation,

very rapid economic shock, grew

you had the shock of enforcement, including torture.

Three different kinds of shock.

In may 2003

Paul Bremer was appointed US envoy to Irak.

Two weeks after he arrived

declared the country "open for busines".

We consider that the coalition has very broad authorities

to determine the direction of the Iraqui economy.

Bremer knew little of Irak

but he knew about disaster capitalism.

He had launched "Crisis Consulting Practice"

at the start of the Homeland Security boom.

Today is a very important day in Baghdad

Bremer spent the first four months

passing classic Chicago School laws.

Rumsfeld described Irak

as having some of the most enlightened and inviting tax and investment laws in the free world.

One of the first acts of Bremer

was to fire 500.000 state workers.

This was partly an act of De-Ba'athification

by slashing governments, was also ? Friedman.

Money was promised for reconstruction.

Our investment in the future of Afghanistan and Irak

it's the greatest commitment of it's kind since the Marshall plan.

But in fact it was just the opposite.

Whereas the Marshall plan was inended to boost european industries

USA money in Irak was spent on US corporations.

If work came to iraquis

came at the bottom of a series of subcontractors.

"Creative Associates" recieved contratcs worth 100 million dollars

to draft the curriculum and print the new textbooks for the new education system.

Management and technology consultant "Bearing Point"

was awarded contracts worth 240 million dollars

to build a market driven system in Irak

North Carolina based RTI (Research Triangle Institute)

recieved contracts worth 466 million dollars

to advise on bringing democracy to Irak.

And "Halliburton" was awarded 20 billion dollars in cost plus Iraqui contracts.

"Parsons" was handed 186 million dollars to build 142 health clinics.

Only 6 were ever completed.

Basic electricity and water suplies hardly improved

despite billions being spent in the 4 first years.

We're gonna succede here. And when we succede here

we'll have done something important. Not just for 25 million of Iraquis

We will have done something it serves western interests in this whole region

Even the new Iraqui currency was printed abroad.

Let me show you an example of this notes.

US even paid private contractors to monitor the work of the private contractors

who had won contracts.

WE WANT JOB!

I was in Baghdad in 2004

and this is the period when bombs started to go off regularly in Baghdad.

In fact, the night that I arrived, a bomb went off really near our hotel

But what was really striking to me in this period

was that despite the violence, despite the chaos, the next day

Iraquis were out on the street protesting.

19 killed and 100 injured in Najaf

And what they were demanding at this time, was elections.

Their right to actually have a say in what the post Saddam era would look like

In the early days of the occupation, the protests were peaceful.

But as time went on, and the protests didn't have an effect

More and more iraquis joined the armed resistance.

The violence spun out of control.

As in South America 3 decades earlier

bodies were often dumped by the road side as a warning to the others.

These were iraquis disapeared.

Extremely aggressive measures were needed to supress the oposition.

The first 3 and a half years of the occupation

61.500 iraquis were captured.

By spring 2007, 19.000 remained in custody.

In prison they were interogated using techniques

that could be traced to those devised by the CIA

from Ewan Cameron's experiments in the 50's.

According to the Red Cross

US military officials admited

that between 70 and 90% of arrests in Irak were mistakes

The chaos in Irak seems like a defeat for shock therapy

But in Irak, disaster capitalism moved on.

Now, the disaster itself provided the oportunity for profit.

US military spending has almost doubled since 2001.

Nearing 700 billion dollars per year.

As long ago in 1961, president Eisenhower, not a noted liberal

warned of the danger of a too powerful military.

On this conjunction of an immense military establishment

and a large arms industry is new in the american experience

and we must guard against the acquisition of unwanted influences

wether sought or unsought

by the military industrial complex.

We must never let the weight that this combination

endanger our liberties or democratic processes.

The war in Irak is the most privatized war in modern history.

The green zone in Baghdad is an extreme version

of what is happening around the world.

A privatized, secur world protected from the chaos outside.

In 1991, in the first gulf war

for every 100 soldiers there was 1 military contractor.

In 2003, at the beginning of the war in Irak

for every 100 soldiers there were 10 contractors.

At 2006, for every 100 soldiers there were 33 contractors.

A year later, for every 100 soldiers there were 70 contractors.

By july 2007,

there were more contractors than soldiers in Irak.

This was going beyond what Milton Friedman had dared to hope.

The only things I would not denationalize

are army forces, the courts,

and some of your roads and highways.

One of the most high profile contractors was

"Blackwater USA".

During the april 2004 uprising in Najaf

Blackwater assumed command over US Marines.

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