[NYTr] Paradigm Shift: America as Proxy
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Counterpunch - Apr 13, 2007
http://www.counterpunch.org/baroud04132007.html
A Paradigm Shift: America as Proxy
By RAMZY BAROUD
Conflicts in the Middle East are often orchestrated from afar, using
proxies -- the least risky method to fight and win a war. Despite its
geopolitical fragmentation, the Middle East is loosely united insofar as
any major event in any given locale can subsequently be felt throughout
the region. Thus Lebanon, for example, has been a stage for proxy wars
for decades. And it is not just Israel and the United States that have
laboured to penetrate and further fragment Lebanese society. The
intelligence services of various Arab countries, as well as Iran, have
used Lebanon as a hub for their invariable interests, the outcome of any
conflict -- be it internal or external -- directly affecting the image
and political positioning of this or that country.
Palestinians have often been used as, and in some cases have presented
themselves to play the role of, a proxy force. The rationale, in some
cases, was personal interest; in others, lack of a platform that would
allow them to organise. In the two most notable instances in which they
tried to exert control over their host domains -- the cases of Jordan in
the 1970s and Lebanon in the 1970s and 80s -- the cost was horrendous,
leading to unprecedented bloodshed. After Arafat's forced exit from
Beirut in 1982, Palestinians were forced to exchange the physical space
they obtained for overt allegiance to various regimes. Arafat mastered
the art like no other Palestinian leader. The supporters of the Oslo
Accords argued that the agreement's key success was freeing the
Palestinian political will from pandering to host countries for survival,
which proved untrue. A Hamas leader in Syria told me, off the record,
during a telephone interview recently: "We have no doubt that Damascus
will dump us the moment we are no longer of use, but we have no other
option but to play along."
Proxy politics is strategically significant for it helps take the battle
to someone else's physical space, create distractions and circumvent
internal crises. Both Israel and Iran, despite the colossal chasm that
separate their political and military intents, are currently involved in
such a manoeuvre.
President Ahmadinejad, backed by or directed by the instrumental forces
in his country -- Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the Supreme
National Security Council -- is well acquainted with the fact that if
Iraq is subdued by US forces, it will be Iran's turn to bear the brunt of
obtrusive US imperial designs, cheered on, if not largely facilitated by
Israel's neo- conservative allies in Washington. Accordingly, Iran is
involved in trying to shape a political milieu in Iraq that will keep the
Americans at bay. This is not to suggest that it was Iran, as opposed to
the unwarranted American invasion, that engender the current chaos in
Iraq; however, Iran, like other Middle Eastern countries involved in
Iraq, wishes to manage and manipulate the outcome to suit its own
interests. From Iran's point of view, this action makes perfect sense.
While Iran's prime objective is to discourage an American military
assault against it, Israel seeks regional hegemony, where it is left only
with "moderate" neighbours. According to this vision, conceived and
promoted publicly by Israeli leaders and their friends in Washington and
emphasised to the point of boring repetition by every relevant US
official at every possible opportunity, the Iranian "threat" must be
eradicated at any cost. Israel's fears of Iran are not nuclear in
essence. What worries Israel is that Iran is militarily strong,
politically cohesive and economically viable, enough to allow Iran
opportunity to challenge Israel at every turn. The Israelis, as their
country's history illustrates, simply despise such contenders. Israel's
attempt to demolish Gamal Abdel Nasser's national regime in 1956, only
eight years after the establishment of the Israeli state, is a poignant
example.
Yet a paradigm shift has occurred since the US invasion of Iraq four
years ago. While the US was the major power that often orchestrated proxy
wars through clandestine tactics, as it did in Central America and
various parts of Asia, Israel is now adopting a similar scheme. In most
instances in the past, Israel managed to sway US administrations to
behave according to the misleading mantra: "What's good for Israel is
good for America." But a clash of interests here is unavoidable. While
Israel's heart is set on a war against Iran, it is elementary knowledge
that a war against Iran would bring irrevocable disaster for the United
States. Prolonged political hostility with Iran is equally dangerous, for
it will further complicate the American task in Iraq.
But Israel is still cheering for war. Former director of Mossad, Uzi
Arad, told the British Guardian that, "A military strike may be easier
than you think." He outlined what targets were to be bombed -- not just
nuclear, but security and economic centres. "Iran is much more vulnerable
than people realise," he stated casually. Arad, like most Israeli
officials, wants war, even if such a war would complicate America's
regional involvement and cost it innumerable human lives, notwithstanding
a foreseeable large number of dead Iranians. It would matter little to
Israel, however, for a chaotic Iran, like a chaotic Iraq, is just another
opportunity to be exploited, and another "threat" to be checked off
Israel's security list.
While proxy relations are part and parcel of Middle East politics, even
arrogant superpowers can find themselves exploited, wittingly or not.
[Ramzy Baroud teaches mass communication at Curtin University of
Technology and is the author of The Second Palestinian Intifada: A
Chronicle of a People's Struggle. He is also the editor-in-chief of
PalestineChronicle.com. He can be contacted at:
edi...@palestinechronicle.com]
*
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