The Libertarian Party has produced an Iraq Exit Strategy (pdf) calling for withdrawal of troops, 11,600 monthly, the goal that all be gone in a year. It suggests relocation of 30,000 troops, 10,000 of those going to Afghanistan for peacekeeping, the rest to other bases in the Middle East such as Turkey, Bahrain, Egypt and Oman.
Peacekeeping suggests a semblance of order requiring a minimal effort of support and nothing of the kind has ever been established beyond Kabul. A review of the region clearly illustrates that Washington’s grand plan for Eurasia is on tenderhooks and riddled with uncertainties, its strategy to keep China dependent upon the United States for its energy needs. If that can’t be accomplished “peacefully” any relocation of troops would serve efforts of doing so militarily. I question the wisdom of reassigning troops to any region without first establishing the facts on the ground and long-term implications of the deployment. It’s particularly worrisome in Afghanistan where a mere 10,000 troops would provide more of an opportunity for target practice than real security for Afghanis.
What’s also clear is the idea that a swift withdrawal would plunge Iraq into civil war is “A fiction as powerful as WMD“.
This propaganda has been more successful abroad than in Iraq. Indeed, Iraqis habitually blame the occupation for all acts of terrorism, not what is fondly referred to as al-muqawama al-sharifa (the honourable resistance). But in Britain and the US many people feel ambivalent or antagonistic towards the mainstream popular resistance.
The occupation’s sectarian discourse has acquired a hold as powerful as the WMD fiction that prepared the public for war. Iraqis are portrayed as a people who can’t wait to kill each other once left to their own devices. In fact, the occupation is the main architect of institutionalised sectarian and ethnic divisions; its removal would act as a catalyst for Iraqis to resolve some of their differences politically. Only a few days ago the national assembly members who had signed the anti-occupation statement met representatives of the Foundation Congress (a group of 60 religious and secular organisations) and the al-Sadr movement and issued a joint call for the rapid withdrawal of the occupation forces according to an internationally guaranteed timetable.
There is now broad agreement in Iraq to build a non-sectarian, democratic Iraq that guarantees Kurdish national rights. The occupation is making the achievement of these goals more difficult.
Every day the occupation increases tension and makes people’s lives worse, fuelling the violence. Creating a client regime in Baghdad, backed by permanent bases, is the route that US strategists followed in Vietnam. As in Vietnam, popular resistance in Iraq and the wider Middle East will not go away but will grow stronger, until it eventually unites to force a US-British withdrawal.
How many more Iraqis, Americans and Britons have to die before Bush and Blair admit the occupation is the problem and not part of any democratic solution in Iraq?
More from Sami Ramadani, political refugee from Saddam Hussein’s regime, and senior lecturer at London Metropolitan University.
I’m watching The Great Dictator for the first time, early on a Saturday morning. Scene just went by where Hynkel/Chaplin signs a declaration of war with Bacteria and then rips it apart moments later saying “I declare peace”.
Out of 250 -odd members over 103 of the transitional Iraqi parliament are on board demanding US withdrawal, slowly coming to reflect what’s long been known to be popular Iraqi opinion. It’s interesting that the US congress has not correlated so well to US opinion, which for a while now has been trailing closer to the Iraqi position than what we get from any major voice outside what’s buried in the polls.
Not only is Congress not representing the majority of American opinion, they’ve gamed the system to ensure it never does.
The conclusion I’ve reached is this same majority, like hapless victims feeling stuck in an abusive relationship, are still idolising their abusers and looking for an easy fix.