Richard WarnickArab States and Iraq: ‘Many reasons to smile and do nothing’
Condoleezza Rice may be the worst National Security Advisor ever (9/11), but she’s not one to rest on her laurels. She is now trying to be the worst Secretary of State ever. Never has the acronym “SOS” been more appropriate. Just the other day, Rice issued an ill-advised challenge to Moqtada al-Sadr, who commands the most powerful militia in Iraq, the Mahdi Army. Her six-hour visit to Baghdad’s Green Zone was disrupted by three Mahdi Army rocket attacks.
Now Secretary Rice is in Kuwait, where a meeting of neighboring Arab countries has been convened. Washington has been pushing for regional acceptance of Nouri al-Maliki’s Shiite-led Green Zone government. Rice predicted Tuesday that neighboring Arab states would soon restore diplomatic ties with Iraq (even though their Sunni-led regimes have no reason to do so). Even less likely is forgiveness of Iraq’s $67 billion foreign debt– most of it owed to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.
Over on Missing Links, Badger helps explain why Rice is coming home from the Middle East empty-handed — again. Arab states have no common interests with Maliki’s regime. There are many reasons for Sunni Arab leaders to “smile and do nothing.”
(1) Lack of security (even in the Green Zone) argues against re-opening embassies, considering there isn’t such a thing as a tradition of martyrdom in the diplomatic community. The Jordanian embassy was hit by an insurgent car bomb in August 2003. Crowds rushed the embassy after the explosion, looting and burning pictures of Jordan’s King Abdullah II.
(2) The fact Iraq is the most corrupt nation on the planet argues against debt-relief as long as the Maliki regime is in power.
(3) The fact Bush invaded Iraq against the advice of Gulf leaders argues against rushing in to help him out now that he is trying to slough off responsibility onto others. Anyway, the Bush administration will be gone next year.
(4) It would be politically risky for the leaders of Arab nations to appear to support Maliki’s regime during the current crisis, as Maliki is allowing US air strikes and offensive operations against Iraqi citizens living in his own capital city.
