The Strange Death of Liberal America

As the Bush Administration scrambles yet another day to try to patch over the damage done by the botched execution of Saddam Hussein, it is becoming clearer that our supposed allies have no more use for us that we seem to have for them. The replaying of what happened that Friday night has become a sick comedy with each side trying to blame the other.

On the administration side, spinmeister Tony Snow noted remarks by Maj. Gen. William Caldwell IV, the chief United States military spokesman in Iraq, who said today that the United States would have “done things differently,” had it been in charge of the execution. Caldwell went on to say, “But that’s not our decision. That’s an Iraqi government decision.” Curiously, Snow declined to state Bush’s opinion of the execution. Perhaps he hadn�t checked with Iraq�s Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki yet.

As for the Iraqis, they made no mistake about their feelings. “The execution operation has been mischaracterized for political purposes,” said Sadiq al_Rikabi, an advisor to Prime Minister al-Maliki who was present at the execution of Mr. Hussein. “What has happened is not an insult or degradation.” Al-Rikabi did not elaborate about what he meant by political purposes, but the list of suspects is short, including the Sunni minority and supporters of Saddam. Yet his remark also could have been directed at the United States.

The Iraqis continue to be silent about why what appeared to be members of Moktada al-Sadr’s militia served as guards and perhaps even executioners. They also are having trouble squelching a rumor that the prime minister’s national security adviser, Mowaffak al_Rubaie, was the one who circulated the cell phone pictures.

Al-Rubaie was the one who told Wolf Blitzer a year ago, “And I can tell you, our Iraqi security forces are doing a brilliant job, top job.” Based on the assessment al-Runaie wrote an op ed piece for the Washington Post this summer saying he hoped U.S. troops would be out no later than the end of 2007. “The eventual removal of coalition troops from Iraqi streets will help the Iraqis, who now see foreign troops as occupiers rather than the liberators they were meant to be,” he wrote. “Moreover, the removal of foreign troops will legitimize Iraq’s government in the eyes of its people.” A Shiite, al-Rubaie is the official who negotiated the end of the siege by American forces of al-Sadr and also has been accused of being less than zealous in cracking down on abuses by Shiite militias. He also is the one who asked Saddam on the gallows about the murder of al-Sadr’s father.

Meanwhile in the Muslim world, the United States, not Maliki continues to play the role of chief villain. The main group of Iraq’s Sunni clerics called the execution a “political act” “The execution of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein in the manner it took place was carried out at the behest of the occupier and some of its allies in and outside” Iraq, wrote the Muslim Scholars’ Association on Monday. In Lebanon, there were strong feelings of anger against the US. “The Americans have no heart…they killed Saddam on a Muslim holiday,” said 65-year-old Palestinian, Abu Hussein, who lived in Iraq during Saddam’s regime.

So in the days after the execution of Saddam the questions about the war have become more difficult if not impossible. Who are our allies if it is not the present government, which appears to have no use for us and pays little attention to our advice? How can we hope to play a role in brokering a peace when both Shiites and Sunnis appear to hate us with equal vehemence? Certainly after the execution of Saddam, the United States has absolutely no traction with the Sunnis. Who is calling the shots in Iraq in terms of actions by our own troops�the Iraqis or our own on field commanders who have been ordered to give up insurgents they captured at the behest of the Iraqi government and the acquiescence of the Bush administration? Finally, why is Bush asking for MORE troops when leaders like al-Rubaie seem to be in a hurry to have us leave?

Maj. William Voorhies, who last week found himself in the middle of a tempest when he said the situation in Iraq had deteriorated into a “civil war,” had the right sound bite, “Sometimes I feel like I work for the Iraqi government,” he said. Given this administration’s continued caving in to al-Maliki you wonder how many Americans might say the same thing?

What Saddam’s execution lays bare are current Iraqi attitudes about our presence in their country. The game has now become, “blame the Americans.” That’s not exactly a solid foundation to be standing on if you happen to be an American soldier in Baghdad. For the Bush administration it is obviously a game they cannot win, unless, of course, the neocons have something else in mind.