BY SAHIN ALPAY
ZAMAN- I once wrote that if the Greater Middle East Initiative (GME) meant that Washington would abandon its policy of supporting authoritarian regimes when doing so serves its interests and instead encourages democratization in the region in cooperation with its European allies, this would be a welcome development. As soon as the press got wind of this plan, it was rejected by Arab countries. Later the GME was withdrawn and a ‘Cooperation with the Broader Middle East and North African Region for a Common Future and Development’ was presented at the G-8 summit in its place. In short, the GME is different from the latter in certain respects. The latter emphasized that change cannot be imposed from outside and stressed the importance of solidarity and dialogue, the need for a solution to the Palestinian issue and the role to be played by the UN in Iraq. The plan became a traditional development project instead of a project for encouraging democratization. Certain people called it a historic crossroads in US foreign policy and thought that circles supporting democracy in the region would get more understanding from the US and the other G-8 countries.
I wish this were the case. However, the way to encourage countries in the region to implement the plan is quite a mystery, and doubts have only deepened about the sincerity of the US administration with these two initiatives. Countries in the region want it to put pressure on Israel to withdraw from the territory it occupied in 1967, but US President George W. Bush instead greenlighted the annexation of some parts of West Bank. Countries in the region want sovereignty to be transferred to the Iraqi people, but Bush is trying to convince NATO to send peacekeeping forces to Iraq. The greatest difference between these two initiatives is obviously the US’ sullied image with the photos showing US soldiers torturing Iraqis, damage done not only in the eyes of the world, but among the US people as well. The US commission investigating 9/11 recently concluded that Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with the attacks, and so shot down one of the grounds put forth by Bush to justify the war.