Resurrecting Empire: U.S. Policy in the Middle East
A lecture by Dr. Rashid Khalidi
February 27, 2005
Summary by Phoebe Hoss
On Sunday, February 27, Dr. Rashid Khalidi, Edward Said Professor at Columbia University, author of Resurrecting Empire: U.S. Policy in the Middle East , and a nationally recognized authority on the history of the Middle East, spoke to us about current U.S. policy there. His talk forcefully highlighted issues of great concern to us as American citizens: How Iraqis view our invasion of their country; how they view us in context of current events; as well as issues of democracy in the Middle East, and oil.
The heart of Dr. Khalidi's message was the necessity for Americans to recognize that, just as we perceive events that immediately affect us in terms of our history (Bunker Hill, Valley Forge, etc.), so do the Iraqis perceive American intervention in terms of theirs. In this light, our occupation of Iraq is an all too familiar aspect of a 200-year history of that nation's occupation by other Western powers. In each of these interventions, including ours, the invader has come with a message of liberation but remained to dominate.
Up until the 1960s, the U.S. was celebrated in the Middle East as a non-colonial and anti-colonial power and admired for our educational, medical, and charity efforts. That all changed when the U.S. began to support not only antidemocratic regimes but also the attempts of former colonial powers to suppress democratic movements. Although Middle Easterners like our freedom and our ideals, they see the U.S. as hypocritical and increasingly stepping into the boots of the old colonial powers.
Today our "willfully wrong policy" has had these dire consequences: The Iraqis are miserable. Tens of thousand of Iraqis have been killed. There is real danger of sectarian war. Increasingly lost to the world are ancient, irreplaceable artifacts, the rampant pilfering of which we do nothing to stop. A clear majority of Iraqis don't want us in their country. If we remain, 80 U.S. soldiers will die each month, and hundreds will be wounded. What right, he asked, do we have to do this?
As for democracy in the Middle East. it has been little recognized in the West, or covered by the media, that there have been native movements for democracies in various countries of the Middle East, including Iraq - all suppressed by Western powers and/or the U.S.
As for oil, for 70 years after it was discovered in 1901, the Arabs had no control over it. Although we pay for it, our prices are low, dictated by the oil companies with major concessions. Owing to their vast deposits of oil, North Africa and the Middle East are the most strategic areas in the world. The demand for oil will only increase, with China and India's need for it. The objective of the Bush administration over the long term is to have a strategic advantage over both those countries. The fact that the U.S. refuses to heed opposing opinions is a recipe for more confrontation.
The Q&A session had some thoughtful questions and responses. They included:
What would be a wise U.S. policy in the Middle East?
To live according to our ideals and apply the same standards to all countries - not cozy up to Libya, say, but threaten Syria, both of them major human rights violators.
- To reconsider our need for bases in this region. The Pentagon is building 16 military facilities in out-of-the-way places in Iraq.
- Give up privileged access to Iraq's oil.
- Have a clear schedule for troop withdrawal.
Corporate media limits access to information in this country. How does this work in Iraq?
-
Diverse points of view are available all over the region via satellite TV, which people hook up ingeniously to circumvent media monopoly of the government.
What about the role of Israel?
-
U.S. support of Israel is important. The Palestine issue today ranks as the highest issue in Europe owing to our biased stand.
What about Syria?
-
The U.S. is moving slowly on a collision course with Syria: owing to the Syrian support for the insurgency in Iraq and for the people we've nominated as terrorists.
What about Iran?
-
Although there are in our government ferocious advocates of action against Iran, Dr. Khalidi doesn't think we have decided what to do. It would be a "catastrophic mistake" to attack Iran.
What about the Kurds?
-
As for the Kurds, they have been betrayed by every foreign power with which they allied themselves in the 20th century. They have powerful aspirations. Most of them are in Turkey. Ideally, they'll get federalism in Iraq with some autonomy.
|
|
