The American Hegemon is Here to Help You!

Given any one of a number of duplicitous actions by the United States government over the last few decades, it does not surprise me at all that the Iraqis would have a tendency not to trust the United States. Were our historical actions taken into account by the Bush II Administration when we went into Iraq in 2003? I'm not sure which of "Yes" or "No" is the worse answer.


Disclaimer: In areas with which I am not overly familiar, I am greatly influenced by the perspectives of those whose books I am reading. This post fits that category. I need to do more research, but at this point I am afraid that I will not like what I find in the footnotes of two copiously footnoted books:

• Web of Deceit by Barry M. Lando
• Hegemony or Survival by Noam Chomsky
  

In the guise of spreading liberty across the globe, it appears what the United States has done in the last 50 years is sown discord and hatred while protecting what it terms its international (read elite and corporate) interests. If this is true, America has much to be embarrassed about and much to apologize for. I'm not sure if the juggernaut is too fully formed that a clean electoral sweep of the House, the Congress, and the White House would solve the problem, but that's beginning to look more and more like the only viable solution.

The problems of US duplicity in Iraq pervade every US administration since at least John F. Kennedy, if you believe Barry Lando and Noam Chomsky. Their research is detailed. They draw attention to the schemes of power players in every administration, whether Republican or Democrat. I, therefore, have a tendency to believe that the information they are providing is true.

I recently posted about US involvement in the Middle East (and particularly Iraq) as told by Barry Lando in his recent book "Web of Deceit". I'm nearly half finished with the book, and will have more to say on it here later. For now, I will say I am thoroughly disgusted with my government's attempts to mind the business of nearly every country but its own. Its short-sighted siding with Iraq-then Iran-then Iraq (and sometimes both at the same time) during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980's is but one example of how I am embarrassed for my country in that we as a populace cannot see beyond the sound bites to elect leaders who truly care about liberty rather than foisting the worst facets of American capitalism and imperialism on the world.

It is no surprise to me, then, as Noam Chomsky says in his book Hegemony or Survival that most countries see the United States as the most dangerous country in the world. It is not possible to understand this concept until we understand the history of American involvement in the Middle East.

At least one microcosm of today's Iraq is told on page 5 of today's Parade Magazine:

"Before the United States came here, no one cared who was Sunni or Shia," Muhammad [not his real name] says... "Everyone was Iraqi."

"There would be no insurgency if you [the United States] were not here."

Muhammad was in his second year at the Iraqi Military Academy when L. Paul Bremer disbanded the Iraqi army. It is suspected that between recently, when Muhammad joined the Iraqi army, and then Muhammad was an insurgent. He might still be.

Like Lando, Noam Chomsky gives some insight into why Iraqis like Muhammad feel like they do, and why they probably do for good reason. The first time I heard of Chomsky, through the filter of the establishment media, my impression was that he was a kook. After having read one of his books, however, I no longer think so.

Chomsky, whose book was written in 2003, has this to say:

..a US attack could "globalize anti-American and anti-Western sentiment...attacking Iraq would intensify Islamic terrorism, not reduce it."

An understanding of their mistrust of America makes that an un-surprising prognostication.

With the Iraqi people at the edge of survival after a decade of destructive sanctions, international aid and medical agencies warned that a war might lead to a serious humanitarian catastrophe. Switzerland hosted a meeting of thirty countries to prepare what might lie ahead. The US alone refused to attend.

Perhaps Chomsky's most interesting observation in this context was not even stated about Iraq:

It has been regularly observed that the extension of formal democracy in Latin America has been accompanied by increasing disillusionment about democracy.

I am sad to say that, considering the ineptitude (purposefulness?) of the Bush Administration, Iraqis have every reason to feel the same way about democracy.

Old Habits Die Hard

Why does America not have nearly the intrigue and lawlessness of other countries, particularly those coming out of despotism? The reason is a healthy religious life, including respect for other peoples' religion.

After nearly 20 years, Romania still has problems related to communism. Secret police and communist leaders, once the political be- and end-alls, migrated into the economic sphere, and now control great swaths of the semi-free market. Unsolved murders, although not as prevalent as they once were, are still somewhat the norm.

The recent death of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko underscores how difficult it has been for the former Soviet Union to transform itself into a free and prosperous society. All indicators point to former KGB boss, Vladimr Putin, as being behind the murder. Twenty-something years after glasnost and perestroika, Russia is still feeling the pains of centuries of intrigue and fear.

With these events as patterns, what do we expect from Iraq, which has recently emerged from under the rock known as Saddam Hussein?

I once debated with a friend whether or not religion had caused all of the wars in history. He said Yes, it did, and I said No, it didn't. When I suggested that Communism had killed more people than any other force in history, he said "Well, Communism is a religion of sorts, isn't it?"

I suggested to a friend of mine from Tatarstan (a territory of Russia) that I was writing this blog post, and he agrees with my principle thesis, that a lack of freedom of religion (whether it still exists or previously existed for a long period of time) is at the root of most of the problems in his country. Many people in Tatarstan would agree with this statement, he said.

Religion generally provides people with a way to strive for the good things in life. Religion generally encourages people to do unto others as they would be done by. Religion, although it can be prostituted for non-religious purposes, has an ameliorating effect on society, with very few exceptions.

Two of those exceptions--in which religion can be a detriment to society--are when religion dominates the legal society, as is the case today in many Islamic countries, or when the legal society dominates religion, as is the case in Iran (and to some extent, Israel) today, and as was until recently the case in Iraq.

Religion is one of the greatest passions in the human breast. Generally, the free exercise of religion channels that passion for worthwhile purposes. When that passion is bottled up, either through religious or legal domination, social problems ensue. The problems we are seeing in the former Soviet Union and former Warsaw Pact countries are generally a result of the dark night of Communism, wherein the only sanctioned religion was the worship of the state.

The problems we are seeing in Iraq are equally deep seated in both the domination of society by Islam over the centuries, and, more recently, the domination of religion by Saddam Hussein.

It would require divine intervention to effect a quick solution to the Iraqi problem. In the meantime, one by one, Iraqis must decide that their fellowmen are more important than the deep seated hatred they have for them as a result of having so long not been allowed to practice religion according to their personal passion and freedom of choice.

For those of us who believe in a God who is willing to bless us and answer our prayers, perhaps we should pray that the "one by ones" can have his guidance and protection, so that Iraq can emerge more quickly from the dark night of despotism into the light of a day of newfound religious freedom.