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Thursday, May 20, 2004

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IZZEDINE SALIM BECAME the president of the Iraqi Governing Council only because the post is held in rotation by the leaders of the motley groups that make up this quisling outfit. For all that, his death in a suicide bombing attack on May 17 reveals the extent to which the forces in neo-colonial occupation of Iraq have lost their grip. If the United States cannot protect its local operatives in a high security area of Baghdad, it has little hope of imposing its will on the rest of the country. As it is, control over the town of Fallujah has been ceded to a force composed of one-time Ba'athists and the efforts to recapture Karbala and other southern enclaves that were taken over by a Shia resistance movement have stalled. Washington might pull in troops from other theatres such as the Korean peninsula to bolster the considerable military presence that it has in West Asia. However, a force enhancement might not matter any more since the will to prevail has weakened with opinion polls indicating that an increasing number of American citizens are alarmed at the rising casualty rate and are turning against a war that serves no purpose. The U.S. Congress has finally begun to question the conduct of the soldiers and the rapidly escalating costs. The revelations that occupation forces tortured and abused Iraqi prisoners have already pushed President George W. Bush and his administration totally on to the defensive and the scandal is not about to die out. New evidence suggests that the abuses occurred because officials at higher echelons pressed the soldiers to extract information without instructing them about the rights of the prisoners.

In its desperation the Bush administration has appealed for a bailout to the United Nations that it once reviled. The U.N. might be able to contrive an Iraqi administrative framework to which the occupation forces can notionally transfer power by the promised deadline of June 30. However, as the Governing Council experiment has clearly demonstrated, the people of Iraq will not accept a government that has limited authority. Even the United Kingdom, notorious for its subservience to the U.S., has joined other permanent members of the Security Council in proposing that a measure of real power be conferred on the transitory government to be set up by June 30. They want this interim administration to be given control of at least the Iraqi police forces, the justice system, the jails, and a reconstituted army. They have also urged that the transitory government should be allowed untrammelled access to the national assets, especially the oil resources. In the present circumstances, Washington cannot but act contrite and signal that it is open to suggestions. However, it is not really ready to accept that the reconstituted Iraqi security forces will operate independently of its command and control. The U.S. is also not willing to relinquish its hold over Iraq's wealth.

In cutting off funding for its one-time favourite Ahmed Chalabi, the Bush administration appears to have signalled that the quislings in the Governing Council will not be placed in key positions in the interim administration. However, it was notable that advice from Jordan's King Abdullah that power should be transferred to a military strongman was not rejected out of hand. While Washington would cover itself with ignominy if it resorted to this option, it is in such a desperate situation that the possibility cannot be ruled out. For all the talk of ushering in a democratic order, the U.S. is embroiled in quelling the national resistance movement of the Iraqis rather than allowing them to exercise liberty.

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