US Hegemony Will Be The Death Of Liberty

 Sitaram Yechury

THE US-led war against Iraq must be understood in terms of two untruths, two half-truths and one grim reality.

SMOKESCREENS THE US CREATED

The first untruth. The reason given by the USA is that Iraq needed to be attacked in order to disarm it of the weapons of mass destruction (WMD).  This was both advanced and carried out by the US armed forces in the name of securing peace in the world. Despite the UN inspectors’ reports and the fact that the Saddam Hussein regime was cooperating with the UN inspections, the war was unleashed. In the event, no WMDs were found.  They simply did not exist. Over ten years of sanctions and military actions had ensured the disarming of Iraq even before this brazen unilateral action.

The second untruth. The attack on Iraq was inevitable, according to the USA, since Iraq systematically violated UN resolutions. This is not only untrue but, if the same yardsticks were to be applied, then the first country that should have been attacked is the staunch US ally --- Israel. Over the last 30 years, Israel has systematically violated as many UN Security Council resolutions. It still continues to occupy the Palestinian lands that were captured through military interventions.

Clearly, these were smokescreens created by the USA to carry out its strategic and military designs.

DESIGN FOR US HEGEMONY

The first half-truth. The Anglo-American war against Iraq was to capture the Iraqi oil reserves. This is not the full story. True, Iraq has the second largest known oil reserves in the world. Also true is the fact that the production of Iraqi oil is the cheapest in the world. Compared to 4 dollars per barrel in the USA and 2.5 dollars per barrel in Saudi Arabia, the production of Iraqi oil costs only 1 dollar a barrel. The US-led oil multinationals can reap profits four times more than what they can do in the USA. 

The second half-truth. The USA required this war in an effort to overcome the deep recession in its economy, which has led to a global economic slowdown. This, again, is not the full story. Yes, it is true that the US economy is in a deep crisis. Military expenditures had been a classical recipe undertaken since the time of Nazi Germany to overcome the economic recession. The USA today has a national debt of over 6.4 trillion dollars.  The plum contracts that US multinationals are now receiving, in the name of the reconstruction of Iraq, will definitely help in the economic recovery the USA is desperately seeking.

The grim reality. The full story is revealed by the reality that is facing us in the world today. This war against Iraq is a part of the overall strategy to establish an unquestioned US hegemony in the world. A hegemony that extends to all spheres --- military, political, economic, social, cultural, etc.  The process of creating a "new world order," that the US leadership had begun with the end of the cold war, has culminated in this unprecedented unilateral action against Iraq.

Following the bipolar cold war, the natural process in the development of the international situation was the movement towards multi-polarity in international relations. This natural process is being subverted by the USA in order to establish a uni-polarity under its hegemony. It is this frightening reality that faces all of us today.

IMPORTANT CONSEQUENCES

This reality has four important consequences for the world situation.  These, in fact, seek to determine the contours of relations between nations. 

First, such US hegemony implies that the economic offensive against the developing countries in the name of globalisation and liberalisation will be mounted further. Already, the WTO is being goaded by the USA to widen its agenda to impose greater burdens on the developing countries. The degree of economic exploitation of the poor people of the world and the poor countries of the world is bound to be intensified. Even the World Bank and the IMF are forced to admit that the last one decade of globalisation has seen many developing countries actually slide back in terms of the absolute levels of poverty and hunger. 

The political aim of such an intensification of economic exploitation, under globalisation, is to seek the economic recolonisation of the third world.

The second consequence will be the effort by USA to direct the domestic politics of every country in its favour. The slogan of "regime change" actually means that the regimes in independent countries will be determined in accordance with the aim of furthering the US interests and not by the democratic will of their own people. This will be an outright assault on the sovereignty of independent nations. Such US interference was seen in the past in many countries, especially in Latin America. This will now be sought to be generalised across the globe. 

The third consequence will be that the world will become a place of greater insecurity after this war on Iraq. State terrorism practiced by the USA invariably feeds individual terrorism.  The victims of both are innocent lives  and massive destruction of people's wealth.  The post-Iraq war developments in Riyadh, Casablanca, Chechnya and elsewhere vindicate this contention. Far from eliminating the scourge of terrorism, the US-led war on Iraq has provided it a fresh lease of life. 

This, in turn, will be used by reactionary regimes to impose an authoritarian order in their countries. In the name of fighting terrorism, draconian laws, severely curtailing civil liberties and democratic rights, will be put in place.  All in the name of democracy!

The fourth consequence of this US hegemony will be the marginalisation, if not the negation, of all norms and institutions that guided international relations in the post-second world war period. The virtual marginalisation of the United Nations, during this war, is there for all to see. The US has now succeeded in rallying the UN Security Council to undertake the reconstruction of Iraq under its leadership. The United Nations will be relevant only if it endorses the US initiatives; otherwise it will be reduced to what President Bush called a "debating club."

Already, the USA is showing scant respect to international laws and treaties.  It has chosen to boycott the Kyoto Protocol. It walked out of the Durban UN conference on racial discrimination. All international laws and treaties henceforth would be honoured or considered only if they suit the interests of the USA.

IMPERATIVE IN NEW WORLD SITUATION

Clearly, this is a world that many of us would not want to live in. The USA is not only seeking to act as the world's policeman but will also play the role of the prosecutor and the judge at the same time. 

If we wish to live in this world with a decent degree of freedom, liberty and dignity, then we need to change this world.

The huge unprecedented protests against this war on Iraq saw millions of people on the streets all across the globe. To the extent that even The New York Times had to editorially comment that there is not one superpower in the world, but two. Counter to the US superpower status are the people of the world who need to assert and prevent the USA from hijacking the civilisational advance of mankind.

The existing international institutions and laws must not only be practiced but strengthened. In this process, the world must uphold the principles of panchsheel, which constitutes the fundamental bedrock of how international relations must be ordered.

It is, in fact, history's biggest irony that the USA has invoked the noble ideals of liberty and freedom to unleash this barbaric war against those lands which gave birth to human civilisation and social advance. The lands between the Euphrates and Tigris were the ones that gave the world the civilisations that date back to over seven millennia. Baghdad in Persian means the "gift of god." Alibaba and his thieves, the 1001 Arabian nights, the birth of Sufism were all related to these lands.  Sindbad, the sailor, used to set out on his legendary exploits from the port of Basra. Hammurabi, the King of Babylon, was the first to have codified law. Nebuchadnezzar gave us the  "hanging gardens of Babylon." So much so that Alexander the great, after conquering most of the then known world, chose Babylon to die, as it was to him the only place that qualified in terms of civilisational advance!

These are the lands that have been ravaged along with the treasurers of civilisational records in its museums. The worst sufferers, of course, are the people of Iraq.

Clearly, the USA must immediately vacate Iraq and allow the United Nations to administer the transition to a democratic Iraq, one that will be determined by the Iraqi people alone.

This US-led war against Iraq reminds one of a cartoon that once appeared in the British humour magazine Punch. (It is indeed unfortunate that this excellent periodical has shut down.) The cartoon shows a French tourist looking at the statue of liberty. (This statue was a gift by the same French people to the USA.) The French tourist exclaims, "I did not know that you follow this practice in the USA?"

"Which practice?" asked his American guide.

Replied the tourist, "The practice of erecting statues to commemorate the dead!"

The unfolding of this US hegemonic drive will, indeed, be the death of liberty. For our own sake and for the sake of the progeny, we need to resist this with all our might. 

(This is a slightly edited version of the paper Sitaram Yechury presented at the “International Conference on World Situation After Iraq War,” held at Bangalore on May 26 and 27.)