Syria And The Overwhelming American Power
daralhayat.com Marzuq Al Halabi Al-Hayat 2003/05/06
The American threats against Syria aim, in their first phase, to put that country on the defensive, which is hardly a comfortable situation. Such situation becomes suffocating when the American administration monopolizes not only economic activities, but also the right to direct accusations and define the issues, as well as put individuals and governments on trial.
Still, I don’t think that the motives for attacking Iraq exist in the Middle East. They exist in the logic of ruling elites in America. Mainly economic and intellectual elites. They are now driven by the joy of military and political victory in Iraq and haunted by new convictions that they are capable of implementing all their schemes.
The surplus in American power is based at three levels: military, economic and political standing throughout the world. Such surplus has placed the Americans above international legitimacy and its institutions illustrated by the UN and the Security Council. Yet most analysts in the Arab world continue to base their hopes on false dreams. They still expect the Red Army to come and liberate them. Still we cannot, even in Syria, rely on a united Arab position. The notions of Arabism and Arab world have changed and we must review their premises. If we assume that we are not a “united world with an eternal message,” then we must deal with Egypt the same way we deal with any other country in the world, and we must appeal to public opinion in the UAE, for example, the way we appeal to public opinion in the U.S. Only then will we be able to achieve gains in dealing with the assault on Syria.
The theory of excess of power demands changing it into an act that is not possible its temptation. That was translated in the case of Afghanistan and later in Iraq. But there are other concealed illustrations, such as dominating Arab oil and bribing the Bulgarians or blackmailing President Hosni Mubarak. Moreover, like any other absolute theory that of excess of power tries to justify its crimes. And just like outrages were committed in the name of socialism or fascism as two absolute theories, we can witness similar outrages committed in the name of defending democracy in the wake of 9/11.
For a long period of time, combating communism was a pretext for supporting tyrannies around the world. And in the case of Iraq, the invasion that caused destruction and killing was justified as aimed at “liberating” the people of Iraq. But the drive of the American toward Iraq will not be the last push. In one way, it resembles the end of absolute capitalism just as it was the end of absolute socialism. Moreover, democracy as we knew us so far is certainly heading toward its end. The excess of American power came to declare the conclusion of democracy in the sense that it pushes the notion of national security of the state above the concept of the American state itself, as well as above other countries. The Iraqi oil and that of Venezuela are two resources that the American hegemony was unable to subdue by diplomatic means. And if the journey began with occupying Iraq, Syria is the next target of the American power surplus. But the issue is further than oil. It is one that demands obtaining the submission of the smaller powers to the bigger ones.
The war on Iraq maybe the preamble for a world war in which the small powers pay for the struggles among the larger ones. And no matter how strange it might seem, it all depends on the abilities of the Iraqis to resist the Anglo-American occupation. No one knows how the new world order is going to look like.
Mr. Al Halabi is a Palestinian academic from Al Karmal.