Arabs doubt US will let go of Iraq after the war

CAIRO: Arabs fear the United States is in Iraq to stay as Washington prepares to establish a civil administration in areas it has occupied since March 20.

“They’re going to stay for ages,” said Andrea, a 24-year-old graphic designer in Beirut. “They’re not going to go through all of this just to make the world better for the Iraqis and then toddle off back to the United States. They have too many interests here.” Egyptian taxi driver Dyar, 40, said: “The Americans aren’t going to withdraw because it’s a colonial project.” Washington unveils a team to run post-war Iraq today. Paul Wolfowitz, the US deputy defence secretary, said it would take more than six months for an Iraqi government to be created. The United States, whose troops have reached Baghdad, plans to install the first stages of the civil administration in the southern port of Umm Qasr within days. “The Americans came to occupy and they will stay to occupy and the occupation of us Arabs and Muslims will continue,” said Tareq al-Masri, a Yemeni student in Sanaa.

Most Arabs oppose the war, which the US says is aimed at “liberating” Iraq from the grip of President Saddam Hussein. But many Arabs suspect that Washington wants to install a puppet government rather than handing over power. “Why would the Americans install a democracy in Iraq when they want Iraq’s oil? In a democracy the Iraqis would stop them,” said Cairo taxi driver Hussam Abdallah. “I am certain that the government the United States will impose...will accept everything America wants, including control and political administration of the oil and also burdening Iraq with the war bill,” said Nasser Saad al-Humoud, a private sector employee in Saudi Arabia. Jordanian analyst Uraib Rantawi said if reconstruction contracts were given to companies connected to senior members of President George W. Bush’s administration “they (Americans) will be dealt with as occupiers and colonialists”.

Hamed al-Hinai, an Omani businessman, said the international community had to prevent Washington keeping a hold on Iraq. “Any failure to do that will encourage some segments of the Iraqi people to see the US as invaders and turn them into freedom fighters,” he said. In non-Arab Iran, Mina, a 52-year-old psychologist said that prolonged US presence in Iraq could spark violence. “If the Americans decide to remain in Iraq after Saddam is toppled, they will face resistance and street fighting.” But Hamid, a 30-year-old Iranian teacher, disagreed. “As soon as the Iraqi people smell dollars and enjoy the comfort that money brings for them they will forget about resisting against Americans and they will show a positive reaction,” he said. Few Arabs felt a strong role for the United Nations or Europe was likely, or that it would make much difference.

European leaders want international bodies such as the UN to play a major role in rebuilding Iraq after the war. But the United States has ruled out a leading UN role and says Washington, and those most actively involved in the fighting, should come top of the list.  “The United Nations may run Iraq after the war, but the United States would tell the United Nations what to do,” said Abdallah in Cairo. Jordan’s commentator Tareq Masarweh said Arabs would be at the bottom of the heap in rebuilding Iraq. “Arabs are not included as partners in any Anglo-American plans to reconstruct Iraq after the war... The US has already put its hands on the oil wells, even before the Baghdad battle,” he wrote in a column in al-Rai daily. Many on the streets expressed a similar helplessness. “The Arab street is worthless,” said Ahmed, a 24-year-old recent graduate in Beirut. “The Arabs are used to defeat. If the Americans stay then the Arabs might be upset for a while, then they will just go back to their ordinary lives.”