A civil defense member gestures towards a rebel fighter as they search for survivors at a site hit by what activists said were airstrikes carried out by the Russian Air Force in Idlib city, Syria Dec. 20, 2015.
Jeff Seldin, VOA: Critics Say US Needs ‘Failed State' Policy for Syria, Iraq
In about one month, the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Syrian opposition groups are set to meet for peace talks in Geneva. But already, there is a sense that the talks, advocated by the United States, are doomed to fail.
One major problem, according to current and former intelligence and military officials, is that U.S. policy has simply not adjusted to the complex realities on the ground.
“I haven’t seen any indication that the U.S. has a coherent plan for dealing with failed states,” former CIA Director James Woolsey told VOA. “I don’t think the Obama administration has developed one.”
Woolsey and others point to a growing list of so-called failed states in the Middle East and elsewhere, where critical institutions have collapsed and the power vacuum is being filled by various groups with different agendas.
WNU Editor: The problem with developing and formulating such a policy is that governments and their citizens are loathe to commit the necessary manpower, resources, and monies to "fix" a failed state. When one looks at Syria and Iraq .... one can easily see the deployment of a hundred thousand plus soldiers, hundreds of billions of dollars, and the high probability of a low intensity guerilla campaign coupled with a commitment that may last for decades.
WNU Editor,
ReplyDeleteAt this point in time, the cheapest US "Failed State" policy, would be to just stop creating them.
A more expensive/extensive "Failed State" Policy, would be an apolitical review of US Military, Economic and Political interventions, starting with Haiti, and working forward to today, to identify and root cause how US interventions create "failed states" on a regular basis.
Neither of course will never happen.
Jay. I guess Pogo knew what he was talking about .... we have met the enemy, and he is us.
ReplyDeleteBack in the day, just before the US intervened in Somalia, the UNHC had brokered a deal with all of the Tribal Elders, for them to manage the aid distribution, security and cooperate, bypassing the Warlords and Militias, which would build a solid foundation for future Governance.
DeleteThe US Military on the other hand, was more comfortable with working with the guys with the guns, picked favorites, bypassed the the UNHC, and ignored the UNSC Resolution, and wound up at war with Adide and other Militia's.
When the US and their Allies retreated, all they had managed to do, was blow up what had been a stalemate and reinvigorate a Civil War.
When the Islamic Courts Movement arose as a result of the chaos of the Militia Civil War, which were based in the traditional Tribal Counsels, the US again sided and backed some of the Warlords, and when that wasn't going well, bankrolled the Ethiopian Invasion, which lead eventually, to the rise of Al Shaab.
23 years on, and US actions in Somalia are still failing.
In Haiti, over 100 years of failure.
Somalia was a failed state and we did not create it, but Clinton chickened out and ran.
ReplyDeleteLibya was a despotic state and we sure and hell broke it. We no longer had a beef with Qadafi.
Anzino,
DeleteGen. Barrie was "your guy" in Somalia, and when the Tribal Revolts started over valid reasons, rather than advising him to make reforms, the US pointed out that he had a massive Arsenal, Army, Navy and Airforce, and a few select massacres of the tribals, would restore order.
"In the early 1990s, due to the protracted lack of a permanent central authority, Somalia began to be characterized as a "failed state".[107][108][109] Political scientist Ken Menkhaus argues that evidence suggested that the nation had already attained failed state status by the mid-1980s,[110] while Robert I. Rotberg similarly posits that the state failure had preceded the ouster of the Barre administration.[111] Hoehne (2009), Branwen (2009) and Verhoeven (2009) also used Somalia during this period as a case study to critique various aspects of the "state failure" discourse"
ReplyDeleteSomalia was a failed state long before the U.S. appeared
"UN Security Council Resolution 733 and UN Security Council Resolution 746 led to the creation of UNOSOM I, the first mission to provide humanitarian relief and help restore order in Somalia after the dissolution of its central government. United Nations Security Council Resolution 794 was unanimously passed on 3 December 1992, which approved a coalition of United Nations peacekeepers led by the United States. Forming the Unified Task Force (UNITAF), the alliance was tasked with assuring security until humanitarian efforts aimed at stabilizing the situation were transferred to the UN. Landing in 1993, the UN peacekeeping coalition started the two-year United Nations Operation in Somalia II (UNOSOM II) primarily in the south.[113] UNITAF's original mandate was to use "all necessary means" to guarantee the delivery of humanitarian aid in accordance to Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter,[114] and is regarded as a success." - wiki
"After the Soviets broke with Barre in the late 1970s, he subsequently expelled all Soviet advisers, tore up his friendship treaty with the Soviet Union, and switched allegiance to the West. The United States stepped in and until 1989, was a strong supporter of the Barre government for whom it provided approximately US$100 million per year in economic and military aid."
Deletehttps://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siad_Barre
Systematic human rights abuses against the dominant Isaaq clan in the north was described in the report as "state sponsored terrorism" "both the urban population and nomads living in the countryside [were] subjected to summary killings, arbitrary arrest, detention in squalid conditions, torture, rape, crippling constraints on freedom of movement and expression and a pattern of psychological intimidation. The report estimates that 50,000 to 60,000 people were killed from 1988 to 1989."[29] Amnesty International went on to report that torture methods committed by Barre's National Security Service (NSS) included executions and "beatings while tied in a contorted position, electric shocks, rape of woman prisoners, simulated executions and death threats." [30]
There is gap in your analysis that I could pass a small black through.
ReplyDelete