[lbo-talk] Qaeda at Work (was the Iraqi resistance at work)

www.leninology. blogspot.com leninology at hotmail.com
Tue Nov 21 14:31:32 PST 2006


Doug wrote:


> On Nov 21, 2006, at 3:14 PM, www.leninology. blogspot.com wrote:
>
Yadayadayada...
>
> I forwarded this to Christian Parenti - who, for those who don't know
> his work, spent about three or four months reporting in Iraq. and
> wrote an excellent book on the topic (The Freedom) - who comments:
>
> > I think that the US went it with very little in the
> > way of strategy and that the Shia pushed alot of what
> > happened, like the elections and the constitution...
> > but the Kurds (US tools) did put in the most sectarian
> > parts about three province veto, etc. de-bathification
> > was from Bremer, as far as I know, and was the result
> > of ideological zeal by a dude who knew fuck all about
> > iraq and was now acknowledged by all, left right and
> > center, to have been part of the US imperial suicide.
> >
> > Yes it seems that divide and rule would have made
> > sense but this is meltdown and defeat....

I don't doubt that there is a defeat being inflicted on the occupiers, but it is not by the Badr Corps, or the Special Police Commandos.

Other point is, the American government isn't stupid: they know full well what happens when you destroy the central institutions of the state, (and they had very very good intelligence about Iraq, despite what they claim). Bush et al didn't have to allow Bremer to pursue his de-Baathification: they didn't allow Garner to pursue elections, after all. Similarly, they didn't have to go along with what the Kurds wanted: they did, after all, abandon the property transfers to the Kurds. I think it's mistaken to think that the US is being pushed around by forces beyond its control: it is the most powerful player in Iraq today.

They evidently saw an interest for it in them, and I suggest it is more or less what I suggest: they wished to hollow out state capacity, and turn Iraq into a dependent state, much as they had done through sanctions. It doesn't seem a safe assumption that the occupiers had no strategy, (or that if they were weak on strategy, this means they haven't pursued a consistent set of priorities).

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