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Al-Ahram Weekly Online
14 - 20 March 2002
Issue No.577
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875
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Naked imperialism
Despite the repetition of reductionist sloganeering, it requires only an holistic
analysis
to reveal that the emperor, that is the US, has no clothes, writes Ashraf El-Bayoumi*
President Bush, in his quest to fight terrorism has recently named Iraq, together with
Iran and North Korea as members of an exclusive club, "the axis of evil". After the
quick so-called victory in Afghanistan the US administration lost little time in
announcing the nominees for its next phase of the "War on Terrorism". And in the
absence of strong condemnation by Arab governments, and their continued
suppression of popular dissent, Iraq quickly became the leading axis member.
But exactly what are the objectives of the US administration in attacking Iraq and in
changing its regime by force? The question gives rise to several others: Is the
planned action in Iraq linked to the dramatic developments in occupied Palestine? Is
standing idly by while waiting for showers of cruise missiles to descend the only
available course of action for Arabs? Will the Arab Street be allowed to react to US
threats as the Korean people did during Bush's Asian tour? Can the global super
power be resisted?
To deal seriously with any of these questions requires an holistic analytical
framework. Yet many insist on approaching such complex issues in a fragmented,
atomised manner and in deliberately de-linking the components. Such a reductionist
analysis, by forcing us to view international developments through a narrow hole in
time and space, can at best result in an incomplete picture, and more often than not
the reaching of erroneous conclusions.
Such an approach, though, is admittedly convenient, since it readily allows key
components of the issue to be hidden, and lends itself to the formulation of simplistic
rationales and misleading slogans, the "evil empire", the "fighting terrorism" and the
"axis of evil" that we are regularly force fed.
In contrast, dealing with the problem holistically puts it in its wider geo- political
context, helps expose hidden agendas and goals and therefore allows for an
informed setting of priorities of action. The global super- power, the US through its
media, has in the past reduced the Gulf conflict to a quest to "liberate Kuwait" and to
confront a dictator who "kills his own people." Thus it is that the suffering long-
endured by the Iraqi people, which includes the death of hundreds of thousands of
Iraqi children as a direct result of the criminal sanctions imposed by the US under the
UN umbrella, is somehow deemed worthwhile. Or such, at least, was the judgement
of Madeleine Albright when she was the US representative at the UN. Military strikes,
with their "collateral damage" and the death of well over a million Iraqis, which
eminent international lawyers consider genocidal, have been justified to achieve the
"noble" cause of "containment". More death and destruction will likewise be justified
to achieve a forceful change of the Iraqi regime.
The goal of "eliminating weapons of mass destruction" in Iraq, was used to maintain
and prolong sanctions. After years of inspection and destruction, the elimination of
the no longer existing weapons, together with unfounded accusations of international
terrorism, are now used to wreak further destruction on Iraq and install a puppet
regime that will conclude a peace treaty with Israel. Linkage to regional realities,
notably Israel's possession of a significant nuclear, chemical and biological weapons
arsenal, is not permissible according to the atomistic, no-linkage approach promoted
by the US and liberated Kuwait. A blind eye is turned to the unprecedented levels of
terror inflicted by the US-armed Israeli military machine on the Palestinian people.
And the fact that the continued occupation and settlement of Palestinian land is
illegal according to international law is immaterial.
The global media machine, assisted by a few Arab writers, would dismiss such
concrete analysis as conspiracy theory. It would never dream of commenting on
published American reports, such as "Cruise Missiles: Proven Capability", issued by
the US government's General Accounting Office (GAO/NSIAD-(95-116) 04/ 20/95).
This report clearly identifies "five basic categories of target -- command and control,
industrial production, infrastructure, population will, and fielded forces -- were
encompassed in the plan."
The report goes on to state that "attacks on targets such as television and radio
stations and electrical power generation and distribution facilities would degrade the
will of the civilian population."
An equally important report, posted on the GulfLink Web site is entitled "Iraq Water
Treatment Vulnerabilities" and dated January 1991. The report correctly predicts
increased incidences of diseases such as cholera, hepatitis, and typhoid when Iraq is
prevented from importing essential chemicals to purify its drinking water supply.
Which leads one to conclude that the designation of chemicals such as chlorine,
essential for water purification, as "dual usage" items, and therefore subject to
sanction, is far from accidental. Such a classification exposes the lie at the heart of
repeated claims by the US that it has "no quarrel" with ordinary Iraqis.
Holistic analysis allows us to relate what is happening in Iraq to sanctions and
military strikes against Yugoslavia, intimidation and sanctions against Iran and North
Korea, the decades long embargo imposed on Cuba, and the punishment of Libya
and Sudan, among other non-compliant sovereign nations. The issue is not an Arab
one, nor Islamic, nor about combating terrorism: the heart of the matter concerns a
global power using its unprecedented military might to dominate the world and
impose its version of globalisation by military means. Placing the case of Iraq in its
broader historical and regional contexts illuminates the connection between the
purposeful destruction/de-development of this Arab country and the Middle East
Project, the Israel-centered regional variant of globalisation, NAFTA style.
Prior to the 11 September attacks several reports, articles and books were published
with clear indications that the sole superpower is embarking on a new phase, termed
by some as militarised globalisation.
The "Project for the New American Century" was established in 1997 in order "to
shape a new century favorable to American principles and interests." Thomas
Donnelly, the deputy executive director of the project advocates an aggressive form
of Pax Americana, and shares with similar analysts the belief that the US should be
encouraged to practice a "democratic imperialism", "stabilising troubled spots" in the
world "without hesitation, embarrassment or shame."
Such statements are simply the extension of the shift of earlier imperial slogans,
from "the white man's Burden" to "enlightened colonialism." Michael Parenti, in his
new book Against Empire, exposes the ruthless agenda of the US empire and shows
how the conversion to a global economy "is a victory of finance capital over
democracy."
Given an holistic approach it is not difficult to address the questions posed at the
beginning of this article. Briefly, the US objective is world domination, primarily to
further the interests of its ruling elite. This runs counter to the interests of the
majority
of Americans in every socio-political category, and will involve major attrition on
civil
liberties.
As for the Arab world, the US empire has adopted the time- honoured colonial
strategy of fragmenting the region the better to subordinate Arab development to its
own globalising agenda. It acts to promote and enable Israel as the regional power,
via "The Middle East Project" or one of its variants, at the expense of other countries
in the area, including Iran and the so-called moderate Arab regimes. Thomas
Friedman, in his article "A Manifesto for the Fast World" in New York Times
Magazine of 28 March, 1999 spelt things out clearly: "The hidden hand of the market
will never work without a hidden fist -- McDonald's cannot flourish without McDonnell-
Douglas, the designer of the F-15. And the hidden fist that keeps the world safe for
Silicon Valley's technologies is called the US Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine
Corps."
But US plans can be resisted. In fact such resistance has already begun, manifested
in demonstrations against the WTO, World Bank, IMF etc. And such resistance is
widening, intensifying, as the disastrous "fruits" of globalisation become more
visible,
as in Mexico and in Argentina. Arab governments should take notice and begin to
empower themselves, first by building alliances with their own people and allowing
them to express their sentiments against any planned attacks on Iraq or Iran.
Effective Arab solidarity with the Palestinian popular resistance, and with the Iraqi
and Iranian peoples, will certainly have a positive impact. As for Arab governments, it
is no longer acceptable that secondary conflicts such as those between Kuwait and
Iraq, or between Iraq and Iran, should dominate the primary contradictions inherent
in the international arena.
* The writer is professor of physical chemistry, formerly at Alexandria and Michigan
State universities.
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