Re: Shiite anger

[Jim Farmelant <farmelantj@xxxxxxxx>]

What the stories that Louis has posted from the NY Times
and the Boston Review suggest is that the current crew
in power with the Bush Administration are spectacularly
incompetent as empire builders.  Why these folk should
ever have expected an outcome different from they
are getting currently in Iraq is quite beyond me.  The
US has over the past decade demonstrated an
uncanny knack for shafting the Iraqi Shiites.  The
first Bush Administration following the 1991 war,
called upon the Iraqi Shiites to rise up against
Saddam Hussein's regime, and as soon as
they did this, they had the rug pulled out from
under them, since the Bush Administration
changed its mind and decided that overall
they preferred to see the Ba'athists retain
power in Baghdad (preferrably without
Saddam), and so the US permitted Saddam
to mobilize his Republican Guards and
other forces to crush the rebellion.

In this year's war, the US once again
urged the Shiites to rise up against
Saddam.  Not surprisingly, given their
experience in 1991, they held back and
kept their own counsel.  After the
fall of Baghdad, it seems that the US
has almost gone out of its way to alienate
the Iraqi Shiites, despite the fact that
Bushies' plans for Iraq seem to presuppose
that they can somehow win the good will
and cooperation of the Shiites.  Why they
imagine that they can do such a thing
is a mystery to me.  Apparently, though
there are signs that the US ruling class
is starting to get a bit perturbed by the
manifest incompetence of the Bushies.
Who knows, maybe they switch their
support to someone other than Bush.
What that bodes for the Iraqis is harder
to say.  Presumably, the ruling class
still believes that Iraq ought to be  subdued
and can be subdued by the US.  What might
be required from their perspective is
a more competent crew than the one
the Bush Administration has in
charge of Iraq policy.  And that point
of view seems reflected in the statements
of the Democrats' presidential candidates.
Most of them including Dean, while criticizing
Bush, take positions calling for the US to
stay in Iraq.

Jim F.


On Sat, 11 Oct 2003 10:25:53 -0400 Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx> writes:
> NY Times, October 11, 2003
>
> Iraqi Shiite Anger Raises New Fears for U.S. Soldiers
> By IAN FISHER
>


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