Olympic foreign policy games: Axis of evil defeats neocons
By
Saul Landau and Farrah Hassen Read Spanish Version
The
Olympic spectacle dictates a sports metaphor. In 2002, high level
neocons dominated much of Bush’s National Security Council and
Defense and State Departments, challenging U.S. enemies across the
world in a slugfest, which they did. Now, years later, the tally is
clear. The fiendish foes have won the Gold. The neocons — those who
remain in government and have not resigned, been canned or gone to
jail — have proven themselves big time losers.
Unlike
the athletes, the neocons, unfortunately, represented the U.S.
public, the real losers. The neocon strategy, the use of — or threat
of — military power to create a U.S. dominated world order, has left
its legacy: wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and a stumbling, debt
ridden, U.S. economy. They have left the country weaker and more
pessimistic.
Vice
President Dick Cheney relied on Scooter “The Felon” Libby and
Douglas Feith. Whispering into Bush’s ear, Defense intellectuals
Paul Wolfowitz and Richard Perle charted a disastrous course.
Supposedly steeped in history, they apparently did not understand
that all power — even that of the USA — has limits.
Reversing
Theodore Roosevelt’s dictum, they have screamed loudly and carried
a twig. They roared threats at “Axis of Evil” members North Korea
and Iran. In June 2007, U.S. officials engaged in direct talks with
North Korea regarding its nuclear weapons, as the Koreans had
demanded in the first place. In July 2008, Under Secretary of State
William Burns met with Iranian negotiator Said Jalili and European
Union envoys in Geneva to discuss Iran’s nuclear program. Once
again, Bush felt forced to abandon the neocon stand of “no
negotiating with evil.” The Iranians seated at the table smirked at
the U.S. officials.
In
2002, the neocons, intent on invading Iraq no matter what, pressured
Saddam Hussein to readmit United Nations weapons inspectors to verify
the presence or lack of WMD. They apparently convinced Bush and the
U.S. media that facts did not matter. So, Bush spent five years with
WMD egg on his face — which he joked about at national press dinners
— while neocon reporter Judith Miller left the New
York Times
and will skulk forever in journalistic purgatory.
The
much fabled surge has or hasn’t worked. Think of the promise after
five and a half years! The neocons assured U.S. troops to expect
greetings with flowers. Instead, they still get shot and bombed. Over
2.4 million refugees have fled, mostly to neighboring Syria and
Jordan, with another 2.7 internally displaced. Gen. Petraeus told
Congress that war had to stop between ethnic groups. It has not
stopped. Kurds and Arabs continue fighting in the north, around
Kirkuk, and Turkey makes regular incursions into Iraqi territory to
fight Kurdish rebels. It is also unlikely that the Iraqi Parliament
will get its act together in time to stage regional elections, which
they swore they would hold this year.
The
bright-eyed neocons also promised a “new” and “democratic”
Middle East, with Iraq as step one. But the overthrow of Saddam
Hussein’s regime has not ushered in democracy and human rights to
Iraq — or inspired a democracy “domino effect” throughout the
region. Before the invasion, Wolfowitz had asserted that Iraq as the
“first Arab democracy” would “cast a very large shadow,
starting with Syria and Iran, across the whole Arab world.” (BBC
News, April 10, 2003)
Instead,
in the wake of a broken Iraq, the Bush administration’s
“democratizing” mission for this turbulent area of
non-democracies has morphed into a combination of hand-wringing,
begging and cajoling U.S.-allied states in the region. Rather than
increasing political participation, the non democratic state rulers,
like Hosni Mubarak in Egypt, have cracked down on democratic
opposition. Because Bush did not keep his promises or carry out his
threats, Washington has lost friends and influence and gained
hostility. The downhill slide has not ended.
The
Israelis, heartened by the exuberance shown by Bush for their own
aggressive impulses, played their neocon role in July 2006, when they
attacked Lebanon in response to a Hezbollah incursion. The Israeli
Defense Forces and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert still lick their wounds
from their defeat in that war. Indeed, they inadvertently helped
enhance the popularity of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah
throughout the Arab region. According to the 2008 Arab Public Opinion
Poll, conducted in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Morocco, Lebanon and
the UAE, Nasrallah, followed by Syria’s Bashar al-Asad and Iran’s
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, topped the list of popular leaders. The same
survey found that 83% of Arabs hold an “unfavorable view” of the
U.S. (Shibley Telhami,
http://sadat.umd.edu/surveys/2008%20Arab%20Public%20Opinion%20Survey.ppt)
Another
serious neocon fiasco occurred in Israel. Instead of achieving a
settlement with a weak PLO leadership that would not insist that
Israel revert to its 1967 borders as dictated by the UN, the neocon
attempts to destroy Hamas contributed to its electoral victory in
Gaza in January 2006. The U.S. choice to represent all Palestinians
is a widely rejected Abbas government that cannot mobilize support
for any initiative. In addition, the Israelis followed neocon
chutzpah and kept expanding settlements on Palestinian land, a
serious obstacle to any peace agreement.
The
U.S. military has shown it has power — to kill lots of people in
Iraq and Afghanistan. But this fact of possessing unparalleled air,
sea and ground power has not brought victory in either place — just
as it didn’t in Vietnam and Korea. By making war its substitute for
diplomacy, Washington abrogated its diplomatic role in the region.
Instead, less than prestigious regimes have taken the initiative that
logically belonged to the great power to help negotiate settlements
with Iran and Syria, in Lebanon with Hezbollah and in Palestine with
Hamas,
The
18 month political crisis in Lebanon, pitting the Western-backed
government against the Hezbollah-led opposition, ended
last April thanks to the Doha Agreement. Qatar — alongside the Arab
League and Syria — and not the U.S., helped broker a diplomatic
solution leading to the formation of a national unity government.
Under the agreement the opposition maintains its veto power over
cabinet decisions — fulfilling a key demand from Hezbollah. This
embarrassed Bush (thanks to his neocon strategy), who sought to
undermine Hezbollah’s power.
In
June, Egypt mediated a truce between Israel and Hamas, in which
Israel agreed to allow a limited flow of goods to and from Gaza, in
exchange for Hamas halting rocket attacks against Israeli targets.
The truce is fragile, but significantly, Israel recognized the
failure of the Bush administration and neocon approach to isolate
Hamas. As Menachem
Klein, a former nongovernmental Israeli negotiator,
stated,
“Israel is acknowledging, in effect, that its blockade has not
worked and Hamas is here to stay.” (Los
Angeles Times,
June 18, 2008)
The
Israelis also ignored Washington’s admonition about responding to
Syrian peace feelers. So, Israel turned to Turkey, leading to the
beginning of indirect talks between Syria and Israel. Even with many
neocons gone from the upper echelons, Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice could still not define a controlling U.S. space in the volatile
region. The members of this power-minded clique did their damage.
Even
in its own “backyard,” Washington has lost power and prestige.
The U.S. government pays hundreds of millions of dollars to Colombia
each year — using the never ending “war on drugs” as a pretext
— to insure Bogota’s minimal obeisance. Alan Garcia in Peru would
like to kiss U.S. butt; however, anti-U.S. sentiment prevents him
from fully bending over. In the rest of the lower continent, Fidel
Castro’s disciples run Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua.
In early August, President Evo Morales won an important referendum
against U.S.-backed elitists who wanted to divide — and then conquer
— Bolivia. More than 62 percent of voters in this Andean nation
ratified the mandate of Morales and his vice president, Alvaro
Garcia.
Castro’s
political cousins head governments in Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina,
Chile and Uruguay. Even Honduras and Guatemala have moved away from
U.S. control in Central America. Only El Salvador — polls show it
will change in the next year’s election — remains obedient.
Using
force and threat proved unsuccessful in the extreme. Bush’s
policies have made the world more dangerous. As grisly photos of the
Russian-Georgian conflict put new blemishes on TV screens, a neocon
who advised the Georgian government on its disastrous course emerges
as John McCain’s senior foreign policy adviser. Randy Scheunemann,
paid by Georgia for four years to lobby — until March 2008 — had
helped design the Iraq war strategy when he directed the Project for
a New American Century. He also assured them of U.S. support against
Russia. Like the other neocons, he assumed the façade of
toughness. When Russian planes and tanks hit, Bush sent humanitarian
aid to Tbilisi and made more empty threats to Moscow.
Given
Scheunemann’s — and fellow neocons — proven record of bungling, a
McCain victory presages a continuation of the course that has led the
country downhill. Imagine President McCain surrounded by neocons!
Wouldn’t it behoove the Obama campaign to publicly draw some
obvious lessons?
Saul
Landau is an Institute for Policy Studies fellow, author of A BUSH
AND BOTOX WORLD (A/K-Counterpunch) and producer of many films. See
http://roundworldproductions.com/Site/Films_by_Saul_Landau_on_DVD.html
Farrah
Hassen is the Carol Jean and Edward F. Newman Fellow at the Institute
for Policy Studies.
