| |
Persuading the Muslim
mind
By Ehsan Ahrari
International pressure against the impending US
invasion of Iraq is building, and it is not felt more
intensely anywhere than the UN Security Council in
statements issued by France. Needless to say, Russia,
China and Germany are very much on the French side.
Their collective position is, to paraphrase John
Lennon's famous song, "give inspections a chance". In
response, top US officials - including Secretary of
State Colin Powell, his deputy, Richard Armitage, and
even President George W Bush - are publicly posturing
that their country is likely to go it alone. In
addition, the spigot of propaganda has been turned on in
Washington through the release of a document titled "The
Apparatus of Lies".
The Bush administration's
hope for a unanimous endorsement of the Security Council
for its cherished toppling of Saddam Hussein of Iraq
appears to be going up in smoke. The Franco-German
opposition is having a two-pronged effect. First, as one
of the permanent five members of the Security Council,
France can wield its veto against military invasion of
Iraq. In a private meeting with Powell this week, the
French Foreign Minister, Dominique De Villepin, refused
to rule out that option.
A poll conducted by the
French weekly Journal du Dimanche showed that 76 percent
of the respondents were opposed to the participation of
French troops in a US-led invasion of Iraq. Germany will
take over the rotating presidency of the Security
Council on February 1. Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has
categorically affirmed his country's position by saying,
"Do not expect that Germany will agree to a resolution
that legitimizes war." His country, he said, "would not
back any UN resolution which legitimized a war against
Iraq". Second, De Villepin has stated that he will rally
the rest of the European Union members to oppose an
early war against Iraq.
The voluble
Franco-German opposition to military action against Iraq
is reportedly putting Britain in an awkward position,
where 62 percent of the people disapprove Prime Minister
Tony Blair's handling of the Iraq issue. The support for
Britain's participation in a war against Iraq is around
22 percent, according to ICM/London Guardian polls done
this month. Public opinion in Spain, Italy and Germany
is also showing increasing amount of opposition to the
invasion of Iraq without the UN approval. Russia and
China thus far are refraining from doing any heavy
lifting on this issue; they have, nevertheless, clearly
aired their position about letting the UN inspection of
Iraqi facilities go unhampered.
This heavy dose
of "truth" from major international players - three of
which are part of the permanent five - leaves the United
States with limited options. But Washington has
initiated its own public diplomacy, which also includes
propaganda against Iraq. Both Powell and Armitage have
been on the public circuit making a case for not waiting
for long before finding a "smoking gun" in Iraq. Bush
has reiterated his position that Saddam has been
notorious about playing the cat-and-mouse game, and
observed that the international community must
understand that the US will not wait forever.
But wait a minute! Bush's own handling of the
Iraqi issue is currently being disapproved by 68 percent
of Americans, according to the ICM polls. The Gallup
poll indicates that Bush's handling of foreign policy is
getting even lower marks, from 75 percent of the past to
52 percent currently. The recently issued Washington
Post-ABC News poll of this week states that seven in 10
Americans would give the UN weapons inspectors months
more to complete their work in Iraq.
Needless to
say, these opinion polls are not likely to drive the US
decision to invade Iraq. All presidents have known that
once military action begins, there is always a
"rally-around-the-flag" effect that boosts a president's
popularity, and "support for our troops".
The
most interesting - albeit highly controversial - part of
the US public diplomacy is the "Apparatus of Lies"
document issued by the Office of Global Communications,
which was created around August 2001. At the time of its
creation, one journalist most succinctly described it
this way, "The purpose of the Office of Global
Communications lies more in the propagation of the
American faith as seen through the lens of the Bush
White House than in an international exchange of
information and opinions. Call it, perhaps, the 'Office
of Global One-Way Communications'."
Undoubtedly,
the purpose of the document is to demonize Saddam (as if
that is a real challenge). It contains an interesting
statement attributed to the late Dr Rihab Taha, former
head of Iraq's bioweapons program. She has been billed
in the West as Saddam's own femme fatale, a
modern-day Dr Death. When asked by an American weapons
inspector why she is lying about her country's chemical
and biological weapons program, she is reported to have
answered, "It's not a lie when you are ordered to lie."
"Apparatus of Lies" does not say anything about Iraq's
alleged development of weapons of mass destruction;
rather it is a document that contains a litany of
Saddam's alleged deceptions.
The most
interesting section of the document is entitled
"Exploiting Islam". There is little doubt that in this
section the Bush administration is speaking to the
Muslim and Arab streets. It states that Saddam is a
well-known secularist, or even atheist, who, in order to
"exploit Islamic sentiments", "adopts expressions of
faith in his public pronouncements, and the Iraqi
propaganda apparatus erects billboards and distributes
images showing him praying or in other acts of piety -
all while the regime prevents pilgrims from making the
Hajj".
Still, dealing with the subject of Islam,
the document at another point states, "Ba'athists
[members of Saddam's political party] view Islam as a
product of Arab culture and a bridge to pan-Arabism, and
until 1990, Iraq was the only officially secular state
in the region. Over time, the personality of Saddam
Hussein has supplanted Ba'ath Party doctrine, but one
factor has not changed: The key figures in Iraq's regime
and ruling party remain non-religious or even
non-believers."
It is too early to make any
conclusive statements about how this propaganda campaign
will be received in the Muslim-Arab world. However,
given the intensity of anti-Americanism that is being
shown on attacks on the American military and civilian
personnel in countries like Afghanistan, Jordan and
Kuwait, no one is betting that it will be well received
in the world of Islam.
It is safe to conclude
that the pre-war phase of dealing with Iraq is turning
out to be quite an experience for Bush. If the present
state of affairs has any relationship with "things to
come" when the US becomes the de facto ruler of Iraq,
his administration is setting itself up for a rough
ride, indeed.
(©2003 Asia Times Online Co, Ltd.
All rights reserved. Please contact content@atimes.com
for information on our sales and syndication policies,
or to submit a letter to the editor.)
|
| |
|
|
 |
|
