Resistance and Empire in Iraq

By Sybille Ngo Nyeck

The history of our world offers ample evidence of the power of empire, yet there has always been something that resists empire. The Middle East is no exception, especially when one looks at modern-day Iraq. While some might see the conflict there as a unique case, it must be considered within the context of this historic global movement of resistance. And given the colonial experience of former imperial powers such as France, England and Italy, the Bush administration could have been inspired to devote more time to unrolling the scrolls of history. But it didn't.

The war in Iraq was a mistake. And while it was a mistake to enter it in the first place, it will remain a mistake as long as people naïvely think about the acts of resistance in Iraq as vague, disparate “islands in the sea.” We must see the connections between the current forms of resistance and the historical responses to colonial powers in the Middle East.

In Resurrecting Empire: Western Footprints and America's Perilous Path in the Middle East, Rashid Khalidi offers a comprehensive context and background of the Middle East psyche. From a wide range of sources, the author, who is the director of the Middle East Institute at Columbia University and its Edward Said chair in Arab Studies, gives a dramatic account of Western-driven foreign policy in the Middle East, as well as an insightful analysis of the forms of resistance in the region.

While religion has played a significant role in the development of the resistance, according to Khalidi it plays a secondary role in Iraq. As we witness now in Iraq, the resistance – and the discourse around it – is built around the themes of human dignity and freedom.

While religion has played a significant role in the development of the resistance, according to Khalidi it plays a secondary role in Iraq. As we witness now in Iraq, the resistance – and the discourse around it – is built around the themes of human dignity and freedom. The resistance, as Khalidi point out, lies beyond the “predictable” acts that render strategic military and political decisions uncertain if not absurd. All great powers that have tried to control the Middle East have learnt to not underestimate the resistance that ultimately ejected them from the region.

The theme of religion is an important one, however, as the author says the Bush administration is doomed to fail in Iraq because it has not understood the role of religion there. Deep “respect for learning was integral to Islam, and the willingness to experiment and to change” – yet under the false pretense of “cultural improvement,” the repeated assaults on the Middle East have instead betrayed and blocked its openness. Khalidi believes that national efforts to build democracy have constantly been sapped, not strengthened, by external interference. The work of outside forces has manipulated ethnic and religious rivalries and ultimately engendered new forms of resistance.

Attempts to describe the resistance to the U.S.-led war as mere “fanaticism” and “terrorism” cannot nullify the historical fact that multidimensional forms of resistance have been seen in Iraq and around the Middle East – they are armed and unarmed acts, carried out both directly and indirectly to oppose the occupying forces.

The current resistance to the U.S. policy is a major reversal of what was seen in the region just a few decades ago, says Khalidi. Until the middle of the twentieth century, the U.S. was perceived as a beacon of hope in the Middle East. Prior to the Cold War, and during its early years, the U.S. inspired an ideal of freedom from the imperialism of European nations that dominated the region: France, England, Italy, etc. And through its missionary work, the U.S. built prestigious universities that provided education to Arab elites, who grew sympathetic to the U.S. as an ally rather than Europe.

With the dismantling of the Soviet Union, however, the new Anglo-American alliance in the Middle East has produced a huge change in perception. America is considered to be a malevolent hegemonic entity whose alliance with England, a former colonial occupier of the Middle East, calls forth the ghost of empire in the Middle Easterners' psyche.

The poor record of the United States in promoting democracy in the region demonstrates that it is not democracy but U.S.-friendly governments that the Bush administration wants to put in place. Khalidi questions the heavy military presence of the U.S. througout the Middle East as misaligned with its claimed agenda of democratization. Another contradiction has been the demonization of the Islamic religion as if its faith is incompatible with the ideal of democracy. “Rather than looking to Islam for reasons behind the absence of democracy . . . it would be useful to seek a broad range of historical, social, and political causes” including problems of external intervention and occupation, he notes. While the aura of colonialism hovers over England, the U.S. has failed to distance itself from the legacy of this key ally. And unlike Britain, the U.S. has appeared to develop a pattern of blind zealotry.

Almost two years ago the world was promised a “shock and awe” campaign that would crush resistance in Iraq. Instead, the world now witnesses an occupying force that appears to be the ghost of empire's past, and a resistance with enough strength to inflict constant causalities on American troops.

Almost two years ago the world was promised a “shock and awe” campaign that would crush resistance in Iraq. Instead, the world now witnesses an occupying force that appears to be the ghost of empire's past, and a resistance with enough strength to inflict constant causalities on American troops. Khalidi predicts that this furious battle will not end soon.

At this point, an “international mandate” could secure Iraq and isolate those who resist a peaceful solution. It is clear that raw power and the stubbornness to consider local realities are not the best means of developing democracy. The price of empire is a costly one and we shouldn't trust any leader who tells us otherwise.

It would be unwise to ignore the moral and political lessons that are offered by the resistance to occupation in Iraq and elsewhere. Resurrecting Empire: Western Footprints and America's Perilous Path in The Middle East is a book that everyone concerned about the future of democracy, empire, and the Middle East should read.

Sybille Ngo Nyeck is a native of Yaounde, Cameroon. Her column Colors of Conscience appears regularly on The Witness online. Sybille may be reached by email at sybeck77@yahoo.fr .