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Why the US will lose
The occupation is doomed in Iraq because whole countries cannot,
short of the complete annihilation of their societies, be seized,
bought or traded
By Abdul-Ilah Al-Bayaty
11/04/05 "Al-Ahram" -- -- Throughout the history of the Iraqi
patriotic movement, since the 1920s until now, it has been clear
that the main criterion for true patriotism was to confront the
"hegemony" of foreign powers in Iraq.
Iraq's nationalisation of its oil wealth, and its success in
investing oil revenues in economic development and infrastructure
projects, has demonstrated Iraq's ability to build its own cadre for
the proper administration of oil industries, and then make the
ultimate end of such industry serving the interests of Iraq. Even
when expertise, capital or any sort of foreign assistance was
required, Iraq could get it through contracting and cooperation. It
has always insisted there is no justification for rendering
ownership of its oil fields to any other party but the state.
The fate of Iraqi oil is vital for Iraq's future, and no government
can survive -- unless it enlists the help of foreign armies -- if it
accepts to put Iraq's oil in the hands of foreign parties. Iraq is
well aware of that fact, and it will never concede sovereignty over
its territory or resources. All international laws support Iraq in
this regard.
The Iraqis as a society are opposing the United States' strategy of
dividing Iraq through the so-called political process and draft
constitution. Beside controlling and plundering the natural
resources of Iraq, the United States' plan consisted in abolishing
the concept of citizenship -- the basis of any modern state. It
annulled sovereignty, destroyed heritage and memory, and took over
Iraqi wealth in an attempt to divide the country and destroy its
Arab and Islamic geopolitical and civilisation-based affiliations.
The occupation has tried, and continues to try, to replace Iraq by a
subordinate state based on ethnicity and sectarian identity: a state
of parties, lineages and religious references rather than a state of
equal and free citizens. By dividing the state into three or more
weak and conflicting entities according to the virtual lines of
blood and sectarianism, the US, in reality, draws a map
corresponding to the occupation's own interests in oil. This
programmed division necessitated the abolition of the Iraqi state;
the dismantling of its apparatus and institutions and an ongoing
plan of privatisation of state-owned industries, buildings, lands
and services.
While it is true that this policy creates local corrupted
individuals, feudalisms and warlords who profit from the occupation,
society itself -- especially the marginalised and impoverished,
educated middle classes, the working classes, which lost the benefit
of state large services, and the youth, which suffers from
unemployment and the absence of civil liberties -- reject US policy
in Iraq. This will be the source of the never-ending social struggle
against the occupation and eventually its defeat, and the defeat of
its policies.
The United States established a collision course confrontation with
Iraqi society when it liquidated the Iraqi state, destroying its
accomplishments and erasing its memory. It was oblivious to the
simple truth that society is not just a political movement that can
be conquered, or a number of individuals who may be apprehended,
bribed or even killed. It is all the living people in a given
country. Like other live societies, Iraqi society possesses huge
capabilities -- a sophisticated legacy, ancient civilisations and an
experienced patriotic movement. American strategists, while building
their model for Iraq, missed or disregarded the fact that social
movements are based on solid realities and lived experience, and
cannot just be created on the whim of a political decision or
through insidious forms of pressure.
The Iraqis' experience of US policies explains the failure of the
occupation forces in controlling Iraqi society through ethnic
intrigue and repressive measures. Indeed, all the geopolitical dons
in Iraq stand fast against ethnic and racial sensitivities, and
against American imperialist plans in Iraq. If Iraqis now share any
social attitude towards the US, it derives from their painful
experience with the siege the US imposed on them through the UN for
13 years, and the destruction the American invasion caused to their
country. Iraqi society has a wide civil, cultural and political
heritage that enables it to unite against any reactionary
imperialistic plan that seeks to take Iraq back to the Age of
Darkness, with its attendant feudal systems and religious and ethnic
bourgeoisie.
Since the very day the occupation forces came to Iraq and the Iraqi
state collapsed, there has been an uprising by all Iraqi movements
and organisations; including those defending women, or unemployed
youth, human rights organisations, trade unions, professional
syndicates, agencies defending environmental issues and the rights
of prisoners, and all other cultural and political organisations,
side-by-side with provincial and tribal communities and peaceful and
armed resistance groups. They have all risen following an unwritten
political agenda that symbolises the whole society and derives its
legitimacy from the deep sense of belonging to Arab and Islamic
tenets.
Geographically, historically, culturally and strategically, Iraq
belongs to its Arab-Muslim context. This affiliation is neither
ethnic nor religious, but rather cultural and geopolitical. The
Arab-Islamic attitude is deeply rooted in the conscience and soul of
every Iraqi citizen, regardless of ideology. Such an attitude
reflects a mutual language and a joint political project for all
Iraqis -- especially members of nationalist, Islamist and leftist
groups. They all share the same principles, as follows.
First, our natural resources, our material heritage, and the riches
of our culture and civilisation are the property of the totality of
the Iraqi people in all its successive generations, both past and
future. Ownership of this wealth, whether in whole or in part,
cannot be alienated by any public or private entity. Second, the
general interest and public services are the justification and basis
for the operation of the state. It is forbidden to use the state
apparatus, or its institutions, for personal or sectarian ends.
Finally, responsibility for security, defence, justice, health,
education, communication, water, energy and all major public
services, including the management of public finances, natural
resources and the country's material and cultural heritage, belongs
to the state. Every citizen has the right to enjoy these services,
free of any form of discrimination.
The Iraqi state should therefore adopt the following principles. The
totality of the citizens constitutes the people of Iraq. The people
are the sole source of sovereignty and of constitutional, political
and judicial legitimacy. The government is responsible and
accountable to all citizens. Solidarity between citizens -- between
generations, between the different territories making up the
country, and with the elderly, the ill, children and orphans, those
in need, and every human being who finds himself in a state of
weakness -- should form the basis of the Iraqi government's social
policy.
As a point of fact, Iraq's commitment to its Arab and Islamic
identity is not only a shield that protects Iraqi society from the
claws of foreign business, but also a catalyst that pushes Iraqi
society to the fore of the progressive social movement growing all
over the world which opposes neoliberal globalisation and American
imperial plans. Such a movement advocates building a new world that
would be more humane than the contemporary world characterised by
barbarism and flagrant abuses of power that crush the weak and the
needy, destroy the environment, create wars and unemployment, and
devour our civil and political liberties. It has been evident enough
for everyone that American strategy in this region is one link in a
long chain of imperialist design for various parts of the world, all
aimed at similar targets and using similar justifications to tread
upon others.
Yet, American imperialist hegemony that defends the free movement of
capital over the freedom of people, grasps to command the natural
wealth of other countries, raising the banner of the market economy,
is being increasingly exposed and opposed by all peoples of the
world. Opposition to American imperialism has spread even in
developed countries; it is no longer a theoretical idea, but a
reality, simply because it results in more poverty for the poor and
more wealth for the rich while leaving the middle class completely
marginalised, even inside the US itself. No one believes anymore in
the neoliberal propaganda that "capital has no home" and that its
unfettered passage through the portals of the global economy would
bring about progress and development, and create more liberties
leading to stability and justice.
The United States has no doubt achieved great progress through the
democratic model it adopted on its territory. We don't contest this.
Even we do not refuse to be members of the world's "one village" of
which they are speaking. We are ready to exchange culture, ideas,
goods, techniques, persons, to achieve mutual understanding and
development. Yet, the Iraqis and their social movements stand fast
in the shadow of American imperial efforts which would only lead to
more destruction and ruin for them.
People around the world who care for justice and hope for a more
human and humane world, should support the Iraqis in their struggle
to recover their sovereignty, and ask for the complete and
unconditional withdrawal of all foreign troops from Iraqi soil along
with compensation paid for all the material and human losses Iraq
has experienced since the illegal invasion began.
* The writer is an Iraqi political analyst based in France.
© Copyright Al-Ahram Weekly
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