Shifting Blame Will Lead To Yet Another Long Term Crisis
The article in the November 29, 2006 Washington Post “As Iraq Deteriorates, Iraqis Get More Blame: U.S. Officials, Lawmakers Change Tone” by Thomas E. Ricks and Robin Wright is very accurate in its portrayal of how US leaders are shifting the blame for the situation in Iraq upon the Iraqis themselves. The important implication is that this is the first step toward rationalizing a US withdrawal without accepting responsibility for the situation. The negative consequences of the “shifting blame game” are surprisingly understated considering Mr. Ricks book, “Fiasco”, which so eloquently details the folly of US policy in Iraq over the last decade and a half.
Certainly, people are responsible for their own actions, but their actions are significantly affected by the environment in which they find themselves. The current environment in Iraq is in large part the result of the US mishandling of the entire affair and the result will be an even larger number of people in a critical region of the world who will vehemently hold the negative consequences against the US. We’ll pay for it later—just like we have been paying for our poor political interaction with Iran prior to its revolution in 1979.
Recall that it was Saddam Hussein and not the Iraqi people who hated the US prior to our invasion. Shortly thereafter it was clear that the Iraqis were not happy about being overrun by a foreign power, but they understood why for the most part and were generally glad to be rid of Hussein. The Iraqi environment systematically deteriorated to one of fear and violence for a combination of reasons—most of them the direct result of US policies, some of which were in place even before the Invasion.
The first Bush Administration had encouraged an Iraqi revolt against Saddam and then did not support it. We inexplicably sat by while Saddam’s “defeated” military brutally crushed it. The result was a strong signal to all Iraqis that the US would not back up its words for the sake of “the people” and reinforced their belief that we would, however, back up our words with military might for the sake of oil.
The inept de-Baathification policies of the Coalition Provisional Authority and unemployment of half a million police, military, and middle class politicians and administrators all but eliminated any chance of effective security or basic public services in Iraq. The burgeoning Sunni insurgency took advantage of this situation and the US and new Iraqi regime’s failure to improve security only encouraged more Iraqis to take the situation into their own hands. Militias and death squads—some supported by radicals and outsiders from Al-Qaeda, Iran, and others resulted in a growing number of people killing each other over grievances both modern and ancient.
Harsh and inappropriate counterinsurgency tactics by US forces—by this time blatantly calling themselves “occupiers,” and the patent disregard by the Bush Administration for the principles of the Geneva Conventions only exacerbated the situation. Indiscriminately rounding up young men and sending them to Abu-Ghraib, condoning and even legitimizing torture, holding people prisoner without sufficient rights, and threatening them with secret tribunals having the authority to execute them did nothing to increase Iraqi esteem and trust for the US and what it stands for.
The recent political shift in the US, the talk of “cut and run,” the very need for the Iraq Study Group, and even the Israeli “defeat” in Southern Lebanon have all resulted in exactly what Osama Bin Laden predicted. “Our experience in guerrilla warfare and the war of attrition to fight tyrannical superpowers…bled Russia for ten years…and [it] was forced to withdraw in defeat…we are continuing this policy in bleeding America.”
To date we have done nothing but increase the number of US enemies in the region and amplify their reasons for waging a war of terror against us.
Certainly, people are responsible for their own actions, but their actions are significantly affected by the environment in which they find themselves. The current environment in Iraq is in large part the result of the US mishandling of the entire affair and the result will be an even larger number of people in a critical region of the world who will vehemently hold the negative consequences against the US. We’ll pay for it later—just like we have been paying for our poor political interaction with Iran prior to its revolution in 1979.
Recall that it was Saddam Hussein and not the Iraqi people who hated the US prior to our invasion. Shortly thereafter it was clear that the Iraqis were not happy about being overrun by a foreign power, but they understood why for the most part and were generally glad to be rid of Hussein. The Iraqi environment systematically deteriorated to one of fear and violence for a combination of reasons—most of them the direct result of US policies, some of which were in place even before the Invasion.
The first Bush Administration had encouraged an Iraqi revolt against Saddam and then did not support it. We inexplicably sat by while Saddam’s “defeated” military brutally crushed it. The result was a strong signal to all Iraqis that the US would not back up its words for the sake of “the people” and reinforced their belief that we would, however, back up our words with military might for the sake of oil.
The inept de-Baathification policies of the Coalition Provisional Authority and unemployment of half a million police, military, and middle class politicians and administrators all but eliminated any chance of effective security or basic public services in Iraq. The burgeoning Sunni insurgency took advantage of this situation and the US and new Iraqi regime’s failure to improve security only encouraged more Iraqis to take the situation into their own hands. Militias and death squads—some supported by radicals and outsiders from Al-Qaeda, Iran, and others resulted in a growing number of people killing each other over grievances both modern and ancient.
Harsh and inappropriate counterinsurgency tactics by US forces—by this time blatantly calling themselves “occupiers,” and the patent disregard by the Bush Administration for the principles of the Geneva Conventions only exacerbated the situation. Indiscriminately rounding up young men and sending them to Abu-Ghraib, condoning and even legitimizing torture, holding people prisoner without sufficient rights, and threatening them with secret tribunals having the authority to execute them did nothing to increase Iraqi esteem and trust for the US and what it stands for.
The recent political shift in the US, the talk of “cut and run,” the very need for the Iraq Study Group, and even the Israeli “defeat” in Southern Lebanon have all resulted in exactly what Osama Bin Laden predicted. “Our experience in guerrilla warfare and the war of attrition to fight tyrannical superpowers…bled Russia for ten years…and [it] was forced to withdraw in defeat…we are continuing this policy in bleeding America.”
To date we have done nothing but increase the number of US enemies in the region and amplify their reasons for waging a war of terror against us.
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