t r u t h o u t | Guest Contributor
Thursday 12 April 2007
After listening to Vice President Cheney say such things as the fight would be "weeks rather than months," the fight would "go relatively quickly," and "I think things have gotten so bad inside Iraq, ... my belief is we will, in fact, be greeted as liberators," one has to wonder, will he ever get it? What do you do when the foreign policy that was doomed from its inception - the policy you lied about in order to sell - actually fails?
For the Iraqi people, April 8 marked the inauspicious fourth anniversary of the fall of Baghdad. According to numerous news sources, in response to the clarion call of the powerful Shiite cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr, tens of thousands of Iraqis peacefully marched through the streets of Najaf, calling for American's to "Get out, get out occupier." We are now four years into this quagmire, with over 3,200 American soldiers dead, over 24,000 American soldiers wounded and over 600,000 Iraqis dead and wounded. This is taking years, not weeks or months, and it does not sound as though the Americans have been greeted as liberators. In the context of this reality, Vice President Cheney continues to tell anyone who will listen that al-Qaeda was operating in Iraq before the US invaded in 2003, even though declassified Pentagon reports refute these assertions.
In spite of the half-truths and lies that the vice president has told the American people about this war, he finally said something right, but even when he's right, he's wrong! He recently told an audience that you cannot win a war if you tell your enemy the day and time that you are going to quit. No truer words have ever been spoken. The problem with VP Cheney's statement is the implication that the so-called "war" has not already been lost. What do you do when your failed policy actually fails?
As a "chicken hawk," VP Cheney obviously never read "The Art of War," the oldest known military treatise in the world, written by a true warrior, Sun Tzu. Sun-Tzu wrote that through planning, knowledge, understanding of your enemy and timing of your attack, you win the battle before you fight it. This so-called war on terror and the illegal invasion of Iraq were conceptually doomed to fail from the beginning. The war was lost at the moment it was conceived. Any understanding of history would have shown Cheney and all of those who supported this blunder that you could not take three culturally and religiously diverse segments of the former Ottoman Empire and combine them into a Jeffersonian democracy at the barrel of a gun.
Now, even Arizona Senator and Republican presidential hopeful John McCain is trying to convince the American people that all is not lost in Iraq. He recently wrote, "I disagree with what the majority of the American people want. Failure will lead to chaos, withdrawal will lead to chaos." Well, last I checked, we have utter chaos in Iraq because our policy and the implementation of that policy have failed. Also, in a representative democracy, you can disagree with the majority of the American people, but you need to listen to what they are asking you - as their representative - to do.
Contrary to popular belief, withdrawal may not lead to chaos. It depends on how you withdraw. Most of the American lawmakers and pundits that I have heard speak on this issue are trying to have their cake and eat it too. The problem is not withdrawal; the problem is control. Most of these politicians want to withdraw from Iraq while retaining control of the region and its resources. That cannot and will not work.
In his article, "The Root of the Problem," Dilip Hiro suggested bringing peace to Iraq by soliciting the support of the Islamic Conference Organization (ICO), consisting of 57 Muslim countries. In 2004, six ICO countries offered to send a peacekeeping force consisting of Shiia and Sunni troops. None of the peacekeepers would have been immediate neighbors of Iraq, therefore eliminating any regional perception of bias or hidden agenda. According to Hiro, when the offer was discussed with then US Secretary of State [Colin] Powell, Powell insisted on the Muslim troops operating under US command. This was unacceptable to Muslim leaders. The proposal died. I believe that the US is not interested in a peace plan that does not result in US control of the resources and the region, and leaders in the region are smart enough to understand this.
The US can not bring peace to the region without listening to the major players in the region and allowing them - all of them - to be included in the solution. According to the New York Times, King Abdulla of Saudi Arabia recently told Arab leaders that the American invasion and continued occupation of Iraq is illegal. He also warned his counterparts that if they did not settle their differences, foreign powers like the United States would continue to dictate the region's politics.
King Abdulla clearly understands US history in that region as it relates to the US-led overthrow of the democratically elected government in Iran in 1953 and other countries in the world, such as Nicaragua in 1909 and Guatemala in 1954. He does not want that to happen to him. King Abdulla clearly understands how to solve the problem. You cannot have peace in the region without engaging all of the players in the region. Contrary to American policy, he is reaching out to Iranian President Ahmadinejad in Iran, brokering deals between Hamas and Fatah, and sending his nephew Prince Bandar to speak with the Israelis.
Back in Iraq, Muqtada al-Sadr, a Shiia, is calling for Iraq's army and police to join him in defeating "your archenemy." He is urging his allies to stop attacking Iraqis and turn their ire towards Americans. "God has ordered you to be patient in front of your enemy, and unify your efforts against them - not against the sons of Iraq." Sunnis are also calling for American withdrawal. Could Shiia and Sunni aggression against the US be the perfect storm?
Since the failed policy has failed, President Bush needs to listen to his allies, while he still has some.
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Dr. Wilmer Leon is the Producer/Host of the nationally broadcast call-in talk radio program "On With Leon" on XM Satellite Radio Channel 169, and Producer/Host of the television program "Inside the Issues With Wilmer Leon." He also is a teaching associate in the Department of Political Science at Howard University in Washington, DC. Go to www.wilmerleon.com or email: wjl3us@yahoo.com.
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