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Middle East Surprises for America
(John V. Whitbeck, Special to Arab News, 10 July 2003)
The determined resistance of some Iraqis to the Western occupation of their country seems to have been genuinely unanticipated. It should not have been. If the United States were conquered and occupied by Arab armies which announced their intention to stay for years and to restructure the country’s government and economy along Islamic lines, would no Americans resist, not even “hardcore Bush loyalists” or “Republican Party remnants”? . . . Before and after the conquest of Iraq, proponents of the war evoked the vision of a virtuous “domino effect” toppling authoritarian regimes in the region and replacing them with modernizing, Western-oriented “democratic” ones. As a genuine reason for war, such a democratic mission always lacked credibility with those who actually live in the region, who recognize that, so long as America and Israel act like Siamese twins joined at the brain, any government in the Arab world which actually reflected the will of its people would be fervently anti-American. . . . Of course, Americans do like elections — provided that they produce the “right” result. (Donald Rumsfeld has made clear that an Islamic government will not be permitted in Iraq even if most of Iraq’s people were to favor one.) However, few believe that the United States would really prefer a democratically elected government which is anti-American to an authoritarian regime which is pro-American. . . . So, what happened in the elections in Kuwait, the most pro-American country in the Arab world, with the most reason (by far) to be pro-American? The “liberals”, who seek a more open and modern society and had hoped to make significant gains, were almost wiped out, retaining only three seats (down from eight) in the 50-seat Parliament. The remaining 47 seats went to conservatives and Islamists, including radical fundamentalists. The “domino effect” has not worked out — at least not falling in the “right” direction — next door to Iraq. What would genuinely fair elections produce in other Arab countries, whose people are far less pro-American? A quiet burial for the “democratic mission” can be anticipated. . . . While the “road map” is widely described as a “peace plan”, in Arab eyes, “peace” in Israel/Palestine requires ending the occupation, not crushing all resistance to it, while, in most of the world, true “peace” is recognized to require some measure of “justice”, a word rigorously avoided by successive American governments in connection with their successive “peace plans”. . . . Arabs are not fools. Even if they have not read the “road map”, when they see both George W. Bush and Colin Powell insisting that a total cessation of Palestinian violence is not good enough and that the Palestinian leadership must also eliminate any capability for resuming violent resistance in the future, they can recognize that the true American objective is not “peace”, as they understand the word, but, at best, simply “quiet” — Palestinian acquiescence in the occupation and acceptance of whatever terms Israel may wish to impose on a defeated and demoralized people — and, at worst, provoking a Palestinian civil war. . . . In March 2002, the Arab League, in its Beirut Declaration, dramatically offered full peace and normal diplomatic and economic relations between Israel and all Arab states in return for a total end to the occupation of all Arab lands occupied in 1967. . . . The true “road map” confronting Iraq, Palestine and the region as a whole is not one of steady progress toward peace, prosperity, Western-style democracy and increasingly pro-American sentiments. Unless the world focuses soon on the real problem and its only real solution, and insists on the prompt implementation of that solution, we are all risking a rapid descent into hell.

posted by Lorenzo 2:38 PM