Iraq: Our Failed American Foreign Policy

 

After 10 years of occupation and 'nation building', I believe we left Iraq largely in a mess.  It is necessary to address both Iraq and the northern Kurds when discussing Iraq as a whole. The Kurds continue to embrace their decade’s long drive for independence. The fact that they sit on the bulk of Iraqi oil does not enhance the likelihood that Iraq will let this happen. It is necessary to give historical perspective of the Kurds to offer insight to the conflicts.

The Kurds are the oldest ethnic population with a unique culture despite their fall to various ruling powers. They have always struggled for independence but were caught in the crossfire of superpower struggles and the US was complicit in supporting the destruction of the Kurdish Democratic Party post WWII. The Kurds are the causality always caught in the fighting between larger powers which has only strengthened and kept alive their sentiments about independence.  Barzani of the 1970’s aspired to be the “51st state of the USA”. No one, including the US, wanted the Kurds to be independent of Iraq because they viewed the ‘semi-autonomous’ status of the Kurds as a means to keep Iraq a weaker state. The US true to historical form under Kissenger/Nixon, abandoned the Kurds when the Iraqis came down hard on them. We also refused to admit any Kurds for political asylum in the 1970’s.  

Marriana Charountaki , author of ‘The Kurds and US Foreign Policy’ describes in her well researched scholastic book five different phases of  US foreign policy towards the Kurds. The book critic, Mohammed Shareef of Durham University is more aligned with my opinion that the changes US foreign policy related to the Kurds were a direct response to our changing strategies rather than Charountaki’s assumptions that the Kurds shaped American foreign policy. It is only a difference of cause and effect. Seems this book would be a fascinating read.

The Kurds, after being mass murdered by chemical WMD, were long protected from Saddam under the no fly zone by the USA under Operation Provide Comfort in 1992. They had developed a significant level of autonomy from the Iraqi government by establishing their own defense and government institutions. Although initially wrought with infighting, they grew strong and independent. They were also largely unaffected by the US invasion because they were allied with us. They did not suffer the kinds of infrastructure destruction that places like Bagdad did. It is difficult if not impossible to scratch back the independence that the Kurds enjoyed under the protection of the US no fly zone. They advanced independent institutions and a military that presents a formidable opposition to the Iraqi military.

The Kurds live on top of the Iraqi oil reserves and if they were to achieve independence, Iraq would lose its largest income source. The Kurds could see themselves as another Quatar…small but rich. Kurdish President Barzani (interesting that there was a Barzani leader back in the 70’s…any relation?) is in conflict with Iraq because of his independent oil deals that conflict with Iraqi laws. It has been a multigenerational goal of the Kurds for independence from Iraq and their time of security and independence from Iraq has only emboldened and strengthened this aspiration. There is a large Kurdish population within the Turkish borders and Turkey views Kurdish independence as a potential threat. We have alliances with Turkey and I would lean toward us not supporting any attempt for the Kurds to establish their independence. It would be seen as a threat to Turkish borders and I believe Iran would feel the same. 

In Iraq, support for the USA will put your life at risk. I would suggest that there is little ability for US influence in Iraqi stability or survival of its fragile democracy. We are unwelcome by its leadership. Our failed policies there are the root cause of negative Iraqi sentiment towards the US within the Iraqi government. We invaded their country based on false reasons and lacked any post invasion plan which allowed for wide spread chaos and dismantling of government institutions. When we tried to clean up the mess we made, it had become an impossible mission. Bush’s statement of ‘mission accomplished’ and its photo op was premature and arrogant which was characteristic of his presidency and his American foreign policy.

Sectarian power struggles between the Shiite and Sunni is so evident that Shiite President al-Maliki sent out an arrest warrant for Sunni Vice President al-Hashimi with two death sentences to be delivered if he leaves the care and protection of the Turks where he is in exile. Ethnic warring continues between Kurds and the Arabs with no resolution in sight. Maliki has been slowly empowering his office on a slow walk to totalitarianism or dictatorship.

The USA lacked a post invasion plan and dismantled the Iraqi military and disenfranchised what should have been developed into a pillar of stability for the country. Power shifted from the minority Sunni to the majority Shiite as sectarian divisions were reignited. There were neighborhoods where Sunni were intermarrying with Shiite, but that sort of integration is now impossible. The civil war between them had begun. Iraq had no Al Qaeda before we invaded, but they are entrenched there now. Iraqi leadership has been engaged in ethnic cleansing as millions have fled the country.

As the world’s economy slows and limps along, so does the flow of foreign investments into Iraq for infrastructure rebuilding. It is a good thing for Iraq that their oil production and Iranian sanctions have led to an offset of funding to continue progress in investments in such key areas as electricity, transportation and provision of potable water. The predictors for Iraqi economic growth are encouraging as they dig themselves out from under the political disorder we contributed to. I do not see democracy as we know it flourishing given the ethnic and sectarian divisions and resulting conflicts. I expect the Iraqi relationship with Iran to become stressed in the future as Iran will seek to have greater influence and Iraq will start to fight against it. Perhaps a loose alliance against the US will be the end outcome since both their leaderships, not necessarily their people, have a well earned distrust and dislike of the US and our foriegn policies.

 Sources:

Brief History of Kurdistan. Retrieved from   https://www.mtholyoke.edu/~jlshupe/history.html  Nov 9, 2012.

Kamber, Micheal. 2012, Dec. 7. Iraq. New York Times. Retrieved from http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/iraq/index.html

Opportunities for Infrastructure Financing in Iraq. 2010, April.  MENA-OECD Investment Programme. Retrieved from http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=2&sqi=2&ved=0CDUQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.oecd.org%2Fcountries%2Firaq%2F45172287.pdf&ei=s7zEUJaSOueW0QGUuYCgCw&usg=AFQjCNESQiXKpflWPi-UREywCGfKUYTs8A&sig2=mJLTEK85cnP3fKoSCn3lTw

Shareef, Mohammed. 2011.The Kurds and US Foreign Policy: International Relations in the Middle East since 1945. Insight Turkey. Retrieved from http://www.insightturkey.com/the-kurds-and-us-foreign-policy-international-relations-in-the-middle-east-since-1945/book-reviews/70  Nov 9,2012.

My Curiosity

When we consider our history of foreign policy, given how many military coups we initiated against democratically elected officials, we can hardly say we did it in the name of democracy and freedom. We supported fascist (ruled by corporations) and oligarchical (ruled by a few wealthy) governments in their place. So why is it so far a stretch to believe that those forces are not at work in our own country??

Irresistable Quotes

As Elizabeth Warren proclaimed: “You built a factory out there? Good for you,” yet “you moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for; you hired workers the rest of us paid to educate; you were safe in your factory because of police forces and fire forces that the rest of us paid for.” And then she br...

illiantly defined the community-democracy partnership: “Now look, you built a factory and it turned into something terrific, or a great idea? God bless. Keep a big hunk of it. But part of the underlying social contract is, you take a hunk of that and pay forward for the next kid who comes along.”

Restoration of Faith in Government: In the Gut of Party Ideologies

The party divisions can largely be explained on the subtle emphasis of what we champion as our strongest value. Work hard and reap the rewards, has been our mantra for generations and the definition of what the American Dream and success means to us individually. We wrongly assume that our culture is flush with opportunity when much of this is directly related to where you are born, and the status you were born into. This perception narrows our view when our lack of knowledge, beyond our own sphere of reality, is skewed by our own personal and individual experience.

An important note is to differentiate the ‘New Modern Conservative Party’(NMCP) that has hijacked the Republican Party from what we have historically known as the conservative wing of our political system. The NMCP is the extremist minority now driving the Republican’s platform. Republicans frequently verbalize their disdain for the ‘freeloaders’ or the ‘entitlement-recipients’. Most Republicans support seniors and those in the depths of despair with no other options. Republicans, as a good friend has told me, are not heartless. But the wide net of “welfare” naturally captures all of the above. Democrats are aware of, and frown upon, the same “freeloaders” but tend to look at the broader group and picture as a whole. They do not put on the front burner the “freeloader”. Democrats recognize first those who have fallen on hard times or have been trapped in the cycle of poverty. They are far more willing to invest in solutions to break the cycle of poverty and give greater opportunity to those willing to seize it. They are willing to separate out entitlements for seniors, disabled or the truly needy, rather than throw away the baby with the bath water screaming ‘we must cut government!’.

The term ‘glass ceiling’ was coined late in the 20^th century and in 1964 Affirmative Action was a response to the entrenched inequity in the much touted land of opportunity. It was expected to be a temporary measure to help break the cycle of oppression. Affirmative Action has been controversial and is itself discriminatory in its effort to reconcile racial and gender oppression. Over 50 years later it is grossly naive to believe that discrimination has been cleansed from the fabric of our culture. The current attack on women’s issues and denial of equal pay for equal work is but one indicator. I was taught ‘walk a mile in my shoes’ before making a judgment. I have not lived the life of one who has dealt with the care of an elderly parent,  lost my job with no relief in sight, suffered a loss of my home, had no health insurance, reached the limit of health insurance for a sick child, or have personally felt the pains of discrimination. I can empathize, but it is not what I am living. My life goes on largely unaffected by those whose lives have been dealt a hard blow.

Unfortunately, the attempts to equalize opportunity have left us with the consequences of ethnic divisions and have polarized our country when unqualified participants are given opportunity over more qualified applicants. The integration we sought has at times realized a backfire because we are failing to hit the roots of oppression or address the American psyche of expectation. We can argue whether these laws are fair and just, and wring our hands in turmoil, but there is no justice until we reach the highest level of enlightenment, justice for all.

In our healthcare system, we really don’t have to be the ‘do everything’ society when it does not change the outcome. However, most healthcare providers feel compelled to do just that. If we stopped financially reimbursing poor outcomes, the behavior will change. If Medicaid fraud is punished in a more personal way, with penalties and jail time for all involved, it would go a long way to discourage the inclination to do so. In Massachusetts, alone, fourteen pharmaceutical companies within a five year period defrauded Medicaid of $240 million. If we demanded they pay it back in total restitution rather than slap them on the wrist, admit no wrong doing and pay a 10% fine, perhaps we could alter this successful business model that rewards the top with salary and bonus incentives to rob us blind. Our capacity to reign in government waste and abuse requires us to not to just look down, but also up. Rewarding Wall Street with taxpayer bailouts accomplished only one thing…reward for bad behavior. It is not just the individual. It is corporations. We fail to look up because we perpetuate the delusion that they alone create jobs.  We should be grateful. We can ignore the outrageous salaries and bonuses because they ‘earned’ it. With all our productivity gains, no financial rewards as our median incomes fall, we should just be ‘lucky we have a job’ and understand we made a choice in our career options and somehow deserve not to be rewarded for excellent performance because we did not earn it. Apparently hard work should only be rewarded if you chose the right career or position of power. This concept kills the American standard of work hard and you will be rewarded.   

Everyone holds their own belief system regarding different the entitlement cultures in America. Some look down and frown upon the government employee who has a retirement pension system that does not comes close to their retirement option expectations of financial security. Or the disabled ‘freeloader’ we are certain could work doing something or anything other than ‘us’ paying for him to do nothing. Or those that abuse our system by those who carrying multiple identities to de-fraud us of our taxpayer dollars. Or even those who have inheritances that allow them to buy $300,000 dollar cars and never have to work a day in their lives. It is the majority of Americans that embodies the value system in which we believe we are the ones who work hard for our success. This is amplified when one witnesses the struggles of family or friends who work hard to achieve success and the visible physical and mental wear and tear is evidence of it.

Perhaps we should finger print all those receiving government benefits, including children to prevent abuse of our system or at least create some sort of iron clad identification system. The ACLU may argue that it is discrimination. I would say it seems more like common sense to me. That would eliminate the three social security numbers for one individual or children being claimed by multiple parents. It would also help with Medicare and Medicaid fraud from healthcare providers. I believe this would be opposed not just by the individual, but big companies as well because many are engaging in fraudulent abuse of our taxpayer dollars. Perhaps we could incentivize voluntary sterilization programs or expand access to birth control instead of hampering access in order to temper unwanted pregnancies and the unwanted children that Republicans and Democrats alike believe are problematic to the straining the government systems.

America is the perceived land of endless opportunity. We all send our children on searches for the ‘one in a million’ shot at hitting it big in a professional sport. We sacrifice old standards of all eating dinner together to run from town to town and state to state to embrace the concept of ‘he/she could be the future star of his/her particular sport. The reality is it is one in a million. What do we do with the other 999,999 kids who don’t make it? We champion that one in a million to hold everyone else accountable. The bar is there and we are conveniently lulled into denying that barriers exist. Do we really believe that the town’s school system does not matter? Or that parental involvement is essential and what do we do when the parents are working two jobs, or are disabled or otherwise absent? What do we do then? Create a throw away child and perpetuate what we most despise in our culture? Are we then complicit in creating it?

Our fear of redistribution of wealth is the boogeyman to signify stealing from the rich to give to the freeloaders, but yet no government can exist without it, not even a capitalistic society. It is the measure of redistribution that creates a public school system that generates educated work forces, or develops necessary roads, rail and bridges to deliver goods or a responsive government that does not allow its citizenry to starve. Redistribution does not require an equal share to everyone regardless of one’s efforts, but it is the only means to get to anything that may resemble an equal opportunity. Otherwise, why do we ask about the status of the school system when we are relocating? It is a shared view between Republicans and Democrats to provide the tools to do better or to make a life for yourself. It is not expected to create a lifelong dependence on government. We are a nation with a majority of centrists whether Democrat, Old Republican or Independent. We believe in and value hard work and being rewarded for those efforts whether we are at the bottom or at the top. There is nothing more disenchanting as when your benefits are cut and your CEO gets a large bonus.

We all have our ‘to do lists’. It may be “I have to clean up the leaves”. It may be “I need to find a good contractor to build my million dollar room”. It may be “I need to find food or shelter for my kids”. We all experience life in different ways, but let us not be blinded to the reality that not everyone is sharing the same experience. That working hard is no longer a guarantee of what we believe to be our emblems of success and financial reward and each struggle is defined differently by those whose unique experience is their individual reality.

Irresistable Quotes

Susan Eisenhower..life long Republican, now independent from her website"today the United States is poised for 3 percent growth, which would make our economy the strongest of the other richest economies, including Canada and Germany. Other influential studies, show that debt in the U.S. financial sector, relative to GDP, has declined to levels not seen since before the 2000 bubble. And consumer confidence is now at its highest levels since September 2007. The housing market is also slowly coming back. While there is still an enormous amount to do to assure a recovery, the president deserves credit for a steady hand during this dangerous and unpredictable time."
"He ended the war in Iraq, was the first Democratic president to ratify an arms control treaty with the Russian Federation, and rallied global leaders to put nuclear security at the top of the international agenda. The Obama Administration has also been responsible for decimating the top leadership of al-Qaeda and introducing biting sanctions on Iran."
"Barack Obama’s record as president has not been perfect, and there have been frustrations for all of us during this time. Nevertheless, I believe that he deserves four more years in the White House."
"As I said in 2008 and will say again: “Unless we squarely face our challenges as Americans—together– we risk losing the priceless heritage bestowed on us by the sweat and the sacrifice of our forbearers. If we do not pull together, we could lose the America that has been an inspiration to the world.”

Irresistable Quotes

Conservative Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol says that Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney is going to have a tough time winning if the election is a referendum on President Barack Obama’s first term. “If this election is just about the last four years, that’s a muddy verdict." The conservative columnist told Fox News host Chris Wallace on Sunday "Bush was president during the financial meltdown, the Obama team has turned that around pretty well,” he explained.

Irresistable Quotes

"The Party is Over" reviews from the Washington Post " Lofgren joins a bipartisan intellectual consensus that Newt Gingrich is largely to blame by destroying the old committee system, concentrating power in the speaker’s office and practicing “scorched-earth tactics” that were carried on by successor Tom DeLay. After Sept. 11, 2001, “things got much worse” as Karl Rove and other party operatives sought to paint Democrats as un-American appeasers opposed to heartland morality. “By the 2010 midterm elections,” Lofgren declares, “the party had collectively lost its mind.”