by Leah Caldwell
U-Wire
Hamid Karzai is such a hunk. There's no doubt about it, this post-Taliban leader has the beauty and the brains to make Afghanistan the country that it could never be under the Taliban.
This conclusion, among others, was the product of a 16-paragraph article in The New York Times that reduced the plight of Afghan women to the distressing decision of what color burka to wear. Or better yet, ask the pressing question, how does the country's new leader measure up on a physical scale?
If nothing else, American foreign policy will provide fodder for beauty salon chatter and have all the ladies wondering, what manly despot will the United States install in our country next? Hamid Karzai was the answer in Afghanistan. Who will be the temporary solution in Iraq?
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
It seems it is a motto of the Bush administration that it is never too early to start planning for puppet governments. As a result, like an eager child in class raising his hand frantically above the rest of the class, the candidates, all of whom are sympathetic to American needs, are beginning to become a bit more visible.
First on the list is Gen. Nizar Al-Khazraji. With human rights violations too numerous to list, he is akin to Saddam in that he is brutal and relentless, but differs in the fact that Ambassador David Mack, a senior U.S. State Department official, believes he has the "right ingredients" to become the future leader of Iraq. Next is Brig.Gen. Najib Salihi, who has an equally impressive history with human rights. He is the author of the book "The Earth Quake," which goes into detail about how he played a role in crushing the movement that opposed Saddam during the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, and, with his help, 1.5 million people were forced to flee from their homes.
The last spokesperson of Iraqi opposition is Ahmad Al-Chalabi, a member of the Iraqi National Congress, an organization that has been urging the removal of Hussein from power as well as speaking in favor of democratic elections in Iraq. Chalabi said, "I believe that my role will end when Saddam is removed from power." What value his words have is questionable to his critics considering that the $2 million given to the INC by the U.S. State Department has not been accounted for.
It is difficult to speculate about what political entity could be at the head of Iraqi "democracy" next since the outcome of America's inevitable attack on Iraq is uncertain. Yet these figures will surely be used by the Bush administration in the near future to enhance the idea that this was a fight for democracy all along.
It is likely that American officials will commit the necessary evils in order to control the area and prevent any revolution or outcries against American presence.
In the future, expect many contradictions from America's actions and its words. Like how a democratic despot is not just an imaginary character in the books of Washington foreign policy, but an actual reality that could possibly serve the "will" of the Iraqi people. Expect this and much more if Americans do not speak out against launching a massive attack on Iraq.
