As those of you who’ve been around here for a while know, Irak is my home and has been such for a long time. Words such as hatred, and contempt, don’t even begin to describe the visceral loathing that Irakis feel for the American invaders who have turned their homeland into a wasteland. I suspect that Immanuel Wallerstein has, if anything , understated how things stand in his most recent commentary as it pertains to Irak. He does not however confine his analysis to Irak. In "The Firestorm Ahead" Wallerstein traces the likely collapse of American power throughout the Islamic world. As a firestorm starting with Irak, spreads to Afghanistan, from there to Pakistan, and finally to Palestine.
I’ll confine myself to remarking that when it comes to America’s relations with the Dar-al-Islam Wallerstein has been right far more often than he’s been wrong:
Let us start with Iraq. The United States has signed a Statu s of Forces Agreement (SOFA) with Iraq, which went into effect on July 1. It provided for turning over internal security to the Iraqi government and, in theory, essentially restricting U.S. forces to their bases and to some limited role in training Iraqi troops. Some of the wording of this agreement is ambiguous. Deliberately so, since that was the only way both sides would sign it.
Even the first months of operation show how poorly this agreement is operating. The Iraqi forces have been interpreting it very strictly, formally forbidding both joint patrols and also any unilateral U.S. military actions without prior detailed clearance with the government. It has gotten to the point that Iraqi forces are stopping U.S. forces from passing checkpoints with supplies during daytime hours.
[snip]
The United States thought it was very clever in persuading al-Maliki to postpone this referendum to January 2010. Now it will be held in conjunction with the national elections. In the national elections, everyone will be seeking to obtain votes. No one is going to be campaigning in favor of a "yes" vote on the referendum. Lest this be in any doubt, al-Maliki is submitting a project to the Iraqi parliament that will permit a simple majority of "no" votes to annul the agreement. There will be a majority of "no" votes. There may even be an overwhelming majority of "no" votes. Odierno should be packing his bags now. I’ll bet he still has the illusion that he can avoid the onset of the firestorm. He can’t.
[snip]
The whole Obama program will have gone up in flames. And the Republicans will make hay with it. They will call U.S. defeat in the Middle East "betrayal" and it is obvious now that there is a large group inside the United States very receptive to such a theme.
One either anticipates firestorms and does something useful, or one gets swept up in them.
Read in full: I. Wallerstein, 264, "The Firestorm Ahead"
markfromireland
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So what useful thing are you personally going to do? And when?
mfi
i was thinking of using control of the weather to make it rain for 40 days and 40 nights, if that dosent work i might use my heat vision to raise the temperature of the earths mantle to start earth quakes and volcanic eruptions, or fly around the earth backwards at light speed to turn back time. if none of those things bring us together as a people to overcome our shared problems, i will continue to work with other people of good will, educating ourselves and talking to others that will listen. Perhaps work to get a “liberal” candidate elected president. You know ,someone who will promise to end the wars of occupation and do things democraticly, THAT ought to do the trick.
You’re right!!!!!
THAT ought indeed to do the trick!!!!!!!!!!
ummmmmm … … …
What about the pony?
Keep pushing on the blogs to get out of Iraq and Afghanistan I don’t see what good we are doing by staying. A fair peace in Israel will tone down the anger hopefully.
As far as American power in the area staying drains our money and makes us weaker leaving now and makes us stronger.
Pushing to use less oil the GM Volt makes us less dependent on oil now we just need to make more of them a Cash for Clunkers plan for the Volt should help.
The less oil we need the less reason to send troops in the future. Nissan should have an all electric car out soon Denmark and Israel are already building charging stations.
i’m open to suggestions
“So what useful thing are you personally going to do?” ; if I told you here I have to kill you. *G*
You know i apoligise for the smary response, i just cant be trusted in an adult conversation. Its difficult for us here in the belly of Monopoly capitalist imperialism, the U.S.A Inc. I have completely lost any naive belief that the Democratic party can be a vehicle for authentic, revolutionary change, and thats what we are expecting from it. We are asking the imperialists to listen to the wisdom and righteousness of our arguments for peace and justice. I think its safe to say, they arent paying attention, and they dont care. When I see what trade unions in Europe are doing with the boycotts of Isreal, factory occupations, It puts us to shame. Maybe we should stop electing Democrats. The mood got very change-ey after 8 years of republican fascism lite. maybe thats what we need. No more tailing, no more selling out real struggle for some feel good moments every few years. Obama never promised to be anti-imperialist, so i guess its not rational for us to hope that he would be.
You dont need to apologize. We are all incredibly frustrated and very near the end of our philosophical ropes.
I have thought for a long time that it had to get Much worse before it could get better. And I feel like Obama is a digression. Personally, when I never heard him even asked a question about the War on Terror and give anything like a decent answer, I just voted for Nader.
You have every right to feel as you do and say so.
Our dear Irish-Iraki friend doesnt have to do anything personally. He has a great insight on this that is valuable to us.
I live out of the US and have for over 10 years, but I still feel involved. Two countries I live in are Moslem. Morocco and Senegal. Trust Irish John. I do.
That would be a biggie.
One thing I can’t understand: How Ahmad Chalabi manages to survive, even after screwing over his main patrons. Then again, his main patrons are in Teheran, and they’ve got to be quite happy with how messed up Iraq is.
I don’t see the problem, folks. If we’re voted out, we’re voted out. Why do we have to be there? They have no “WMD.” They’re an independent nation. They hate us because we made a desolation and called it peace. So they send us home. Obama can say we won. We made them self-sufficient. Saddam is gone. Obama, by working with Maliki, got us out of there. If Odierno doesn’t like it, too bad. Maybe when we get out we won’t have so much moaning over here about the cost of health care reform. If we get thrown out, our boys are out of danger. Hell, it’s all good.
Well, the problem is that if we leave because we want to and because we said we would, that’ll mean that it’s harder to pretend that we were driven out.
I do, but I wish right now that my Irish great gradparents had just decided to make a go of it back home and not come here at all. I feel deeply ashamed of this country right now, and I am old enough to remember when even someone as cool as John Lenon thought this was the place to be. I miss my grandfathers honest, rock hard generation,i miss my parents optimism and faith in decency, i miss the hippies of my childhood and REALLY good music. This place sucks and it just seems to get worse every year.
I’m gonna keep doing what I’ve been doing since late 2002. Our not-so-highly publicized protests locally have devolved into a struggle to keep a sidewalk under the public domain. There are, however, in-person visits to the local offices of our so-called representatives, letters to the editor, emails and calls to Reps, Senators and the WH. Yes, I know these people pay little attention to our desires in this fiasco but at least it tells them we’re not going away and that we know they’re supporting unwinnable wars. Thanks for the heads up on this excellent post, mark.