Our friend the Norwegian expert Reidar Visser is notably not a supporter of the idea of splitting up Iraq. Now, he has an excellent review on the History News Network of Peter Galbraith’s recent book, The End of Iraq: How American Incompetence Created a War without End.
On his own website, Visser gives his review the title, Divide and Rejoice – Why Are Western Intellectuals so Enamoured with the Idea of a Fragmented Iraq? Sadly, though, that title didn’t make it to the HNN webpage.
He writes this about Galbraith’s book:
- Chapter 8, “Kurdistan,” is by far the most interesting part of the book – not primarily for what it says about that area, but for its blunt and autobiographical account of how a US intellectual became deeply engaged in fuelling Kurdish ideas about breaking ranks with the rest of Iraq. In considerable detail Galbraith explains how he personally fostered many of the specific Kurdish demands for federalism, including principles which in one form or another would later find their way into the current Iraqi constitution… Galbraith provides an amazingly frank account of how he himself played a central role in framing the Kurdish elites’ demands on the center, even impelling them at certain junctures when he found them to have “conceptual problems” (p. 160). He sounds distinctly satisfied about the severe restrictions placed on the central government in the final constitution, … and he cheerfully recounts how he himself contributed to upholding the restraints on the center during the tense final stages of the charter negotiations (by warning off British officials who seemingly intended to raise alarms about the limited tax powers of the central government, p. 199, footnote).
… It is on the basis of the pro-Kurdish, pro-partition views expressed in chapter 8 that Galbraith’s general reading of Iraqi history and society as well as some of the oddities in the book must be understood. Galbraith is at pains to render Iraq as an “artificial” and highly fissile construct. Indeed, he accuses his political opponents of “a misreading of Iraq’s modern history” (p. 206). But as soon as he moves beyond his particular area of expertise – the Kurdish north – the narrative becomes less convincing and the arguments more strained.
… Galbraith seems to have scant interest in … examples of ethno-religious coexistence and reconciliation; instead he mocks anyone who shows interest in keeping Iraq unified. He roundly condemns the Bush administration for the heinous crime of trying to secure a “non-ethnic Iraq” (p. 166) and castigates them for speaking of an “Iraqi people, as if there were a single people akin to the French or even the American people” (p. 83). But he fails to provide any historically convincing justification for his own quantum leap from diagnosing a state of civil strife to prescribing territorial, segregationist solutions. That lack of historical perspective is a serious problem, because it precludes the writer from distinguishing between societies that are chronically unstable and those that experience a serious but reversible flare-up of civic violence. It should serve as a reminder to Galbraith that his claims about Kurdish leader’s anti-Iraq attitudes cannot possibly be repeated with regard to Sunni and Shiite elites, and that, despite the ongoing horrific violence, large masses of Iraqis, certainly in the Arab areas, continue to demand a “national Iraqi” army, a “national Iraqi” oil distribution policy, and a meaningful role for Baghdad as capital.
But Galbraith has already made up his mind. His “solution” – the “three state solution” – is covered in chapters 10 and 11 and may be what many readers of this book are really interested in. Such a territorial solution of separating Kurds, Sunni Arabs, and Shiite Arabs may appear superficially attractive to Democratic and liberal audiences in the United States, simply by offering a clear-cut alternative to Bush’s Iraq policy. Instead of semantic fidgeting with “timetables for withdrawals,” “threats of withdrawal” or “deadlines for withdrawal,” partition may come across as an innovative, hands-on approach that can mark a clear alternative to the line of the current administration. (If implemented it could also be trumpeted as ultimate evidence that everything the Republicans ever did in Iraq was profoundly misguided.) In short, after years of Democratic discomfiture over an Iraq situation where criticism of US policy always risked being deemed unpatriotic, partition schemes may now give the impression of being deliciously refreshing. That is also why they are particularly worrying, first and foremost for the Iraqi people who would experience an exacerbation of ethno-religious conflict instead of its reversal, but also as precedents that could lead to the dismantling of multi-ethnic polities elsewhere in the world. What a sad prospect it would be to have a twenty-first century agenda in international politics dominated by an uninspired revival of First World War ideas about ethno-religious self-determination – all as the result of the opposition’s scrabbling around for a vote-winning US foreign policy.
This is a very astutely written review. What Visser describes in that last paragraph there seems like a real and very worrying possibility. I certainly hope that not too many US pols– Democratic or Republican– get distracted from the need to withdraw the US military speedily and completely from Iraq by some imperialistic, “let’s redraw these maps” desire to break Iraq up into separate statelets. But of course, we know already that there are a number of influential people like Les Gelb and P. Galbraith who would love to do just that. And we should also know that there are many, many more people in the imperialistic camp in the US who would like to do whatever they can to try to keep the fires of intra-Muslim competition and hatred well stoked… And the plan to divide Iraq into three mutually warring statelets could certainly serve them well.
Divide and rule, anyone?
I have heard a couple of interviews with Galbraith, and I was distinctly unimpressed with his self-proclaimed “expertise”. He struck me as just another case of “a little knowledge is a dangerous thing”. In fact, he may have a little – very little – real knowledge, but mostly it looks to me as if his head is filled mostly with nonsense designed to support what he has already decided. Maybe if I read the book I would find him more knowledgeable, at least about the Kurds, than he appeared to be, but I rather doubt it.
I will look forward to reading the whole review, which I simply do not have the energy for at the moment.
PS Not all Iraqi Kurds believe that separation from Iraq is in their best interest – I do not. And certainly the Kurds living outside of Kurdistan, of which there are many, many, many, especially in Baghdad have not been consulted. Further, I can only think of one Kurd I have ever known or spoken to who is not very unhappy with the two corrupt mafia bosses who are called the “Kurdish leaders”. Granted, my contacts are not a representative sample, but they represent a rather wide and diverse network. Does Galbraith know how Kurds – at least the urban educated ones – feel about their so-called leaders? I did not get the impression that he does.
Is there such a creature as an “Iraqi” or do they self-identify as Sunni, Shiite, or Kurd? Admittedly, the identification as Kurd raises problems with Turkey, Iran, and Syria. Not to mention the divisions within the Kurdish community itself. Why, oh why, did the Lord put our oil under their sand?
Helena,
“let’s redraw these maps”
What the difference now?
In 1900, WWI the west divided and shared the Arab Land creating borders and creating states. It’s never been any borders that restricted the Arabs who speak same language, same blood and all related to same tribes to move and live on their land from Morocco far West to the Arabian Gulf East.
What your objection here for new “redraw these maps”?
Nothing makes any surprised or doubts if they like it, they will do it.
It’s very nice and peace of mind to control scattered Sheikhs “مشيخات” by creating differences and bring down states to be small Kenton easy to rule by sheikhs like Kuwait or Qatar or Bahrain and so on….
Alan Coltharp,
Is there such a creature as an “Iraqi”
Grow up Alan, if there is “a creature”, you and those who think like you…
Why, oh why, did the Lord put our oil under their sand?
Oh my God, hop God will give you same as Iraq ………
You should pay for your needs you can not steal others belongings…
H.L. Mencken is supposed to have said something like “For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong.”
I think that’s the appeal. It gives a simple explanation for ‘what’s wrong with Iraq’, and an apparently simple solution.
‘what’s wrong with Iraq’,,
There is nothing wrong with Iraq.
To correct you and those who think as same as you, the “Amaricans” did wrong with Iraq and Iraqis.
How short memories some have here, how fast all those acts forgotten, who start the differences in Iraq?
Its American failure of policies in Iraq.
What about the gang in South America and the chaos created by US, what is happens in Iraq its the deployments same failed polices that use before in many places in Philippines and Vietnam and S. America, and those group of Salvador Advisors lead by John Negroponty those the team of Chose and killers of US teams whom responsible what went wrong in Iraq.
There is nothing wrong with Iraq.
Iraq is a utopia? The only society on our suffering globe with absolutely wrong with it? Please.
To correct you and those who think as same as you, the “Americans” did wrong with Iraq and Iraqis.
I don’t disagree with that, so I don’t understand how it’s a correction.
Would you like to explain how you imagine I think?
It’s never been any borders that restricted the Arabs who speak same language, same blood and all related to same tribes to move and live on their land from Morocco far West to the Arabian Gulf East.
Salah, if I read you correctly, you’re saying that there is only one Arab state – from the Ocean to the Gulf, so to speak. If that is what you meant to say, then I say in all seriousness that I commend you on your honesty, and that you are probably the most honest person on this board.
Salah if you dont want JES to keep paying you the silver tongued compliments for which he and his compatriots here are rightly famed please could you advise what your personal view is on negotiating any permanent borders for Israel. Seriously though, do you believe such a thing could still be done?
In 1900, WWI the west divided and shared the Arab Land creating borders and creating states. It’s never been any borders that restricted the Arabs . . .
I think that’s mainly because the settled areas are separated by deserts. For the Ottomans and others who ruled in those lands, it wasn’t worth the trouble to chase the bedouins around the deserts to collect taxes from them, so there was no need to formally demarcate borders.
“Operation Together Forward is designed to show Iraqis that their local forces are taking charge. But police commandos stationed between two rebel strongholds seemed in little mood to fight insurgents who have killed thousands of their comrades.”
“This morning they fired on us during a patrol and I shot back. Now I have to pay for some bullets because I fired too many. It’s an Interior Ministry rule. I just want to go back to my hometown,” he complained.”
http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-08-25T145552Z_01_L25198918_RTRUKOC_0_US-IRAQ-BAGHDAD.xml&pageNumber=1&imageid=&cap=&sz=13&WTModLoc=NewsArt-C1-ArticlePage1
Well new Iraqi Force what a jock paying the cost of bullets from their pockets…
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