[Marxism] Foreign pol spetz Leslie Gelb: Divide and rule Iraq like Yugoslavia

["Fred Feldman" <ffeldman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

    WASHINGTON HAS FOUND THE SOLUTION

      "Let's Divide Iraq
      as We Did in Yugoslavia!"

      Michel Collon

      They have found the solution! Divide Iraq into three mini-states
and then pit them against one another. Does that remind you of
something else? Oh, yes! It's not the first time something like this
happened....
      The New York Times published an editorial on November 25, 2003
carrying Leslie Gelb's by-line. He's an influential man who, until
recently, presided over the very important Council of Foreign Affairs,
a think tank that brings together the CIA, the secretary of state and
big shots from U.S. multinational corporations.
      Gelb's plan? Replace Iraq with three mini-states: "Kurds in the
north, Sunnis in the center and Shiites in the south." The objective?
"To put most of its money and troops where they would do the most good
quickly -- with the Kurds and Shiites. The United States could
extricate most of its forces from the so-called Sunni Triangle, north
and west of Baghdad.... American officials could then wait for the
troublesome and domineering Sunnis, without oil or oil revenues, to
moderate their ambitions or suffer the consequences." In short, starve
the central state around Baghdad because the Sunnis have always
spearheaded the resistance to U.S. imperialism.
      We denounced this CIA plan, which has been around for some time
now, albeit discreetly, in an article that appeared in September 2002.
But, to divide Iraq has, in fact, been an old Israeli dream. In 1982,
Oded Yinon, an official from the Israeli Foreign Affairs office,
wrote: "To dissolve Iraq is even more important for us than dissolving
Syria. In the short term, it's Iraqi power that constitutes the
greatest threat to Israel. The Iran-Iraq war tore Iraq apart and
provoked its downfall. All manner of inter-Arab conflict help us and
accelerate our goal of breaking up Iraq into small, diverse pieces."

      Will you take some ethnic cleansing again?
      So, Gelb wants to break up Iraq while transforming the north
(Kurdish majority) and the south (Shiite majority) into
"self-governing regions, with boundaries drawn as closely as possible
along ethnic lines."
      But didn't this method provoke a civil war and a bloodbath in
Yugoslavia? Because all the diverse regions in that country contained
significant minorities, and partition was impossible without the
forced transfer of populations. That is why Berlin, and then
Washington, discreetly financed and armed racist extremists, who were
nostalgic for World War II. This made civil war almost inevitable
because the IMF and the World Bank had plunged Yugoslavia into
bankrupt to make it submit to triumphant neo-liberalism after the fall
of the Berlin Wall. All of this was carefully concealed from the
public.
      Just as they are now concealing from the public the fact that
all of the peoples of the former Yugoslavia have been plunged into
misery and unemployment, which is worse now than it has ever been.
Meanwhile, multinational corporations have taken the upper hand in
controlling the country's wealth.
      In Iraq too, the three large populations do not reside "each in
their own region," but are, for the most part, intermingled.
Furthermore, Gelb knows very well that to start up this strategy in
Iraq once again would, in all likelihood, provoke serious "ethnic"
conflicts, even maybe a civil war. He cynically announces that the
state in the center of Iraq "might punish the substantial minorities
left in the center, particularly the large Kurdish and Shiite
populations in Baghdad. These minorities must have the time and the
wherewithal to organize and make their deals, or go either north or
south." In this way, millions of people would be forced to leave the
regions where they have always lived, but Gelb doesn't find this
inconvenient if it permits the U.S. to secure colonial domination.
      Doesn't the Yugoslav precedent serve as enough warning? The
truth is that, for Gelb, the civil war in Yugoslavia was a great
success for the U.S. because it permitted the breakup of a country
that resisted multinationals.

      Again the Theory of "Ethnically Pure States"!
      In effect, Gelb openly refers to "a hopeful precedent ...
Yugoslavia." Curious, indeed! Weren't we told that the United States
intervened there in order to prevent "ethnic cleansing"? Not at all,
he admits : "ethnically pure" states are alright when they serve
Washington's plans.
      While extolling "ethnically pure states" (Gelb also speaks of
"natural states"!), he criticizes Tito for having regrouped in a
united Yugoslavia "highly disparate ethnic groups," while pretending
that Iraq is "an artificial state" for the same reasons; Gelb is
resorting to old theories held by the extreme right.
      His theory about ethnically pure states is really identical to
Hitler's: "Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer" (one people, one empire,
one führer). It is also a theory adopted by Zionists who dream of
Israel "purified of Arabs." In Yugoslavia, it was the theory held by
Western protégés, the Croat Tudjman and the Bosnian Muslim
Izetbegovic. It was also a theory held by the right-wing Serbian
leader, Karadzic. It is strange to find the U.S. extolling theories
that it once pretended to fight against!
      The truth is that the United States -- just as all other
colonialists -- is for or against ethnically pure states according to
whether or not it suits U.S. strategic interests. The only thing that
counts is to weaken resistance. Divide in order to conquer. As always.
The Britons carefully organized the division of Ireland, India and
Pakistan as well as other places in the world. The influential U.S.
strategist, Zbigniew Brzezinski, wants to divide Russia into three
countries in order to isolate Moscow from oil reserves. The CIA also
has its "own plans" to divide Saudi Arabia. In an era when very large
economic and political entities are forming around the European Union
and the United States, look at how these same Great Powers are
organizing the balkanization of certain other states -- states that
resist them.
      The guiding principle of U.S. international policy is that there
is no guiding principle. The U.S. can pretend to fight ethnic
cleansing one day and then organize it the next. And with complete
arbitrariness. In the past, the United States had obliged the Kurds to
remain inside the Turkish state which was being led by fascist
generals, but today, the U.S. is preparing a Kurdish state, allegedly
rooted in the principle of "self-determination" (in reality a puppet
state). They are pretending to bring democracy to the world, but in
these instances the U.S. is rehabilitating fascist theories about
"ethnically pure" states.

      The Danger of a Theory that Is Exportable throughout the World
      The danger of this false theory goes far beyond Iraq and
Yugoslavia. Most of the states existing on the planet today are
"multinational." And sensible people consider themselves to be
enriched by this mixing of cultures. But if one allows theories of
"ethnically pure" states, the USA would have a pretext to break up any
"multinational" country that resists it.
      Washington, in effect, intends to trample to a greater and
greater extent international law and state sovereignty. The U.S. is
preparing to do throughout the world what it had begun in Yugoslavia
and Afghanistan, which, unfortunately, a majority of Western leftists
allowed them to do for the worst reasons. Stop! It is time to assess
the disastrous alliance of this Left with the United States in the
Yugoslav and Afghan affaires. If anyone wants to resist global war,
that is to say the recolonization of the world, it is time to come to
the defense of the sovereignty of Third World countries, a principle
that is embodied in the UN Charter. This change for the better took
place in 1945 and the USA is intent on dismantling it.

      Support the Resistance
      The essence of Gelb's plan is to plunge Iraq into a long civil
war in order to rescue the U.S. colonial occupation and to be able to
continue stealing oil. The U.S. will attempt to divide the
resistance -- which can be found in all of the various populations --
by punishing those who would continue to live together and by
hypocritically organizing "ethnic cleansing." The U.S. plan is to
divide Iraq by blackmail, while defaming the Sunnis, who have long
been at the forefront of resistance to imperialism.
      Will Washington implement Gelb's plan? What will prevent them
from doing so? The fear that an Iraqi Shiite state would join Iran,
the most powerful "hostile" army in the Middle East. And the fear that
an Iraqi Kurdish state would become a lightning rod for Kurds who want
to secede from Turkey, a respected strategic ally that lies on the
crossroads of the Balkans, the Caucasus and the Middle East. But if
Iraqi resistance continues to grow and unite its diverse currents,
including Shiites, then Washington risks missing its chance to
implement its plan to break up the country.
      The Yugoslav precedent must serve as a solemn warning! Plunging
other countries into the same drama is out of the question! In view of
the fact that Bush has unleashed new dangers throughout the entire
world, and in view of the fact that he is resorting to fascist
theories more and more frequently, the only possible answer is to
build up a united world front against the policies of the United
States and to support the resistance everywhere -- and first and
foremost, the remarkable Iraqi resistance (the mainstream media have
often characterized them as "terrorists").
      The Iraqi resistance is preventing Bush from attacking Iran,
Syria, North Korea and Cuba in stride. It shows once again that the
United States has never been invincible. Bush is becoming the world's
laughingstock. "Paper tiger" is the classic expression. In this way,
the Iraqi resistance offsets the discouragement and the pessimism that
had begun to spread in Iraq after the "liberation of Baghdad." The war
is not over; it's only just beginning. Support the resistance, because
we are supporting ourselves.

      Translated by Milo Yelesiyevich Also available in French and
Spanish michel.collon@xxxxxxxxx


====================================================================
      In order to Understand Iraq:

      - 23 million inhabitants, divided into 3 large groups (no
official census and the USA destroyed state and civil registries).

      - Shiites: 55 - 60%. Mostly in the south.

      - Sunnis: 20 - 25%. Mostly in the center (between Mosul and
Baghdad).

      - Kurds: 20%. Mostly in the north (significant Kurdish
minorities also live in Turkey, Iran, Syria, Russia). The majority of
them are Sunni.

      - Minorities (5%): 200,000 to 300,000 Turkmen,
Assyrians-Chaldeans (Christians), Yezidis, 2.000 Jews....

      - But no region is ethnically "pure":
      o At least one million Kurds live outside of Kurdistan (mostly
in Baghdad, but also in the south, in Basrah).
      o At least one million Shiites live in Baghdad.
      o Some Sunnis live in the south.
      o Some Arabs live in Kurdistan.

      For this reason, dividing up Iraq is impossible without risking
a civil war and ethnic cleansing. Especially so in a climate where the
U.S. has done everything it could over the past twenty years to stir
up conflicts while provoking (i.e., financing) certain minority
leaders so that they will favor a breakup. This is exactly how they
did things in Yugoslavia.
      In short, if the USA is permitted to divide up Iraq, important
"minorities" risk being targets throughout the country. Then, Bush is
going to say that he is obliged to keep his troops there to "protect"
these minorities.
      Exactly as in Kosovo, where the U.S. has installed a military
base with a landing strip that can accomodate bombers (sic !), after
having systematically fanned the flames of the conflict behind the
scenes. Today, the USA in Kosovo is protecting KLA criminals and the
mafia which practices ethnic cleansing. (see Test-medias, Kosovo
questions 2, 5, 7 in our report "Autopsy of Yugoslavia").

      In order to Understand Yugoslavia:

      - 21 million inhabitants, divided into 6 republics. According to
the official census of 1991: Slovenia (1.9 million), Croatia (4.7),
Serbia (9.7), Macedonia (2.0), Montenegro (0.6), Bosnia (4.3).

      - No region was ethnically "pure": substantial minorities
resided throughout the country which rendered the country indivisible.

      - In Croatia: Serbs (12%).

      - In Macedonia: Albanians (21%), Turks (5%), Roma (2%), Serbs
(2%).

      - In Bosnia: Muslims (43%), Serbs (31%), Croats (17%), Others
(7%). All of these groups were mixed together throughout the region.

      Despite the warnings of numerous experts and Western leaders in
1991, Germany, and then the United States, forced the division of the
country at the price of a terrible civil war and the forcible
displacement of populations of all minorities.
      Here also, Berlin and Washington have supported, financed and
armed - secretly - separatist leaders and extremists. All this has
been carefully hidden from the public.

      BIBLIO: Maps showing the "indivisible" nature of Yugoslavia and
Bosnia, in particular. Michel Collon, Liar's Poker: The Great Powers,
Yugoslavia and the Wars of the Future, IAC, New York 2001, P. 11 & 13.





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