1115.org

Surely the biggest problem with our Iraq policy is that, despite all the smooth rhetoric from President Bush and his Bush-men, the one thing we have no intention of doing is bringing democracy to Iraq. Our single-minded focus is on installing, through some kind of electoral process that will pass international muster, an Iraqi government we thoroughly approve of, one that serves our ends.

As Time acutely pointed out in its issue of December 12, 2005, al-Zarqawi may be the visible face of the Iraq insurgency, but it’s fueled in large measure by the “rejectionists”. They oppose the occupation, and any government that they see as a stooge of either the U.S. or Iran. They don’t oppose democracy in Iraq. On the contrary, that’s precisely what they are fighting for – a democracy in which they are free to elect their own government without Big Brother telling them what to do.

Unfortunately, not only are we trying to install an approved government in Iraq, but with the arrogance that has characterized much of our foreign policy under Bush, we are not even bothering to disguise our intentions. If the Bush administration wanted to fan nationalistic feelings in Iraq as much as possible, they would be hard-pressed to find a more effective strategy.

Remember when we wanted to use Turkey as a launching pad for the invasion of Iraq? The time-honored way to achieve this, given the obvious reluctance of the Turkish government, was certainly to bribe them with a generous aid package. But surely they teach you in Diplomacy 101 that you have to do this discreetly, in a way that allows the offeree to actually accept the offer? What did we do? We shouted it from the rooftops so that it was splashed across the front page of newspapers around the world: let us use your bases and we’ll pay you $26 billion in cash and loan guarantees. The choice for Turkey was pretty simple at that point: shall we accept America’s offer and lose every last vestige of our national self-respect? Funny how they turned us down, isn’t it?

And now we’re performing exactly the same trick in Iraq – elephants clomping around in tutus, calling ourselves ballerinas, and wearing t-shirts that say: make them an offer they can’t accept.