{"id":279,"date":"2007-04-24T05:05:46","date_gmt":"2007-04-24T10:05:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/?p=279"},"modified":"2007-04-24T05:05:46","modified_gmt":"2007-04-24T10:05:46","slug":"right-zionists-and-withdrawal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/?p=279","title":{"rendered":"Right Zionists and Withdrawal"},"content":{"rendered":"
Why don<\/title>Why don’t Right Zionists favor US withdrawal from Iraq?<\/p>\n<p>This may seem like a silly question: for many Neocons, US withdrawal from Iraq <em>automatically <\/em>equals defeat.<\/p>\n<p>To be sure, there is a crowd–call them the “<a href=\"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/?p=134\">Unipolarists<\/a>” most closely identified with William Kristol and John McCain–for whom Iraq is and has always been about US boots on the ground and the <em>direct projection of US imperial power<\/em>. When the US invaded Iraq, these Neocons joined many Right Arabists like Colin Powell and Anthony Zinni in favoring <a href=\"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/?p=91\">a direct, formal US Occupation of Iraq<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Right Zionists are by no means hostile to the projection of US power.<\/p>\n<p>However, as I argued in my essay, “<a href=\"http:\/\/www.zmag.org\/content\/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=10185\">Beyond Incompetence<\/a>,” Right Zionists also have a <em>particular<\/em> vision of the future of Iraq that seems lost on those critics who see US policy toward Iraq as guided by little more than the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sonyclassics.com\/whywefight\/\"> generic appetite of the military industrial complex<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The core of the Right Zionist vision for Iraq is the substitution of Iraqi Shiite majority rule in place of traditional authoritarian rule by Iraq’s Sunni minority.<\/p>\n<p>It is easy enough to figure out why Right Arabists want the US to stay in Iraq: American force is required to close Pandora’s Box, reverse Shiite empowerment, and restore Sunni Arab minority military rule.<\/p>\n<p>So, here is the mystery:<\/p>\n<p>Why <em>wouldn’t<\/em> a Right Zionist like <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aei.org\/scholars\/filter.all,scholarID.19\/scholar.asp\">Reuel Marc Gerecht<\/a>–perhaps the leading US proponent of Iraqi Shiite majority rule, with the possible exception of Vice President Cheney’s Middle East advisor, <a href=\"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/?p=211\">David Wurmser<\/a>–support US withdrawal?<\/p>\n<p>After all, Gerecht–like <a href=\"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/?p=274\">Fouad Ajami<\/a>–seems pretty confident that Iraqi Shiites are prepared to <em>spill Sunni Arab blood<\/em> in order to finish off the Sunni insurgency.<\/p>\n<p>Gerecht has <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aei.org\/publications\/filter.all,pubID.25407\/pub_detail.asp\"> painted a picture of Iraq after US withdrawal<\/a>. It is not pretty. But it would be <em>very<\/em> surprising if Gerecht–who once asked, “<a href=\"http:\/\/www.aei.org\/publications\/pubID.20526,filter.all\/pub_detail.asp\">Who’s Afraid of Abu Ghraib?<\/a>“–tried to ground his argument for US troops in Iraq on the basis of<em> humanitarianism<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>For Gerecht, the chief reason to stay in Iraq is neither to repress Iraqi Shiites nor protect Iraqi Sunnis but to contain Iranian influence in Iraq.<\/p>\n<p>If the US does not ally itself with Iraqi Shiites in a <em>regional war<\/em> against radical Sunni Arabs, Iraqi Shiites will have no choice but to seek security in the arms of Iranian radicals. Here is Gerecht, from January, on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aei.org\/publications\/filter.all,pubID.25407\/pub_detail.asp\"> withdrawal<\/a>.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>[A]n American withdrawal would provoke a take-no-prisoners civil war \tbetween the Sunni and Shiite Arabs, which could easily reach genocidal \tintensity…<\/p>\n<p>[T]he Sunni Arab population of Baghdad is going to get pulverized…<\/p>\n<p>Once the Shia become both badly bloodied and victorious, raw nationalist and \treligious passions will grow. A horrific fight with the Sunni Arabs will \tinevitably draw in support from the ferociously anti-Shiite Sunni religious \testablishments in Jordan and Saudi Arabia, and on the Shiite side from \tIran…<\/p>\n<p>Imagine Iraqi Shiites, battle-hardened in a vicious war with Iraq’s Arab \tSunnis, spiritually and operationally linking up with a revitalized and \taggressive clerical dictatorship in Iran…<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Hence, the need for US troops and Gerecht’s support for the current “surge”:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span class=\"BodyText\">A strong, aggressive American military presence in \tIraq can probably halt the radicalization of the Shiite community.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span class=\"BodyText\">That was January 2007.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"BodyText\">In his <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aei.org\/publications\/filter.all,pubID.26005\/pub_detail.asp\"> most recent missive<\/a>, Gerecht appears to suggest that if the “surge” goes his way, he would <em>welcome Iraqi Shiite demands for US withdrawal<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"BodyText\">The key, for Gerecht, is that the US must abandon its attempts to appease the Sunni minority.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span class=\"BodyText\">Critics of the surge often underscore the absence of a clearly defined \tpost-surge political strategy. Echoing Rumsfeld and Abizaid, these critics \tbelieve that only a “political solution”–that is, Shiite and Kurdish \tconcessions to the once-dominant Sunni minority–can solve Iraq’s trauma. <strong> \tThe Bush administration has largely been in agreement with this view, \tfollowing a strategy since 2004 of trying to placate the Sunnis.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It hasn’t worked. In all probability, it could not. Certainly an approach \tthat centers on de-de-Baathification is destined to fail since the vast \tmajority of Iraq’s Shiites, and probably Kurds, too, oppose any deal that \twould allow the Sunni Baathist elite back into government. And de-de-Baathification \tis not about letting Sunni Arab teachers, engineers, and nurses back into \tthe government job market. It’s about the Baathist Sunni elite getting the \tpower and prestige of senior positions, especially in the military and \tsecurity services. If we really want Iraq to succeed in the long term, we \twill stop pushing this idea. Onetime totalitarian societies that more \tthoroughly purge despotic party members have done much better than those \tthat allow the old guard to stay on (think Russia). Grand Ayatollah Sistani \tis right about this; the State Department and the CIA are wrong.<\/p>\n<p>The Sunni insurgency will likely cease when the Sunnis, who have been \taddicted to power and the perception of the Shiites as a God-ordained \tunderclass, know in their hearts that they cannot win against the Shiites, \tthat continued fighting will only make their situation worse. <strong>Thanks in \tpart to the ferocity of vengeful Shiite militias, we are getting there.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Gerecht does not support talk of immediate withdrawal:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>[T]he surge deserves to be supported. This is not the time for talk of \ttimetables for withdrawal–much less talk of a war that is lost. It isn’t \tinconsistent to scorch Bush for his failures–and still to argue that the \tAmerican blood we will spill in Iraq in the surge is worth the possibility \tof success.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>But there is also this surprising little nugget:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>As a Shiite-led democracy grows, the calls for an American withdrawal \twill increase. Which is fine. Iraqi nationalism is vibrant among the \tShiites, especially those who are religious. And democracy in Iraq, as \telsewhere in the Muslim Middle East, is unlikely to be particularly \taffectionate toward the United States. Iraqi democracy is much more likely \tto free American soldiers to go home than is chaos in Mesopotamia.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Gerecht may be playing partisan games, rejecting talk of timetables for withdrawal while giving a nod toward withdrawal at some point over the horizon. But which position features the political pandering and which features the ideology of a Right Zionist?<\/p>\n<p>Is Gerecht blowing smoke when he describes as “fine” increasing Iraqi Shiite calls for American withdrawal?<\/p>\n<p>Or is this the rebirth of Right Zionist optimism that “we are getting there,” courtesy of vengeful Shiite militias and the hope of a reinvigorated US counter-insurgency campaign?<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>[W]ith Petraeus, Maliki, and Sistani in charge, things may work out…<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Gerecht remains cautious about the road ahead:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>American and Iraqi forces in Baghdad will have to figure out a way to \tdiminish significantly the number and lethality of Sunni suicide bombers. \tGiven the topography of Baghdad, the possible routes of attack against the \tcapital’s Shiite denizens, and the common traits of Iraq’s Arabs, this will \tbe difficult. If we and the Iraqis cannot do this, then the radicalization \tof the Shiites will continue, and it will be only a question of time before \tthe Shiite community collectively decides that the Sunnis as a group are \tbeyond the pale, and a countrywide war of religious cleansing will become \tlikely… In the next few months, of course, things could go to hell. One suicide \tbomber killing the right Shiite VIPs could threaten all.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/wp-dyn\/content\/article\/2007\/04\/23\/AR2007042301704.html\"> Each day brings news<\/a> that all that could go to hell probably will.<\/p>\n<p>Nevertheless, when coupled with <a href=\"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/?p=274\">Fouad Ajami’s recent optimism<\/a>, Gerecht’s latest missive appears to mark something of a Right Zionist trend in the making.<\/p>\n<p>It may not point to the direction of events in Iraq or even Washington. But it does clarify the stakes, for Right Zionists, of ongoing battles in and around Iraq.<\/p>\n<p>Right Zionist optimism may tell us little about the chances for US success in Iraq but more about some Right Zionist definitions of success.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<blockquote><p><em> <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Why donWhy don’t Right Zionists favor US withdrawal from Iraq? This may seem like a silly question: for many Neocons, US withdrawal from Iraq automatically equals defeat. To be sure, there is a crowd–call them the “Unipolarists” most closely identified with William Kristol and John McCain–for whom Iraq is and has always been about US […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,11,18],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=279"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}