As the US Congress ponders President Barack Obama's request for an Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) to fight the Islamic State (ISIS or IS), US policymakers must focus on the "morning after" before they embark on another potentially disastrous war in the Levant.
The president assured the nation at his press conference on February 11 that IS is on the verge of being contained, degraded, and defeated. If true, the United States and the West must address the future of the region in the wake of the collapse of IS to avoid the rise of another extremist threat and another "perfect storm" in the region.
The evidence so far that Washington will be more successful than during the Iraq war is not terribly encouraging.
The Iraq War parallel
George Tenet, former director of the Central Intelligence Agency, wrote in his book At the Center of the Storm that in September 2002 CIA analysts presented the Bush administration with an analytic paper titled "The Perfect Storm: Planning for Negative Consequences of Invading Iraq." The paper included "worst-case scenarios" of what could go wrong as a result of a US-led invasion of Iraq.
The paper, according to Tenet, outlined several negative consequences:
anarchy and the territorial breakup of Iraq;
regime-threatening instability in key Arab states;
deepening Islamic antipathy toward the United States that produced a surge of global terrorism against US interests.
The Perfect Storm paper suggested several steps that the United States could take that might mitigate the impact of these potentially negative consequences. These included a serious attempt at solving some of the key regional conflicts and domestic economic and political issues that have plagued the region for decades.
Unfortunately, the Bush administration spent more time worrying about defeating Saddam's army than focusing on what could follow Saddam's demise. Ignoring the Perfect Storm paper, as the past decade has shown, was detrimental to US interests, the security of the region, and the stability of some key Arab allies. The US and the region now have to deal with these consequences - anarchy, destruction, and refugees - of the Bush administration's refusal to act on those warnings.
The past decade also witnessed the resurgence of radical and terrorist groups, which happily filled the vacuum that ensued. US credibility in the region plummeted as well.
When CIA analysts persisted in raising their concerns about a post-Saddam Iraq, the Pentagon's Under Secretary for Policy Doug Feith dismissed the concerns as "persnickety."
If the Obama administration wants to avoid the miscalculations of the previous administration about Iraq, it should make sure the land war against IS in Iraq and Syria does not become "enduring" and that the presence of US troops on the ground does not morph into an "occupation."
Defeating IS might be the easy part. Devising a reasonably stable post-IS Levant will be more challenging because of the complexity of the issues involved. Before embarking on the next phase of combat, US policymakers should have the courage and strategic vision to raise and answer several key questions.
How will Sunni and Shia Muslims react to the re-entry of US troops on the ground and to the likelihood that US military presence could extend beyond three years?
The "liberation" of Iraq that the Bush administration touted in March 2003 quickly turned into "occupation," which precipitously engendered anger among the population. Iraqi Sunnis and Shia rose up against the US military. The insurgency that erupted attracted thousands of foreign jihadists from the Middle East and other parts of the Muslim world. Bloody sectarianism and vigilantism spread across Iraq as an unintended consequence of the invasion, and it still haunts the region today.
During the Iraq war, the Iraqi Sunni minority, which has ruled the country since its creation in the early 1920s, perceived the United States as backing the Shia majority at the expense of the Sunnis. They also saw the United States as supporting the sectarian policies of former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, especially as he excluded Sunnis from senior government positions. This feeling of alienation pushed many Iraqi Sunnis to support the Islamic State.
Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld refused to admit that an insurgency and a civil war were spreading across Iraq. By the time he admitted that both were happening, it became impossible to defend the "liberation" thesis to Iraqis and other Arabs and Muslims.
If the US-led ground war against IS extends to Syria, how will Washington reconcile its announced policy favoring Assad's downfall with fighting alongside his forces, and how will the Arab public and leaders react to such perceived hypocrisy?
It's foolish to argue that the US-led war against IS in Syria is not indirectly benefiting the Assad regime. Assad claimed in a recent BBC interview that the coalition provides his regime with "information" about the fighting. Regardless of the veracity of his claim, Assad has enjoyed a breathing room and the freedom to pursue his opponents viciously and mercilessly, thanks to the US-led coalition's laser-like focus on IS.
Sunni Arab regimes, especially Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, are already urging the Obama administration to increase substantially its military support of the anti-Assad mainstream opposition. These regimes, which are also fighting IS, argue that the United States could simultaneously fight IS and work toward toppling Assad.
If this situation continues and Assad stays in power while IS is being contained, Sunni Arab populations would soon begin to view the United States as the "enemy." Popular support for radical jihadists would grow, and the region would witness a repeat of the Iraq scenario.
The territorial expansion of IS across Iraq and Syria has for all intents and purposes removed the borders between the two countries and is threatening the boundaries between Syria and Lebanon, Iraq and Jordan, and Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
If US policymakers are interested in creating political stability after IS, they should explore how to re-establish a new political order on the ashes of the century-old Sykes-Picot Levant political architecture. Otherwise, the "Iraq fatigue" that almost crippled US efforts in Iraq in recent years, especially during the Maliki era, will surely be replaced by a "Levant fatigue."
It will take a monumental effort to redesign a new Levant based on reconciling Sunnis, Shia, Christians, Kurds, and Arabs on the principles of inclusion, tolerance, and respect for human rights, economic opportunity, and good governance. If the United States is not prepared to commit time and resources to this goal, the Levant would devolve into failed states and ungovernable territories.
If radical Sunni ideology and autocracy are the root causes of IS, what should the United States do to thwart the rise of another terrorist organization in the wake of this one?
Since the bulk of radical Sunni theology comes out of Saudi Arabia and militant Salafi Wahhabism, the United States should be prepared to urge the new Saudi leadership, especially the Deputy to the Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Nayef, to review the role of Salafi Wahhabi preachers and religious leaders in domestic public life and foreign policy. This also should certainly apply to Saudi education and textbooks.
Whereas in the past, Saudi officials have resisted any perceived foreign interference as an encroachment on their religion, this type of extremist, intolerant ideology has nevertheless given radical jihadists a religious justification for their violence. It now poses an undeniable threat to the national security of the United States and the safety of its citizens in the region.
Autocracy, corruption, repression, and anarchy in several Arab states have left millions of citizens and refugees alienated, unemployed, and angry. Many young men and women in these populations will be tempted to join new terrorist organizations following IS's demise. The governments violate the rights of these young people at whim, imprison them illegally, and convict them in sham trials - all because of their political views or religious affiliation or both - in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Iraq, Syria, and elsewhere.
In Egypt thousands of political prisoners are languishing in jail. In Bahrain, the regime has been stripping dozens of citizens of their citizenship because of their pro-democracy views. Once their passports are taken away, Bahraini citizens are deprived of most government services and opportunities. When visiting a government office for a particular service, they are required to show the passport, which the government has already taken away, as a proof of identity - a classic case of "Catch 22" leaving these citizens in a state of economic and political limbo.
The Perfect Storm paper warned the Bush administration about what could follow Saddam if critical questions about a post-Saddam Iraq were not addressed. The Bush White House did not heed those warnings. It would be indeed tragic for the United States if the Obama administration made the same mistake.
Emile Nakhlehis a Research Professor at the University of New Mexico, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and author of A Necessary Engagement: Reinventing America's Relations with the Muslim World.
Asia Times Online : World Affairs
by Emile Nakhleh, Asiatimes.com
IS and the morning after war
Related:
Bernard Lewis Plan to Carve up Middle East and Muslim World: http://aftabkhan-net.blogspot.com/2014/10/plan-to-carve-up-muslim-world.html
SIS: 'American-Zionist Tool' for Dismembering Iraq (Sotal Iraq, Iraq)
"Strangely enough, America today is fighting ISIS, and has sent experts to Iraq for that very purpose. For whom? For the love of Iraqis? And for whose benefit does America support ISIS and provide it with weapons in Syria? For whose benefit does it support the al-Nusra Front? ... Today it is essential to pay careful attention to, and analyze carefully, all American and Israeli plans. The forces of Freedom, human rights and democracy must join to defeat their criminal designs for undermining Iraq, and their tool of implementation, ISIS."
No observer of events can justifiably describe America's role in the Middle East as one of a neutral advocate of liberty and peace, because the U.S. shows no concern for Arabs or Islamic interests. It is entirely concerned with securing its hegemony over the entire region to ensure the protection of its own economic interests and the security interests of Israel.
Following the 2003 occupation of this ancient society, which has well-established roots and stretches far back in history, America employed a reckless and cunning policy of spreading sectarianism in order to dismember and dissociate Iraq's social and intellectual fabric.
The United States knew how to sow its malicious ideas with the rules and regulations imposed by the notorious [U.S. Proconsul] L. Paul Bremer. Bremer dissolved the Army, and his de-Baathification allowed militias to integrate into the armed forces, which fostered sectarianism and religious, ethnic and racial strife, establishing a system that encouraged the division of Iraq. Ultimately, that was the key objective.
If America had been truly serious about putting Iraq on the right path and instituting a genuine democracy, it would have issued legislation to protect human dignity and the right of the people to live within a framework of liberty, peace, security and safety! Instead, the United States did just the opposite, disrupting Iraq's civilizational project.
Strangely enough, America today is fighting ISIS, and has sent experts to Iraq for that very purpose. For whom? For the love of Iraqis? And for whose benefit does America support ISIS and provide it with weapons in Syria? For whose benefit does it support the al-Nusra Front?
Everyone should be aware that America, with its policies of double standards, its purely demagogic methods, and its changing of colors in the region, are in place only to serve its own special interests. What does America and its Zionist and Freemason allies want from Iraq after the catastrophes of Mosul and Tikrit? [ISIS overran both cities and continues to occupy them].
Posted By Worldmeets.US
Today it is essential for forces of freedom to stand against, pay careful attention to, and analyze carefully, all American and Israeli plans. Must all join to defeat their criminal designs for undermining Iraq, and their tool of implementation, ISIS. And we much take special care not to exclude any of Iraq’s religions, ethnicities, or races. Iraq is in dire need of a nation that stands with our armed forces to deter these traitors and ISIS scum.
For the sake of protecting Iraq's land, sky, and water, and maintaining the cohesion of the nation.
Extract from original By Ali Abed Al Ghazzi, Translated By Lina Barakat-Masroujeh, Iraq - Sotal Iraq - Original Article (Arabic)
http://worldmeets.us/ http://www.worldmeets.us/sotaliraq000042.shtml#.VOyc9_mUdpo#ixzz3Sg6qcAUv
http://www.worldmeets.us/sotaliraq000042.shtml#.VOyc9_mUdpo
SIS: 'American-Zionist Tool' for Dismembering Iraq (Sotal Iraq, Iraq)
"Strangely enough, America today is fighting ISIS, and has sent experts to Iraq for that very purpose. For whom? For the love of Iraqis? And for whose benefit does America support ISIS and provide it with weapons in Syria? For whose benefit does it support the al-Nusra Front? ... Today it is essential to pay careful attention to, and analyze carefully, all American and Israeli plans. The forces of Freedom, human rights and democracy must join to defeat their criminal designs for undermining Iraq, and their tool of implementation, ISIS."
No observer of events can justifiably describe America's role in the Middle East as one of a neutral advocate of liberty and peace, because the U.S. shows no concern for Arabs or Islamic interests. It is entirely concerned with securing its hegemony over the entire region to ensure the protection of its own economic interests and the security interests of Israel.
Following the 2003 occupation of this ancient society, which has well-established roots and stretches far back in history, America employed a reckless and cunning policy of spreading sectarianism in order to dismember and dissociate Iraq's social and intellectual fabric.
The United States knew how to sow its malicious ideas with the rules and regulations imposed by the notorious [U.S. Proconsul] L. Paul Bremer. Bremer dissolved the Army, and his de-Baathification allowed militias to integrate into the armed forces, which fostered sectarianism and religious, ethnic and racial strife, establishing a system that encouraged the division of Iraq. Ultimately, that was the key objective.
If America had been truly serious about putting Iraq on the right path and instituting a genuine democracy, it would have issued legislation to protect human dignity and the right of the people to live within a framework of liberty, peace, security and safety! Instead, the United States did just the opposite, disrupting Iraq's civilizational project.
Strangely enough, America today is fighting ISIS, and has sent experts to Iraq for that very purpose. For whom? For the love of Iraqis? And for whose benefit does America support ISIS and provide it with weapons in Syria? For whose benefit does it support the al-Nusra Front?
Everyone should be aware that America, with its policies of double standards, its purely demagogic methods, and its changing of colors in the region, are in place only to serve its own special interests. What does America and its Zionist and Freemason allies want from Iraq after the catastrophes of Mosul and Tikrit? [ISIS overran both cities and continues to occupy them].
Posted By Worldmeets.US
Today it is essential for forces of freedom to stand against, pay careful attention to, and analyze carefully, all American and Israeli plans. Must all join to defeat their criminal designs for undermining Iraq, and their tool of implementation, ISIS. And we much take special care not to exclude any of Iraq’s religions, ethnicities, or races. Iraq is in dire need of a nation that stands with our armed forces to deter these traitors and ISIS scum.
For the sake of protecting Iraq's land, sky, and water, and maintaining the cohesion of the nation.
Extract from original By Ali Abed Al Ghazzi, Translated By Lina Barakat-Masroujeh, Iraq - Sotal Iraq - Original Article (Arabic)
http://worldmeets.us/ http://www.worldmeets.us/sotaliraq000042.shtml#.VOyc9_mUdpo#ixzz3Sg6qcAUv
http://www.worldmeets.us/sotaliraq000042.shtml#.VOyc9_mUdpo
