Well, golly. We're doomed! At least that's what Issam Mufid Nashashibi and Abdelatif Rayan wrote in Monday's Atlanta Urinal and Constipation in an op-ed titled Brits failed in Iraq in the '30s; Bush likely to fail, too.
Pentagon observers are predicting a U.S. victory over Saddam Hussein's rusty military machine and expounding on the "Bush Plan" for a post-Saddam era. But will President Bush's Iraq policy bring a real victory to crown America's hegemony in the Middle East and elsewhere? Could history be our guide?
I dunno. I guess you guys are gonna tell us why.
Bush's Iraq policy is reminiscent of the 1930s British "reoccupation" of Iraq.
Oh? Tell me more.
By March 1921, almost four years after they invaded Mesopotamia, the British created Iraq as a new entity managed by "a suitable Arab" who was a member of the Hashemite clan, King Faisal I. In addition, the British supported and promoted narrowly based groups such as tribal leaders over the growing, urban-based nationalist movement.
In pursuing this policy, the British were attempting to achieve their military objectives of securing their route to India and controlling strategic oil sources. By the mid-1930s, Iraq exported oil via a pipeline to refineries in Haifa, Palestine.
Oh no! It's all about oil!!!!!
Palestine was in turmoil. Palestinian Arabs were rioting against the Zionist-promoted Jewish immigration to Palestine. Faisal was alarmed about Jewish immigration and expected that "bloodshed would certainly result" from such a demographic change. However, his concern was mostly centered on the negative effect of any bloodshed in Palestine on Iraqi-British relations.
Oh no! It's all about Israel! I never saw that coming.
Although public sentiment supported Arab Palestinians against such foreign encroachment, Iraqi governments were careful not to shatter Iraqi-British relations while repeatedly warning Britain about the destabilizing effect of Iraqi public opinion's pro-Palestinian sentiments. Their official policy on Jewish immigration to Palestine resembled walking a tightrope: It avoided offending British sensibilities without inflaming public opinion.
Yep! It's all the fault of them damn Jews!
To mollify public sentiment, Iraqi government fostered unofficial support for the Arab cause in Palestine. As a result, Iraq became the center of pan-Arab, anti-British activities and a mecca for Egyptian, Syrian and Palestinian nationalists.
In other words, a center of hatred for Jews and the Brits. Something like Iraq is now. Is that their point?
Despite these strong nationalistic, anti-British public sentiments, the British managed to coerce the Iraqi government into entering World War II in support of Britain. The immediate effect of this British political pressure was riots in Baghdad and the killing of several hundred people, mostly Jewish Iraqis.
At least they were on the winning side, and what the heck, Arabs can always find some sort of an excuse to riot and kill Jews.
Perceived as a threat to their interest, the riots were countered by British military intervention and the resignation of the Iraqi prime minister, Rashid Ali, in favor of a new "suitable Arab." With Britain's blessing, martial law was established and the new government started to act against the "subversive" nationalist forces that dominated Iraqi public life.
Keep in mind that this was not a democratic gummint.
Thus started what the nationalists described as the "second British occupation of Iraq," which also included efforts to restructure Iraq with complete British and American supervision. The British resumed full control of the education system while the Americans dominated the media. All nationalist and militaristic materials were banned. In addition, the army was purged or neglected.
And this was not a democratic gummint.
Clearly, there is nothing new in the current U.S. military scenarios, especially what Bush administration officials allude to in their post-Saddam plans. Such policies confirm the administration's intention to conquer and occupy Iraq. They also call for disarming Iraq and downsizing its armed forces while getting Iraq ready for a democratic transition and the removal of senior officials of the governing Baath Party.
Wrong! This is sumpin' new. We are gonna try to institute a democratic gummint in an Arab country. This is a radical idea.
Iraqi opposition groups have signed on to the administration's plans and are fully cooperating with their Washington handlers to create a "federal, non-Arab demilitarized Iraq," as Kanan Makiya, the group's ideologist, envisioned post-Saddam Iraq in his speech at the American Enterprise Institute symposium.
And hopefully a democratic Arab state. Can it be done?
For Bush, who has not conveyed any convincing argument to justify waging war against Iraq,
I dunno. He convinced me. But, then, I'm not a Jew hating Arab apologist.
the success of his Iraqi adventure must be more than eliminating Saddam and his cronies. It is nothing less than crafting a new Iraq that is divorced from any Arab concern, especially the Palestinian cause.
Gotta get Israel back in the picture. Remember, all the problems in the Middle East are caused by Isreal.
For Bush and his hard-line advisers, removing Saddam presents the United States "with a historic opportunity" that is "as large as anything that has happened in the Middle East since the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the entry of British troops into Iraq in 1917," Makiya said.
We were able to create a democratic gummint in Japan and Germany after WWII. It will be interesting to see if it is possible to do that in an Arab country. Who knows? Maybe a democracy could function in an Arab country. It's worth a try. Couldn't be any worse than what's going on in the Arab world today.
If history is our guide, the Iraqi people will defy this plan just as they resisted the British 1930s plans that failed to maintain a "suitable Arab regime" because the original British sin, creating the Palestinian problem, is still with us.
See. It's all the fault of the Jews. If the Arabs could just wipe them off the face of the earth, Arab democracies would spring up just like daffodils in the Spring.
Issam Mufid Nashashibi is an Arab-American political activist living in Dawsonville. Abdelatif Rayan is a Washington-based Middle East consultant and journalist.
And they are both full of shit.