Customer Reviews

Behind the Invasion of Iraq

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The Research Unit for Political Economy (R.U.P.E.), located Bombay India is a registered public trust. It operates on voluntary labor and limited finances raised from personal contributions. It is not associated or influenced by any political wing of India or any other country.

RUPE analyses theoretical and empirical levels of various aspects of the economic life of India and its institutions. The journal published by them does an excellent job to present esoteric information in a simple manner to enable people to understand the actual mechanics of their every day economic life.

Behind the Invasion of Iraq is an exception to their usual array of topics published in their journal titled "Aspects of India's Economy".

They have done an excellent job in presenting a comprehensive view of the invasion of Iraq. I feel the book is great because unlike conspiracy theory books, RUPE states facts and also quotes the sources from where it gathered the information. Hence this is factual eye opener rather than speculation.

I feel this is one of the few books that have done justice to put different pieces of the puzzle (economics, finance, foreign exchange and military invasions) together with historically correct data. Now an average person on the street will have an understanding of global politics and its ramifications on their life.

This book has also been commended on many military intelligence websites. No doubt it is well-researched publication.

"This book contributes significantly to the conversation seeking to understand the international forces at play in the threatening war on Iraq." - NELSON MANDELA

"Behind the Invasion of Iraq . . . synthesizes the seemingly disparate threads of the US war drive in a blistering indictment of American foreign policy . . . The effect is of puzzle pieces clicking into place." - COUNTERPUNCH

Since September 11, 2001, there have been many accounts of the ways in which the alignment of global power is changing or will be changed by the U.S. "war on terrorism." Most of them take as their starting point the options facing the wealthy and powerful nations of the world seeking to control an ever larger share of the world's resources. Behind the Invasion of Iraq is written from a different perspective, and one that makes possible a far more comprehensive point of view.

Its authors, the Research Unit for Political Economy, based in Mumbai, India, are rooted in the politics of a Third World country which has long been on the receiving end of imperialist power. As a consequence, they have a more sober view of the workings of global power. In clear and accessible prose, weighing the evidence carefully and tracing events to their root causes, they move beyond moral outrage to a clear view of the process being set in motion by the U.S. led invasion of Iraq. They show that the invasion of Iraq is a desperate gamble by a section of American capital to secure their hold on power that is driven by the wish to stave off economic crisis through military means. Their efforts will not end with Iraq, but will require the recolonization of the Middle East.

Behind the Invasion of Iraq exposes the idea that war will bring democracy to the middle East as so much propaganda. In a context where so many rulers are themselves clients of the United States, the war is aimed not at the rulers but at the masses of ordinary people whose hostility to imperialism has not been broken even by corrupt and autocratic rulers. This book describes the remaking of global power with a truly global awareness of what is at stake.

Table of Contents

Preface
1. Introduction
2. Western Imperialism and Iraq
From Colony to Semi-Colony
Towards Nationalization
The Iran-Iraq War
The Torment of Iraq
Return of Imperialist Occupation
3. The Real Reasons for the Invasion of Iraq-and Beyond
The Current Strategic Agenda of the United States
Home Front in Shambles
Military Solution to an Economic Crisis
4. Rehabilitating Colonialism
Notes
Index

Reading this thoroughly researched, clearly argued volume was a revelation. For the first time I understood the entire spectrum of motives behind the US invasion. Since reading it, I've discovered a new ability to discern the meaning behind the headlines. I should add -- though it's sad to say so -- that events since its publication have in all cases confirmed its analysis and predictions.

Must read.

This short book carefully and clearly explains why the US *has* to turn Iraq into a colony. The book begins with a brief history of Iraq in the modern era, then turns to US attacks on Iraq since the 1980s. In the final section, the authors tie the need for oil to the capitalist economies in the Western world --- without "our" oil under "their" desert, our economy doesn't work.

For anyone interested in understanding the current war --- or those interested in a quick introduction to US imperialism --- this book is highly recommended.

Interesting book that derived from a series of articles in the "Aspects of India's Economy" magazine edited by the The Research Unit for Political Economy in Mumbai.

Interesting in the fact that the book is written from an Asian point of view, although importantly not Muslim.

"Behind the Invasion of Iraq exposes the idea that war will bring democracy to the Middle East as so much propaganda. In a context where so many rulers are themselves clients of the United States, the war is aimed not at the rulers but at the masses of ordinary people whose hostility to imperialism has not been broken even by corrupt and autocratic rulers. This book describes the remaking of global power with a truly global awareness of what is at stake.

What's really at stake is US control of global markets. The report reveals that the US economy is now facing a nightmare scenario: A crisis of overproduction has crippled US GDP, resulting in monstrous trade and budget deficits, even as a potentially disastrous deflationary spiral appears to be under way worldwide.

Meanwhile, superpower rivals Europe, Russia and China are mounting a vigorous challenge to US economic preeminence, which is further threatened by the euro's emergence as a credible alternative to the dollar as global reserve currency. (All this is exhaustively detailed in the RUPE report, which draws its most telling evidence from the mainstream financial press.)

In this context, the US sees confiscation of the world's richest oil-producing regions as a magic bullet. While securing its own access to petroleum supplies for the foreseeable future, it can simultaneously defend dollar hegemony and restructure Middle East markets for the exclusive benefit of US-based corporations.

Which brings us to the crux: Direct American control of oil would render any potential challengers for world or regional supremacy perpetually dependent on US forbearance. In RUPE's words, "once it has seized the oil wells of west Asia the US will determine not only which firms would bag the deals, not only the currency in which oil trade would be denominated, not only the price of oil on the international market, but even the destination of the oil."

RUPE's argument here is powerful but complex, and this summary is necessarily an extreme oversimplification. But the overall thrust is quite clear: The US invasion of Iraq needs to be understood not as an end in itself but as the means to an end -- the foundation of a New American Empire."

A good set of insights for the time. Would be good to see if these guys have any follow up in light of events since, and see how they update and adapt their views in light of any new information.

The collaborative effort of the Research Unit For Political Economy, Behind The Invasion Of Iraq is a sharply focused and informatively critical look at America's motives for launching the invasion of a Saddam Houssain and Baath Party dominated Iraq. Taking into account Iraq's history and relationship with the West, within the context of modern-day economic crises and strategic agendas for staging an invasion, Behind The Invasion Of Iraq is commended as being a sober, carefully researched and immediately relevant treatise -- especially now that the national debate has moved on to post-invasion reconstruction issues and a growing possibility of collateral invasion of Syria.

After reading 4 other books on the recent history of Iraq, I recommoned this book for anyone who is looking for a complete understanding of the economic, and strategic factors involved in the decision to attack Iraq.

Yes, this book is put out by the "Research" unit for political economy, in Bombay, India. But these folks did not do much research! Instead, they simply ascribe the most outrageous motives to the United States any time we take action.

It is no surprise that in 1991, the United States took part in a multinational effort against Iraq in 1991. After all, Iraq did invade Kuwait. Now, Kuwait was hardly our ally. In fact, Kuwait had sided with us in the United Nations less often than any other nation on Earth. Still, the invasion by Iraq certainly provoked and merited this sort of response. Of course, that's not the way this book puts it. In this book, the entire liberation of Kuwait was simply an American, British, and Israeli plot!

Israel has never been able to get the United States to so much as put our embassy to that nation in Jerusalem (in the Western portion of the city, no less). But in this book, we Americans are in a conspiracy with Israel to let Jews "colonize" what it implies is Arab land, and maybe to massively evict Arabs from this land as well. That's not quite what is happening, of course. The only systematic and thorough evictions we've seen have been of Jews, from Gaza. And there may be more such evictions, of Jews, from parts of the disputed West Bank.

The authors say that it was plain to the world that Iraq was about to invade Kuwait when April Glaspie talked with Saddam Hussein shortly before the invasion. But it seems clear to me that we Americans were genuinely surprised by the invasion. Was it really plain to the world? If so, to which world? Was it really to this one, which happens to include India?

I think it is telling that the authors boast of a French plan to avoid attacking Iraq and instead have a conference at which it would be agreed that Iraq would get out of Kuwait in return for us (in effect) giving permission for Arabs to swipe some Israeli land. Um, why would that have been a good "trade" for anyone?

There is a section about sanctions against Iraq. These sanctions may indeed have been a dubious idea, but they were hardly deliberate genocide! And Iraq could have avoided these sanctions by complying with the demands on it. In addition, Iraq could have made things much easier on its population even with the sanctions in place. It's outrageous for this book to imply that these sanctions were simply a genocidal American scam.

The authors come up with even more nonsense when they discuss Arafat, a notorious thug. Arafat's gang of thugs is considered to be the true representatives of a whole nation, or at least of all the local Arab population. But that's simply false. That gang existed primarily to fight against Jewish rights in the region, and that's not the same as being genuine representatives of the Arab people and promoters of the welfare of those Arabs. And what does the book say about the aggression of Arafat and his gang against Israel? Oh, to the authors, it is just an Israeli trick to try to delegitimize Arafat! Once again, I wonder which world the authors think they live in.

Does America want to be an imperialist, colonialist, and genocidal nation? Obviously not. In a world at peace, our nation will do extremely well. The authors of this book ought to have considered the possibility that America's people and Congress (and even our administration) are anything but imperialist, colonialist, and genocidal. If the authors had wanted to do some real research on our reaction to aggression, they could have. They could have determined some standards by which to judge what we did. And they could have pointed out when we did things pretty much properly, when we made mistakes, when we reacted too strongly, and when we reacted too mildly. But they did nothing of the sort. Instead, they wrote some cheap and useless anti-American propaganda.

Typical. Is there a Mad Magazine formula for this stuff?