Rice in West Asia: Rewarding dictators and oppressors

By Thalif Deen at the united nations

Rice is greeted by Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Thursday. AFP

NEW YORK-- The Bush administration, which has vowed to preach multi-party democracy and rule of law to the outside world, continues to use different political yardsticks: one for its close allies and another for the rest of the world. Last week Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was in the West Bank "embracing" Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, who was appointed, not elected, to his Palestinian leadership position.

At the same time, she refused to recognize even the existence of a Hamas-led government in the Gaza, which won a legislative majority in elections held in January 2006. The Bush administration's decision to deny legitimacy to democratically-elected groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah (in Lebanon) is predicated on a statement made by Rice in the West Bank last week.

"We believe strongly in the right of people to express themselves and their desires, in elections." But then she added a proviso: Once elected, she said, "you have the obligation to govern responsibly." But who decides on "responsible" governance: a political codeword which mandates the recognition and legitimacy of everything that Israel does-- right or wrong.

Perhaps what the US wants is not only democratically-elected governments -- a noble concept-- but also leaders who are willing to play ball with the Bush administration. If not, no democratic government will meet its standards or has reason to survive. But even here, there are political exceptions.

Over the years, the US has raised hell over the military regime in Myanmar (Burma )-- and perhaps rightly so-- but has remained relatively silent over the military take over in Thailand or the military-dominated government in Bangladesh. So much for multi-party democracy and rule of law.

The Bush administration, which has designated Hamas as a "terrorist organisation", demands that it recognize Israel's right to exist. But the right of recognition is between sovereign nation states not between a nation state and a liberation movement. It is a flawed concept even in international law.

The Palestinians may well argue: Let's first create a new Palestinian state and then recognize Israel-- but not the other way around.
Both the US and the European Union have also tightened the screws on the Hamas government by cutting off all assistance while it has boosted the non-elected, rival government in the Gaza and inundated it with goodies.

Rice's visit to the West Bank was best characterized by Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri who said: "She came to incite one Palestinian side against another. She did not come to the region to establish a new Palestinian state, as she and her master Bush claimed."

The Bush administration's stated policy of spreading democracy in the Middle East has also been undermined by its decision to sell some $20 billion dollars worth of arms to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states, plus $30 billion in military assistance to Israel, and $13 billion in similar grants to Egypt. By any standards, they are monumental arms deals.

Neither Egypt, Saudi Arabia nor the Gulf states are truly democratic countries even by US standards. Nor is Israel, judging by the ruthlessness with which it treats Palestinians in its occupied territories. The Geneva conventions, governing the treatment of prisoners, have been openly flouted.

Frida Berrigan, a Senior Programme Associate with the Arms and Security Project at the New York-based New America Foundation, points out that Rice asserts that billions in military assistance will "bolster the forces of moderation" in the region. Yet, Berrigan said, the military assistance will go to some eight countries that brutally suppress their own populations.

Even the US State Department's 2006 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices have expressed strong reservations about the potential beneficiaries of US weapons systems. She said Egypt, Israel and Saudi Arabia have "serious" problems with regards to human rights, including torture (Qatar, Egypt, and also Israel where reputable human rights groups allege that security forces uses torture in interrogation of Palestinian detainees about 20 percent of the time), unlawful killings (Kuwait), flogging and other forms of corporal punishment (Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates) killings, abuse of women, including female genital mutilation (Egypt).

In Egypt -- despite its claim on democratic elections -- the State Department found "limitations on the right of citizens to change their government" including "a state of emergency, in place almost continuously since 1967." The rest of the countries are monarchies or sultanates where -- in the words of the State Department's annual report -- there is "no right to peacefully change the government."

Berrigan rightly argues that the decision to sell massive quantities of arms to the Middle East was apparently meant to repair the damage wrought in the region by the disastrous war in Iraq. But it really throws more fuel on the fire -- introducing more weaponry in a region already wracked by a civil-sectarian conflict that ripples outward in ever widening and devastating circles.