The Desert Scorpions

By their invasion and occupation of Iraq, the US and the UK find themselves caught in a den of scorpions.Sections of the Shias as well as the Sunnis, independently of each other in certain areas and in tandem incertain others, have mounted hit and run raids on the occupying troops, causing a steadily increasing numberof casualties.

A stream of jehadi volunteers from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iran, Egypt, Lebanon and other countrieshave started moving into Iraq to join what is promised  as the mother of all jehads against the USA. Before the occupation, there was no evidence of any links between the Saddam Hussein regime and Osama binLaden's Al Qaeda and International Islamic Front (IIF), despite apparently fabricated US evidence to thecontrary. After the occupation, there are increasing reports of attempts to bring the  dregs of Al Qaedaand the IIF from Afghanistan and Pakistan and of Saddam Hussein's Army and Baath Party together for what isdescribed as a new jehad, the like of which the world has not seen before.

Initial meetings in this regard have already been held in Al Qaeda and IIF hide-outs in Pakistan. There areclaims, as yet unsubstantiated, of Saddam being alive and of he and bin Laden soon issuing a joint fatwaagainst the US and the UK.  More American troops are reported to have been killed in the two months sincethe occupation of Baghdad in April than during a similar period after the Americans entered Afghanistan inOctober,2001.

Saddam, if still alive, remains as elusive in Iraq as bin Laden in the Afghanistan-Pakistan tribal belt.The massive use of US military power, including helicopter gunships and tanks, have not so far been able toovercome the resistance, which shows as yet no signs of relenting.

The US has embarked on a multi-pronged approach to meet the growingly worrisome situation. This includespsychological pressure on the Iranian regime to prevent it from fishing in troubled waters, a deweaponisationdrive in Iraq, the results of which have been disappointing so far, and a no-holds barred ground action incentral and northern Iraq, from where most of the initial resistance has been coming. The ground action hasbeen appropriately named "Operation Desert Scorpion".

An Associated Press report of June 15 from Fallujah in Iraq giving some details of the operation says asfollows:

"US soldiers backed by helicopters and tanks raided homes, rounded up suspects and confiscated weaponsin the restive town of Fallujah on Sunday, as part of a nationwide campaign to root out anti-Americaninsurgents, who have been stepping up attacks.

Operation Desert Scorpion, launched on Sunday, involves a series of sweeps throughout Iraq using most ofthe US Army units present in the country, said a US Army spokesman. "It is a combat operation to defeatthe remaining pockets of resistance that are delaying the transition to a peaceful and stable Iraq."

Iraqi families complained of heavy-handed tactics by the 1,300 troops who carried out the raids in Fallujah,a town that has shown the strongest resistance to US troops. Some said troops broke into homes and arrestedpeople with no involvement in attacks on American forces. 

Jassim Ali Mohammad (60) said 20 troops raided his house in the middle of the night, handcuffed his twosons and forced them to lie face down on the ground, later taking them away. "I am 60 years old and Ihave nothing to do with all this. Even Saddam never did a thing like this to us. We got rid of one problem andnow we are having a bigger one, " said Mohammad turning his face to wipe away his tears."

The US finds itself caught in a dilemma. After the occupation of Iraq, it claimed to have achieved its  military objective and brought home to the US  a large number of its Marines, Special Forcesand others. To send them back to Iraq now could be a loss of face and amount to admitting that it hadmisjudged the situation there. It, therefore, wants the induction of a large number of troops from othercountries enjoying its confidence, particularly from Asia, to assist it in its Operation Desert Scorpion,euphemistically called the stabilisation programme.

The other Arab countries, which helped the US during the war by providing bases, may not like to getinvolved in anti-insurgency drives on the ground lest their own troops get infected by the resistance.Indonesia, Malaysia and the Central Asian Republics may not also like to get involved. Hence, the US eagernessfor the participation of India, as an Asian power, and Pakistan as a major Islamic power.  Theirparticipation would, in US calculation, give the operation the flavour of an international exercise for thepacification and re-building of  Iraq and not just a US counter-insurgency drive.

Media reports say that the US aim is to make the Indian troops, if they arrive, in charge of law and orderand internal security in the Kurdish areas of the North which have not been affected by any resistance by theBaathist remnants there and divert the presently deployed American troops from there to theresistance-affected areas of central Iraq. It is also reported that the Pakistani troops would be asked toassist the US troops in their search and destroy operations in the resistance-affected areas.

The opposition parties in New Delhi have strongly advised the Government against accepting the US request.The reported advice of the Conress (I) is that any Indian role should be confined to humanitarian relief,training of Iraqi police officers etc. There is strong opposition not only from the opposition parties, butalso from large sections of public opinion to the Indian troops being sent there to operate under US and notthe United Nations auspices. 

Objections have also been raised on moral grounds due to the widely perceived illegitimacy of the US-UKinvasion and occupation of Iraq, even though the UN has subsequently provided a fig leaf of legitimacy to thefait accompli.

While the Government has been claiming that no decision has yet been taken, there is a feeling that it iskeen to respond positively to the US request and is examining how to do so without alienating public opinionin India and the Arab world.

Any positive response by India would be extremely unwise. Indian troops could irretrievably get sucked intoa bloody counter-insurgency operation as the surrogates of the USA, losing whatever goodwill India has earnedin Iraq and the rest of the Arab world in the past.

It would be as unwise and costly an exercise as the Indian Army's  involvement in Sri Lanka in the1980s was. India could become the target of the new breed of jehadi terrorists born out of the Iraq war,thereby making the counter-terrorism task of the Indian security forces in India even more difficult than itis today.

Moreover, the anti-Iran dimension of the US operation in Iraq  and India's association with it couldaffect adversely India's developing relations with Teheran. In the Islamic world, only Iraq, Iran, Turkey andthe Central Asian Republics had shown understanding of India's concerns over the Pakistani sponsorship ofterrorism against India. With the disappearance of the Saddam regime, we can no longer count on Iraq. By ourunwise association with the US operations in Iraq, under whatever cover, we may end up by losing the goodwillof Iran too.

Also See: AfterIraq: The Mullahs And Imams