U.S. 'Prescription' for Iraq May Result in 'Death of the Patient'
The United States has offered a comical prescription for Iraq's life-threatening disorder. American politicians have counseled their Iraqi counterparts to cover up the pain with a time-tested recipe that is given to insomniacs to help them sleep.
What is it that is keeping Iraqis up at night? It is that they are abused in their own land, even by those who say that they want them to be free of abuse. This is a prescription of "good intentions" that will end with the death of the patient, and which seeks to secure the peace through the annihilation of Iraqis.
In the case of Cambodia, former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger applied something called the "Madman Theory." [This was a centerpiece of President Nixon's foreign policy ]. Under the scheme, Cambodia was destroyed in bombing raids, the nation and its people were devastated and the countryside was depopulated, just as is now taking place in Iraq. Then one by one, the population was selectively permitted to return. It now looks as though Iraq will become another such experiment. I say this because the partition of Iraq has already taken place, and everyone is scrambling to get their share. All that is left now is for Iraqis to determine which partition they should refuge in, and which partition they should flee from! The danger appears never-ending, as the partition of the country creates ever-greater conflict and internal division!
[Editor's Note: America's illegal carpet-bombing of neutral Cambodia in 1969, also known as Operation Menu was designed to deprive North Vietnam of troops and supplies].
Those who helped create the Iraq crisis in the first place now seek to fill our perpetual security gaps by force, but it may be too late! Back to the Cambodian example: The U.S. bombed Cambodia for the sake of American security in Vietnam; then the Chinese bombed Cambodia to protect themselves from the Soviets and the Vietnamese; then the Vietnamese bombed Cambodia to protect themselves from the Chinese, and so on!!
Concerned with their own security, other countries are mounting attacks in this country. They are striking outside of their borders to keep the evil at a distance and secure their own people. But the only country that needs to be secured is Iraq, but Iraq is unable to fight back.
Even though what happened to Cambodia was then described as the worst tragedy that the world had ever witnessed, this desecration of the body of Iraq surely surpasses what happened to Cambodia …
After the January, 2005 Iraqi elections, everyone hoped that the problems afflicting the nation would be resolved, because all parties were convinced to participate in those elections. But it seems that the ground was not properly prepared for any party or faction to take power. Whenever one problem is solved, another one takes its place.
Even if all the countries involved on the ground wanted to solve these problems, there would be no solution. This is because all of the Iraqi parties and factions are in such a shaky position. They insist that these problems are internal ones, and in any case are too busy squabbling over who will control the most important ministries. Therefore the problem goes back to its starting point, i.e. reestablishing Iraqi security.
Security is supposed to be provided to everyone. This is the great responsibility of all political factions and all Iraqis. Iraqis are divided about many national issues and the sense of loss is obvious. In order to initiate a period of national recovery, every political leader should work for all Iraqis. This will require not just reacting after a crisis, but unwavering and relentless leadership.
At the start of the crisis, it might have been the better part of discretion for political leaders to try and prevent the terrible clash which has ended with partition and a continuation of the occupation, but our overriding duty now is to focus on stopping the bloodshed, and then on securing the unity of Iraq and its people.
If half of the Iraqi people are looking in one direction and the other half are tempted to look in the other [Sunnis toward the Arab world and Shiites toward Iran] then a wedge has been driven into the body politic and the partition is as good as complete.
As these and other factors indicate, we must overcome this de-facto partition by building the prerequisites for national unity. The first step on this road to national unification is for all parties to be convinced that it is in their own interests that national unity be achieved.
In spite of all the horrors that Iraq has witnessed since the events of February 22nd 2006 in Samara (black Wednesday) [the blowing up of the Shiite Golden Mosque ] which initiated a sharp increase in sectarian violence that has led Iraq to the brink of catastrophe, conditions now make it possible for all parties to step back from the brink and stop the hemorrhaging. But the last thing we need is a partial solution that will result in difficulties that would come back to haunt us in the future.
To show mercy to Iraq is not to kill her, but to quickly bandage her wounds with the blessings of democracy, and through compromise and dialogue, rather than seeking peace through genocide, which equals war without end.
What is it that is keeping Iraqis up at night? It is that they are abused in their own land, even by those who say that they want them to be free of abuse. This is a prescription of "good intentions" that will end with the death of the patient, and which seeks to secure the peace through the annihilation of Iraqis.
In the case of Cambodia, former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger applied something called the "Madman Theory." [This was a centerpiece of President Nixon's foreign policy ]. Under the scheme, Cambodia was destroyed in bombing raids, the nation and its people were devastated and the countryside was depopulated, just as is now taking place in Iraq. Then one by one, the population was selectively permitted to return. It now looks as though Iraq will become another such experiment. I say this because the partition of Iraq has already taken place, and everyone is scrambling to get their share. All that is left now is for Iraqis to determine which partition they should refuge in, and which partition they should flee from! The danger appears never-ending, as the partition of the country creates ever-greater conflict and internal division!
[Editor's Note: America's illegal carpet-bombing of neutral Cambodia in 1969, also known as Operation Menu was designed to deprive North Vietnam of troops and supplies].
Those who helped create the Iraq crisis in the first place now seek to fill our perpetual security gaps by force, but it may be too late! Back to the Cambodian example: The U.S. bombed Cambodia for the sake of American security in Vietnam; then the Chinese bombed Cambodia to protect themselves from the Soviets and the Vietnamese; then the Vietnamese bombed Cambodia to protect themselves from the Chinese, and so on!!
Concerned with their own security, other countries are mounting attacks in this country. They are striking outside of their borders to keep the evil at a distance and secure their own people. But the only country that needs to be secured is Iraq, but Iraq is unable to fight back.
Even though what happened to Cambodia was then described as the worst tragedy that the world had ever witnessed, this desecration of the body of Iraq surely surpasses what happened to Cambodia …
After the January, 2005 Iraqi elections, everyone hoped that the problems afflicting the nation would be resolved, because all parties were convinced to participate in those elections. But it seems that the ground was not properly prepared for any party or faction to take power. Whenever one problem is solved, another one takes its place.
Even if all the countries involved on the ground wanted to solve these problems, there would be no solution. This is because all of the Iraqi parties and factions are in such a shaky position. They insist that these problems are internal ones, and in any case are too busy squabbling over who will control the most important ministries. Therefore the problem goes back to its starting point, i.e. reestablishing Iraqi security.
Security is supposed to be provided to everyone. This is the great responsibility of all political factions and all Iraqis. Iraqis are divided about many national issues and the sense of loss is obvious. In order to initiate a period of national recovery, every political leader should work for all Iraqis. This will require not just reacting after a crisis, but unwavering and relentless leadership.
At the start of the crisis, it might have been the better part of discretion for political leaders to try and prevent the terrible clash which has ended with partition and a continuation of the occupation, but our overriding duty now is to focus on stopping the bloodshed, and then on securing the unity of Iraq and its people.
If half of the Iraqi people are looking in one direction and the other half are tempted to look in the other [Sunnis toward the Arab world and Shiites toward Iran] then a wedge has been driven into the body politic and the partition is as good as complete.
As these and other factors indicate, we must overcome this de-facto partition by building the prerequisites for national unity. The first step on this road to national unification is for all parties to be convinced that it is in their own interests that national unity be achieved.
In spite of all the horrors that Iraq has witnessed since the events of February 22nd 2006 in Samara (black Wednesday) [the blowing up of the Shiite Golden Mosque ] which initiated a sharp increase in sectarian violence that has led Iraq to the brink of catastrophe, conditions now make it possible for all parties to step back from the brink and stop the hemorrhaging. But the last thing we need is a partial solution that will result in difficulties that would come back to haunt us in the future.
To show mercy to Iraq is not to kill her, but to quickly bandage her wounds with the blessings of democracy, and through compromise and dialogue, rather than seeking peace through genocide, which equals war without end.