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Academic Richard Norton describes US as 'embarrassingly inept' at post-conflict nation building
Washington must bring in United Nations to help with reconstruction effort
Nicholas Blanford
Special to The Daily Star, 6/28/03
BEIRUT: US administrations have proved “embarrassingly inept” at
post-conflict nation building in the past and to avoid a disaster in Iraq
Washington must bring in the United Nations to help with the
reconstruction effort, a leading Middle East expert says.
Augustus Richard Norton, professor of anthropology at Boston University,
said that the decision of Paul Bremer, the US civilian administrator in
Iraq, to delay the formation of a legitimate Iraqi government body was a
mistake.
“It is insane to imagine that the occupation can be sustained for five
years without enormous difficulties, and perhaps great loss of American
not to mention Iraqi lives,” Norton told The Daily Star in an interview
by e-mail.
Norton’s concerns over Iraq stem from his experiences in south Lebanon
in the early 1980s. Between 1980 and 1981, he was a military observer with
the UN Truce Supervision Organization patrolling the Lebanon-Israel
border. Returning to Lebanon following the 1982 Israeli invasion to
collect material for a book on the Amal Movement, Norton witnessed America’s
disastrous intervention in Beirut and watched as Israel became bogged down
in a bitter and bloody war of resistance.
“I would not push the comparisons too far, but there are certainly some
bracing parallels between the US and Israeli experience in Lebanon in the
early 1980s,” he said.
Part of the problem for the US at the time, he said, was that policymakers
had a perception of Lebanon that was far removed from the reality.
“Moreover, as Lebanon gained geopolitical salience there was a flood of
officials who were, to be blunt, damn ignorant of Lebanese politics,”
Norton said. “I remember one senior officer who was tapped to deploy to
Lebanon in 1984. He came to visit me and after greeting formalities, he
announced: ‘I want to learn about the Zunis and the Mennonites.’”
The situation in Iraq is even worse, he said.
“Prior to the US-led invasion there was not a single expert in
government or outside for that matter who had a serious understanding of
the dynamics of Iraqi politics and society,” Norton said. “Instead,
what developed was a fantasy construction, an internally consistent model
of Iraq that bore about as much resemblance to the real place as
Disneyland does to Manhattan.
“Some of my colleagues argue that there was a conspiracy in Washington
… This is wrong. The only conspiracy was a conspiracy of ignorance. What
there was in Washington was a fantasy model that pundits, officials,
think-tank toadies and various inside-the-Beltway hangers-on bought into.
Fantasy models make for concise, compelling speeches, and good dinner
table debate, but they are pretty unhelpful if you actually are trying to
govern or occupy a country.”
In 1982, the Israelis miscalculated the mood of the Shiites of south
Lebanon, and the US perceptions of the Shiites of southern Iraq are
equally misplaced, he said.
“I am amazed at the simplistic understanding of the Shiites with which
the Americans entered Iraq,” Norton said. “To discount the horrible
costs paid by that community as a result of the failed 1991 uprising
(inspired in some measure by American encouragement); to imagine that the
Shiites were generally secular in orientation (as leading opposition
figures tutored the Americans); to proceed on the notion that Iran would
not be a beneficiary of the toppling of Saddam Hussein’s regime; all of
these blunders were individually astounding but in combination profoundly
stunning.”
The invasion of Iraq, Norton said, was a “monumental error,” but it is
now a reality that has to be addressed.
“My fear is that the US has put itself into checkmate, or is close to
doing so,” Norton said. “Even a sophomore in geopolitics can figure
out that the Americans cannot now simply pick up and leave. Not only would
there be extensive losses in prestige, and power, but Iraq would be a
mess. Iranian influence would grow in the south, internecine conflict
might erupt, opportunistic emulators or followers of Osama bin Laden would
jump into the cockpit, the Turks might intervene in the north. The US
cannot simply pick up sticks and go home. Yet, if the
US stays there is little doubt
that the resentments, the hatreds and the violence will grow. The people
of the Middle East, not least the Iraqis, have a sensitive nose for
occupation and the longer the US stays the greater the risk that Iraqis
will conclude that the Americans will not leave voluntarily.”
Immediate withdrawal not being an option, the US should legitimize its
occupation much more broadly.
“This might be done through NATO, but I do not think NATO will pick up
the gauntlet. Or, it might be done through the UN, which I think is the
right answer. By broadening the base of legitimacy for occupation, more
international help will become available, and that help is urgently
needed, not just in terms of police forces and other instrument of control
but in terms of developmental expertise, an area where the Americans have
proven to be embarrassingly inept.”
Norton said that an additional fear is that the “creators of the Iraq
fantasy construction” may “strive to hide their gigantic
miscalculation in a cloud of smoke, or a demonstration of shock and awe”
such as continuing “the offensive in Lebanon, Syria or Iran, or all
three.”
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| Earth, a planet hungry for peace |
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03). |
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03). |
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