-Caveat Lector-
Not since the Vietnam disaster,
which cost well over 50,000 American and more than a million Vietnamese lives,
has a debacle of the scale unfolding in Iraq been visited upon the American
people. This is a war constructed on ideological premises uncomfortably
resembling those that led us to Vietnam: a web of spin, lies and
self-delusion.
Bush has not, to this day, given the world a credible
reason for putting the lives of over 150,000 Americans in harm's way - no
weapons of mass destruction found, no democracy is mushrooming, no light looms
at the end this dark tunnel.
Worse yet, the great Iraqi silent
majority, according to the latest CIA confidential report leaked to the
"Philadelphia Inquirer" a few days ago, is tilting against the US and the
puppet Iraqi government we have put in Baghdad, as people become poorer, less
safe and harassed by frightened and confused American troops in their homes
and villages.
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|
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| Youssef
M. Ibrahim: Get the American GIs out of Iraq |
| | Special to
Gulf News | 18/11/2003 |
| |
Looking
at the American debacle in Iraq through Arab eyes, the solution is starkly
evident: put American forces under the command of General Kofi Anan,
otherwise known as Secretary-General of the United Nations, immediately.
Get the French, Germans and the European Union - along with China,
India and the rest of the world community - to send their soldiers under
blue caps as peace-keeping forces, as they all readily agree they would if
commanded by the United Nations.
And, above all, get the American
GIs out.
Sooner or later an exceedingly stubborn and lonely George
W. Bush Administration will have to reach that conclusion. Problem is, as
long as it drags its feet, this administration is doing untold damage to
the reputation and values of the US, once the most admired in this part of
the world.
It is creating a deep hatred in the Arab, and more
important, the much bigger 1.2 billion Muslim world around the globe that
will haunt us for years to come, feeding the ranks of the very same
terrorists we are hoping to eradicate. Instead of winning the war on
terror, President Bush is fanning its flames.
As long as we remain
an occupation force in Iraq, the worst case scenario is an expansion of
the ongoing collapse of American prestige, respect, credibility and power
. At the end of this tunnel lies a defeat which history will judge to have
been entirely an American domestic political design.
It is
unconscionable of the Bush crowd of hawkish neo-conservatives, Evangelical
Christians and pro-Likud supporters of Israel to drive matters to that
extent, solely for the questionable purpose of gaining electoral votes.
Indeed it is self-defeating. Bush may loose his job along with the US
clout in the Iraqi quagmire.
Web of spin
Not since
the Vietnam disaster, which cost well over 50,000 American and more than a
million Vietnamese lives, has a debacle of the scale unfolding in Iraq
been visited upon the American people. This is a war constructed on
ideological premises uncomfortably resembling those that led us to
Vietnam: a web of spin, lies and self-delusion.
Bush has not, to
this day, given the world a credible reason for putting the lives of over
150,000 Americans in harm's way - no weapons of mass destruction found, no
democracy is mushrooming, no light looms at the end this dark tunnel.
Worse yet, the great Iraqi silent majority, according to the
latest CIA confidential report leaked to the "Philadelphia Inquirer" a few
days ago, is tilting against the US and the puppet Iraqi government we
have put in Baghdad, as people become poorer, less safe and harassed by
frightened and confused American troops in their homes and villages.
Instead of facing up to this, the Bush crowd is now plotting to
get out and leave the puppet government in charge with all what that
entails of danger including a return to a Saddam Hussain-style autocracy,
or a civil war.
Is it a surprise then that no one wants to come and
help? The Turks, having pocketed $8 billion to send 10,000 troops, now say
they aren't coming. The Red Cross has folded its tent in Iraq.
The
United Nations is refusing to co-operate and the Japanese and Koreans have
just said they are re-thinking their promise to send forces.
Even
our friends, the Brits, have quietly cut their forces from 45,000 during
the invasion to less than 15,000 now. Meanwhile in Iraq, American forces
which a few months ago were attacked an average of 10 times a day, are now
attacked 30 to 35 times daily.
And, yes, we are losing that war on
terror. All around the world America, its friends, and Western interests
in general, are under assault by Al Qaida and a growing club of
terrorist-internationals. Turkey, Italy, Spain, Poland and other American
allies have suffered terrorist attacks at home and in Iraq.
Worse
than that, our United States diplomatic and business apparatus in this age
of globalisation is suffocating.
American schools from Pakistan to
Indonesia to the Middle East, are shutting down. Multinational American
companies are sending dependents home or relocating them outside the
Muslim and Arab world at great costs.
Elemental
duties
Our embassies have become forbidden fortresses
surrounded by huge slabs of concrete. Our diplomats cannot perform their
most elemental duties without bodyguards and armoured cars to move around.
Our consulates are shutting down every other day here and there.
Indeed the whole notion of globalisation is shaking as
multinational western businesses are slashing the number of their
expatriates. Pro-Western Arab and Muslim students, who are our natural
friends and potential allies, are shunning American universities to avoid
humiliation, fingerprinting and bias.
Sadly, the whole world is
indicating that the Bush Administration unilateralist policies are costing
us friends as poll after poll shows the US has become very unpopular
around the world.
It is time to go back to the drawing board, or
change leadership in 2004, as nothing less than the vital interests of
America are at play here.
The writer, a former Middle East
correspondent for the New York Times and Energy Editor of the Wall Street
Journal, is Managing Director of the Dubai-based Strategic Energy
Investment Group, a consulting firm specialising in assessing political
risk in the Gulf, Middle and Near East region. He can be contacted at
[EMAIL PROTECTED] |
© Al Nisr
Publishing LLC - Gulf News
Online |
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