Excellent article from the Guardian on Iraq by Polly Toynbee...

[flpoljunkie]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1214642,00.html

Polly Toynbee
Wednesday May 12, 2004
The Guardian

Iraq is near meltdown. The White House and Downing Street seem transfixed in a state of denial, incapable even of damage limitation. The UN - the last best chance - is on the brink of walking away from Iraq, leaving Bush and Blair to reap the whirlwind they have sown.

Iraq inhabits a political and legal void with a foreign force failing to keep basic order. A few days ago, supply convoys carrying food for US forces couldn't get through to Baghdad, leaving troops on hard rations. Americans and their troops have long been barricaded in, apart from heavily armoured sorties. Western journalists can no longer operate: as Jonathan Steele eloquently described, even the most battle-hardened are holed up, relying on Iraqi journalists' reports. Showing a western face is too dangerous.

On June 30, the fabled handover of sovereignty is to take place. In Washington they are clinging to the mantra that this marks a turning point, with no reason why things should get better. It's only six weeks away, but there is still no plan, not a single piece of paper yet describing exactly what powers are being transferred to whom. Who will these 10,000 prisoners belong to? How much of the oil revenues will flow directly into the interim government? Who will the new government be?

Lakhdar Brahimi, the UN special representative, was sent to Iraq to ease the passage to democracy much against his will. With his arm twisted by Kofi Annan and George Bush, he reluctantly agreed but warned of the risk of ensnaring the UN in this ill-fated US/UK adventure. As the murder of its previous envoy showed, the UN is unloved in a country that suffered 12 years of corruptly administered UN sanctions. Brahimi warned that the US would never hand over enough power to make a truly independent UN intervention possible. He was right. Now, according to Tony Blair's close advisers, he is about to walk away from Iraq, leaving Britain and America alone to stew after June 30.

more...

[bemildred]

1. Nice rant.

I just want to point out that there is no reason at all to expect
that these idiots will suddenly get things right and somehow "fix
Iraq", and the delusion that the UN is some sort of "last best
hope" is coming from the same people who will digress at length
on the corruption and futility of the UN. There is only one
solution: to allow the Iraqis to sort out their own business without
outside interference, offering such help as they might find useful.
In a generation or two there should be a relatively stable political
situation there if we "stay the course" and don't meddle.

[Jack Rabbit]

2. The Orwellian use of the word "sovereignty"

From Ms. Toynbee's piece:

Brahimi is struggling with Paul Bremer, the US governing power, over what sovereignty is to be handed over in June. He plans a government led by an honorary triumvirate, but run by technocrats not planning to stand for office, a nascent civil service. But Bremer is resisting Brahimi's attempts to disband all members of the present discredited governing council, dominated by the likes of Ahmed Chalabi, who have been running the country on networks of patronage and nepotism. Now only real power will convince Iraqis they are no longer occupied, but Bremer is denying the interim government the right to make new laws. It is unclear how much of the oil money the new government will control: the US is keeping the strings tightly drawn, according to Dr Toby Dodge, Iraq expert and author of Inventing Iraq: The Failure of Nation Building and a History Denied.
The interim government will not even control its own armed forces, let alone US/UK armies. Robin Cook points out that contracts have been placed for the building of 14 "enduring" US bases. Since Donald Rumsfeld closed US bases in Saudi Arabia it is not surprising Iraqis fear the US never means to leave Iraq. As his ratings fall, the Bush doctrine is giving way to emergency expediency, yet Rumsfeld true-believers still see Iraq as the centre of future US power in the Middle East. Iraqis can be glad Saddam has gone, yet hate the invader too.

Some sovereignty, that.

[bemildred]

3. Well, there is no coherent plan, nothing.

Never has been, these people could not manage a hotdog stand.
The entire "strategy" now is to throw up lots of blather and cling
to those things they really wanted all along, the bases, the oil,
and hope someone gets tired of the mess and bails them out or
gives up.