People's Democracy

      Iraq:  Farce of Transfer of Sovereignty

 Prakash Karat

THE stage is set for the second chapter of the American occupation. After fourteen months of direct military rule, President Bush has promised to hand over sovereignty to the Iraqi people on June 30. This is nothing but a farcical transfer of power to a handpicked interim government. The 138,000 American troops will remain. In fact the plan envisages they stay till January 2006, when an elected government can decide whether they want to keep them or not. Elections for a transitional assembly, which will draft a new constitution, are expected to be held by January 2005. 

The US government faced with increasing resistance from all sections of the Iraqi people was forced to approach the United Nations, after having rudely spurned any role for it when it decided to invade Iraq. The UN was drafted to help provide legitimacy to the transition to an Iraqi face for the occupation. The UN envoy to Iraq, Lakhdar Brahimi, was dispatched to talk to different sections of Iraqi society to select the personnel to man the interim government. But what this exercise revealed was the cosmetic role of the UN and the stark reality of who calls the actual shots in Iraq today.

The manner in which the prime minister of the interim government was announced made this clear to all. Iyad Alawi, a member of the puppet governing council set-up by the Americans after last year’s occupation, has been named the prime minister. By his own admission, Alawi maintains close links with CIA and the MI6 intelligence agencies. He is what the CIA calls their “asset”. Brahimi was not even informed about the choice made by Paul Bremer, the US pro-consul, till the announcement. This led Brahimi to wryly comment that, “Mr. Bremer is the dictator of Iraq. He has the money. He has the signature. Nothing happens without his agreement in this country.”

The interim government is to have a president, two vice-presidents and a 26-member cabinet apart from the prime minister. The post of president is titular. But even for this post, the Americans chose from their governing council, a tribal chief Sheik Gazi al-Yavar. Finally the shape of this handpicked government will be that of a bargain between the Americans and their own creature, the governing council. There will be no major independent figure in the government. This shows the level of credibility and legitimacy the American backed set-up has among the people.

The hurried manoeuvres to install a pliable interim government has led to the downfall of one of America’s favourite henchman, Ahmad Chalabi. This Pentagon favourite had nursed ambitions to be the future leader of an American satellite regime. The Defence Intelligence Agency of the Pentagon was paying him $ 335,000 a month in the name of collecting intelligence. His outfit, the Iraqi National Congress, had received $33 million from the State department over the years. Such a trusted lackey suddenly found himself a target of American ire. His monthly allowance has been stopped.  His office and house were raided by US troops to search for evidence of fraud, embezzlement and other criminal activities by his organisation.  Chalabi was accused of passing on intelligence to the Iranian government. The cause of the falling out was Chalabi’s increasing disenchantment with the Americans who began relying on other Shia leaders and projecting them for leadership. This episode exposed the true nature of the “leaders” foisted on the Iraqi people in the name of the governing council.

While Bush and his cohorts were frantically putting together this bogus transfer of power, the resistance to the occupation has intensified steadily.  Bush stands thoroughly exposed. The horrific pictures of torture and abuse from the Abu Ghraib prison have only confirmed the true nature of the occupation. The Americans see the Iraqis as people of a lower order, fit for humiliation and inhuman treatment. The CIA chief, George Tenet, has resigned as a sacrificial goat for the faulty ‘intelligence” provided on the so-called weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The ratings of Bush have reached the lowest point ever in his presidency. The New York Times has in an editorial stated that the “sovereignty” for Iraq has little substance and “the president has no coherent plan to create the security and political trust required to negotiate a constitution and hold fair elections.” This is from a newspaper, which backed the military invasion of Iraq.

The US was faced with uprisings in the north by the Sunnis and in south by the Shias in April. After killing over 600 people, the US military command was compelled to negotiate a truce in Falluja and allow a former Baathist general to assume command there without suppressing the militia fighting the Americans. Similarly in Najaf, the US military was forced to negotiate with the Mahdi militia of the Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. They had to drop the idea of arresting him and allow his militia to remain intact after withdrawing from the streets of Najaf. Till June 7, 690 American soldiers were killed since the declaration that major combat had ended. Another 110 soldiers of America’s allies have also died. 

The second stage of the US occupation is thus one in which the US regime is considerably weakened. The armed resistance will remain undisturbed to continue their operations and under the so-called interim government, the struggle will continue. After the withdrawal of the 1300 Spanish troops, smaller contingents from Honduras, Dominican Republic and Nicaragua have left. The US plans to plunder Iraq through its economic stranglehold is also jeopardized by the inability to protect the US companies. The plan to deploy mercenaries on a large-scale as a private security force is also under threat with the resistance targeting these men.

The United Nations Security Council has passed a resolution approving the plan to transfer power to an interim set-up and for establishment of a multinational force to ensure security. But this multinational force will be under US command and consist mainly of US troops and a few from its allies. On the ground there will be no change. Though France, Russia and China got the resolution amended to state that the multinational troops can be withdrawn if so decided by the interim government, there is no chance of such a thing happening with the puppet regime in place. In fact the governing council members have already ruled out any such move in the future. The hard truth is that the American troops are required to protect its chosen government from the popular uprising. The tame manner in which the UN has gone along with the US plan has further undermined the credibility of the UN and its Secretary General.

The Americans have already lost the war to convert Iraq into a pacified “democracy” to be run by a client regime. The long term goal of Bush and the extreme rightwing of the ruling circles to make Iraq a show-piece for “democracy” and thereafter reorder the Middle East to suit American imperial ambitions is in shambles. This has been accomplished by the heroic resistance which various streams of the Iraqi people have conducted. Under the shadow of the world’s most powerful military machine, this is a historic event at the beginning of the 21st century which underscores one of the major lessons of the 20th century: No imperialism, however powerful, can subjugate a people for long. While the Americans have lost out on their strategic long term plans, Iraq is still faced in the immediate future with the grim consequences of foreign military occupation. The UN may approve the interim government and a multinational force under US command. But the struggle to end once and for all the American occupation will continue.  Much more sacrifices are called for from the Iraqi people. It is the duty of all the progressive and anti-imperialist forces around the world to intensify their activities to support the Iraqi resistance and to force the governments of each of their countries to reject any form of cooperation with the USA in its criminal enterprise in Iraq. 

The Indian people in the Lok Sabha elections gave an unmistakable verdict.  They want a government, which refuses to go along with America’s arrogant imperialist ambitions. Just before being voted out of office, the deputy prime minister, L K Advani said the torture of prisoners in Abu Ghraib prison is “an internal affair” of the United States. For Advani, Iraq is just another province of the US empire. The people’s verdict must find clear expression in the coming days through the actions of the Manmohan Singh government. It must disassociate from the craven stance of the Vajpayee government.  India cannot be part of the US enterprise in Iraq. It must stand for the immediate end of the occupation and the withdrawal of US troops. There has to be a UN interim administration with a multinational force under it to prepare for the genuine transfer of sovereignty to the Iraqi people.