Thinking the Unthinkable: Opening Up Negotiations
With the Iraqi Resistance 
by Mike Whitney
www.dissidentvoice.org
October 27, 2005



 

The purpose of the Iraqi constitution is to legitimize the American occupation and establish the legal framework for dividing the country. It does nothing for the Iraqi people except exacerbate sectarian and religious animosities. Only a fool would accept a constitution that is designed to break up the nation. That is a contradiction of the basic principle the underscores such documents.

Solid majorities in three Sunni provinces rejected the constitution even though according to leaders in the Association of Muslim Scholars, “the Americans fraudulently turned Sunni “no” votes into “yes” votes.”  (NY Times)

Mr. Kubaisy, representative of the AMS said, “The constitution was part of an American conspiracy to shred this country into pieces…. This constitution will be terminated when they leave.”

Kubaisy’s remarks reflect the sentiments of the vast majority of Sunnis as well as the 82% of Iraqis who are now “strongly opposed” to the ongoing presence of occupation troops. (Poll by British Government, 10-15-05)

The purpose of a constitution is to unify the people under a common commitment to civil liberties, human rights, and the rule of law. All of these are sadly lacking in the Iraqi version, which is primarily designed to strengthen the role of religion in government and allow for regional autonomy. The division of Iraq should not be revered as a “constitution”, but partition.

More importantly, the constitution lacks any real credibility because the nation is at war and that conflict poses a direct challenge to the survival of the regime. If representative government requires the consent of the governed, then it naturally follows that massive civil unrest and resistance signal the unwillingness of the people to accept the authority of the government.

The current violence in Iraq suggests widespread rejection of the American puppet state. This cannot be resolved by edicts from Washington, but by political dialogue with the warring parties -- negotiations with the resistance.

Currently, the Bush administration is working behind the scenes to form a bogus Sunni organization called the Iraqi Concord Front (ICF) which pretends to represent the political interests of Sunnis. The group will field candidates for the December elections for the National Assembly and work to disrupt the objectives of the Iraqi resistance. Already, one of the group’s leaders, Alla Makki, has stated that he will try to convince resistance fighters to lay down their weapons and join the political process.

“The political process”?

There will be no “political process” until members of the Bush administration sit down to negotiations with representatives of the Iraqi National Resistance. As of now there is no dialogue and, therefore, no political process.

Eventually, the administration will see that Iraq cannot be subjugated by jackboot tactics and imperial exploitation. Regardless of Washington’s penchant for the cruel and inhuman treatment of its prisoners, or its insatiable craving for Falluja-type retribution; the logistics do not favor success. Pipelines to the north have been sabotaged again, stopping the flow of oil for an estimated three weeks. The battle to disrupt crucial oil supplies will eventually force negotiations. Although the lives of innocent Iraqis have never mattered to the White House cabal, oil certainly has. The world’s tenuous economic situation will dictate policy, and within two years, members of the Bush administration will be joined at the bargaining table with members of Iraq’s disparate resistance.

The administration could do us all a favor by anticipating the inevitable failure of their misguided crusade and calling for a total and immediate ceasefire, followed by negotiations with representatives of the Iraqi resistance, and an unconditional commitment to withdraw all foreign troops.

The issues of reparations, reconstruction and war crimes can be dealt with at some mutually agreed upon future date, but for now, let’s stop the killing.

Mike Whitney lives in Washington state, and can be reached at: fergiewhitney@msn.com.

Other Articles by Mike Whitney

* Après Rove le Déluge
* Voting in Afghanistan: Warlords, Jihadis, and Iranian Agents
* Saddam's Mock Trial
* Escorting Judy to the Gallows
* Miller’s Confession: The Last Gasp Before the Indictments
* The Iraqi Constitution: A Cynical Cover for Partition
* Can Attacks on Oil Facilities Lead to Peace?
* George Bush and the Four Horsemen
* Bunker Days with Reichsführer George
* Martial Law and the Advent of the Supreme Executive
* The Evil of Torture and the Power of Non-Violence
* Why Not Torture Judith Miller?
* The Occupation of New Orleans
* Brownie's Comic Opera
* Apartheid Justice in America: Krugal vs. Padilla  
* The Impending Cakewalk in Iran
* Farewell to the Democratic PartyBunker Days with Reichsführer George
* Basra: Another Milestone in the War on Terror
* The Inevitable War with Iran
* Let Them Die Or Let Them Go
* Who’s Blowing Up Iraq?
* The Second American Revolution
* Hurricane Hugo at the UN
* Tal Afar: Crackdown in the Sunni Heartland
* John Roberts’ Role in the Guantanamo Hunger Strike
* Jose Padilla and the Death of Personal Liberty
* Rodney King in New Orleans
* Rehnquist Paved the Way for the Imperial Presidency
* The New Orleans Looters Are the Bush Progeny
* The Devastating Impact of Hurricane George
* “Transformation”: How Rumsfeld Smashed the National Guard
* The Lords of War
* Robertson’s Fatwah: “A Whole Lotta Smitin’ Goin’ On”
* Turning Cindy Sheehan’s Victory Into Defeat 
* “My Son Died for Nothing”
* "Shoot to Kill": Tony Blair’s First Trophy
* Greenspan’s Role in the Housing Bubble
* Failing in Iraq
* Revving Up World War III
* Pretty Hot in Crawford, Pretty Hot in Hell
* Straight-Shootin’ George Galloway
* “Operation Community Shield”: Comrade Chertoff’s Preemptive Crackdown
* Kristallnacht: What Happens When the Public Says Nothing? 
* Burying Blair: Post-Mortem for the British PM
* “Withdrawal” from Iraq?: Forget About It
* The Globalization of State Terror
* Tom Friedman: Fabricating the Roots of Terror
* Doomsday: The Final Months of the “Housing Bubble”
* John Roberts and the National Security State
* Guantanamo: the Calculus of Human Misery
* Did Greenspan Know About the London Bombings Two Days Before?
* Another Casualty in Rumsfeld’s Information War
* Genesis of an American Gestapo
* Bush's Orgy of Carnage
* Goodbye to Sandra Day O’ Connor . . . and Good Riddance
* The Rumsfeld Solution: “Liberating Iraq, One Journalist at a Time”
* Show Your Independence on the 4th -- Burn a Flag
* "Up in Smoke": Bush Flops in Prime Time
* More Rumsfeld Lies About Insurgent Meetings
* Incinerating Iraqis: The Napalm Cover-Up
* Guantanamo: The New-World Icon
* The Bush Radio Address: More Delusional Blather While Iraq Bleeds
* The Friedman Solution: Reinstate the Draft
* Body Slamming the 4th Amendment
* Operation Desperation: Rumsfeld’s Baghdad Fiasco
* The EU Constitution: Don’t Believe the BS
* Protecting the Plutocrats
* What Was Laura Bush Doing at the Al Aqsa Mosque?
* Free Jose Padilla!
* Alberto Gonzales’ Kristallnacht: Purges for a Safer America
* Tom Friedman: The Imperial Chronicler
* Gods, Gays, and George Bernard Shaw
* A Tentative Strategy for Ending the War
* The Specter of Violence in America
* Free Speech in the Crosshairs
* Why America Needs to be Defeated in Iraq
* More Madness at the Bush News Conference
* Ratzinger’s Plan to Hide the Pedophiles
* Let’s Let Atheists Back into Politics
* Pope Ratzinger: More “Pie-in-the-Sky” for the Struggling Masses
* The Purveyors of Violence: The NY Times in Falluja
* Screw You, Paul Volker!
* Pope TV and the New World Media
* The Economic Tsunami: Sooner Than You Think
* Destroy Abu Ghraib!
* Terri Schiavo and the Battered Judiciary
* Railroading Moussaoui
* The Wolfowitz Appointment: A Red Flag for the Coming Wars
* “Economic Meltdown” -- Sorry, but We’re Toast
* John Bolton and the Road to Tehran
* Clearing the Way for the American Police State
* Challenging the Language of Violence
* Jose Padilla and the 10 Commandments
* Crushing the UN for a Stronger America
* Europe to Bush: “Hands Off Iran”?
* The Incredible Shrinking Dollar
* Assassinating Al-Hariri Fits Washington’s Plan
* Washington’s Plan to Foment Civil War in Iraq
* Condi’s Euro-Tour
* Folksy Tom Friedman and New Age Imperialism
* Government Without Consent
* The Desperate State of the Union
* Iraq’s Election Fiasco
* Boarding Up the “Window of Opportunity”
* KGB Chieftain Finds Home at Homeland Security
* Bush’s Grand Plan: Incite Civil War
* Pink Slips at CBS

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