[lbo-talk] "Stay the Course"

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

Chris wrote:
>>Washington's goal is to pacify Iraq so as to set up a new 
>>pro-Washington Iraqi regime, protected by pro-Washington Iraqi 
>>military and police forces, whose economic and geopolitical 
>>interests would more or less coincide with Washington's and 
>>restructure Iraq's  politics and economy accordingly.  That's an 
>>unattainable goal, but  America is run by men and women who think 
>>that Washington could and  should have won the Vietnam War.
>
>But you just said that the US is _not_ trying to stabilize Iraq, not 
>that it is incapable of doing so.

What I said is this: "Who said that such a [pro-Washington] regime 
would be viable or that Washington could pacify Iraq?  If Washington 
had wanted a stable Iraq, it would have lifted its economic sanctions 
on it and encouraged American investors to compete with French, 
Russian, and other investors for a chance to invest in its oil 
industry, instead of starving and then invading the country" 
(<http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/pipermail/lbo-talk/Week-of-Mon-20050523/010967.html>). 
Washington doesn't want a stable regime if the regime in question is 
not of the sort that it thinks is in its interest, correctly or 
incorrectly.  Washington would risk the chaos of war (e.g., Iraq) or 
subversion (e.g., Venezuela), believing that it can create a new 
stable regime that is more to its liking than the one that it 
replaces, but it can't always have its way.  Firstly, Washington's 
estimation of its own interest may be mistaken; secondly, others 
(guerrillas, Sadrists, France, Turkey, etc.) may directly and 
indirectly sabotage its goal; thirdly, Washington's finance is not 
what it used to be; and fourthly, an all-volunteer military is not 
made for a deadly and protracted counter-insurgency war on a large 
scale.
-- 
Yoshie

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