Two Associate Professors attached to American University in Washington DC, USA, in a recent interview with Stabroek News noted that the war in Iraq has had and will continue to have serious and long lasting economic effects on the global economy.
Economically Iraq is being devastated while poor countries in the south will not be spared the effects of the ongoing war, they say. Dr. Randy Persaud is a Guyana-born Associate Professor of International Relations at American University and a former student of Zeeburg Secondary School, West Demerara and Queen’s College. Dr. Clarence Lusane is an Associate Professor of Political Science in the School of International Service at American University. The two were in Guyana recently to deliver two lectures at the Berbice Campus of the University of Guyana, at Tain.
Dr. Persaud spoke on the topic: “Hawks, Doves and Angels: The Practice of American Hegemony with references to the war in Iraq.” Dr. Lusane spoke on: “What colour is Hegemony? Powell, Rice and the Projection of US Power”.
Prior to the lectures, the two academics were asked about their choice of topics. According to Dr. Lusane during 2002-2003, the Bush administration was effective in building fear about terrorism which generated support for the war. “The link between al Qaeda, Saddam Hussein and weapons of mass destruction were all connected to the whole concept of hegemony. However the link between Saddam Hussein and Iraq and the events of 9/11 has since turned out to be false,” he explained.
Violations
Dr. Persaud in his response pointed out that “to simplify the world between good and evil as President Bush has attempted is itself an instance of how hegemony works. In the United States today there are serious violations of the constitution and of civil rights in the name of national security.”
Noting that the security of the individual in the United States is today threatened, he mentioned the fact that a number of people have been subjected to rendition in the name of homeland security and the fight against terror.
Islamic radicalism
The two scholars were asked to comment on the fact that the war has fuelled an upsurge in Islamic radicalism in the Middle East and anti-American and anti-western sentiments and to say what effects this could have on security in the United States and in countries that are allied to it. “Iraq was not the centre of Islamic radicalism under Saddam Hussein. In fact Osama bin Laden saw Saddam as an infidel, as a sell-out and an enemy of Islam. Iraq was not a security threat to the United States. Now it has become an epicentre for Islamic radicalism, a training ground for the kind of fundamentalism and the kind of security that the war was supposed to prevent,” was Lusane’s response.
That is the analysis, he said, by experts in the US administration, the intelligence community, the military and the wider society. “Insecurity in the United States and around the world is being driven by these processes of hegemony.”
Lusane who has written extensively on a wide range of national and international issues told Stabroek News that the war is having a serious effect on the US economy.
Trillion dollar war
“In the early days the official figure provided was $4 billion a month and the cost is rapidly rising.
It is probably twice that official figure so we are talking about a trillion dollar war. There is also massive diversion of funds from the social, health and education sectors towards maintaining the war. Unemployment rates have been rising and the number of people falling out of the health care system has also risen.” Persaud who is also a prolific writer and author of several books noted that some senior Bush administration officials were against the war since it began while politicians within the Republican and Democratic parties and a few generals say the present surge in Iraq will not work. The war he noted has been benefiting among others, a number of private American military contractors in Iraq who are being paid billions of dollars through no-bid contracts. What effects would the massive diversion of funds have on aid to poor developing countries like Guyana? “The impact on the global economy will be severe. Already we have seen that President Bush has decided that the United States will not participate in the United Nations Millennium Development Goals Programme and has instead established his own Millennium Challenge aid programme. There has been a sharp decline in aid to the global south since the war on terror was launched,” Dr. Lusane noted.
Conditions of aid
“There has also been a re-configuration of the conditions under which that aid is being granted. To get aid you have to sign certain security conditions and in fact sign on to the global war on terror. This requires not only economic conditions but also opening space for US military advisers and in certain instances US military bases. The conditions of aid have created more of an economic, political and moral cost to the countries seeking assistance.”
Dr Persaud opined that the war is likely to go for at least another four or more years and could even expand to Iran and Syria. A lot of factors in Iraq could even make the war go on for a long time. Something that is not often covered in the media is the fact that the sectarian division is not simply among Kurds, Sunnis and Shias. There is also tribal politics that defines one’s identity and that is complicating any resolution to it – so I am not very optimistic of an early end to the war.”
Several wars
However Lusane is of the view that there is not one war going on in Iraq but several wars. “There is a war against the occupation; a war between the different sectarian groups and there is a war within these groups themselves. All of that is inter-mixed and driven by a number of variables, some of which have to do with what the US would or would not do but some of it has to do with other variables that are unfolding in international politics.” Lusane mentioned US relations with Iran and Syria and their role in the region, the Palestinian/Israeli conflict and who becomes the next US President.
Unfortunately the public response to the lectures was disappointing with only a handful of non-University people attending. Following the lectures there was a period for questions and answers which provided some lively exchanges.
Before joining American University Dr. Persaud was Assistant Director for the Centre for International Security Studies at York University. He is now the Principal Investigator [North America] for a global project on migration and human security funded by the Govern-ment of Japan.
