A rchive Date
[ 14-04-2004 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ U.S ]
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[http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/Columnists/Edmonton/Paul_Stanway/2004/04/14/419942.html
America did not lay down the law in Iraq
By PAUL STANWAY -- For the Edmonton Sun
Wed, April 14, 2004
When even U.S. President George Bush admits American troops have been having "a tough week" in Iraq, it's hardly surprising to see the armchair generals in the media dusting off all their old Vietnam analogies.
Not that they need much dusting. Lately, hardly a day goes by without some pundit suggesting that here is more proof the U.S. is becoming mired in a major conflict it can't win and doesn't know how to end.
Well, Iraq is not yet Vietnam, but there is troubling evidence that America might be in danger of losing its way in this latest conflict.
This week's fighting in several Iraqi cities provides graphic evidence of the problems to be faced in a region where the question of leadership has traditionally been settled by violence and sustained by more violence.
The invasion of Iraq was, in most respects, a textbook operation, and it was clear from the beginning that the U.S. was trying to avoid Iraqi casualties in the belief that this would make it easier for the majority of Iraqis to eventually welcome liberation from Saddam Hussein and co-operate with the Americans in rehabilitating their country
For the same reason, U.S. forces stood by while looters took to the streets and carried off everything that wasn't nailed down - and most things that were.
But in doing so the Americans failed in the No. 1 priority for any occupying power: the imposition of law and order.
It's impossible to know what the summary execution of a few looters might have achieved, beyond predictable media outrage, but it's fair to say that the vacuum created by this unwillingness to impose order has encouraged opposition to the occupation and led directly to the current violence.
It may seem paradoxical to the western mind, but the reluctance of the U.S. military to use exemplary force to discourage lawlessness and curb violent opponents is likely to have been interpreted by many in Iraq as a sign of weakness, not magnanimity.
It is worth remembering that it is a core belief of Islamic militants that the U.S. is morally weak and dissolute, doesn't have the stomach to either take or inflict casualties in any great number, and will inevitably give up if things get too hot.
Osama bin Laden likes to point to former American president Ronald Reagan's withdrawal of U.S. marines from Lebanon, and the hasty exit of American troops from Somalia under Bill Clinton, as proof of the superpower's vulnerability.
These views are repeated endlessly by the militant clerics who are driving opposition to the U.S. occupation of Iraq.
And, so far, it is difficult to argue that the Americans have done enough to convince the majority of Iraqis that it is they, not the militant imams, who can guarantee law and order, let alone the lofty goals of democracy and prosperity.
The fighting in Iraq in recent days does not seem to be the beginning of a general uprising by the Iraqi people. The various militant groups are not large (the Shiite Mahdi militia, for example, is thought to number no more than 5,000), but their leaders understand that violence can magnify influence.
In the past few days they have served notice that they are a force to be reckoned with and will continue to be so when the Americans are gone.
The Bush administration's response has been to continue to hope for the best.
When asked about this week's fighting in Fallujah, Dan Senor, a military spokesman, confirmed "our goal is to minimize bloodshed and head off any sort of conflict." But does the one necessarily lead to the other?
"This violence we've seen is part of a few people trying to stop progress toward democracy," President Bush said on the weekend.
And he's right.
But unfortunately those few are gaining in influence as a result of the violence, and progress in Iraq will become more difficult as a result.
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