Muqaawama

In the latest news from Iraq, that forgotten battlefield where over 100,000 uniformed American men and women (and thousands of others without uniforms) are still stationed, the main Sunni political party has just withdrawn from next month’s national elections.  Their reason: A vetting panel headed by two Shi’ite politicians with close ties to Iran has disqualified over 500 candidates for dubious ties to Saddam Hussein’s Ba’ath party.  The culprits: Ali al Lami, a guy who sends death squads to kill Sunnis and plants bombs targeting US GIs, and, surprise, surprise, our old friend, Ahmad Chalabi.

If you remember, once upon a time, Chalabi was the American darling, the guy who fed us the detailed (and doctored) intelligence on Saddam’s “imminent” threat to America that justified the 2003 invasion.  The guy who promised to spear-head a renewed, democratic Iraq that would stabilize a stagnating region and project freedom and democracy towards, among other countries, extremist Iran.  Now, it seems he is playing for the team he was originally recruited to fight against.  A country that cannot tolerate any dissent within its own borders and has steadily expanded its influence throughout the region since the American war machine removed the mullah’s two most virulent enemies: The Taliban and Saddam.

It wouldn’t have been too difficult to pinpoint the character flaws in a guy like Chalabi long ago- the incessant greed, the consummately feudal outlook to political power as merely a means to enrich oneself and grow more powerful; in essence, everything about Middle East leaders that needs changing.  Born into a family of carpet bagging courtiers to the old Iraqi monarchy (itself an artificial British transplant), Chalabi fled Iraq after the Ba’athist revolution and was the darling of the Jordanians before he was the darling of the Americans.  Then, the Jordanians found out he had defrauded thousands of their citizens through his Petra Bank pyramid scheme.  If it weren’t for the Jordanian royal family’s involvement (you guessed it, again, an artificial British transplant), Chalabi might have been lynched by a mob.  Instead, he went free.

Statecraft is a difficult business.  You would think American policy makers had learned a few hard lessons in over 50 years of empire.  But we seem to be repeating history all too often.  It’s not just with Chalabi.  Once upon a time, Saddam himself was our guy.  We pumped billions into his efforts in the 80s to squelch Iranian extremism before it infected oil rich lands.  Then, he turned into a villain.  Sound familiar?

Does our government do any due diligence on these guys before we shower them with clandestine subsidies?  (Chalabi pocketed an alleged $30 million in U.S taxpayer money when was on the payroll.)  Who knows.  What’s clear in this case is that Ahmad Chalabi continues to torment not one, but two successive American administrations.  Because of his clearly sectarian activities at the top of a Shi’ite dominated establishment, he is fomenting Sunni disenchantment with the Iraqi political system.  Disenchantment that can very quickly spiral into a Sunni extremist revival.  An Al Qaeda revival.  And that’s dangerous for Iraq.  Dangerous for America and Americans.  And dangerous for the world.

Anthony Shadid rightly points out that Iraqi sectarians are only picking up where we left off.  It was Paul Bremer, the U.S. proconsul in 2003, that began the de-Baathification process on staunchly ideological grounds.  But we can’t belabor history while the future hangs in the balance.  President Obama has rightly criticized the Bush administration for taking its eye off the ball after 9/11 and forgetting about the central front against terror in Afghanistan with reckless adventurism in Iraq.  But the reality today is Iraq continues to be a pivotal front against extremism and the fragile Sunni-Shia divide in the region.  Afghanistan is a hinterland of disconnected tribes and disparate ethnicities that has never known real nationhood.  Iraq has arguably the largest petroleum reserves in the world, a common language, rich history and a real chance at national stability.  Let’s hope that the Obama administration does not repeat the mistakes of the past by taking its eye off the ball, this time in Iraq.