The near-impossibility of helping the United States out of the mire in Iraq
EDITORIAL
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It has become frighteningly difficult to believe or even to try to convince others that the United States' heedless adventure in Iraq could lead to a happy ending. Of course, military supremacy remains in the hands of the occupying force, but the political - and above all the moral - credibility is spent. "Sovereignty" should pass to the Iraqis at the end of June, but already today the transfer of authority is understood as nothing more than an empty conjuring trick. It has not even been possible to agree on whom should take over the trappings of apparent power.
For the occupiers, supremacy without authority is already something of a worthless commodity. The forces themselves can no longer move on the highways of Iraq except in armoured columns. The reconstruction of the country should be put into high gear, and political life got onto a healthy footing for subsequent elections, but all the conditions for this seem to be lacking.
When the administration of George W. Bush has frittered away its most important expedients for the carrying out of the task it took on, the only alternative currently in play is to internationalise the crisis. This means that responsibility for the running of the transition period would be handed over to the United Nations. The maintenance of security could be entrusted to NATO, with troops from the United States joined by others from as many member-states as possible.
In theory the proposal is a good one. In reality its hour has probably passed. The security situation on the ground is so bad that only the power of the United States is sufficient any longer to protect an international interim administration. However, such an arrangement would take away any credibility and semblance of independence a UN-led caretaker government might enjoy. Washington is seeking to borrow international authority, but in practice even this would be laid waste in the wake of Washington’s own, which has already been destroyed
If the might of the United States and international legitimacy have become an impossible combination, from where can we seek a solution henceforth? In this situation the Bush administration must find its own way out of the catastrophe that it has wrought through its own blindness and repeated mistakes. There is every reason to help the United States, but all aid is somehow rendered useless before a fundamental political change has been made in Washington.
An ideal solution would probably be if Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld were to tender his immediate resignation and if President Bush were to admit the mistakes of the Iraq policy. The guiding of Iraq towards independence would be transferred into the hands of some non-partisan American enjoying general respect, who would then hurry forward the transfer of power - a real transfer and not an ostensible one - using all means available.
Naturally, no such scenario will be played out in the real world. The Bush government will cling doggedly to the occupation and to the shreds of its bankrupt policy until Election Day comes around in November.
The solution will then be solely in the hands of the U.S. voters, and the rest of the world will have to await the outcome of the election in an unusually heightened state of excitement. In the past few months we have seen the emergence on this side of the Atlantic of an ever-firmer conviction that the world’s only superpower now has its most hapless government in living memory.
Bush could naturally still win in November. Then we shall have to hope that against all the laws of probability he will be able to be born again and start afresh from the beginning.
Otherwise we shall find ourselves in the uncharted waters of a situation where the world has an overwhelming leader-state whose ability to lead is gravely weakened. Not even the most enthusiastic of neo-conservative ideologues in the United States could be expected to wish for such an outcome.
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 16.5.2004
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 18.5.2004 - THIS WEEK |
 The near-impossibility of helping the United States out of the mire in Iraq |
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