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- Shoshana Bryen: How to Use American Influence
- Nabil Al-Hadairi: The Redacted Iraqi Jews
How to Use American Influence
by Shoshana Bryen
December 27, 2012 at 5:00 am
December 27, 2012 at 5:00 am
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The U.S.
and its allies could not, similarly, overthrow the Soviet Union or liberate its
colonies. But we did not pretend that we were their friends, and we surely did
not give them aid or political support. The best of the Cold Warriors spurred
the United States staunchly to defend its political beliefs as
"better;" defend its friends militarily; guard as much as possible
against communist expansion into free countries; and let the "captive
nations" know through Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty that we were on
their side. That would translate today into support for human rights civil
rights, minority rights and capitalism; support for our allies; guarding
against al Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood; denouncing attacks on Christians;
and the expanded use of social networks for the many people who want to be on
our side.
Colonial powers – France, Britain, Belgium and Russia, in particular –
believed there was no substitute for their own armies and officials to ensure
that their colonies stayed in line. Instead of colonial occupation forces, the
U.S. takes its money, arms, training and agenda abroad. It is a specifically
American conceit that people in other countries and other societies want our
social and governmental blueprint as well as our money, medicine and weapons.As the Syrian civil war expands, a U.N. Commission of Inquiry finally determined that "The conflict has been overtly sectarian... government forces and its militias, dominated by Alawites, have been attacking Sunnis -- who are "broadly (but not uniformly)" backing the armed groups opposing President Bashar al-Assad's government. And anti-government armed groups have been targeting Alawites."
This is not news. It has, however, prompted another spasm of the belief that U.S. support for this side or that, this person or that, could have or would have produced in Syria a secular, moderate and tolerant revolution, led by those who would be America's friends. The estimable Barry Rubin blames "the deliberate decisions of President Barack Obama and other Western leaders. Even if one rationalizes the Islamist takeover in Egypt as due to internal events, this one is U.S.-made."
It is hard to see the difference between the "internal events" in Egypt that made the Brotherhood victory "inevitable," and "internal events" in Syria that could have produced a different outcome. In both countries, the Brotherhood had been repressed and suppressed in the most brutal ways. Hafez Assad killed an estimated 20,000 people in the Brotherhood stronghold of Hama in just a few weeks in 1982; Junior has a long way to go. In neither country did the supporters of Muslim Brotherhood go away or lose their fervor – the opposite. And in both places, lifting the lid brought the Muslim Brotherhood back from underground.
Rubin adds, "Obama and others believe that they can moderate the Muslim Brotherhood and this will tame the Salafists… This is going to be the biggest foreign policy blunder of the last century." It may be a blunder, but it would be the same one Rubin makes in the other direction. Both believe American military, economic and political support can moderate or redirect longstanding ethnic and religious beliefs and hatreds. They both believe American "influence" can create moderate, tolerant governments in the Middle East, North Africa and Southwest Asia.
The counter-argument is the Palestinian Authority, Egypt, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Libya.
The Oslo Accords were predicated on the mistaken belief that international economic support would create a moderate, liberal Palestinian state living peaceably next to Israel. The U.S. also believed that with American training and financial support, Palestinian "police" would "dismantle the terrorist infrastructure." Palestinians are the world's largest per capita recipients of international assistance. The U.S. has spent nearly $500 million a year on the Palestinian Authority, including $100 million each year for "security forces" under the tutelage of an American three-star General. Separately, the U.S. is the largest single donor to UNRWA; $2.2 billion in its first 50 years (1950-1999) and $2.18 billion in the last 13 years (2000-2012). In 2012, the U.S. contribution will be $249 million.
What have we achieved? After a Palestinian war against Israel in 2000 (with terrorists using our training) and a civil war, the PA is corrupt, bankrupt and no closer to democracy or accepting Israel as a permanent part of the region than it was before the application of our money or our "influence." The "armed struggle" promoted by Hamas is finding ever more favor with Palestinians as PA President Mahmoud Abbas seeks "unity" with his erstwhile enemies. Abbas openly defied President Obama on negotiations, UN recognition and the internationalization of the conflict. He threatens "retaliation" against Israel if its citizens choose Netanyahu in the upcoming election. PA-Israeli security cooperation has been faltering and there are open clashes between Palestinians and the IDF.
But if the U.S. got nothing for millions to the Palestinians, it is currently getting nothing for BILLIONS in military and economic aid to Egypt. The aid was to have ensured a pro-American military, adherence to the Israel-Egypt peace treaty and security in Sinai. Since 1987, the U.S. has spent about $1.25 billion annually for arms plus about $250 million in economic support. Additional millions were spent on non-governmental organizations (NGOs) between to help Egypt create civil society organizations to provide wider space for political parties and media.
What have we achieved? A Muslim Brotherhood President; a Parliament that runs from Muslim Brotherhood to Salafist; a Sharia-heavy Constitution and a military establishment that seems perfectly fine with it all. Joshua Stacher writes in Foreign Affairs that that the military supports Morsi because it believes the Brotherhood will continue to win elections, and that the Brotherhood "incorporated many of its core demands…directly into the draft constitution."
The military is siding with what it perceives as the long-term winner – and that is not us. It is unlikely that we will use our military assistance as leverage. If Mubarak considered it "compensation," the Brotherhood considers it "reparations" for U.S. support of the Mubarak dictatorship.
Afghanistan is the recipient of buckets of money – nearly $3 billion annually in health, education, economic infrastructure and governance for the past six years, plus billions more for military training and equipment. More than 2,000 Americans have lost their lives in an effort to bring tolerant, representative government to the Afghan people and rout the Taliban "radicals."
Again, what have we achieved? The Afghan government and military remain corrupt and ineffectual; more than 63 "insider" attacks killed 25 Western soldiers in 2012 as President Hamid Karzai decried the lack of American cultural sensitivity. The new U.S. Army field manual agrees: "Better situational awareness/understanding of Afghan culture will help…to avoid cultural conflict that can lead toward green-on-blue violence." Judicial Watch notes that a draft of the manual "leaked to the newspaper offers a list of 'taboo conversation topics' that soldiers should avoid, including 'making derogatory comments about the Taliban,' 'advocating women's rights,' 'any criticism of pedophilia,' 'directing any criticism towards Afghans,' 'mentioning homosexuality and homosexual conduct' or 'anything related to Islam.'"
In other words, after a dozen years of our lives and treasure, American troops should adopt the cultural norms of seventh-century Afghans, rather than expecting the Afghans to show some 21st century tolerance for women and homosexuals, or aversion to pedophilia.
Pakistan received $3 billion in FY 2012; $1.6 billion in security assistance and $1.4 billion for economic development. Since 2001, more than $20 billion, including $9 billion in reimbursement for expenses supporting US military operations.
Libya? What we achieved in Libya hardly bears asking the question.
Rubin thinks, "The alternatives have been ignored; and the real moderates are being betrayed."
It is more likely that the "real moderates" – by definition people less willing to kill or coerce – are unlikely to be winners in a region that does not presently value "moderation." It is also true that the U.S. has chosen some allies as well as it could, and chosen other allies badly. But regardless of the application of money, troops, training, education, infrastructure, and lessons in governance, elections and transparency, U.S. influence is markedly less than we – or our enemies – think it is, or ever thought it was.
If that sounds insufficient, it harks back to Cold War understandings. The U.S. and its allies could not, similarly, overthrow the Soviet Union or liberate its colonies. But we did not pretend they were our friends, and we surely did not give them aid or political support. The best of the Cold Warriors – think John F. Kennedy, Henry M. Jackson, Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Ronald Reagan – spurred the United States staunchly to defend its political beliefs as "better;" defend its friends militarily through NATO, COCOM and other joint efforts; guard as much as possible against communist expansion into free countries; and let the "captive nations" know through Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty that we were on their side.
That would translate today into unequivocal support for human rights, civil rights, minority rights and capitalism; support for Israel, Jordan, Morocco, Iraq (because we are responsible for it now), the Central Asian "Stans," Tunisia (still) and Turkey (maybe); guarding against al Qaeda and Muslim Brotherhood expansion in Africa – including loudly denouncing attacks on Christians in Nigeria, Kenya and Mali; and expanded use of social networks to provide real information and hope for the future to those many people who want to be on our side, with America.
Shoshana Bryen is Senior Director of The Jewish Policy Center.
Related Topics: Shoshana Bryen
The Redacted Iraqi Jews
by Nabil Al-Hadairi
December 27, 2012 at 4:00 am
December 27, 2012 at 4:00 am
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After reversing
this injustice, it now needs to be activated and implemented at all levels.
The recent Conference of Religions and Sects in Sulaymaniyah, organized
under the supervision of Iraq's president, Jalal Talabani, was an important
milestone: The first such conference to take place in Iraq that seriously
covered the defense of religions and sects after the collapse of the
dictatorial regime of Saddam Hussein.Present at the conference were Christians, Muslims (both Sunni and Shi'a) and other, smaller, minority groups. What was surprising was that there was not a single representative of Iraqi Jews to relate their glorious history, so full of great accomplishments for the glory of Iraq and its constitution. In their absence, they could not tell of the calamity that befell them when their citizenship was withdrawn, their money and property confiscated, their rights denied, and when they were subjected to being imprisoned or murdered while ethnic cleansing was committed by forcing the best of my Iraqi Jewish friends to emigrate.
At the conference, it was apparent that no one was available to represent them or mention this sensitive subject. Therefore, to balance the debate, I decided that this was going to be my discussion subject, as my solemn duty to repay some of our debt to them.
The Presidential Council, the ruling party, and Iranian agents in Sulaymaniyah all warned me not to raise such a subject and speak about it, and tried to forbid it. They claimed that it is too sensitive and dangerous, and that due to the current public mood, it should not to be spoken about in public.
On both the first day and the final day of the conference, I spoke before the conference organizers, ministers and various international media outlets, about the massive contribution made by Jews to Iraq's history over more than 2500 years, beginning with their exile in Babylon from 597 B.C., and referred to three famous Iraqi books:
- Jewish Prominent Characters In Current Iraq, by Meir Basr
- Kurdistan Jews, by Omar Kader
- Lovers stroll in Iraqi Jewish History, by Youssef Ganiamah
Iraqi Jews had been genuine citizens for thousands of years -- even before Muslims and Christians. Jews made up a huge part of Baghdad's population - by the 1920's they were 40% of the city's people.
I also noted that the Iraqi constitution does not mention anything about Iraqi Jews, so that it has become necessary to draft an amendment to Article II of the constitution, granting official recognition to the Jewish faith, adding it to the other recognized national religions.
I then spoke about the crimes of stripping the Iraqi Jews of their citizenship, their their expulsion from the country, and the dreadful looting of their properties.
I urged President Jalal Talabani -- a well-known humanitarian -- and Masood Barazani, the president of Iraqi Kurdistan, to legislate a law of citizenship in Iraq that would enable Jews of Iraqi descent to regain Iraqi citizenship; award them parliamentary seats proportional to their actual population size, as is done the other minority religious groups such as the Christians and Muslims; and to compensate them for their usurped rights, in the same way other Iraqi countrymen who had suffered were compensated for their ordeals.
Despite the uncivilized methods used in attempting to suppress my presentation, the audience responded with full support and a standing ovation The address apparently caused considerable embarrassment to the conference's organizing committee, which then was forced to take the topic seriously.
Results were achieved when three paragraphs were adopted in the text of the final communique: The seventh paragraph states the importance of correcting the constitution to add Judaism as an official religion alongside Islam, Christianity and others, and restoring the Jews' citizenship. The ninth paragraph consists of ten points, of which article nine recognizes the rights of Jews in nationality and national belonging. Article five recognizes the crime of expulsion and its effects, and article five calls for Jewish heritage sites to be cared for, without tampering.
These declarations now need to put into action and implemented at all levels. Anyone who would like to energize this topic publicly to ensure its implementation is welcome to contact me at: nabel202000@hotmail.com -- not only will injustices be reversed, but the good name of Iraq will be restored.
Nabil Al-Hadairi is an Iraqi writer, researcher and lecturer based in London.
Related Topics: Iraq
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