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An Alliance Against Babylon


Auteur :
Éditeur : Pluto Press Date & Lieu : 2005, London
Préface : Pages : 273
Traduction : ISBN : 0-7453-2282-4
Langue : AnglaisFormat : 130x220 mm
Thème : Politique

Présentation
Table des Matières Introduction Identité PDF
An Alliance Against Babylon

An Alliance Against Babylon: The U.S., Israel, and Iraq

Ménage à Quatre: The U.S., Israel, Iran, and the Iraqi Kurds

Shortly after Baghdad fell to American forces in spring of 2003, a senior official of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) let a cat out of the bag in a conversation with a European journalist. His disclosure pleased President Bush’s neoconservative advisors in the Pentagon. It nourished the view that the U.S. plans to add Iraq to over 100 other countries where it maintains military bases termed “the new American empire.”

The head of the KDP in 2003 when the disclosure was made was Massoud Barzani, the son of the late Mullah Mustafa Barzani. The elder Barzani had told me during my visit to him in the Kurdistan mountains in 1972 how welcome U.S. “influence and presence” would be if the United States extended its powerful reach into Kurdistan.

Massoud’s deputy, Brusik Nuri Chawais, an engineer educated in Germany, was more specific. His words were music to the ears of the Bush administration in Washington...


Table des Matières

Contents

Foreword by William R. Polk / xi
Map of Iraq and neighboring countries / xiii
Introduction / 1

1 The Babylonian heritage / 7
Ancestral memories / 8
Captives of Babylon / 9
Babylon rebuilt? / 11
The Mother of All Harlots / 13
The Jewish exiles / 14
A shrine restored / 16
“Seek the peace of the city” / 17
Ottoman power declines / 18

2 The Ottoman Empire divided / 23
Antecedents of war / 25
Britain captures Baghdad / 27
Betrayal in the Levant / 29
Enter the U.S. / 30
The Hashemites arrive / 32
Dividing the oily spoils / 34
Wilson opens doors / 35
Palestine to center stage / 37

3 “Operation Ezra and Nehemiah”: bittersweet flight to Zion / 40
A guided tour / 40
Jewish survivors / 43
Independence ... sort of / 46
Violence and rescue / 47
Wheeling, dealing, and mishaps / 49
“Arab” Jews who made it / 52
Whose terrorism? / 54

4 Iraq enters the Palestine arena / 59
The roots of Israeli intelligence / 60
Resisting the British / 62
The Arabs prepare for war 63
Iraq fights the new Israeli state 66
Stalemate and Israeli victory 68
Armistice agreements—minus Iraq 71
Ben-Gurion speaks 74

5 Ménage à quatre: the U.S., Israel, Iran, and the Iraqi Kurds / 76
The Kurds’ faded dreams / 77
The Kurds’ new friends: the State of Israel / 79
Kassem contra Kurds / 81
The Israeli–Kurdish honeymoon / 83
Uncle Sam’s role / 85
The Nixon–Kissinger–Shah Axis / 86
The oil equation / 88
Iraq and the Kurds in the Cold War / 89

6 How the CIA gave Saddam a leg up / 93
Kassem, Nasser, and Saddam / 94
James Critchfield: Cold Warrior par excellence / 96
The first Ba’athist coup / 98
Anglo-American cooperation / 99
Saddam’s sway begins / 101
Iraq’s strategic threat to Israel / 104
Iraq in the 1967 war / 106

7 Saddam’s reign (I): business with the U.S.; warfare with Israel / 110
U.S. business and Saddam’s triumph / 110
The July Ba’athist takeover / 112
Programs and power struggles / 114
Israel’s covert war on Saddam / 116
The MIG-21 caper / 119
Saddam’s real and imagined foes / 122
Saddam and the Palestinians / 123
Black September in Jordan / 125
Syria repulsed; Iraq withdraws / 128

8 Saddam’s reign (II): power plays and war, 1970–80 / 133
The reassurance of U.S. aid / 134
Sadat plans for war / 135
Israel’s “concept” / 136
U.S. complacency and the “oil weapon” / 138
Israeli intelligence failure 140
Iraq to the rescue of Syria 142
Saddam gets a breather 144
Saddam clamps down—and seeks total power 145
The downfall of Baqr 147
A “cynical embrace’” 151
Saddam attacks Iran 152

9 Saddam’s reign (III): defeat and defiance, 1980–90 / 154
Israel, Irangate, and the Iran–Iraq War / 155
The Osirak caper / 159
Retribution for Inman / 162
Tilting toward Saddam / 163
Reagan, Rumsfeld, and Saddam / 166
Israel’s oil concerns / 166
Western arms for Iraq / 168
Saddam’s largess for Palestinians / 171
Good cop, bad cop / 172

10 From Jerusalem to Washington: an alliance strengthened and confirmed / 175
Missiles, “superguns,” and profits / 176
Saddam brews the Kuwait crisis / 178
Israel and “Desert Storm” / 180
Target: Saddam Hussein / 185
Kuwait freed: Saddam spared / 185
Clinton’s containment; the CIA’s bungles / 188
An Israeli peace with Saddam? / 189
Misadventures of the UN arms inspectors / 190
Clinton: “Oust Saddam” / 192
U.S. policy shifts / 196
The “neocons” at work / 197

11 Endgame: Iraq democratized or dismembered? / 201
“Get Saddam” / 202
The Palestinian disconnection / 203
The cabal in action / 205
Mechanics of an alliance / 206
Israeli intelligence input / 207
A (militarily) well-planned campaign / 210
The unplanned occupation / 212
Intelligence fiascos / 213
Israel’s Steinitz Inquiry / 216
Shared weapons, shared training / 217
The Abu Ghraib nightmare / 220
Israel, Turkey, and the Iraqi Kurds / 224
Nation-building—or dissolution? / 225
An endgame begins; an alliance holds firm / 229

Notes / 233
Selected bibliography / 242
Index / 247




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