Opinion | Columnists
US-Iran scheme has failed
The US has soon realised that it could not continue to occupy Iraq without the active support and cooperation of the Tehran government
- By Burhan Al Chalabi, Special to Gulf News
- Published: 23:36 October 27, 2008
- Image Credit: Illustration: Nino Jose Heredia/Gulf News
The recent announcement by the US to open dialogue with Iran, brought worryingly to public attention the partnership between the two countries to continue the occupation of Iraq and sharing oil - the spoils of war. The truth is out in the open.
Post invasion sabre rattling between a member of "Axis of Evil" and the "Great Satan" did not fool anybody, as these were sound bites designed for US domestic politics, to divert attention away from the realities on the ground: the failure of the war in Iraq, the deception of the international community and the consequences in terms of loss of life and destruction that resulted from the war.
The US and Iran had one objective in common - to force regime change in Iraq at any price. However each had its own separate and distinct agenda for the invasion and occupation of Iraq. The US wants to control Iraqi natural resources with minimum collateral damage. Iran, in the absence of a powerful Iraq, can launch itself as an unrivalled regional power with specific historic ambitions over Iraq and the region.
The US strategy appeared simple: to use Iran to destroy Iraq and then contain Iran. However, the US soon realised that it could not continue to occupy Iraq without the active support and cooperation of the Tehran government. Iran responded through their religious and political networks in Iraq by offering vitally needed spiritual and religious endorsements of the occupation of Iraq.
Iran also provided well armed militias. These used their superior knowledge to dismantle all aspects of the secular state of Iraq through ethnic cleansing, assassination, kidnapping and general thuggery.
The US grand plan of occupation is to rule Iraq through ethnic division, fears and chaos. Iran's help was vitally needed, however this very plan worked predictably in favour of the Iranians, and provided the opportunity to infiltrate and control all aspects of civil and military institutions in Iraq.
A process greatly enhanced by US ignorance of the social historic mix of the Iraqi society and the extent of Iranian infiltration in southern Iraq, and by siding militarily with the Iranian militias against Iraqis resisting the occupation.
It is in the interest of Iran and regional countries that Iraq is ruled by a sovereign, independent and stable national government. Occupied Iraq is ruled today by a puppet subservient government whose survival depends entirely on continued US occupation of Iraq.
It is a permanent state of instability through resistance to the occupation and regional unrest. It also leaves Iran exposed to twin US military threats from bases in Iraq and Afghanistan. As well as an unrelenting Israeli-influenced US propaganda war designed to cause popular unrest among the Iranians against their leadership.
Iran does not seem to have benefited from the lessons of its Arab neighbours in their relationship with the US. Over a million Iraqis died in the war to contain the Islamic revolution of Ayatollah Khomeini which posed a threat to US and western interests in the region. Iraqi sacrifices were later desecrated in the war propaganda against Iraq as being a threat to its neighbours.
Iran will not fair any better in its current relationship with the US, both having ignored to their peril the need to address the causes of terrorism as being US foreign policy in the region.
As far as the nuclear scenario is concerned, Iran seems to have miscalculated the issue. In the event of a nuclear war of annihilation, the US is believed to have sufficient nuclear capabilities to destroy the world several times. It is a war where no one wins.
Therefore Iran's nuclear potential should have been better used to expose the US's hypocritical position on Israel's nuclear weapons and its refusal to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty and also to outline the fallacies in the European's morally gagged stand on Israel's nuclear arsenal.
The Iranians were defeated in their past attempt to conquer Iraq and will suffer the same outcome this time around. The Tehran government was wrong to assist the US (through its militias) in its illegal war against Iraq, an act that undermined the legal and moral authority of the UN, and may come back to haunt the Iranian authorities.
The absence of a collective and coordinated Arab stand on Israel and their nuclear arson offers Iran an opportunity to assume peaceful, sustainable leadership of the region, without resorting to threats or confrontation.
Another dodgy dossier
Therefore Iran should discharge its regional responsibilities by ending its interference in Iraq, withdrawing support from the current Pro-Iranian mob held prisoner in the green zone of Baghdad at the mercy of the US occupational force, and by helping Iraqis in their struggle to end the US occupation.
Iran should concentrate its efforts on ending US meddling in the affairs of countries in the region and the withdrawal of all US military bases.
The current financial resources of the region should be used in a partnership to shape a new Middle East for the benefit of the population and not the neo-conservatives of the US and their multinationals.
It may be only a matter of time before the world bears witness to another dodgy dossier on the need to protect the interest of the west but this time from the alleged Iranian nuclear threat.
The added caveat being it is an "Islamic" nuclear bomb. Iran's political sanctuary is not with the US; it is to work peacefully with countries of the region to ensure the safety and prosperity of the population.
Also to challenge the unconditional and unlimited US support to Israel's policies of continuing to occupy Arab lands, develop nuclear arsenals and commit atrocities against the Palestinian people.
Dr Burhan Al Chalabi is a member of The Royal Institute of International Affairs.
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