Sunday, October 19, 2003

Iraq Posted here Sunday, October 19, 2003 at 6:17:17 PM     Let from yesterday.. no links.. This is helpful   The hawks came to see an Americanized Iraq as a replacement for Saudi Arabia. The plan was risky, not least because the secular Baath government had been among the main ramparts against Sunni and Shiite religious radicalism in the Gulf. The hawks argued that a liberated Iraq would kick-start a wave of democratization in the Middle East, paralleling events in Eastern Europe when the Soviet Union weakened and then fell. (They did not explain why the United States, if it wanted democratization, did not start with places like Egypt and Jordan, which were more plausible candidates, being allies, developed civil societies, and recipients of substantial aid). They believed, incorrectly, that Iraq’s petroleum-producing capacity—while not at Saudi levels—was significant enough to offset Saudi dominance of the oil markets. And unlike Saudi Arabia, Paul Wolfowitz thought, Iraq did not have holy cities such as Mecca and Medina that would make the stationing of U.S. troops there objectionable: Iraqis, he said, “don’t bring the sensitivity of having the holy cities of Islam being on their territory.” (He apparently did not then know about the Shiite shrine cities of Najaf and Karbala). The hawks were aware that a democratic Iraq would have a Shiite majority, but their client, Ahmad Chalabi (head of the expatriate Iraqi National Congress), convinced them that Iraqi Shiites were largely secular in mindset and uninterested in a Khomeinist theocracy. In the short term, they thought, Chalabi and his Iraqi National Congress would run Iraq in at least a semi-democratic fashion   Eyeless in Iraq By Arthur Schlesinger Jr. President George W. Bush has made a fatal change in the foreign policy of the United States. He has repudiated the strategy that won the cold war—the combination of containment and deterrence carried out through such multilateral agencies as the UN, NATO, and the Organization of American States. The Bush Doctrine reverses all that. The essence of our new strategy is military: to strike a potential enemy, unilaterally if necessary, before he has a chance to strike us. Iraq: What Went Wrong By General Wesley K. Clark The decisive phase of the American campaign to invade Iraq and seize Baghdad was remarkably successful. But there were also problems that should not be ignored. Un-American Activities By Anthony Lewis The harsh treatment of aliens since September 11 has had little political attention. Relatively few Americans know or care much about it. In his powerful book, Enemy Aliens, David Cole shows why we should care, as a matter not only of humanity but of self-interest. The repressive measures that President Bush and Attorney General Ashcroft first took against aliens are now being applied to citizens.   ********

Iraq and the ME, a deeper problem Posted here Sunday, October 19, 2003 at 11:44:06 AM     From Friedman in the NYT, which eh entitles "Courageous Arab Thinkers" But there is another tremor shaking the Arab world. This one is being set off by a group of courageous Arab social scientists, who decided, with the help of the United Nations, to begin fighting the war of ideas for the Arab future by detailing just how far the Arab world has fallen behind and by laying out a progressive pathway forward. Their first publication, the Arab Human Development Report 2002, explained how the deficits of freedom, education and women's empowerment in the Arab world have left the region so behind that the combined G.D.P. of the 22 Arab states was less than that of a single country — Spain. Even with limited Internet access in the Arab world, one million copies of this report were downloaded, sparking internal debates. Comment: the problem is, he holds up GDP as the measure, but we know that GDP can increase while class differentiation and marginalization can also increase. Part of the Arab reaction is to this dynamic and its deep unfairness nd clture destroying path. The logic, as I see it, is, if we can get the Arab countries to increase GDP, globalization is saved. The question then is, what is the dynamic of globalization?  If it is increased concentration of wealth and power through mega-corporations, smaller and richer elites, broken middle class incomes, genetically modified crops irresponsibly deployed, then the GDP scenario is deeply self defeating, and an illusion. If a better path is to balance GDP with some sense of social democracy - sharing the benefits and providing for quality of life along with market fores - then we are looking for an alternative we do not know how to reach. ********

NYT on Iraq future Posted here Sunday, October 19, 2003 at 11:18:44 AM     This Slate summary On the NYT Op-Ed page, this month's president of the Iraqi Governing Council, Iyad Alawi, makes two requests of the U.S.: 1) That it recall the disbanded Iraqi army and police force, up to mid-officer level. Most Iraqi soldiers and policemen are patriots, not Saddam loyalists, and they already have command structures and a political legitimacy that the U.S. will be unable to replicate from scratch. 2) That the U.S. urge international recognition of an interim Iraqi government after the Council drafts a constitution, but before a U.N.-monitored referendum on its adoption. "Making Iraqis once again a part of the international system is the prerequisite for ... a durable democratic system"; making international recognition contingent on adoption of the constitution would rob Iraqis of control of their destiny. hints at the way in which Iraq may ultimately work, with all the consequences for justification and power. ********