COUNTDOWN
TO HANDOWVER
(Iraqi Sovereignty)
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without permission
By Nassir M. Al-Ajmi
Former Executive Vice
President, Saudi Aramco and
Former President, Saudi
Railway Organization
Only history and future events will
determine whether the United States is handing over Iraqi sovereignty with freedom or
dispensing with President Bush’s shame and failure.
America’s hasty decision to return to the UN and cede sovereignty so
quickly was not in line with its pre-war occupation strategies which were explicitly
spelled out when the US declared UN irrelevant and unilaterally decided to invade and
occupy Iraq. The US prompt and unexpected
return to the UN and its headlong declaration to handover “full sovereignty”
introduced a major change from its pre-war/occupation plans.
A shift of this magnitude in the US war/occupation strategies has created
international skepticism and blurred the political horizon.
However, the dawning of reality has
exposed the fallacies of America’s pre-war right wing sentiments, assumptions and
political ambitions. Suddenly, the US
Administration is in the mood and eager to seek international legitimacy and expressed its
willingness to compromise. We no longer hear
the unwavering American resolve to retain the decisive political, economic and military
roles in Iraq and “stay the course” until Iraq becomes a Utopian model for
democracy in the heart of the Middle East. The
US has unexpectedly found itself in deep mess and decided to cut and run leaving the Iraqi
mess for the United Nations and Iraq to sort out with US playing a supportive role.
Contrary to the US previous hard line
stand and dubious attitude toward United Nations, the Bush administration has begun to
show considerable humility and cautious desire to cooperate and work with the rest of the
world community. The Iraqi theater has begun
to play a saga of different tune. The US
abdication of its dominant role in Iraq to the UN highlights America’s desire to
regain international credibility and support. As
a result Lakhdar Al-Brahimi, a UN envoy has now become the political scriptwriter, the
stage actor, the director and the producer. A
very peculiar move, considering the US involvement in Iraq and its commitment and promises
to bring “Operation Iraqi Freedom” to a successful conclusion.
Is this the same US administration that
had fabricated fake dossiers to justify its passionate desire to invade and occupy Iraq? Is this the same US administration that forfeited
international coalition against terrorism, ridiculed the role of the United Nations,
Unilaterally invade Iraq and vowed to “stay the course” until Iraq is turned
into a model of democracy in the Middle East?
Undoubtedly America’s resolve in Iraq
is wavering and the US administration is now looking for way out of its predicament in Iraq
– a face saving exit. Because of the
flawed US pre-war strategy and bad occupation policies, “operation Iraqi
Freedom” has been far from mission accomplished.
It has become a mission in deep crisis. The
US administration is no longer able to smother the fallacies of its Middle East defective
policies – similarly American dossiers justifying the war on Iraq turned out to be a
pack of lies, “Operation Iraqi Freedom” proved to be an oppressive occupation
(so said the secret British memorandum leaked to the media recently) and some of the
American liberators were actually prisoner abusers.
Bogged down to his waist in Iraq swampland
and approaching a highly contested election, President Bush became disposed to accept a
major UN role in Iraq. In fact his
administration exhibited a remarkable flexibility and reconciliation in a joint effort
with the UN to find a sensible solution to the US predicament in Iraq. This unusually sensible display of flexibility and
reconciliation by the Bush administration only came after the US recognized that its task
in Iraq has been a mission in deep trouble. Physical
superiority (money, men and arms) has fell short of success in Iraq, because victory
demanded additional virtues not considered by American strategists and occupation forces.
Notwithstanding mankind’s claim to
self-righteousness, I am sorry to say that humanity has not yet traveled far enough on the
path of goodness; and most likely will not do so as long as man continues to prefer the
use of physical power over rational power to settle feuds and conflicts. Settling international conflicts and quarrels
through war and terrorism has been the ultimate human failure, because the end result, in
most cases portrays very little difference between savagery
and civility. A case in point is the
American/Israeli occupation of Arab lands. Arab
resistance to the occupation is viewed as terrorism, but the occupiers with their
uniformed armies, weapons of mass destruction and bulldozers are killing civilians,
tearing down homes and ransacking refugee camps and are called war on terrorism,
self-defense and unfortunate war collateral damage.
America, the world superpower, found it
convenient to unilaterally invade Iraq, a small nation headed by a brutal dictator and
beaten by twelve (12) years of crippling sanctions, on the bases that Iraq had stock piles
of weapon of mass destruction, posed an imminent threat and had a strong connection with
Al-Qaeda. The removal of Saddam was not one of
the US stated objectives. In order to carry
out its invasion of Iraq, the US assembled a highly elaborate and probably the most
expensive military mission since the Vietnam war. However,
the US invasion and occupation of Iraq have, so far, fell way short of their pre-war
stated premises and objectives. There were no
weapons of mass destruction, there was no imminent threat and there was no Iraqi/Al-Qaeda
connection.
The fact that none of the US pre-war
allegations materialized did not surprise anyone, because the entire world knew that
President Bush was going to war come hell or high water.
Washington naively decided that the invasion and occupation of Iraq was a
must step in its ambitious scheme of “endless war and full spectrum dominance”. “Operation Iraqi Freedom” was designed to
achieve specific American/Israeli hidden agendas, such as re-election of President Bush,
firmly planting American hegemony over the Gulf region’s oil fields/reserves,
reshaping the Middle East geopolitical map, eliminating what Israel/Bush call “Middle
East Terrorist Groups” and finally giving Israel a huge military, economic and
geopolitical advantage over its neighbors.
The world did not fall for the US war
schemes, but Americans, including Capital Hill, were sold a bill of goods ranging from
fabricated imminent threat, stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction to a falsely
conceived Iraqi/Al-Qaeda connection. This
American falsehood put thousands of young Americans in harm’s way, hundreds of
billions of dollars were allocated and spent and massive war equipment and supplies were
deployed. The war casualties to date are in
tens of thousands on both sides, the war costs are hundreds of billions and the war damage
is uncountable. Iraq is in shambles
politically, economically and socially and American’s image and international
credibility is at an all-time low. And no one
to blame or to be held accountable – amazing!
Normally when corporate officers, business
managers and the like defraud their companies and shareholders, they are rightly held
accountable. On the other hand politicians,
the world over, defraud nations, kill millions of people and take nations to unjust wars,
but rarely if ever are they held accountable for their misconduct.
Now that “Operation Iraqi
Freedom” is coming to an end, it is time to objectively and realistically measure and
evaluate the Mission’s success and failures against its pre-stated goals and
objectives.
When assessing “Operation Iraqi
Freedom” against its pre-war stated allegations/objectives, the mission so far has
been a total failure. However, the mission did remove a brutal dictator and has taught Washington
a hard lesson in humility. The removal of
Saddam was the only tangible prize of the mission which came at a high price in terms of
lives, costs and property destruction. Is the
invasion of Iraq just to kill or remove Saddam legal and worth nearly ten thousand
(10,000) coalition casualties (mostly US), hundreds of billions, tens of thousands of
civilian casualties and uncountable war damages? I
am afraid America has lost more than human lives and money, America is now feared, not
respected.
When President Bush declared “mission
accomplished” following the fall of Baghdad, the name “Operation Iraqi
Freedom” was changed to “Coalition Occupation Forces”. The US administration also declared that the
occupation would continue as long as it takes to establish a new constitution, build
democratic institutions and constitute full and democratic elections.
However, “Countdown to Handover”
is a major departure from the US declared pledges to stay in charge until Iraq becomes a
model of democracy in the heart of the Middle East. “Countdown
to Handover” is nothing but a cut and run plan to turn over the Iraqi political
process to the UN and somehow lure the UN to assume the responsibility for the Iraq messy
situation. In fact the US has declared its
readiness to leave Iraq following the handover if told to leave by the Iraqi temporary
government, as if the US were invited to come to Iraq in the first place!
In spite of the fact that “Operation
Iraqi Freedom” has turned bitter, the war on terrorism bogged down, the Middle East
peace plan lying in an eternal coma and with its international image and credibility at an
all time low, the Bush administration still has the resilience to camouflage all its
Middle East failures by presenting yet another Middle East grand scheme – the greater
Middle East reform plan.
When it comes to war on terrorism, Middle
East policies and international image, America has been its own worst enemy. America’s foreign policies and international
standing have been both submissive and subservient to Israeli dictates. As a matter of fact, Israel has been America’s
sacred cow for many years. This inscrutable
American/Israeli relationship has damaged Arab/American relations, inspired terrorism and
alienated and silenced millions of America’s friends in the Arab world. Israeli atrocities and American arrogant and
hostile policies have become lethal weapons in the minds and hands of terrorists. The unfortunate victims of this evil cause and
effect relationship have been the Arab/American relations, the Arab/American interests and
the ordinary Arab/American citizens. The
American sacred cow has been the main instigator, the chief beneficiary and bedrock of Middle
East terrorism and instability. President
Bush’s blind support of Israel and his war on terrorism has added fuel to the fire.
My suggestion and friendly advice to America
would be to stop the rush to judgment attitude, get out of the black box mentality, take a
hard look at yourself and, using the world as a mirror, what do you see? Do you see a respectable superpower nation capable
of leading humanity on the path of peace, justice and prosperity? Do you see a culture which is more interested in
justice than in winning? Is America’s
capabilities and potential roles commensurable with
its current behaviors? As I stop and reflect
on current American political thinking and approach to world problems, I end up with a
frightening conclusion that America has only two answers – war and threat of war.
Courtesy of and © 2004 by Nassir M.
Al-Ajmi. The writer is a former Executive Vice President of the Saudi
Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco), and Former President of Saudi Railway
Organization.
Other
Published Articles by Nassir M. Al-Ajmi:
Terrorism,
Inherent or Acquired? – August 11, 2002
The
Apathy and the Arrogance of American Foreign Policy – August 25, 2002
The Social Economic &
Political Aspects of the Saudi Privatization Plans – November 24, 2002
The
Tyranny of Anglo-American Democracy – February
16, 2003
A Heart
to Heart Talk – A Friend to Friend Discussion – October 27, 2003
Is
America Blind - June 2, 2004
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