Southwest Asia News Digest
Leading Iraqi Islamic Scholar Endorses 'LaRouche Doctrine'
Iraq's leading Sunni scholar and political leader, Sheikh Ahmed Al-Kubaisi, endorsed Lyndon LaRouche's "LaRouche Doctrine" as a viable solution for Iraq and Southwest Asia. Dr. Ahmed al-Kubaisi, leading Sunni religious personality and chairman of the United Iraqi Patriotic Movement, in discussions with EIR April 28 said: "Convey in my name, Ahmed al-Kubaisi, Iraqi Islamic scholar and chairman of the United Iraqi Patriotic Movement, that I support Mr. LaRouche's proposals for a new U.S. policy in Iraq and the region, which he has called the 'LaRouche Doctrine.' "
Al-Kubaisi also said that Al-Sa'a, a twice-weekly newspaper in Iraq, which is the official publication of his movement, will publish the Arabic text of the "LaRouche Doctrine."
Al-Kubaisi, who often cites LaRouche in his prayer sermons, lectures, and television interviews, has recently called LaRouche "the living conscience of the U.S." He established the United Iraqi Patriotic Movement immediately after the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq in April 2003.
Al-Kubaisi was born in Al-Anbar, the western Iraqi governorate which includes Al-Falluja, in 1934. He is a leading "Sunni" scholar not only in Iraq but throughout the Arab world. He has also been chairman of the Iraqi Scholars Association, chairman and founder of the Islamic Studies faculty at the University of Emirates, chairman of the Sharia department in the Iraqi Jurisdiction College, member of the Supreme Council of the Islamic University in Al-Medina-Saudi Arabia, and permanent guest of a popular Islamic Sharia television program on Dubai television.
The United Iraqi Patriotic Movement, al-Kubaisi says, is open for all Iraqis: Muslims, Christians, and Jews.
Brahimi Warns Against U.S. and Israeli Policies
On ABC-TV's "This Week" April 25, UN envoy to Iraq, Lakhdar Brahimi, warned in blunt terms that the U.S. occupation of Iraq is causing unprecedented hatred and bitterness against America. He said, "what I hear [in Iraq] is that these Americans who are occupying us are the Americans who are giving blanket support to Israel to do whatever they like." Asked how he responds to this, Brahimi said, "That is my problem. I have no answer to their questions about the situation in the Middle East.... I think there is unanimity in the Arab world, and indeed in much of the rest of the world, that the Israeli policy is wrong, that Israeli policy is brutal, repressive, and that they are not interested in peace, no matter what you seem to believe in America." At the State Dept. briefing on April 27, spokesman Richard Boucher was asked about Brahimi's statements, and the government of Israel's protest against them, to which Boucher replied that, "we don't agree with him [Brahami]."
Congressman Calls on Bush Admin. To Stop Israel Wall
Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Ill) has made a formal complaint to the Bush Administration protesting Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's "apartheid wall" between Israel and the Palestinian lands, Ha'aretz reported April 29.
Hyde, along with many Christian groups, including the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, is calling on the Bush Administration to stop construction of parts of the fence. Hyde, considered a friend of Israel, begins his letter to Secretary of State Colin Powell with warm words. "As you know, I am a staunch supporter of Israel. Throughout their struggle with terrorism...."
But then he lashes out at the wall: "I am writing to express my concerns over the plight and security of Christians in the Holy Land.... If the Christian character of Jerusalem is not preserved, I fear that important religious sites will become museums for commercial purposes and will no longer be maintained as places of spiritual worship shared by billions across the world.
"I am asking to you to persuade the Israeli government to take meaningful steps to alleviate the suffering of the Christian community and their institutions...."
Hyde concludes with a demand: "Lastly, the Administration should encourage Israel to return to negotiations with the Holy See regarding the final status issues of the Fundamental Agreement between the Holy See and the State of Israel."
Bush's Iraq 'Folly' Scored by Times Columnist; Advice Offered
Veteran journalist Nicholas Kristof wrote in his New York Times op-ed column April 28, "I've been quiet on Iraq lately because it's so temptingbut rather unhelpfulto rant one more time about President Bush's folly in launching this war. It's far harder to figure out what to do now that he's gotten us chest-deep in the mire. I'm not certain that we can make a success out of Iraq, and the question John Kerry posed in 1971 is still a fair one: 'How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?'... Yet rushing out would be a mistake. If we give up on Iraq, it will collapse into civil war,... There are a few steps we can take that offer some hope of a turnaround for our occupation:"
* Temporarily increase troop strength by 25,000.
* "Stick to the June 30 transition and give Iraqis full sovereignty." Limited sovereignty risks inflaming Iraqi nationalism.
* Don't rush in to attack Falluja or Najaf. We made Sadr a hero by closing his newspaper; "our best hope for destroying him is to leave him alone...."
* "Dump Ahmad Chalabi and other carpetbaggers. They are American stooges who undermine the legitimacy of any government they are in.... Dawa and SCIRI [Shi'a parties] want a stable Iraq even more than we do."
* "Disentangle ourselves from Ariel Sharon, that bloodstained figure embraced by President Bush as 'a man of peace.' By assassinating Hamas leaders and threatening to do the same to Yassir Arafat, Mr. Sharon is undermining our efforts in Iraq. Mr. Bush squandered our legitimacy in Iraq when he and Mr. Sharon chummily gave away Palestinian rights this month."
* "Bring back the most professional and least political Ba'athist generals. Iraq's most desperate need now is for security, and we need them.
Mr. Bush is starting to move on a few of these issues, but he needs to act more decisively on each. Only then would we have some hope of staunching the sacrifice of young soldiers...."
Kristof, reportedly a friend of former President George H.W. Bush, ends the column with the poignant lines of English poet Wilfred Owen, on the fate of Britain's young men in World War I: "The pallor of girls' brows shall be their pall; /Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds. /And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds."
Chicago Univ. Law Prof: 'Bring Back the Baathists'
"Bring Back the Baathists," writes University of Chicago Law Prof. Eric Posner in an op-ed accompanying Kristof's (see above). He quotes Iraqi National Congress head Ahmad Chalabi's criticism that Bremer's new policy on Baathists is like "allowing Nazis into the German government immediately after World War II," and says that's exactly what we did. Any other policy would have left Germany and Japan unable to function. Some of the biggest war criminals were tried and punished, but "most others were eventually given amnesty and went to work on reconstruction."
Sistani Adviser Rejects Occupation Constitution; Wants UN Role in Elections
The current crisis in Iraq is rooted in the interim constitution that came out of negotiations between the Coalition Provisional Authority and the Transitional Governing Council in almost complete secrecy, says Hussain al-Shahristani, the senior adviser to Shiite Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal on April 29. The Sistani adviser calls for UN help in forging a viable transitional government by July 1, to be followed immediately by an election process, and debate over a new constitution.
Arguing against the interim constitution, al-Shahristani says that document "is in fact a full-fledged constitution that commits Iraq to many important decisions that should have been left to debate ... in a legitimately elected assembly." In this document, the Coalition authority and the Transitional government made laws binding on any future government, and required that any new constitution could be rejected by a two-thirds majority of any three of the 18 provinces. Rejection would mean a dissolution of the national assembly and new elections. "This veto provision could potentially throw the political process into a paralyzing and self-defeating cycle of elections and redrafting," says al-Shahristani.
The issues of Kurdish autonomy, minority rights, and majority rule require all constituencies to work together, he said. "In this process, Iraqis require the help of the UN, which alone has the legitimacy for handling a political situation as complex and difficult as Iraq."
"If Iraqis are to reject the path of armed uprising proposed by the Fallujah fighters and Muqtada al-Sadr, they must have the prospect of realizing their legitimate political aims through the democratic process. This means reaching out to all respected community leaders, political stakeholders, and Iraqis who have real influence in the country, to establish an administration that can assume power from the CPA on July 1, 2004.... This must be immediately followed by rigorous and visible preparation for the election of a national assembly."
Al-Shahristani is identified as a member of the National Academy of Science and was a political prisoner in Iraq for 10 years.
Gen. Odom Echoes 'LaRouche Doctrine': Pull Out Now
In an echo of the widely circulated "LaRouche Doctrine" on Southwest Asia, retired Army Gen. William Odom urged an immediate pull-out from Iraq, writing in the Wall Street Journal April 28. It would be delusional, asserts General Odom, to "stay the course" in Iraq; keeping troops there would increase hatred of the U.S., likely threatening to destabilize the region and jeopardizing international relations as the U.S. becomes more isolated. The U.S. should withdraw troops from Iraq as rapidly as possible, he said, for the sake of American security and economic interests.
"We have failed," Odom declared. "The issue is how high a price we're going to pay.... Less, by getting out sooner, or more, by getting out later?"
Yet, on the negative side, Odom claims the results of Iraq elections would not resemble democracy. Buying into the Cheneyac "Clash of Civilizations," Odom warns of "a highly illiberal democracy, inspired by Islamic culture, extremely hostile to the West, and probably quite willing ... to fund terrorist organizations." "Anybody that's pro-American cannot gain legitimacy," he says.
Odom's proposal, is for the UN and America's European allies to take charge of the political and security arrangements in Iraq, along with a unilateral declaration that the U.S. forces would leave even if no one else agrees to come in.
Odom directed the National Security Agency under former President Reagan, and served on President Carter's National Security Council staff.
|