Iraq Study Group

Iraq Study Group
James Baker, Lee Hamilton Report on the situation in Iraq.

The report consists of two parts: the assessment of the current situation, and the proposed way forward. The report, while not having much in the way of proposals, did contain some interesting features. It is towards these that I will turn, for I feel they demonstrate the situation that we are facing, not just in Iraq and in the Middle East, but in the U.S. itself.

The report contained some opinion poll figure from Iraqis, including Kurds. The U.S. Government and U.S. polling agencies keep pretty good records on these areas. Recent polling in Iraq showed 79% of Iraqi had a mostly negative view of the influence the U.S. has in their country, 61% approve of attacks on the U.S. forces. This is bad news for the U.S. Supposedly it calls for a change of tactics to win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people, to show them we are on their side and against those who hate freedom or something to that affect. Then they will stop attacking us….Ok, I am not really sure that I buy into that, but that’s what the report suggests. But lets take a step further. The same polls that were cited contain some other interesting findings not reported in the Iraq Study Group. About 2/3 of Baghdad citizens want foreign troops out immediately and 3/4 of country, again including Kurds, want a firm timetable for withdrawal. But since when did what the people want really matter when the U.S. is doing its mission to spread democracy and protect the world. If the U.S. Government is not prepared to listen to what the people want of a country it just invaded “to bring democracy” why should it be expected to listen to what the American people want either. And indeed the American people are receiving the same treatment. A majority wants the troops to be withdrawn and have for some time. A timetable has been favored even longer. And yet the people are not being listening to. I am just going to briefly go over the concept of Democracy just if case someone forgot. It’s a very simple principle to grasp, the governing of the people by themselves. When we have the word democracy thrown in our faces constantly by those in charge it’s probably a good signal to examine if democracy is being carried out. Well the people in the U.S. and Iraq are against what is going on, so clearly democracy is not being carried out.

The report also deals somewhat with the Arab-Israeli conflict. It places the issue as the cornerstone of a lasting peace for the Middle East, in my opinion correctly. It calls for the U.S. to engage in a more active roll with Israelis and Palestinians, but only those who accept Israel’s right to exist. This has been a key demand of both the U.S. and Israel but it worth a closer examination. No one seems to be mentioning Palestine’s right to exist. The term ‘right to exist’ itself is indeed somewhat unique to this case. Do states have rights to exist as they are today? Where does this concept come from? It is certainly worth taking a minute to think about a bit more. This is simply an attempt to legitimize the seizure of land and the expulsion of the Palestinian people. No people should be expected to accept terms on these grounds, just think of numerous historical examples. Should Austrians, Danes, Czechs, French, and Poles have accepted Germany’s right to exist in the same parameters of former Reich’s after their countries were occupied and colonized by the Germans? I would certainly think not. How about another example a little closer to home. In the Mexican - American war, a war you probably didn’t learn too much about in school. The U.S. conquered about half of Mexico, all that land that now makes up of the southwestern U.S. Today Mexico recognizes the U.S. but certainly doesn’t recognize the legitimacy the conquest. I would think you would be very hard pressed to ever find an official Mexican declaration declaring the U.S.’s right to exist where it now does. So, even if the issue is reduced to just recognizing Israel, does anyone even recognize Palestine? The U.S, or Israel? No, these countries do not recognize Palestine. Peace in Palestine and any justice for the Palestinian people are clearly not in the plans.

The last point I will touch on is what the report has to say about Iran. It says that we must somehow engage Iran, but this will be problematic because of the current state of US-Iranian relations. The report is in favor of opening a dialogue with Iran in the reasoning that the U.S. can only gain from an exchange and does not have to give anything up. The current problem in relations stems back the to 1979 popular revolution and overthrow the Shaw, a dictatorship that the U.S. supported. I can see why the Iranians could be a little agitated towards the U.S., since they were repressed for a quarter century due to direct U.S. support of the regime, but it is the U.S. that has apparently taken greater offence to the 1979 overthrow of the dictatorship. A popular uprising of the people against a repressive regime friendly to the U.S. interests is not something to be forgotten. I say this because it has become known recently that Iran offered and actively sought out a reopening in diplomatic relations, cut off between the two countries since 1979, in 2002 and 2003 before the Iraq invasion. Washington rebuffed them. Today the same polls as above indicate 75% of U.S. citizens favors diplomatic engagement with Iran as a means of settling any disputes as opposed to using military threats, the exact opposite of the current US policy. In fact the policy of using military threats of attack and invasion is a central long-term strategy of this administration. This just further illustrates my point about the absence of democracy. The system we have in place now is certainly called democracy but that term does not seem to appropriately reflect the reality of the situation.


Its time to start paying attention people; demand a change. Sitting around and being passive about it isn’t going to work. We are going to have to stand up and take what is ours. As John Lennon once said, ‘Apathy isn’t it and we can do something.’ Solidarity is the key; we need to come together to do this