BY ZEYNEP GURCANLI (STAR)
Columnist Zeynep Gurcanli comments on the possible impact on Turkey of the US war in Iraq. A summary of her column is as follows:
The foundations of the US’ current ‘New World Order’ were laid back in 1997. This new order began first by dealing with the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, continued with Saddam Hussein in Iraq and also put Northern Korea, Syria and Iran onto its list of ‘regimes needing change.’ The future Bush administration’s ‘hawks’ openly announced their goal of turning the 21st century into a ‘New American Century’ in a declaration issued almost six years ago. Several future members of Bush’s team -- including Vice President Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary Ronald Rumsfeld, envoy to the Iraqi opposition Zalmay Khalilzad and Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz -- were among the document’s signatories, along with Bush’s brother Florida Governor Jeb Bush. The declaration was at the time targeted at then President Bill Clinton’s administration, but it also drew a blueprint for policies to be applied by the hawks when they come to power.
The main theme of the declaration was dividing the world into friendly and hostile camps according to US interests. It was also about ‘challenging’ regimes ‘hostile to US interests and values’ by boosting the US war budget and investing in its armed forces and weapons. The following sentence, quoted from the declaration, is quite revealing: ‘The history of the 20th century should have taught us that it is important to shape circumstances before crises emerge, and to meet threats before they become dire.’ This is what the hawks have been doing since they came to power with Bush. Their principles, quoted from the 1997 declaration they pursued first in Afghanistan and then in Iraq, are as follows: • ‘We need to increase defense spending significantly if we are to carry out our global responsibilities today and modernize our armed forces for the future; • ’We need to strengthen our ties to democratic allies and to challenge regimes hostile to our interests and values; • ‘We need to promote the cause of political and economic freedom abroad; • ’The US should accept responsibility for America's unique role in preserving and extending an international order friendly to our security, our prosperity, and our principles.’
Seeing this way of thinking, which first took concrete form in the 1997 declaration, one has to shudder. The misguided war in Iraq shows how Bush’s hawks are heedlessly charging forward to reach their goals.
However, there are certain elements they had failed to take into account: the weak and hesitant US soldiers who no longer believe in war, the complex nature of the geography they faced and the inconstancy of US alliances.
Nevertheless, we should see that now that the war’s started there’s no turning back. Although Iraq’s resistance has surprised the whole world and pleased us -- as we’re opposed to the US’ unilateral dream of hegemony -- a US defeat in Iraq would cause great disaster and hardship in Turkey. Add to a chaotic post-Saddam Iraq a Syria and Iran destabilized by US intervention and you can see what would happen next: an utter hell for Turkey. Looking at the issue from this point of view, we just hope that the US hawks don’t pull out of the region they destabilized without first cleaning up the mess they made.
SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION