Bush's high-risk civil war scam
By Dr Mustafa al-Bazergan
Thursday 30 September 2004, 16:26 Makka Time, 13:26
GMT
In the past few months, as the world watched Iraq turn
into a quicksand for the US-led occupation forces, the
Bush administration has been busy promoting a false
image of a civil war in the country, apparently as a
pretext to perpetuate its occupation.
Far from a civil war, what is really happening is a
determined popular uprising against foreign forces.
The situation in Iraq is inexorably heading towards a
major crisis; this despite a sham transfer of
sovereignty by the Coalition Provisional Authority to
a captive government led by Dr Iyad Allawi on 30 June
2004.
Until recently, the uprising against the US occupation
was more or less confined to what is called the Sunni
Triangle; it has now spread to the Shia dominated
areas in Baghdad, and central and southern Iraq.
In the holy city of Najaf, the Shia cleric Muqtada
al-Sadr, while categorically refusing to disband his
Mahdi Army, has also vowed to fight till the end. "I
did not create it [the Mahdi Army]
"Last I heard, the UN doesn't want it."
Harrison Fisher, US
More comments...
on my own but with the cooperation of the Iraqi
people," he said.
In response, President George Bush has promised to
crush the uprising. "We will not permit the spread of
chaos and violence," he declared. He has also rejected
comparisons between the fighting in Iraq and the war
in Vietnam.
Whether Iraq has reached the level of Vietnam or not
may be debatable, but there is no denying that it has
reached boiling point.
"Far from a civil war, what is really happening,
however, is a determined popular uprising against
foreign forces"
The American attempt to bring Iran's influence to bear
on Iraqi Shias to end their uprising has been put paid
to following the assassination of a top Iranian
diplomat in Baghdad last April. More than that, what
seems surprising is that Washington actually made an
attempt to strike a deal with the Iranian authorities.
Apparently the deal lacked consensus within the Bush
administration. The US State Department spokesman
Richard Boucher was quoted as saying that it would be
"inappropriate" for Iran to mediate in the Shia
uprising.
He added: "It is suitable for them [Iranian officials]
to work with authorities in Baghdad to try and help
stabilise the situation and bring whatever influence
to bear they can."
"Whether Iraq can still emerge from the debacle as a
democratic and united country will depend on Bush's
ability to break the stranglehold of the
neo-conservatives who surround him and control
America's defence and foreign policies"
Unlike most of the coalition partners who sent troops
to Iraq, the Romanian President Ion Iliescu was candid
enough to admit that the mission of the coalition
forces in Iraq has failed.
"The reason for the failure in Iraq lies in the
coercive measures taken to make the changes there," he
said. Iliescu also admitted that the coalition
expectations that the Iraqi people would welcome them
had turned out to be an illusion.
By invading Iraq 17 months ago, the US was intending
to make a show of force. This was evident in the city
of Falluja, which was flattened house-by-house. The
most modern weaponry was unleashed on a city of
340,000 inhabitants.
The US marine assault on the city was comparable to
the Israeli army's brutalities in the West Bank. The
most recent American military operations in Najaf,
which forced a massive exodus from the city, is
another example of the American muscle-flexing against
a hapless people.
Events in Iraq are bound to impact on the outcome of
the American presidential elections in November.
Whether Iraq can still emerge from the debacle as a
democratic and united country will depend on Bush's
ability to break the stranglehold of the
neo-conservatives who surround him and control
America's defence and foreign policies.
But with time running out and American casualties, as
also the Iraqi resentment, mounting, there is little
hope for such a change. But most Iraqis believe that
if the US pulled out of Iraq and handed over the
control to the UN, it might even save the Bush
administration.
Dr Bazergan is an Iraqi political analyst and
consultant at the Iraq Information and Research Centre
in London.
=====
Leo Imanov
Abdu-lLah
AllahsSlave
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