Chris Alger
09-04-2003, 10:27 PM
As "victory" slips into a fiscal black hole of a hated occupation, the US has now decided to crawl back to the UN for money and political cover because it's obvious that US interests don't justify the cost of the adventure, either in dollars or US blood. Fat chance: "American officials have made clear that the force would remain under American command even as political authority in Iraq would continue to be vested in the American civilian administrator, L. Paul Bremer III" (NY Times). France and Germany have already objected to the draft resolution because it merely continues a U.S. dictatorship. Nor is it likely that any UN resolution will lead to more than fig-leaf support. The Economist reports that UN officials in Iraq were threatening to quit unless they were transferred. Even the bravest NGO's are pulling up stakes because the US can't provide security at current troop levels.
Prediction: since the war was just another chapter in the toruture of a country who's leaders refused to follow orders -- "credibility" in mainstream parlance -- the US can declare "mission accomplished" at any time. Once the deficit becomes an issue the US will decide that Iraq is less important than tax cuts and social security, and will radically scale back, probably toward the end of Bush's second term. To fill the vacuum, it will throw a lot of money at arms at a favored strongman, who after liquidating his immediate competition will commit widespread atrocities to consolidate his power. The dominant media messages will (1) insist that our guy is not "as bad as" Saddam, perversely insinuating a kind of justification; (2) will blame the Iraqis, as with articles about how the barbarism of Arab culture proved too tough a nut to crack even for the most idealistic of US nation-builders; and (3) will blame ordinary Americans for failing to indefnitely support the grand vision of a wonderful government.
Prediction: since the war was just another chapter in the toruture of a country who's leaders refused to follow orders -- "credibility" in mainstream parlance -- the US can declare "mission accomplished" at any time. Once the deficit becomes an issue the US will decide that Iraq is less important than tax cuts and social security, and will radically scale back, probably toward the end of Bush's second term. To fill the vacuum, it will throw a lot of money at arms at a favored strongman, who after liquidating his immediate competition will commit widespread atrocities to consolidate his power. The dominant media messages will (1) insist that our guy is not "as bad as" Saddam, perversely insinuating a kind of justification; (2) will blame the Iraqis, as with articles about how the barbarism of Arab culture proved too tough a nut to crack even for the most idealistic of US nation-builders; and (3) will blame ordinary Americans for failing to indefnitely support the grand vision of a wonderful government.