Us And Iraqi Foreign Policy
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Political policy is not something that one can easily pen down. It is forever changing and adapting, as formless as an ameba. Everyday that one scans the headlines or simply channel surfs we are being bombarded with the newest policy change and those perceptions about it. This holds particularly true in regards to US foreign policy with Iraq. In dealing with Iraq no previous model would fit as we are dealing with a whole new set of conditions. As it stands there are two roads of which the US can take. The first is to help Iraq create a decentralized democratic government. The second is to give control to an interim Iraqi government.
The major issue with the first solution is that there are very few links between Iraq and the US. Iraq has a history of having a deeply divided population in regards to ethnic and religious pregdjucice. They also have no previous background with democracy and only seem to be able to maintain a stable government when it is a dictator. The US also has little to no real understanding of Iraqi culture and society which presents its self to be a major hurtle to overcome. If the US is to impose a democratic government it will take a very concentrated effort the likes of which we have never seen.
President Bush had remarkable plans in place for the political reconsrtion of Iraq. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) stated that, “the national government will be limited to essential national functions, such as defense and security, monetary and fiscal matters, justice, foreign affairs, and strategic interests such as oil and gas.” Local government would be responsible for everything else and would be “required to operate in an open, transparent, and accountable matter.” Citizens would participate in planning the future of their communities and would control the civil administration through elected local assemblies. Just like that Iraq would change into the model democratic society.
But this vision for Iraq was crushed as soon as U.S. and British troops entered Iraqi cities, it became clear that the coalition did not have complete control. The United States could either stick to the original reconstruction plan and pacify the country by force or take a new approach. Unwilling to increase the number of troops in Iraq or spend more of the tax payers dollars the U.S. government opted for a new policy.
Within days of the realization that the first plan would fail, the US government decided to flip over to the second plan which would be to hand the country over to an interim Iraqi government. Off in the wings though, the original policy never truly died. In mid-April the USAID began awarding the Research Triangle Institute, a North Carolina contractor that often implements USAID projects, a $7.9 million contract, expected to grow to as much as $167.9 million over 12 months, to strengthen “management skills and capacity of local administrations and civic institutions to improve delivery of essential municipal services such as water, health, public sanitation and