Bidens hensigtserklæring

Obama har valgt Joe Biden til sin vicepræsidentkandidat. Biden hyldes som ekspert i udenrigspolitik, selv om han trådte i den irakiske spinat lige så grundigt som McCain. Og hvis man ikke engang kunne se hvor dårlig en idé invasionen var, så fortjener man ikke prædikatet "ekspert". Det var Obama, der havde ret, erfaring eller ej. Men i DC er refleksiv krigslyst et tegn på styrke; ergo er Obama svag i udenrigspolitik, og Biden stærk.

Når jeg tænker på Bidens udenrigspolitiske kunnen, tænker jeg først og fremmest på Biden-Hashemi-resolutionen: Et forslag om et føderalt Irak i tre regioner, som Biden kaldte "blød opdeling". Det blev vedtaget i Senatet (hægtet på noget af forsvarsbudgettet), som en tilkendegivelse af Senatets ønske. En ren symbolsk lov, uskyldig og uskadelig, og del af Bidens egen præsidentkampagne: Forslaget skulle vise vælgerne Bidens vej ud af det irakiske morads.

Nej, uskadeligt var forslaget ikke: Symboler er jo tegn på hensigt, og vægtigere, når man er besættelsesmagten. En af de arabiske sammensværgelsesteorier om invasionen af Irak var netop, at USA gjorde det for at skære den største trussel mod Israel i stykker (uanset hvor kastreret Irak var i virkeligheden). Dette sagde Marc Lynch om sagen:

As meaningless, non-binding symbolic Senate resolutions go, Joe Biden just managed a doozy. By passing with 75 votes a meaningless, non-binding symbolic Senate resolution in favor of the partition of Iraq, Biden managed to simultaneously: infuriate nearly all Iraqis, who have virtually unanimously condemned the resolution (as have the Arab allies of the US, for that matter); let Senate Republicans off the hook by allowing them to say that they voted for change even though they continue to vote against anything real; and endorse an unworkable plan which would massively increase human suffering while working against American interests in the region and not actually solving the problems.

Reidar Visser:

It does not bode well for the future that the potential successors to President Bush seem to converge on a scheme that would be even more unpalatable to the Muslim world than Washington’s current policy. True, Bush invaded Iraq, and Paul Bremer weakened the country severely. There are worrying signs that some in the State Department, like Ryan Crocker, are already indistinguishable from Biden by tirelessly “encouraging” Sunnis to think in terms of federalism. But if his partition plans were implemented, Joe Biden would be remembered by Muslims and Arabs around the world in an altogether different way. He would be considered alongside other historical personalities who routinely are being accused by Middle Easterners for having destroyed their region completely: Arthur Balfour, Mark Sykes and Francois Georges-Picot.

Så klogere er Biden ikke. Men skidt med det; forslaget er forlængst glemt, og verden gået videre. Videre til et Irak, hvor de selvsamme shi'a-arabiske politikere, der dengang harcelerede over Biden-Hashemi-forslaget, er i gang med at føre det ud i livet:

An emboldened Iraqi government has launched an aggressive campaign to disband a U.S.-funded force of Sunni Arab fighters that has been key to Iraq's fragile peace, arresting prominent members and sending others into hiding or exile as their former patrons in the American military reluctantly stand by.

The Shiite Muslim-led government has long distrusted the fighters, many of whom are former insurgents. Senior Shiite politicians label some of the members murderers, and warn that there is no long-term obligation to employ them after their units are disbanded.

Den sunni-arabiske styrke, som al-Maliki vil opløse, er selvfølgelig Vækkelsen og Iraks Sønner, hvis skabelse var en af de største grunde til nedgangen i volden i sidste halvdel af 2007. Bevægelsens opløsning vil åbenbart ske i juni 2009, hvor den irakiske stat overdrages ansvaret for de sunni-arabiske militser af USA. Det er samme dato, hvor USAs styrker, ifølge den nyforhandlede SOFA, skal forlade deres faste poster i Iraks byer. USA vil til den tid have overdraget Iraks regering alle data om sunni-militsernes medlemmer, inkl. navne og bosteder. Så kan vi jo regne resten ud.

Alt dette understreger kun hvor hyklerisk irakisk nationalisme tit er. Biden-Hashemi brød et irakisk tabu, men hensigtserklæringen var ikke på det amerikanske senats vegne; den var på den irakiske regerings.

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Måske Biden-Hashemi var omvendt psykologi?

Ezzet al-Shabender, a member of parliament from the secularist Iraqi List of former prime minister Ayad Allawi, actually credited the broad-based disgust triggered by Biden's proposal for helping Iraqi politicians bury their differences.

"His project was the reason behind the unity of many political blocs that once differed in viewpoints," he said, comparing it to the Balfour Declaration, a 1917 British note that backed the creation of Israel and is regarded across the Arab world as the ultimate colonial injustice.

Bury their differences along with the bodies.