Agence Global - Article

Agence Global - Article: "The United States has no Contract with Iraq
by William O. BeemanReleased: 8 Apr 2004


Suddenly Iraq has exploded in our face, and the White House has no plan to contain the violence. The Bush administration can speak all it wants to about Al-Qaeda, the world terrorist threat, and the holy mission of democratizing Iraq, but the plain truth is that America has failed in Iraq because our officials have failed at grass roots politics.

The United States has established no social contract with the Iraqi people and thus it has no authority to lead. It is no surprise, therefore, that our troops are fair game on all fronts.

The Bush Administration continues to maintain a mythology: that those attacking American troops are a monolithic enemy spurred on by 'external forces.' 'We1re not going to be intimidated by thugs and assassins,' announced President Bush in a speech on April 6.

These are brave words, but merely labeling all the attackers with a single set of adjectives does not establish them as a unified group. In fact, it hinders creating an effective defense, by blurring the lines that separate the attackers. These attackers belong to disparate, unconnected groups whose concerns are local. Moreover, they are unmotivated and unaffected by the likes of Osama bin Laden.

So now Iraq is a free-for-all. Different groups are attacking the United States for completely different reasons. They are even attacking the United States as a vehicle for weakening each other in a prelude to what appears to be a potential civil war. Though their motives differ, the groups are unified in one sense: each individual group views their attacks on the United States as justified, if not admirable.

The attacks in the Sunni Arab towns of Ramadi (Ramadiyah) and Falluja bear all the cultural marks of "