Canada = Terrorist Supporter
FREED IRAQI'S CHEERING CHAMPIONS OF FREEDOM WHO ARRIVED
Posted on 04/16/2003 11:22:03 AM PDT by doc30
It's too early to say the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq has turned sour. But the classic headaches of a military occupation have come on with astonishing speed.
Despite months of planning, U.S. forces have shown themselves to be confused about the transition from invading to policing, and unsure about what policing entails. Commanders have been wildly optimistic about the ease of setting up a transitional government. And many Iraqis are signalling that they plan to think for themselves when it comes to designing their country's future.
Four weeks into the war, it's still unclear whether Washington is seriously looking for help in what it calls reconstruction. That reduces the credibility of its promises to restore basic services and health care -- even as television screens fill with images of maimed children and dying patients. It also invites failure because, as powerful as the U.S. military machine may be, it cannot achieve everything. That, in turn, is likely to reduce the effectiveness of so-called nation-building efforts down the road.
"We want water and electricity first," a resident of Nasiriyah told a BBC reporter yesterday. "Freedom second." It was a pithy formulation of a point that seems endemically hard to understand in Washington: Political choice is not the only component of human freedom. It is unlikely to be the main priority for Kurds seeking to reclaim property in Kirkuk that was confiscated under Saddam Hussein's regime, or for resettled Arabs who fear a new outbreak of ethnic cleansing.
A sectarian nightmare could lie ahead in Iraq, with the outpouring of communal yearning that was bottled up for decades under repressive Baath regimes. As representatives of various factions were herded into a tent outside Nasiriyah yesterday to sign a "13-point statement" about the future, 20,000 Shia protesters were chanting "No to America. No to Saddam" in the centre of town.
In the northern city of Mosul, a dozen people died when U.S. Marines opened fire. They said they had been attacked, although wounded Iraqis maintained they were cut down after throwing stones at an unpopular local official who had been installed as provisional governor by the invaders. In Tikrit, Mr. Hussein's former stronghold, Arab militias set up checkpoints. They said they were on guard against looting by Kurds. In the light of events, the second point of the Nasiriyah statement -- "the future government of Iraq should not be based on communal identity" -- seems ingenuous, to say the least. In a country that is 60 per cent Shiite, the largest Shia group stayed away.
The situation was nicely forecast by Phebe Marr, a veteran U.S. analyst of Iraqi affairs, in a January article in the Naval War College Review. "In time, even Iraqis who initially greet the change of regime with relief and delight would turn against a foreign occupying force," she predicted. Sure enough, it seems to be no trick at all to find people whose message is: "Thanks for getting rid of Saddam -- now please turn the lights back on and leave."
Westernized Iraqi exiles would be more likely than internal leaders to support U.S. goals, Ms. Marr argued. But they would be slow to win credibility among Iraqis, and would have to be protected over a prolonged period of time by U.S. troops, with all the expense that implies. "Replacing Saddam's regime with a new leadership that is willing and able to satisfy U.S. strategic demands may prove costly, and it may require a long-term American presence on the ground," she wrote. "The United States may be about to learn that 'empire' cannot be achieved on the cheap."
It can't be sustained on the cheap, either. The cost of the war is already pushing interest rates higher. Tax cuts for the rich, President George W. Bush's chosen method of economic stimulus, will accelerate the rise of the U.S. deficit -- already growing at record levels. That could both weaken the dollar and put America more deeply in hock to the rest of the world -- including investors from those awful countries that wandered out of the compound at the United Nations.
State governors are already complaining they don't have the money to implement the added homeland security measures the President announced so gravely last month. You can kiss goodbye any thought of further serious U.S. money for Afghanistan, which remains a poverty-stricken collection of warlord fiefdoms.
As for Iraq, paradoxically, its future stability depends in good measure on Mr. Bush's ability to create jobs at home, avoid an economy-related backlash against his leadership and thus maintain support for a modicum of regime-buliding.
Tall order, that. The story is far from over.
Canada = Terrorist Supporter
FREED IRAQI'S CHEERING CHAMPIONS OF FREEDOM WHO ARRIVED
Many English speaking Canadians are hiding from the embarrasment Cretien has caused them.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
