@F: Frontline Documentary "The War Behind Closed Doors"

[Kelly Tompkins]

Friends of Ian bell.

Not sure if you saw the Frontline special Sunday night but you can check it out online.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/iraq/view/ . Check out #5 "The New Strategy", It lays out the evolution of foreign policy specific to the Middle East and the Bush doctrine for using Iraq to establish a beachhead for democracy.

I contacted a journalist Simon Reeve who wrote "The New Jackals"
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1555534074/qid=1048191076/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_1/102-1296234-0488962?v=glance&s=books&n=507846 to get his opinion on the matter and he basically indorses the bush strategy. "The New Jackals" is an interesting account of the routes of Ikeda and Islamic fundamentalists movement that
he claims really took root with the TWA high jacking in Athens in 1985. Basically what happened is the Americans forced Israel to release 435 Lebanese and Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the hostages on the plane. The result was the creation of the Islamic fundamentalists movement and a string of terrorists assaults. The result was that terrorists knew that if used carefully, terrorism could be used to achieve political gains. Do you honestly believe that Bin Laden would have gone forward with the September 11th attack if he knew that the Bush response would be so radically different than previous administrations.

The reason I mention this, is that I believe that there needs to be a completely different approach to the middle east and creating stability. The Bush doctrine of using force to create a democracy is radical but if you talk to experts like Simon Reeve, they fundamentally agree with the approach.


Regards,


Kelly
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Hi Kelly,
Good to hear from you. Apologies for keeping this brief but I'm going away and have masses to get done --
in answer to your main question, I certainly think the US and allies could be successful at installing a democracy in Iraq. But it remains to be seen whether the US will make a long-term commitment to the people and the region. I think people will soon start focusing on the election next year, and pay less attention to trouble-spots around the world -- including post-Saddam Iraq.
But let's keep our fingers crossed and hope that the Iraqis get the democracy they deserve!
best wishes,
simon

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----- Original Message ----- From: Kelly Tompkins To: Simon Reeve Sent: Tuesday, March 18, 2003 7:36 AM Subject: War on Iraq? I would welcome a reply if you have time.....

Hi Simon:

You were nice enough to reply to me several months ago after seeing you on Charlie Rose. I am very curious to know your opinion on the War on Iraq. Do you believe that America can be successful in installing a democracy in Iraq. I have to say that being a staunch Liberal type; I am actually [hate to admit it] seeing clarity in the Bush type doctrine.

As I see it the best way to irradicate terrorism is to provide stable, prosperous democratic nation states. Could Iraq be such a beach head of democracy in the Middle East, which essentially is being thrust upon them by America?

In my opinion, it is an intriguing, utopian idea and who would have ever guessed that Bush would be the guy to risk everything to try and pull it off. It seems that one thing I learned from you was that it was the destitute Egyptian male youth that was in search of a cause essentially because they had no other options available to them and essentially falling pray to Ikeda propaganda. Could a prosperous Iraq democratic & capitalistic state be the answer to peace in the middle east. Is it preposterous to even think this could work?


How do you see it?


Regards,


Kelly