WHAT WENT WRONG?

  By Maximillien  de Lafayette 

·        Synopsis of The White House serious mistakes in invading Iraq and poor judgment vis-à-vis the Iraqis and Arab people. 

·        DID ANYTHING GO RIGHT? WAS IT WORTH IT TO DEPOSE HUSSEIN? YOU BET!!

·        Why President Bush’s “American Democracy” will never work in Iraq or in any Arab or Muslim Country!?                              

Don't exclusively blame President Bush for the tragic and unfortunate events and embarrassment caused by The White House’s decision to invade Iraq, and the US-Middle Eastern foreign policies fiasco, for anti Bush’s coalition and his political opponents are equally responsible at many levels.  Most certainly, we need to get out of Iraq; the cemetery of our heroes and graveyard of our brave troops diligently and desperately fighting to restore law, order, peace and human dignity in Iraq. Meanwhile, as a proud nation facing global terrorism, daily threats and anti-American sentiments at home and abroad, we should stand by President Bush in his fight against terrorism, his sincere efforts to establish human rights, civil rights and democracy in Iraq, and most certainly in his genuine interest to secure the safety and peace of mind of the Israeli people. I am absolutely certain that this man is a great American, a decent human being with high ethical standards and family values who never intended to mislead the nation.

Instead of constantly criticizing President Bush and humiliating his administration for invading Iraq, we should work with him, refocus, recollect our thoughts, anchor our positive collective determination, and hope for a brighter future. Constant destructive and bitter criticism of an American president will only bring shame and dishonor to our great nation, and transform us into the laughing-stock of world’s communities.  Mistakes were made. Poor social and political judgment embarrassed our nation. Misunderstanding and underestimating Arab regional conflicts, Islamic religious fervor and Iraqi patriotic zeal caused severe damages to the international prestige of the United States. But, with complete honesty, we should ask ourselves if  did anything  go right in invading Iraq? Was it worth it to depose Saddam Hussein? And no doubt, the answer would be: YOU BET!! Saddam Hussein was THE real threat to the stability and peace of the Middle/Near East region, to the neighboring Arab countries, to Israel and to the American interests in the Arab and Muslim world! He had to be removed!

 Don't criticize the American media for crafting melodramatized and exaggerated news reports and coverage ad nauseaum, exposing or hiding fake or accurately hot breaking news, for a large segment of the public tremendously enjoys trigger-happy and "explosively chocking" news and articles. All of us, Republicans, Democrats, Independents and those who are between are equally responsible to a certain degree, individually or collectively, willingly or unwillingly. It is not our intention to singularly put the blame on one narrowly chose politician, one individual or a group, nor to single out particular decision makers and point the finger at specific decisions taken by the US government in any department and at any level which either catapulted tragic events, wars, catastrophic diplomatic relations or major failures in domestic and foreign policies. The sole purpose of this editorial is:

1-      To briefly synopsize the major mistakes and embarrassing decisions we made as an American nation and to propose some possible "remedies" and solutions  in order to avoid repeating the same mistakes in the future;

 

 

2-  To outline the merits of the American military invasion, gains and beneficial results of removing Hussein from power;

3-To explain why President Bush’s "American Democracy" will never work in Iraq and in any Muslim or Arab country.                                    

PRESIDENT BUSH’S, THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT’S AND THE AMERICAN INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES” MAJOR MISTAKES:

MISTAKE #1: INFORMATION AND INTELLIGENCE: Almost 99.99% of President Bush’s decisions and his aides recommendations were based upon information and intelligence reports provided by various uncoordinated intelligence agencies, including but not limited to the CIA, FBI, NSA, American embassies abroad, various intelligence departments and sections in the military,  high profile Arab dignitaries, former Arab senior politicians,  and Iraqi persona non-grata and shady characters. Unfortunately, the overwhelming information on terrorism, Al Qaeda and various terrorists organizations in the eastern and western hemispheres were provided and "crafted" by:

A-    FOREIGN SOURCES: Unreliable foreign informers and Arab nationals, so-assumed allied operators, Arab defectors, former members of deposed regimes in the Arab world, poor quality of spies and informers of a foreign ethnic origin who disdain this or that particular Arab regime et al. Almost 90% of them failed (intentionally or unintentionally) to provide accurate and reliable information for obvious reasons, reasons we know and reasons we ignore. But what is almost certain is the fact that, the majority of Arabs and Muslims who offered their services to the American government and its intelligence agencies had no intention -whatsoever- to genuinely help us in general, and President Bush in particular. Despite the fact that they hated Saddam Hussein and other forms of governments and regimes in the Near and the Middle East, their hate and disdain for the USA and the alleged Jewish-Christian Conspiracy are bigger than their loyalty to the United States and far greater than their desire to remove Saddam Hussein and various tyrants in the Arab and Islamic worlds. The Bush’s administration never realized that Arabs and most particularly Muslims will never participate in any honest effort or a course of action to replace and or to substitute Islamic values and beliefs with American values, beliefs and political system, no matter how unhappy and unsatisfied they were or are with the regimes which unjustly governed their countries, deprived them from their basic human and civil rights, ruined their lives and destroyed their families and beloved ones.

An Arab will always remain an Arab and a Muslim will always remain a devoted Muslim at any cost. Nothing is wrong with this picture, as long as, we realize and understand that a “true” Arab and a devoted Muslim will never side by Israel, the Jews, the Christians and the United States. Consequently, any intelligence or information provided by an Arab and a Muslim should have been checked over and over again, and periodically put to an "unscheduled" test. The Bush’s administration failed to do so. Almost all the Arab defectors, Muslims spies working for the United States inside the USA and abroad, as well as Arab and Muslim heads of states assumingly friendly toward the USA worked against the USA interests in the region of the Near and Middle East. Behind closed doors, Egypt's Housni Mobarak, Pakistan’s Musharraf, Saudi Arabia’s royal family, influential members of the Hashemite family in Jordan and USA appointed men of power in Afghanistan and Iraq work in sync to annihilate Israel and to destroy the influence and expansion of power of the USA in the Arab and Muslim worlds.

 By nature, by necessity, by tradition and by raison d' etre, Arab leaders hate Israel, the Jews, the Christians, America and what the USA stands for! They were never the friends of the USA and till the end of time, they will remain USA foes and antagonists. The intelligence and information, the US should take into a great consideration are those which were, are or shall be provided by:

 1- The Israeli intelligence, Mossad and other Israeli agencies;

2- The Christian Maronites (Mawarnah) sources in Lebanon;

 3- The Christian Ashurians (Assyrians or Ashuris) in Iraq;

4- The Christian Syriac (Syrianis) in Syria;

5- The Christian Copts (Kouptis) in Egypt;

6- The military and intelligence observers in India;

7- The French agents operating in Greece, Morocco, Algeria, Tunis, the Middle East, the Near East and Asia Minor;

8- The formers KGB agents who defected to the United States and previously worked at the Russian (CCCP) embassy in Beirut, and “circulated” in Syria, Greece, Turkey, Cyprus and Iraq;

9- The Jews who emigrated from Tunisia, Morocco, Lebanon, Iraq, Egypt, Syria and Lebanon to Israel and finally settled in the United States.

Plenty of them currently live in the United States and are willing to share information with the CIA and President Bush’s administration. The US should have NOT fully trusted Muslims and  Arabs who operated under the umbrella of the CIA and the FBI. Fully trusting the Arabs, the Iraqis, the Pakistanis, the Afghanistanis, the Muslim leaders and Arab informers and believing that they will provide vital intelligence and accurate reports was a big mistake!

 

B- NATIONAL SOURCES OF INFORMATION AND THE CLOSE  INTELLIGENCE CIRCLE OF THE UNITED STATES  GOVERNMENT:  

The FBI and the CIA failed miserably in:

1- Recruiting effective and well-trained foreign agents;

2- Recruiting and training potential agents and operations officers from the United States;

 3- Recruiting and/or hiring "areas and regions" experts;

4- Collaborating with the experienced military and intelligence observers of our allies and friendly countries.

 Both agencies, the CIA and the FBI publicly claimed that they lacked effective human intelligence on the ground and in the field. The fact is that, many experienced and qualified individuals (and clean like a whistle) who have applied to the CIA and to the FBI were totally ignored. I know for a fact that many American-foreign born citizens with outstanding credentials,  fluency in many foreign languages, including Arabic, Farsi and Urdu, an unsurpassed knowledge of the region (Middle and Near East), documented expertise in Syrian, Lebanese, Iraqi, Palestinian politics, internal affairs and socio-politico-demographic regional events who have offered their services to the CIA and to the FBI in Washington, D. C, Miami, California were  turned down or  completely ignored by the CIA and the FBI. Sometimes, they were turned down for some stupid and alarmingly choking reasons such as:

 

1-This or that applicant is not a member of the established American intelligence community;

2- This or that applicant has no contact with people or groups from the inner circle of the administration;

3- This or that applicant is highly overqualified and the agency could not afford to pay him or pay her;

4- This or that applicant is of a French background, and consequently, she or he could not be trusted;

5- This or that applicant has a very strange and suspicious long name;

6- This or that applicant has something bizarre about him or about her, because the applicant's social and educational backgrounds as well as multidimensional foreign cultural and social activities seemed too much European, too much foreign, too much ethnic, too much un-American or not “American enough”.

 

Photo: Cover of the book "AFTER JIHAD", the most compelling and enlightening book ever written about Jihad, Islamic thoughts and Middle/Near Eastern-Arab culture, authored by Dr. Professor Noah Feldman, America's leading authority on Middle Eastern comparative culture and civilization.

 

MISTAKE #2: USA OFFICIALS AND DECISION MAKERS' COMPLETE IGNORANCE OF THE LANGUAGES, TRADITIONS, CULTURE, HISTORY, RELIGION AND DOGMATIC IDEOLOGIES OF THE MUSLIM AND ARAB WORLDS:

None of President Bush's cabinet members, including Dr. Rice, FBI director, CIA director and USA attorney general speaks Arabic. None of them lived or worked in the Near and Middle East. Of course, many of them visited the region, but 2, 3 or 4 day visits to Islamic and Arab nations do not provide ample, substantial, qualitative, quantitative and meaningful understanding of the way of life, traditions, religions, jurisdictions, laws and the dogmatic philosophy of the people and nations of the Arab and Muslim worlds. None of them studied Al Shari'a, Islamic laws, Hadith Al Sharif (The speech of the Prophet Mohammad). None of them majored in comparative Islamic studies and civilizations. And those who have earned advanced degrees in political sciences and international relations, wrote their dissertations on American foreign policies (in general), Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. The most highly educated figure of the Bush's administration is probably Dr. Rice. Unfortunately, Dr. Rice herself majored in Soviet Studies and not in Arab ideologies and political systems.  She is not  a leading expert on Islam and Arab civilization. Yet, she is the primordial advisor to President Bush. You cannot study Victor Hugo poetry in English. You cannot appreciate the poesy of Abou-Tib Al Moutanabi and Ahmad Chawki in English. You cannot comprehend and fully absorb the essence of Arab tribal traditions and their influence on Arab politics, local social-ethnic-political-demographic conflicts, the periodic financial and ecological crises and regional governments if you don't know Arabic.  You have to know Arabic in order to understand how Arabs feel, think, fight, dream, terrorize, love, hate, mourn, rejoice and reason. President Bush's senior advisors and cabinet secretaries' linguistic weaknesses and total ignorance of the languages and dialects of the Arab and Muslim worlds prevented them from "grasping " and fully understanding the Muslim "reality" and Arabic psyche.

 HOW MANY TIMES DID  THE WHITE HOUSE AND THE PENTAGON OFFEND THE ARAB WORLD AND THE MUSLIM COMMUNITIES BY GIVING NAMES AND CODES TO MILITARY OPERATIONS IN THE MIDDLE EAST WHICH WERE CONSIDERED BY THE MUSLIMS TO BE  BLASPHEMOUS AND OFFENSIVE TO THEIR RELIGION AND BASIC PRINCIPLES OF ISLAM? Many times!

Ignoring the civilization, culture, history and religions of the Arab and Muslim world caused severe embarrassments to the Bush’s administration and created hostile relationships between the Muslims and Washington. If in fact, the United States government and its  intelligence agencies had qualified experts on the Middle/Near East affairs and expert linguists, many of the embarrassing incidents and grave mistakes could and would have been easily avoided or eliminated.

MISTAKE #3: COMPLETE IGNORANCE AND MISUNDERSTANDING OF ISLAMIC LAWS AND "REGIONAL ARABIC DEMOCRACY":

The enormous differences between the Arab/Islamic and American "democratic" laws and ways of life will not allow the Bush's administration to create a democratic government in Iraq or in any Arab country, not now and not in five hundred thousands years to come!!

AMERICAN DEMOCRACY IS NOT MADE FOR THE MUSLIMS AND THE ARABS!

In many instances, and  in ad infinitum  daily life circumstances,  Arab, Near Easterners, Middle Easterners and Islamic courts rulings, worshiping methods, dress code,  protocol, etiquette, marital law, inheritance law, business law, governmental regulations, land management, business transactions, relations between parents, fathers, wives and children and hundreds of hundreds of  other numerous situations are in sharp  contradiction and contrast with the American way of life.

 

 

 

laws, social values and beliefs, courts decisions, human and civil rights and democratic understanding.  In many instances, traditional Arab political systems, Arab leadership, Arab tribal hierarchy, regional ethnic-ecological importance and family values are either  incomprehensible to Americans, repulsive to some and anti-democratic to many. And to an overwhelming majority of Americans, what is not American is usually not good! And what is considered to be anti-American political foreign policy is conclusively considered by an overwhelming majority of the American people as antagonistic and unfriendly toward the United States, regardless of who is right and who is wrong. 

HISTORY TAUGHT US THAT, FOREIGN LEADERS, CONQUERORS AND RULERS FROM ALL EPOCHS IN THE EASTERN AND WESTERN HEMISPHERES UNDERSTOOD THE “REGIONAL-ETHNIC MIDDLE EASTERN DEMOCRACY”. WE DID NOT!

 The Muslims worldwide and the vast Arab world have their own "Islamic Democracy" or sort of. You don't have to be "democratically Americanized or Americanized democratically”  to be lawful, fair and just, honorable and  EMPIRICALLY DEMOCRATIC. Whether you agree or not, many jurists and scholars around the globe

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do not believe that the American democracy is a pure democracy at all. In the European, African, Asian, Arab and Muslim worlds, you will encounter multiple aspects of democracy based upon various concepts and facets of social values, laws, jurisprudences, trilogy of equality, fraternity and justice, human rights and liberty which have nothing in common with American democracy. Yet, those foreign “non-American” and “non-Bush” democratic laws, ideologies, thoughts and social rules were created, preached and taught by pillars of the western and eastern civilizations, to name a few: Cicero, Gaius, Ulpian, Charlemagne,  Hamourabi, Akiva Ben Joseph, Vilna Gaon,  Anou Sherwan Kesrah, Haroun Al Rashid, Kant, Blaise Pascal, Montesquieux, Emperor Justinian, Isodore of Seville, Gratian,  Huguccio and  Saint Thomas Aquinas. Most certainly, and because their understanding of democracy was congruent with their conception of the universe and with their notions of human psychology, many of them would have not agreed with all the rulings of the United States Supreme Court, state, district and federal courts’ decisions and orders, The White House executive orders, all the articles of the American Constitution and its Amendments and the United Senate Congress bills. Yet, they created and coined the term “natural law” (ius naturale) as the first pragmatic form of democratic rules and laws. The Bush’s administration must understand once for good that, what is democratic to the people and government of the United State is not necessarily democratic to billions of people living around the globe. For thousands of years, world's leaders and conquerors understood and remembered the differences between western civilizations and laws and eastern civilizations and laws. The very first meaningful endeavor Julius Cesar undertook after his mighty Roman army defeated Marc Anthony and Cleopatra, was to accept the "Egyptian Reality", the Egyptian way of life, by honoring the Egyptian laws, the Egyptian traditions and revering the Egyptian Deities. Many of the gods and goddesses of the Egyptian pantheon became Roman deities and were worshiped by thousands of Romans in Rome and in the vast Roman Empire. And a great number of laws governing Egypt were integrated in the traditional Roman civil law. Julius Cesar did not rush to write a new constitution for Egypt, nor to impose upon the Egyptians a new form of government and political system as President Bush did in Iraq. The same thing happened once again when the Hyskos, the ancient Armenians (Creators of the military battle chars and curved bows) conquered and ruled Egypt. The very first thing they did was to assure the people of Egypt that, they will respect, accept and preserve the local Egyptian democracy, the Egyptian national laws and political system. They did NOT write an Armenian Constitution for the people and government of Egypt. They did NOT impose on the people and government of Egypt, their own political views and system of government as President Bush did in Iraq. In the comparative history of civilizations, culture, government, wars, conquests and regional conflicts of the Middle/Near East, no Persian, Hittite, Acadian, Assyrians, Babylonian, Phoenician, Sumerian, Etruscan, Anatolian, Greek or European ruler, king, military leader, emperor or a conqueror ever tried to substitute and replace Egyptian, Middle Eastern, Arab or Islamic democracy with their own, except the Crusaders and the Byzantium empire.  Both, Byzantine and Europe’s crusades failed miserably in substituting Islamic and Arab laws and democracy with Roman and European-Roman-Catholic laws and democracy.

THE ARAB REALITY-ISLAMIC DEMOCRACY

 Unfortunately,  the current Bush's administration still persists that political and social changes can be made in Iraq, the American way,  and American democracy can be established in a country seven thousand year older than the United States. President Bush should learn something from the French proverb "Plus Ca Change, Plus Ca Reste La Meme Chose". 

 Lawrence of Arabia who served and created the first tribal Saudi army and led the Saudi tribes and troops in a raging war against the Turkish empire understood the "Arab Reality", the Arab concept of an “Islamic Democracy". He fully realized and quickly understood that the United Kingdom cannot rule Saudi Arabia or any adjacent Arab or Muslim country with non-Muslim   British laws, nor impose on the fanatic Saudis, an English Christian democracy". In 1923, he became very angry with England and disappointed by the foreign policy and attitude of his country toward Saudi Arabia. He wrote a book about his experience in Arabia and the interference of England in the national affairs of the Arab world and Saudi Arabia. His book "The Seven Pillars of Wisdom" became a bestseller and many years later became the basis for the movie "Lawrence of Arabia".  Lawrence of Arabia understood that Western Democracy will never work in the Arab world.

 

 

There is no way in the world, President Bush, Secretary Rumsfeld, Dr. Rice, Dr. Henry Kissinger, the FBI, the CIA or any American politician (Republican,  Democrat or Independent) can make an Arab or a Muslim person  think like an American, live like an American and  "accept" American Democracy and American political system. Arabs and Muslims do not and will never replace Islamic Conceptual Democracy with western and more precisely American democracy, for their laws which are based on Islam teachings, the Quran Al Karim, the SHARI'A and HADDITH SHARIF are in many instances in sharp contrast and contradiction with western and American laws. What is "democratic" and lawful in Arab and Muslim countries might appear undemocratic and unconstitutional to Americans. And what is constitutional, lawful, fair and democratic to Americans is not necessarily lawful, pragmatic, intelligent, fair, just, and democratic to billions of Muslims and Arabs around the globe. President Bush is telling the world that by removing Saddam Hussein from power, he paved the way to democracy in Iraq. President Bush is mistaken, once again. Removing Hussein from power and replacing him with a pro-American Iraqi, a Bush’s puppet, an Iraqi politician who has been on the CIA payroll for years will NOT establish democracy in Iraq, bring peace to the region, protect the interests of the United States, safeguard Israel and eliminate terrorism!! The Iraqis are proud, extremely generous people by nature and blessed with a majestic historical heritage. But democracy was never their primordial virtue and verita humana. The Iraqi people strongly believe that they can be free, independent, respectable, respected and "breathe" in their country without Bush’s system of government, without Bush-Rumsfeld-Rice political ideology and without  American or western democracy. Many Iraqis, either do not   believe in western democracy, never understood how it works or never heard of it.

ARAB LOYALTY TO TRIBAL TRADITIONS, LEADERS AND HEADS OF FAMILIES, ULTIMATE RESPECT FOR THE ELDERLY WHO TAUGHT ARABS AND MUSLIMS  VERY CONSERVATIVE ARAB IDEOLOGIES, ABSOLUTE CONFORMITY WITH    THE   ISLAM   TEACHINGS,   ENORMOUS   PRIDE   OF  THEIR  ARAB  AND   HISTORICAL  HERITAGE BUILT UPON 

ISLAMIC AND RELIGIOUS IDEOLOGIES AND LAWS  DON'T BLEND WELL WITH AMERICAN DEMOCRACY.

MISTAKE #4: PRESIDENT BUSH AND THE WHITE HOUSE SENIOR ADVISORS LOOK AT THE WORLD AND TRY TO UNDERSTAND IT FROM AN AMERICAN POINT OF VIEW. AND THIS IS WHAT CREATES A GLOBAL AMERICAN MISUNDERSTANDING AND ALARMING BIASES!!

As we all know, the laws of the land and in many instances, the way of life of citizens determine, depict and "show" how democratic or undemocratic a country IS.  Americans are so particular about the constitutional and democratic aspect and nature of their laws. Democratic countries "create" democratic laws. And "democratic" laws "create" a democratic nation. This is what 99% of Americans think. So, when an American looks at a law  or at a regulation in "any" foreign country and begins to compare it to an applied American law or a regulation in the United States, in order to understand and determine its "constitutionality" and democratic value,  he or she has already positioned himself or herself  on the wrong track, for what is democratic to Americans is unrealistic and "untruthful" to many foreigners around the world, not necessarily to the Arab world on a exclusive basis. And what is democratic and lawful to billions of people around the globe could be unconstitutional and anti-democratic to the American people, taking into consideration, the American Constitution, The Amendments and the rulings of the United States Supreme Court. Generally, Americans from all walks of life - and most precisely journalists, reporters and TV talk show hosts on American television networks- look at the rest of the world, gaze at the way of life of billions of human beings outside the United States and "judge" the democratic and constitutional nature of a law (foreign laws in foreign countries) from an American window, an American point of view. If those foreign laws are not similar to American laws, and if those foreign laws in foreign countries contradict the American laws or are sharply different from the laws they obey in the United States, then foreign laws become "unconstitutional" and non-democratic.  If foreign laws in foreign countries are not American in nature and aspect or are NOT in conformity with what the Founding Fathers of the United States said and wrote, then they are non-democratic and unconstitutional. And this is arrogance!

 

 

The world was built and magnificent civilizations shined and empires ruled the earth for centuries and religions were born and codes of laws, tribunals procedures and jurisprudences were written and implemented, thousands of years before the Founding Fathers of the United States were born. In western countries, "Law" is multi-branched. We have divorce law, corporate law, international public law, family law, penal code, civil procedures, criminal procedures, jurisprudence, you name it. In Islamic countries -including Iraq- there is "AL SHARI'A". The ultimate law: The law of all laws, codes, procedures and jurisprudence. And there is one "LAW": Al SHARI'A governing all aspects and facets of the daily life of a Muslim. It is solely based upon the Quran, and in many instances, passages, examples and wisdom of "AL HADITH AL SHARIF" (The speeches and dialogues of the Prophet Mohammad). Some of the most important laws of "AL SHARI'A" are strikingly different from the laws of the West and particularly the American laws. In that sense, the Islamic laws appear to the Americans as "UNCONSTITUTIONAL". Consequently, if the Islamic laws are unconstitutional in the eyes of the American people, then, those Islamic  laws shall be viewed and regarded by Americans as Non-Democratic. And here, we have a big problem. For instance, there is this famous phrase in the Islamic law " LA TABBANI FIL' ISLAM", meaning adoption is illegal in Islam.  Verbatim, it is translated like this: "No adoption in Islam". Yet, adoption in the United States is perfectly legal, very democratic and highly sought by millions of American families. Another sharp contradiction with American democratic way of life is illustrated in the very legal way a Muslim man divorces his wife on his own term and without a court decision.  There is a notorious phrase in Islamic law and societies which goes like this: "TALKAH FIL SALATHA", meaning verbatim: "You are divorced 3 times." If a Muslim man wants to divorce his wife, all that he needs to divorce his wife is to say "TALKAH FIL SALATHA" and ipso facto, she is divorced by him. No court is needed. He just needs to tell his wife: "I divorce you three times" and Boum Kaboum, the wife becomes a divorcee on the spot. In many parts of the Muslim world, a Muslim man is legally entitled to 4, 5 or 6 wives, in fact, he is entitled to have as many wives as he wishes.  The Prophet Mohammad himself, had approximately 40 wives and one of them was 13 year old. The Muslim Sultans of Turkey and Caliphs (Caliphas, Khaliphas) had a harem (HAREEM) of more than 500 wives in Istanbul. And everything was legal and constitutional in Istanbul! Now, just imagine what would happen to an  American man  who marries “only” two women in the United States. He will be charged with polygamy, arrested and thrown in jail.  What is fair game and legal in Istanbul, Riyadh, Manama, Basra, Sharjah, Karkouk, Izmir, even Saint Tropez, Lisbon, Monte Carlo and Paris may not be fair game or legal in the United States. So, what is Bush going to do in Iraq and in the Muslim world? Substitute or replace the Islamic laws and Islamic democracy with American laws and American democracy? Or, "craft a new constitution" for Iraq modeled after an American "Democratic" way of thinking and "doing things"? He will fail miserably!! Is he going to change the constitution of Iraq and impose a new constitution modeled after the American Constitution as McArthur and Truman did in Japan? No way, Habibi! There are so many differences between the Japanese and the Muslim Arabs when it comes to Democracy and Constitution. For now, I will give you the most important one. Japanese accepted the idea and possibility of separating religion and state. Muslims will never separate State and Religion, for ISLAM IS  A STATE-RELIGION that governs, rules, shapes, depicts, allows and forbids, creates and eliminates, describes and prescribes, authorizes and blesses, legalizes and outlaws EVERY SINGLE ASPECT of the MUSLIM DAILY LIFE, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO: PUBLIC, PRIVATE, SOCIAL, POLITICAL, FAMILIAL, RELIGIOUS, LEGAL, PROFESSIONAL, HYGIENIC, SCIENTIFIC, LITERARY, JURIDICAL  ASPECTS OF THE LIFE AND DEATH OF MUSLIMS AROUND THE GLOBE.

IN THE MUSLIM ARAB WORLD, EVERYTHING IN LIFE AND IN DEATH IS BASED UPON ISLAM AND NOT DEMOCRACY. IN BRIEF: ISLAM RULES!! ALL ARAB  LAWS AND ARAB COUNTRIES CONSTITUTIONS WERE CREATED AND WRITTEN ACCORDING TO ISLAM.

So what is President Bush going to do with an Islamic Constitution based upon  an Islamic Democracy which is based upon an Islamic theology? Change it? Bring an American Democracy based upon a Western Democracy which is based upon a Judeo-Christian theology or philosophy? He will have nightmares and the whole Islamic world will fight him to death! DRAFTING IRAQ'S NEW CONSTITUTION MODELED AFTER THE AMERICAN CONSTITUTION AND AMENDMENTS  AND SUBMITTING IT TO THE IRAQI COUNCIL WAS AN AMERICAN BLUNDER. IT DID HURT AND  OFFEND THE NATIONAL PRIDE AND RELIGIOUS FAITH  OF THE IRAQIS AND THE SPIRITUAL LEADERS OF IRAQ INCLUDING THE KURDS, TURKMEN, SHIITES AND SUNNIS. The enormous differences between the Arab/Islamic and American "democratic" laws and ways of life will not allow the Bush's administration to create a democratic government in Iraq or in any Arab country, not now and not in five hundred thousands years to come!! Many American Presidents before him and a considerable number of world's leaders tried to establish democracy in the Arab world and failed. But President Bush, strongly, honestly and stubbornly believes that he can change the world! Good luck, Mr. President. Rudyard Kipling, once wrote: "East is East and West is West, and never the twain shall meet." But President Bush does not agree. He still believes that the civilization, the culture, the social values, the laws, the military might, the economical empire and the American way of  thinking, reasoning  and doing things will bring law and order to the world (Of Course, American Way of Law and Order) and establish a democracy in the Middle East, Near East and occupied Iraq. Unfortunately, with all due respect, President Bush is absolutely wrong.

 

 

It is IMPOSSIBLE to force an Arab or a Muslim to fully accept American social values, laws and "American Democracy" as the only meaningful and truthful form of democracy. This will never happen! "KAMA TA KOUNOUN, YOUWALLAH ALEYKOUM"; this is a very famous phrase (wisdom) attributed to Al Imam Ali. It means  verbatim:  "The way you are, you will shall be governed." In other words, as we say in the West, "Like Father, Like Son". The Imam Ali' phrase becomes: "Like A Nation, Like A Ruler, Or Like A President". Also it means, those who govern us are those we have elected and or chosen, and as such, they represent and depict who we are and what we deserve." On the surface, the Arabic wisdom seems to appear democratic, but in fact, it is the beginning of exactly the opposite of an American democracy. In the United States, the president of the country is elected by the American people for a four year term. Of course, the American president can seek another term. Eight years is the maximum consecutive presidential "tenure", he or she can maintain.  In many parts of the world and particularly in the Islamic and Arab worlds, free elections are not a sign, an indication or a symbol of democracy nor deemed necessary at all. Justice and freedom in America require free elections. Justice and freedom in Islamic countries require absolute conformity with the “word”, instructions, dialogues and “speech” of one man; the prophet, not  free elections or the voice of a nation. In the Arab world, although elections or some forms of elections take place from time to time,   they remain a pure proforma; a display rather than a norm. The Arabs and the Muslisms think differently from the Europeans and the Americans. The Arab Muslims honestly believe that new –free and open-  elections to elect a new ruler or a leader are not always the best formula or system for governing a nation, a region or a tribe. And this belief is evidenced in the tribal history of the Arab nations, the Holy Books and even the Old Testament. For centuries, Arabs, Muslims and Jews alike shared the same electoral systems and observed similar socio-political leadership traditions.  Although, from time to time, elections take place in many Arab countries, almost 99% of the elected or re-elected presidents remain the same, and or shall remain in power for the rest of their lives. We have an abundance of facts and examples.

ARAB/MUSLIM PRESIDENTS AND LEADERS RULE AND GOVERN THEIR COUNTRIES AND PEOPLE FOR EVER!

Ruthless and manipulative Arab presidents  like Egypt's Gamal Abdel Nasser and Housni Moubarak, Libya’s strongman Moa’amar Al Khadafi (Khazafi), Saudi Arabia's House of Saoud, Syria's Al Asaad’s dynasty (from father to son), the United Arab Emirates' Al Maktoum family ( Which maintained the power in the UAE since its creation and will continue to do so till  the end of time: Rashed Al Maktoum, the patriarch of the Al Maktoum family was the Vice President and Prime Minister of UAE,  and ruler of Dubai. His son Mohammad Al Maktoum became secretary of defense at age of 25. His brother Maktoum Al Maktoum became ruler and prime minister after the death of his father. And nobody in the Gulf seems to complain about it.) The same succession and transfer of power system is accepted as an "anticipated political normality" and an Islamic legitimate system of governing a Muslim country. It is a common practice in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Yemen, Algeria, Morocco, Syria, Lebanon, etc... Those Arab rulers and presidents were not elected or appointed the American way. They did not come to power via democratic means. Yet, they are considered in their countries as legitimate, bona fide and democratic heads  of state. Americans see it differently. President Bush will never succeed in changing the electoral system in Iraq or in any Muslim Arab country.

AMERICAN DEMOCRACY AND AMERICAN LAWS CONFUSE THE ARAB AND THE MUSLIMS AROUND THE GLOBE! AS WELL AS MANY FOREIGN CHRISTIAN COUNTRIES.

Centuries ago, Blaise Pascal wrote: "Verite en deca des Pyrenees erreur au dela", meaning: “There are truths on this side of the Pyrenees which are falsehoods on the other.” Thus, American democratic laws are not meant to be understood,  implemented and obeyed in the Arab and Islamic worlds. Besides, Muslims and Arabs are confused by the various, divergent, convergent and contradictory laws in the United States. An Iraqi jurist once told me:  “I wonder how come, a law is THE law in this or that state in America and is not THE same law in other states in America. If both states are American states under one American law, one American flag, one American constitution, and one American government, all the laws in all the American states should be the same." Unfortunately it is true. For instance, it is illegal to carry or own a gun in the District of Columbia. If the police catches you carrying a revolver, you will be arrested on the spot, handcuffed and thrown in jail. Yet, walk only 100 feet from the end of M street in Georgetown, Washington, D.C. to the bridge separating the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of Virginia, just very few feet outside Washington, D.C. city limits  and all of a sudden, you have all the rights to buy and own a gun. Very strange indeed! Foreigners from around the globe and particularly from the Middle and the Near East don't have a lot of respect for the "rationale" behind the American democratic laws and American lawmakers. An Egyptian chief judge, educated in England, once told me: "If a law (Same law) is constitutional in one state in America, and in the same time is unconstitutional in other states, then there is no consistency, truthfulness and a guarantee to protect the same human and civil rights of the American people if they move from one state to another. If the Americans in their own country,  do not agree on one single law applicable to all Americans and to all the American states, and if each American state has the power to separately and independently create its own laws, this should tell you that the American legal system, juridical system and American  Democracy in America do not work. Frankly, we do not need this kind of democracy and legal system in our countries."

 

 

 President Bush and his team are going to have hard time:

1-      Explaining to the Iraqis, the Mullah, the Ulemas, Al Koudats, the clerics, the Imams,  the Sheiks, the jurists and lawmakers of Iraq, how contradictory state and federal  democratic laws work in the United States and why so many American laws are so different in so many American states!?

2-      How and why American democracy and the Bush’s administration are capable of  establishing a new democratic and juridical/legal system better than the one they already have! And in case, they don’t have one, what’s wrong with the laws of the Quran, Islam, the word of the Prophet, and the divine inspiration of Allah?!

MISTAKE #5: UNDERESTIMATING THE IRAQIS  AND RADICALS IN THE MIDDLE EAST:

President Bush did not expect such a strong antagonistic and unwelcoming reaction from the Iraqi people. He underestimated the patriotic zeal of the Iraqi people. He honestly, candidly and “naively” believed that, the Shiites will show gratitude and support for getting rid of Saddam Hussein. They did not. On the contrary, they became extremely violent and determined to kill every single American fighting on their lands. On so many occasions, President Bush with utmost candor and honest conviction stated that the Iraqi people will welcome the Americans as liberators. There is no doubt, Iraqis from all walks of life, tribal diversities, various ethnic backgrounds and religious affiliations consider the Americans as "occupiers" and conquerors, not as liberators. To many, President Bush and the American troops in Iraq symbolize evil, destruction and an International Jewish-Christian conspiracy to destroy the Arab world and Islam.

MISTAKE #6: ARABS/MUSLIMS  DETAINEES AND PRISONERS INTERROGATIONS METHODS AND TECHNIQUES:

Americans think and act like Americans. French think and act like French. Also, Arabs and Muslims think and act like Arabs and Muslims. To get the desired intelligence and information from Arab and Muslim prisoners, American interrogators should and must think, act and interrogate like Arabs and Muslims. Unfortunately, a large number of our military interrogators in Iraq are uncultured and poorly educated. They are not familiar with Arab and Muslim way of life, reasoning, acting and reacting, telling the truth and lying and above all they are totally in the dark when it comes to gain the trust, respect and collaboration of their Arab and Muslim detainees.  In addition, those alleged atrocities and violations of the Geneva Convention fueled Arab and Muslim hatred, distrust, fear, vengeance and refusal to cooperate with the military interrogators and fields officers of the CIA. The same thing applied to the methods and techniques used by reasonably educated interrogators at the headquarters of the FBI and CIA in the United States. American interrogators were not properly trained to obtain the needed intelligence and information from terrorists, Arabs and Muslims because they have not studied the social psychology and behavioral sciences of Arab communities and Muslim psyche. You cannot interrogate a Muslim from Basra or Beirut the same way you interrogate a truck driver from Alabama or an intellectual activist from Manhattan. What applies to Americans do not apply to foreign nationals, and more precisely to fanatic and radical Muslims.  Years ago, the French made the same mistakes in Algeria. They used interrogation methods similar to the ones which are currently in use by our guys in Washington and centers of detention abroad. But they quickly learned that those methods were not efficient and productive. And consequently, new interrogation "styles and methods" were implemented following the advice of Algerian "collaborators". The new techniques and methods as suggested and "designed" by Algerian collaborators were extremely successful. Unfortunately, we Americans, WE ARE stubborn and arrogant.

 

 

 

We believe that our interrogation methods are the most effective. We believe that everything American is the world's best. We believe that the psychological tools, tests and systems we use in assessing personalities, evaluating talents and analyzing characters and temperaments  are the world's best. This is absurd. Many of my associates and friends (with tons of doctorate degrees and fluency in 10 languages and prolific authorship and absolutely astonishing intelligence) who in the past have applied to high profile jobs and assignments in Washington failed miserably and scored very poorly on psychological tests administered by American employers. Their score (s) showed accentuated level of imbecility and mediocrity. Of course, they failed because American psychological tests were not designed for Europeans and foreigners. Those idiotic tests were custom made for farmers from Iowa. So every European genius and scholar who took the test failed. The same thing happened to our geniuses and brilliant people who took psychological and aptitude tests in Europe. They failed too!! Remember this my friends :"When you are in Rome, do as the Romans do."

MISTAKE #7: ANTAGONIZING THE UN AND WORLD COMMUNITIES. No comments are needed. You know the whole story.

MISTAKE #8: DIFFUSING AND FEEDING HATRED AGAINST THE EUROPEANS AND PARTICULARLY THE FRENCH.

MISTAKE #9: WE HAD A MILITARY OPERATIONAL SYSTEM TO WAGE A WAR AND CONQUER IRAQ, BUT WE DID NOT HAVE AN "EXIT" STRATEGY AND POST WAR PLANNING.

MISTAKE #10: WE FAILED TO OBTAIN THE SUPPORT OF "THE ARAB LEAGUE".

MISTAKE #11: ON A GEOGRAPHIC-STRATEGIC-POLITICAL LEVEL: WE FAILED TO SECURE SOCIAL AND MILITARY ALLIANCES WITH IRAQ'S NEIGHBORING COUNTRIES.

MISTAKE #12: WE DID NOT HAVE ENOUGH AND ADEQUATE INFORMATION ABOUT THE SUB AND INRFA STRUCTURE OF IRAQ AT ALL LEVELS. Consequently, we were not fully prepared to rebuild Iraq!

MISTAKE #13: WE DID NOT HAVE ENOUGH TOPOGRAPHIC AND GEODESIC INFORMATION ABOUT THE LANDS AND TERRITORIES OF IRAQ. Consequently, we did not know where and how to search for what we were searching for.

MISTAKE #14: WE STAYED TOO LONG IN IRAQ.  We removed Saddam from power. This was superb but we should have gathered and united various regional, tribal and religious leaders to create an immediate ruling and governing body. We did not! Centuries ago, Napoleon Bonaparte during his Egypt expedition and campaign, wrote: "The West is the West. And the East is the East. Like two mountains, they don't meet." He conquered Egypt. He perfectly understood the psyche, traditions, nature and laws of the Muslim world. He brought to Egypt a fleet of physicians to cure diseases.  He created hospitals, he improved the conditions of life of the Egyptians and Mamelukes. He protected Egyptian libraries, centers of learning, and archaeological sites. His scholars deciphered the Hieroglyph language. In brief, he created a better life for the Egyptians. The Egyptians Ulemas, scholars, Imams, leaders and heads of tribes were impressed by Napoleon's contribution to improve the social and living conditions of Egypt but,  they made it clear to him that they will never accept "western" values, the French way of life and European civilization as their own. In brief, they were grateful to him but wanted HIM OUT OF THEIR COUNTRY. No matter how generous, honest, helpful, beneficial, essential, supportive and important you are  or were to the Arabs and Muslims, they will always demand that you leave their countries, that you will never interfere in their domestic and national affairs  and  that you will never  return to their lands. And if you wish in the future to visit their countries, you will do so as their guest, not as a conqueror or as a  foreign ruler. And most certainly, you will never  return with a military force. Napoleon understood and accepted the "Arab Reality" and got out of Egypt. President Bush and Secretary Rumsfeld do not understand the "Arab Reality" and are still in Iraq, They WANT to create democracy in Iraq! But who are they fooling?! They will never prevail in Iraq or in any Arab or Muslim country, no matter how long they stay and how hard they try!!

 

MISTAKE #15: WE KEPT ON USING THE SAME ARAB AND MUSLIM CONSULTANTS, ANALYSTS AND QUASI-INFORMERS AND SO-CALLED AMERICAN EXPERTS ON IRAQ FOR VERY LONG TIME: We should have removed their

 

 

 

 

names from our rosters as soon as we realized that their expert opinions and intelligence were not reliable, truthful and pragmatic.

MISTAKE #16: GIVING MULTI BILLION DOLLAR CONTRACTS TO AMERICAN COMPANIES TO REBUILD IRAQ INSTEAD OF GIVING A SIZABLE PORTION OF THOSE CONTRACTS TO WELL-ESTABLISHED ARAB AND LOCAL CORPORATIONS AND COMPANIES. Arabs and Muslims  contractors and businessmen disdained this decision. They felt that they were pushed aside by Americans and deprived from taking part in rebuilding their own country. In addition, they became fully aware that American companies will make astronomical profits from those contracts given to them by the Bush's administration. Billions of Dollars poured in the bank accounts of non-Arab companies which were controlled by Christians and Jews.

MISTAKE #17: NOT LIFTING THE RESTRICTIONS OF BOYCOTTING IRAQ AND IMPOSING UNJUSTIFIED EMBARGO AGAINST THE PEOPLE OF IRAQ FOR OVER 15 YEARS.  Europeans and the United Nations are equally responsible.  Boycotting Iraq did not help at all. Every single Arab nation maintained solid ties, import-export, trade and commerce with Saddam Hussein’s regime.  OPEC members choreographed and scenarioed schemes to keep Iraq’s oil industry undamaged. France, United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, Greece, Cyprus, Turkey, Cuba, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Iran, Indonesia, Malasia, Sudan, Somalia, Uganda, Nigeria, several African and Latin countries intensified their technological cooperation with the regime of Hussein. Everybody did business with Iraq and got rich and richer, except the United States.  Of course, boycotting Iraq was not President Bush’s decision. It occurs long time before he came to power. His mistake was not to lift the restrictions against boycotting Iraq.  He would have gained the massive and integral support of the Iraqi people. All nations, including the unworthy and deceitful United Nations played their cards on the gambling table of Iraq, except the United States. Being an honest and determined Bush is good. But, being an honest, determined and politically clairvoyant Bush is better. President Bush is a religious man not a political medium. And he does not play cards so well. He prefers golf! And a golf court has many holes.

MISTAKE #18: WRONGFULLY IDENTIFYING IRAQ AS A FERTILE SOIL FOR TERRORISM AND A NATION  CLOSELY COLLABORATING WITH MUSLIM FUNDAMENTALISTS AND AL QAEDA OPERATORS:  The truth is: Saddam Hussein hated the guts of Bin Laden and feared his ever-expanding influence in the region. It was not in the best interest of Saddam Hussein to allow Bin Laden and fanatic Muslims to flourish in Iraq and to exert power over the Iraqi people and neighboring countries, simply because it could and would jeopardize the stability of his regime. Bin Laden is a fanatic religious Muslim fundamentalist. Hussein is a secular anarchist non-religious tyrant.

MISTAKE #19: BUSH'S ADMINISTRATION DID NOT REALIZE THAT SHIITES WILL BECOME FORMIDABLE FOES. History taught us that the Shii'a is the most fanatic Muslim sect. Don't go far away and dig deep in dusty files and records of ancient history. Just look around you and learn that the most threatening elements and terrorism cells are nourished and financed by the Shiites. For instance:

 1- The Syrian Baa’th Party is Aleouit-Shiite;

 2-  Hizboul’lah in southern Lebanon is financed and organized by the Shiites;

 3- Twenty seven identified terrorist organizations are in the hands of the Shiites;

 4- Iran’s government is the stronghold and backbone of Shiite Islamic doctrines.

 

 

Almost 97% of active terrorists in the Near East and in the Middle East are financed by the Shiites.

MISTAKE #20:  WE FAILED IN REORGANIZING AN IMMEDIATE IRAQI GOVERNMENT CONSTITUTED BY IRAQIS TO GOVERN IRAQ. We should have asked influential clerics and men of regional and tribal influence to take over as soon as we removed Saddam from power. Instead, the American government began to look for Iraqis in exile and former influential politicians from Iraq who could and would become allies and sort of a "puppet" of the American government. The results were catastrophic!

 

 

However, removing Hussein from power was a necessity, a must! We had to do it. We should have done it years ago. And this brings us back to an original and cardinal American political sin; the big mistake and the big political blunder of George Bush the first. He could have removed Hussein from power. It was so easy. He could have done it. The United States had the world’s biggest support and the greatest military alliance in history. We had to wait for Bush the second to   do the job. And a great job he did! Or at least, he honestly tried. Mistakes were made. Bad advice and expert opinions were given. False and fabricated intelligence reports were "crafted". But it is not too late to rectify the situation, to establish peace, law and order in Iraq and bring home our troops with honor and dignity. At least, today, and for the first time, since Ronald Reagan took office, the world of terrorism knows that Americans mean business, that America is stronger than ever, and that the military might of America, soon or later will get those thugs!

 END