International Journal of Contemporary Iraqi Studies - Volume 1, Issue 3, 2007

This article explores UK involvement in the war in Iraq since the invasion of 2003. It explores three different dimensions of UK involvement: British control over the four southern governorates, the role of UK policy-makers and advisors in Green Zone politics, and British policies on the international stage in support of their stance in and towards Iraq. It does so by placing British foreign policy under the Blair government in the context of the overall objective of serving as a transatlantic bridge, a position that is central to how British foreign policy-makers operate but which has become increasingly incoherent in light of the severe differences between the United States and the major continental European states over the invasion of Iraq. The effect of British involvement, however, has not been neutralized by this incoherence; in fact, in crucial dimensions, it has added to the process of Iraq's fragmentation.

This article describes the catalysing effect of the Iraq War for the coming-of-age of Germany and its foreign policy after decades of having a defensive and pacifist approach in general and of playing the part of a loyal and helpful junior partner to the United States in particular. Germany's political emancipation was a result of the reunification and the disappearance of the threats connected to the EastWest confrontation. Following the Cold War, subordination under the American security umbrella no longer seemed necessary for German survival. Nonetheless, it took a dozen years for Germany to transform from a consumer to a producer of security in Kosovo, Afghanistan, the Horn of Africa, Kuwait and elsewhere until the RedGreen (Social Democratic and Green Party of Germany) coalition of 2002 was convinced Germany had the right to be consulted by its partners before they undertook far-reaching political and military initiatives and that it had the right to a differing opinion. Since the political convictions and biographies of the initiators of the German Way seem to have had a decisive influence on their handling of the Iraq War controversy, a second foreign policy of similar calibre this time under Christian Democratic Union (CDU) leadership would be necessary to convince sceptics of the irreversibility of Germany's emancipation.

Sino-Iraqi economic relations declined in the context of American control over reconstruction; however, Chinese diplomacy is, nonetheless, persistently inclusive and open-ended towards Iraq and all of its neighbours. Chinese Middle Eastern foreign policy has generally become more active in the last several years. This policy has not sought direct confrontation with the United States, but it has focused on UN-based initiatives, on the mutual development of state economies and the inclusive recognition of the national self-determination of all states in the region and the need to respect the diversity of civilizations. Indeed, China does have its own energy interests, but Chinese policy generally offers a deliberate contrast with policy that accepts the unilateral resort to force and the refusal to engage targeted regimes. If China is a rising power, it is poised to play a constructive role in Iraq and in the Middle East.

The dispatch of the Japanese Self Defence Forces (SDF) to Iraq following the US invasion was a watershed in the transformation of Japan's defence and security policy, from its traditional pacifist policy toward deeper involvement in international security issues. The Japanese media covered the situation in Iraq mainly in the context of Japan's policy regarding the SDF. An analysis of editorials in major Japanese newspapers shows that media concern regarding the SDF reached a peak during the proceedings on legislation to allow the dispatch of the SDF, but decreased dramatically following the dispatch. The presence of the SDF in Iraq became an issue that was too close to home. As a result, criticism became impossible, and the debate on the SDF became limited to the issue of morality and the loyalty of the Japanese people to the government. The analysis also shows that the original motivation for the dispatch of the SDF was not perceived as a domestic factor but as a reflection of Japan's relationship with the United States. Thus, the Japanese media failed to grasp the situation surrounding the SDF within the overall context of domestic political developments in Iraq.

The Bush administration's rhetoric of remaking the Middle East along democratic lines to justify American imperial assertions in Iraq and elsewhere has inevitably degraded the democratic idea. It has also stimulated luxuriant commentary on the relationship of Islam and democracy that only deepens western hostility to Islam with a repackaging of tired Orientalist notions of Islamic exceptionalism and self-inflicted wounds. The American empire requires the notion that democracy cannot come to the Islamic world from internal cultural resources. The imperial project and its justificatory War on Terror highlights Islamic extremists, while screening from view the democratic struggles of mainstream currents, including Islamists. The prospects for democracy around the world today would be so much stronger if the biggest, richest democracy in the world engaged more assiduously its own battles for democracy at home and did less damage to the struggles for freedom in the Islamic world and elsewhere.

This article examines mass refugee movements affecting Iraq and neighbouring states as a result of invasion, occupation and the fragmentation of Iraqi society. The sanctions regime of the 1990s produced widespread immiseration. When US officials dismantled much of the Ba'athist state and enforced sweeping policies of economic liberalization millions were faced by a crisis of basic capabilities. This, together with the impact of violence associated with communal conflict, has compelled vast numbers of Iraqis to flee. Using insights from the field of Refugee Studies, Marfleet considers the dynamics of this crisis and what it reveals about the strategies of those who have shaped Iraqi life under occupation.

The cakewalk meets reality and Rashomon

Cobra II: The Inside Story of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq, Michael R. Gordon and General Bernard E. Trainor, (2006) New York: Pantheon Books, 603 pp., ISBN 0375422625 (hbk), US27.95

Chain of Command: The Road from 9/11 to Abu Ghraib, Seymour Hersh, (2006) New York: Harper Collins, 394 pp., ISBN 0060195916 (hbk), US24.95

Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq, Thomas E. Ricks, (2006) New York: Penguin Press, 482 pp., ISBN 159420103X (hbk), US27.95

The Assassin's Gate: America in Iraq, George Packer, (2005) New York: Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 467 pp., ISBN 0641792581 (hbk), US26.00

Night Draws Near: Iraq's People in the Shadow of America's War, Anthony Shadid, (2006) New York: Picador USA, 507 pp., ISBN 0312426038 (pbk), US15.00

Basra, the Failed Gulf State: Separatism and Nationalism in Southern Iraq, Reidar Visser, (2005) Muenster (Germany): LIT Vertag, 256 pp. including index, ISBN 3825887995 (pbk), US39.95

Kurdish National Movement Its Origins and Development, Wadie Jwaideh, (2006) Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 419 pp., ISBN 081563093X (pbk), US40.50