Dr. Mohammed T. Al-Rasheed

JEDDAH, 25 August 2003 — The fizz has gone out of the water and what looked inviting before the fact is today merely bland and tepid. You and I know the cliché about winning the war but losing the peace, so I guess it is safe to assume politicians know of it too since they are masters of the cliché in its various forms. Facts on the ground, however, tell a different story.

On the eve of the Iraq war, President Bush would not allow some time for international legitimacy and the UN to give him the cover he needed. He insisted on “going it alone.” He lost friends he needed, like Germany, Russia, and France, and gained ones he did not need, like Spain and Costa Rica. With hindsight, we can be sure that he knew his CIA was successfully bribing Iraqi generals not to fight and open the gates of Baghdad for his army. That should have made the president more confident but less arrogant.

No one in the world doubted the outcome of the war. People differed on its duration depending on how much of a fight Iraq was willing to put up in order to defend Saddam. In the event, Saddam wasn’t worth that much. A deft and subtle diplomatic policy would have won it as easily as the war itself.

As the casualties on both sides mount and the acts of sabotage in Iraq increase, we are hearing a different tune from Washington. The arrogance is gone and the president and his men are “welcoming the UN and foreign troops to help secure Iraq.” I bet you there are more giggles in “Old Europe” today than there are smiles on Rumsfeld’s wrinkled face.

The most predictable reaction from those whose help is being sought is, “why should we?” Indeed why should they when they were insulted, spurned, maligned, even threatened? Ants die quietly, giants fall with a thud. Are we hearing the American thud in Iraq? Are the Americans preparing for another Afghanistan? They invaded Afghanistan, set up a government, then slowly pulled out only to leave the UN and their allies to bear the brunt of attacks as the country slowly but surely sank into chaos again.

President Bush never tires of telling us how much better off the Iraqis will be in their new-found freedom. That might be true, but it is not as easy as getting rid of Saddam. The United Nations Charter legitimizes fighting any occupation. It even made the Nobel Peace Prize available for one such man who threw bombs in East Timor. How is the UN to legitimize the American occupation of Iraq today?

Tunnel vision is dangerous when it afflicts a powerful man like Bush. There is abundant news about investigations and allegations of exaggerating the threat of Iraq before the war. It might not be completely true, but it certainly is not unfounded. Butler, the erstwhile UN inspector before the war, said that he was “shocked that no weapons of mass destruction were found.” Doesn’t that man know that wishful thinking and reality are two different things? Saddam was vile and probably still is as vile as they come. But making a decent case for invading Iraq and removing him would have been a better choice than going it alone and then crying for help.

But it is useless harping on what should have been done. If we take the American claims and intentions at face value, we should try and find a solution that would satisfy all. The first thing to do is for America to drop the pretense that it is not an occupying power. By accepting the fact, it gives itself more public leeway in managing the affairs of the country.The Iraqis are not ready to rule themselves yet, for two reasons. The first is that they have lived under tyranny for so long that any viable alternative to Saddam is now residing in a mass grave. The second reason is that the country is divided internally into tiny puzzle pieces that need time and effort to gel together.

The Americans should fire the council of morons and hand over Ahmed Chalabi to their allies the Jordanians to serve out his jail term. This will give them credibility and get rid of a liability that is embarrassing them and angering the locals. They should put an American at the head of every vital ministry and start distributing contracts to American firms to build up the infrastructure of Iraq. They will be criticized for that, but if done properly, the results will speak for themselves. People in need of food and medication will appreciate the service more than the rhetoric.

They should divide Iraq into voting districts and announce a date for general elections. The elections will result in a temporary Parliament whose job is to draft a constitution. I guess this is already on the table, but America is eating with two hands. You can’t try to be “legitimate” and tackle the massive tasks ahead. Let us drop the pretense of the first and push ahead for the second.