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August 18, 2003
Iraq: opposition to US unites
This article by Anthony Shadid in the Washington Post is a followup to an earlier post on the organizations behind the anti-US violence.
Shadid highlights the political organization amongst the strands of the Islamic Shiite and Sunni groups. Shadid says:
"Both of these figures [Ahmed Kubeisi, a fundamentalist Sunni cleric from a prominent clan in western Iraq, and Moqtada Sadr, the 30-year-old son of a revered Shiite] were left out of the Iraqi Governing Council named last month and, in their own religious communities, they have emerged as influential if still minority voices of opposition to the four-month-old occupation."
Both want the US out of Iraq and are opposed to the Governing Council established by the Americans. Presumably, we can expect a crackdown by the US in the name of law and order in the near future. If what Juan Cole says is true, that Sunni-Shiite cooperation for anti-imperial purposes has a long history in Iraq, then are going to get a US POlicy that combines counterinsurgency capabilities with pacification forces?
It helps to remind ourselves of the background to this situation. The background is one of the neocons saying that total war needs to be waged by the US. Iraq is the launching pad for the roll-back of militant Islam throughout the Middle East.
The imperial strategy appears to be one of fighting the Iraqi's, imposing the will of the US on the Iraqi people; or capturing or killing the resistance until the US has imposed law and order on Iraq. It is a strategy of military domination.
This ignores a fundamental reality. The US presence in the Iraq is becoming the problem. That is a political problem.
The scenario then becomes one in which the US is engaged in an endless guerrilla war in a foreign land against the Iraqi people. That military struggle undermines the political goal of establishing democracy in Iraq.
Posted by Gary Sauer-Thompson at August 18, 2003 11:02 AM
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Comments
Perhaps the Anglos should ask Iraqis what they want. Hold a referendum asking them whether they want the US/UK to remain, with the proviso that unless a sizable majority(say two thirds) vote yes, they will pull out and leave them to it.
Posted by: Observa at August 20, 2003 10:46 AM