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ADC Update:
LA Times Op-ed: "U.S. Fumbling Postwar Plan"
The following op-ed by ADC Communications Director Hussein Ibish,
"U.S. Fumbling Postwar Plan," appears in April 4, 2003
edition of the Los Angeles Times.
U.S. Fumbling Postwar Plan
By Hussein Ibish
Special to The Times
April 4, 2003
If concern is growing that ideological convictions at the
Defense Department resulted in costly miscalculations regarding
the war in Iraq, even greater alarm is warranted by glaring
missteps in the preparation for what comes after the war.
Take, for instance, the political profile of the man tapped to
lead the occupation, retired Lt. Gen. Jay Garner.
Garner's stated opinions on Middle Eastern politics make him
singularly unsuitable for the indescribably sensitive task of
being the first U.S. administrator of a large Arab country. In
2000, Garner signed a statement backing Israel's hard-line
tactics in enforcing the occupation of the Palestinian
territories of East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
This statement, which was organized by the Jewish Institute for
National Security Affairs, a think tank close to the Israeli far
right, praised the Israel Defense Forces' "remarkable
restraint in the face of lethal violence orchestrated by the
leadership of a Palestinian Authority" and advised the
strongest possible American support.
Anyone with the slightest knowledge of Arab politics knows that
any association between an American occupation of Iraq and
Israel's occupation of Palestinian lands poses great danger. It
is guaranteed to breed deep resentment and bitter opposition,
especially as U.S. checkpoints in Iraq begin to look
increasingly like those in the West Bank.
Persistent reports in the British and American press suggest
that Garner will be in charge of 23 ministries, each headed by
an American with Iraqi advisors. Not only will this look and
feel like a colonial administration, the identity of some of the
Iraqi advisors rings alarms.
Most disturbing is the role apparently planned for Ahmad Chalabi,
head of the Iraqi National Congress, a U.S.-created opposition
group based in London with no visible presence or support in
Iraq. He is extremely popular with the neoconservatives in and
around the administration, including Vice President Dick Cheney
and Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz.
In the Middle East, however, Chalabi is also known for swindling
tens of millions of dollars from a bank he headed in Jordan. In
April 1992, he was sentenced in absentia to 22 years' hard labor
on 31 charges of embezzlement, theft, misuse of depositor funds
and speculation with the Jordanian dinar. For many months this
man has been demanding that Washington appoint him prime
minister of Iraq. It is cold comfort indeed to learn that he
will be Garner's "advisor" at a ministry of finance.
Other early signs for how the administration of Iraq will
function are equally not encouraging.
The management of the port of Umm al Qasr, one of the few places
in Iraq under complete Western control, has produced a split
between British and American authorities. The British view is
that the Iraqi manager, who has been in his position for years,
is capable of doing the job. Our government insisted, however,
in providing a lucrative contract to run the port to Stevedoring
Services of Seattle.
Australia has expressed concern that its existing wheat
contracts with Iraq will be transferred to U.S. interests.
This appears to be the pattern set for most such arrangements in
Iraq, with not only allies, the United Nations and major
nongovernmental organizations frozen out of the process but with
local Iraqis as well, in favor of American corporations.
Some NGOs, of course, will be present in Iraq, and one of the
first to announce its intention to follow in the footsteps of
the invasion force is the evangelical organization led by
Franklin Graham. Graham, who has repeatedly insisted that Islam
is a "very evil, wicked religion," will hardly be a
reassuring presence to ordinary Iraqis.
The behavior of some of our troops has also provided ominous
signs of political problems to come. Gestures such as naming
Army bases in Iraq after Exxon and captured airstrips
"George W. Bush International Airport" do not convey a
message of liberation.
Between Garner, Chalabi, Stevedoring, Graham and "Camp
Exxon," not to mention the checkpoints, the prospects for
winning the hearts and minds of Iraqis seem dim indeed.
Hussein Ibish is communications director for the American-Arab
Anti-Discrimination Committee. ================================
ADC
4201 Connecticut Ave, Suite 300
Washington, D.C. 20008, U.S.A.
Tel: (202) 244-2990
Fax: (202) 244-3196
Web: http://www.adc.org.
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