The American Empire unfolds

[ciphergoth]

from jwz

The US is abandoning plans to introduce democracy in Iraq after a war to overthrow Saddam Hussein, according to Kurdish leaders who recently met American officials. The Kurds say the decision resulted from pressure from US allies in the Middle East who fear a war will lead to radical political change in the region. The Kurdish leaders are enraged by an American plan to occupy Iraq but largely retain the government in Baghdad. The only changes would be the replacement of President Saddam and his lieutenants with senior US military officers. [...]

-- The Independent, 17 February 2003 (this LJ comment makes a strong counter-case though)

If true, this provides evidence that the basis of Bush's strategy is a 2000 document by deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz and other Bush administration luminaries arguing that "The United States will require bases and stations within and beyond Western Europe and Northeast Asia"

Comments

The oil still makes more sense

[pavlos.livejournal.com]

The latter reference is chilling. It basically says: "We Americans are now in a position to dominate the world, beat up anyone who thinks of resisting, and once in place take away any resources that we wish. We should democratically choose to do it, because it's a shame not to. It would be so nice for us!". Honestly, someone should nuke them while there is still time.

I agree that to some extent the US makes wars in order to consolidate its power, but its power is not an end in itself. The hawks have managed to so scare themselves and the population that they may think power is an end in itself ("security") but there's more to it. The two economic reasons for the US having wars are:

• To prevent and intimidate economic development that's not controlled by US capitalism, as in Korea, Vietnam, Cuba, all of Latin America, and Yugoslavia.
• To control specific resources, as in Iran (the Shah), the Gulf War, Libya, Panama, Indonesia, Afghanistan, and Venezuela. I may have missed someone.

So, I don't think Iraq is threatening to flourish as a socialist non-aligned state. The US already has quite adequate bases in Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan, although it's true that these nations are not 100% easy to control. Currently, French oil companies have the exploitation rights to Iraqi oil, and therefore selling it is embargoed until the US can do something about it. I predict that the US will succesfully invade Iraq, cause minimal change in the administration, and secure the oil rights for US companies, after which the sanctions will be quickly lifted.

What worries me is why they are doing this at all. With the oil being embargoed, they are under no competitive threat. If they want it now, rather than later, they're either very greedy or there's an upcoming energy-related economic crisis.

Pavlos