A Delicate Balance

Scratch the surface of the above lines, and very clearly they do not correspond with reality. No matter how hard it tries to make us believe that this is how it is, in fact it is not. Taking advantage of the Sept. 11 attacks, the deadly ‘hawk wing’ in Washington first attacked Afghanistan and then Iraq. If they had their druthers, Syria and Iran would be the next two targets. And by the way, the same war lobby has asked Turkey to apologize to the US for ‘failing to move in lockstep’ with US aims. However, the current picture in both Iraq and the US shows that things are not going as planned.

Let’s first see what is going on in Afghanistan. The Bush administration has backed Hamid Karzai, a consultant to US oil company Unocal, as the head of the country’s new interim government. Yet Karzai’s leadership is confined to merely the capital Kabul. There are local warlords all over the country who rule areas under their own control. Here’s what the Associated Press reported on Tuesday: ‘President Hamid Karzai threatened to resign if recalcitrant governors across the country don’t send vital customs revenues to the central government.’

The situation in Afghanistan is having an impact in Washington. On May 6, US Congressman Dana Rohrabacher accused the US State Department of letting the fruits of the US military victory in Afghanistan waste away through neglect. ‘US officials are going the wrong way in Afghanistan,’ said Rohrabacher.

What about Iraq? Are the American GI-patrolled Iraqi streets safe? Here’s the answer of Monday’s Washington Post: ‘Iraqis have begun tracking down and killing former members of the ruling Baath Party, doubtful that the United States intends to adequately punish the mid-level government functionaries who they say tormented them for three decades.’

Bush and his close aides have put the US and the world as well as themselves into great trouble. Let’s take a look at what the New York Times said on Tuesday: ‘This is not what the White House wanted as President Bush starts pointing toward next year’s election campaign. Iraq is in a state of near anarchy. The conflict between Israel and the Palestinians is escalating again, and Islamic terrorists are on the attack in the Middle East. Just at the moment when Bush would like the nation to think of him as a statesman, everything seems to be going the wrong way in one of the world’s most combustible regions. Bush has himself to blame in part.’

Washington’s hawks have put the world into very hot water. The current situation in Iraq requires Turkey to play an active role. Therefore, it makes no sense to say that Turkey should stay out of this mess. That’s why I believe that when it feels it necessary, Turkey, putting forward its own conditions, should get involved in the problem. Ankara must start at once seeking ways to stop the chaos in Iraq before it comes to threaten our own stability. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government’s skill in foreign policy hinges upon its ability to negotiate this delicate balance.