It's one thing for the United States to profess a desire for peace and prosperity for peoples around the globe, but it's a whole different matter when our consequent actions put the lie to our words and compromise completely any moral authority that we might have enjoyed in a particular region. That's a big part of our problem in the Middle East. Let's be clear: we invaded Iraq not to bring peace -- freedom and democracy -- to the region, but to get our hands on its oil. (Due however to the bungling ineptitude of the Bush administration, in handling and managing the post-invasion occupation, we failed even at that. Incredible!). This attempted grab at Iraq's oil was what Lenin was referring to when he talked about the potential for a creep toward imperialism in capitalist societies. It's what first attracted Britain to the area following World War I. To be sure Saddam Hussein was a repressive dictator and a bad man. But in our capacity as a world leader since the end of World War II, we've done business (seemingly with no compunction) with a lot of repressive, brutal dictators -- and truly bad men.
Saddam was our friend when he was fighting our enemy Iran. We supported the Shah in Iran who tortured and killed thousands of his own people, and Augusto Pinochet in Chili -- a brutal and repressive leader -- in his overthrow of the popularly elected Salvatore Allende (so much for U.S. support for democracy). Pinochet would later be charged in the Hague with crimes against humanity. We supported Manuel Noriega of Panama, another brutal leader, who was on the payroll of the CIA while at the same time operating as probably the world's biggest international drug dealer. When Noriega refused to cooperate with Reagan officials in operations against the Contras, he would later be the target of a military invasion by the United States during the George H.W. Bush administration to have him removed from power (regime change) supposedly an international no-no. Noriega would later be brought up before a court in Miami on drug and money laundering charges -- as well as fraud and racketeering. This was our former ally and Central American pal. For most of the last century our actions in Latin and Central America have been anything but an example of exemplary and enlightened foreign policy (after more than fifty years of a failed policy toward Cuba, we are only now working to normalize relations with our closest Latin neighbor). As a result of our actions, the world has learned to judge us (not cynically but honestly) by what we do, and not what we say. That's too bad. It's an indictment on us and our character as a nation, and it's not something we should be proud of.
Our record in the Middle East is not any better. We've blithely turned a blind eye to Israel's repressive and illegal (often times brutal) treatment of Palestinians remaining in the occupied areas seized during the Six Day War in 1967. We backed Mubarek in Egypt right up to his ouster in the Arab Spring. And starting in 2004 we even began a process to normalize relations with the Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi, another despot -- torturer and killer -- and the man who aided in the Lockerbie bombing attack on Pam Am flight 103 in 1988 which killed more than two-hundred and fifty passengers and crew (many were Americans). Our principle allies in the region are repressive, authoritarian (monarchical) regimes -- not democracies -- among them Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and the United Emirates, all countries with dubious human rights records. Our friend Israel is the only true democracy in the Middle East, and it's hardly perfect -- with a long record of human rights violations against the Palestinians living in the occupied areas. Our unflinching support of Israel over the years has been a source of much disaffection and hatred directed at the U.S. by the Arab people.
After the failed U.S. Occupation in Iraq, we brought in Nouri al Malaki as Prime Minister to lead a new "inclusive" government that was suppose to bring in Sunnis, Shias and Kurds to form a new working partnership to govern Iraq. Instead the statesman Malaki (again our chosen man) arrogated all the power of the important cabinet offices unto himself as Prime Minister. (It should be noted that Malaki is a Shia). He then pushed aside the Sunnis and the Kurds and cozied up as close as he could to the mullahs in Tehran. Another unintended consequence of our misguided Mid-East policy. This further alienated the Kurds in the North, and opened the door for the disaffected Sunnis (many with ties to Al Qaeda) to re-name and reconstitute themselves as ISIS in Iraq. And that's where we are today. ISIS has taken over major portions of Syria in their battle with Assad, and a large Sunni controlled area in Western Iraq. And how the media shows us (with seeming regularity) videos of Jihadi John beheading westerners. While this is shocking to the tender sensibilities of most Americans, all this should not come as a big surprise. Our ill-advised invasion of Iraq, and subsequent failure to establish a working government created the path for all this bad stuff to happen. There's a parable in the bible that "you reap what you sow"!
After World War I, and the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, Britain had the mandate over Palestine, the Trans-Jordan and Iraq. And Britain controlled the major oil concessions. Following World War II, Britain was broke (a financial basket-case) and physically in ruins. No longer able to support its far-flung colonial empire, it started to withdraw. In 1921 a Hashemite monarchy was organized in Iraq under British protection. Then in October 1932 the kingdom was granted independence. In 1958 the monarchy was overthrown and the Republic of Iraq was created. In a 1968 coup the Ba'ath party seized power. The first Ba'ath president was Hassan Al-Bakr, but power gradually shifted to General Saddam Hussein until he acceded to the presidency in July 1979. As said before, Saddam was our friend in the eighties when he was fighting our enemy Iran. But then in 1990, to pay off his debts from the war with Iran and establish Iraq as the dominant power in the region, he invaded the oil-rich kingdom of Kuwait and launched the first Gulf war.
The U.S. led coalition eventually forced Saddam's army to retreat back to Iraq. And many in the defense/intelligence establishment thought we should have pushed right on into Baghdad; but Poppy Bush backed down, and Saddam was granted a reprieve. In March 2003, following the 9/11 attacks, George Bush -- the son -- sent the U.S. military into Iraq to finish what his father had left undone. (to be continued)!
The Money Trader