Biden, The Foreign Policy Expert?
By Chris Maisano • Aug 24th, 2008 • Category: U.S. Politics and IssuesWe can all breathe again. Barack Obama has finally named his vice-presidential running mate, and it’s none other than Senator Joe Biden of Delaware. Media reaction to the choice has mostly revolved around Biden’s potential effect on the horserace and has predictably been rather inane. Does Biden represent the attack dog mentality that the Obama campaign thus has lacked? Does his selection mitigate fears about Obama’s relative inexperience in foreign policy or merely highlight such inexperience? Is he too gaffe-prone to be an effective running mate? While it’s kind of fun to watch Biden come up with barbed quips regarding McCain’s many kitchen tables, as socialists we shouldn’t really care about such chatter. We have a vision that goes beyond the 24-hour news cycle. What we should really be talking about is the potential influence on policy that Biden could have in a possible Obama administration, especially regarding Iraq and foreign policy generally.
Simply put, while Biden is normally touted as some sort of foreign policy sage, his specific policy prescriptions are generally pretty terrible. Like most mainstream Democrats, he was a staunch supporter of the invasion of Iraq. While he has since characterized his vote in favor of authorizing President Bush to wage the war as a mistake, as recently as last year he continued to portray Saddam Hussein as a threat to the United States and claimed that Iraq was in possession of weapons of mass destruction (see this transcript from Biden’s 4/29/07 appearance on Meet The Press).
Also, his preferred strategy for stabilizing Iraq by partitioning it into three autonomous ethno-sectarian states would be an absolute disaster for that country and for the region if implemented. As Foreign Policy In Focus Middle East expert Stephen Zunes has argued:
Given the mosaic of ethnicities and sects in Iraq, with various groupings having mixed together within both urban and rural settings for many generations, the establishment of such ethnic or sectarian mini-states would almost certainly result in even higher levels of forced population transfers, ethnic cleansing, and other human suffering. Given the intermixing of these populations in Baghdad, Mosul, and Kirkuk and scores of other cities, the potential exists for the most violent break-up of a country since the partition of India 60 years ago.
A violent sectarian breakup of Iraq would most certainly draw Iraq’s neighbors into the conflict, creating the conditions for a wider regional war (just ask a Turk what he or she thinks about having an independent Kurdistan on its border). Also, an overwhelming majority of Iraqis reject the plan as a foreign imposition that undermines national unity and sovereignty. While criticism has forced Biden to be relatively quiet about his partition proposal in recent months, and Obama himself has voiced some skepticism about such a plan, as Mother Jones recently pointed out Biden still supports partition.
Joe Biden as foreign policy expert is a media-created meme on par with the long-running claim John McCain is some sort of “maverick.“ In reality, Biden’s foreign policy perspective is generally simplistic, stupid, and dangerous, especially when it comes to Iraq. We can only hope that Obama’s good judgment in opposing the Iraq war in 2003 will also prompt him to oppose Biden’s ill-conceived and dangerous plan for that country’s future.
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Chris Maisano is a member of the YDS New York City chapter. He studied at Rutgers and Drexel University and currently works as a librarian at a large public library branch in Brooklyn.
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Chris you mentioned the ”violent sectarian break-up of Iraq” but a soft partition can happen through referendums. Turkey should not be allowed to meddle in Iraqi affairs but rather be pressured to respect human rights and solve its own Kurdish problem; this is what Turkey need to do as this is a condition for entering EU too.
unlike most US rulers who are more like a tourists in iraq and not understand the problems in iraq, Senator Joe Biden is a realist who deeply understands the roots of the problems in Iraq. as an Iraqi I fully support Senator Biden’s plan to divide Iraq.
Dear Chris Maisano, I think it’s better to read Biden’s resolution carefully which it does not include word partition at all. Given the current political stalemate, Biden asked and preferred federalism for Iraq as a multi-ethnic and religious country.I am asking you and everybody concerned these questions: What is alternative for Biden’s resolution, Federalism for Iraq? Do you prefer a strong central government, which the Iraqis have experienced catastrophic conditions under such a system? Do you know that If Iraq does not become a federal state, the Shi’as, as they are majority and subject to Iranian government, would dominate the region and this is not what the US wants? I wonder, why Iraqi people, in each province and suburb, do not have the right to chose a system and leader for themselves? As far as Iraq has many different groups, it certainly needs a system respects their being different. Nowadays, every body is talking about the unity of Iraq, as oppose to federalism or Biden’s resolution, as if having a strong central government represents unity and strength and having a weak central government represents division and weakness. This very short-sided. What would you say, if the Kurds under a strong central government declares a Kurdish independent state? To avoid anymore sectarian and ethnic violence, to recreate a new and prosperous Iraq, the only way is to do what Iraqis themselves want, that is in constitution, which is a federal state.
Let’s now look at this dubious argument of Middle East expert Stephen Zunes: “The establishment of such ethnic or sectarian mini-states would almost certainly result in even higher levels of forced population transfers, ethnic cleansing, and other human suffering.” It is not necessarily so. Let’s look at the Iraqi Kurdistan, by contrast to what Zunes argue, there are many Arabs have migrated to Kurdistan because they realize in Kurdistan region their rights are better protected and guaranteed. Iraq is the cradle of civilizations, If you visit Kirkuk, which is considered by some media and politicians as a cake of powder, its people almost have no problem with each other and even working with each other in mutual respect, despite of their diversity. But, unfortunately, politics have maximized the problems. Turkumens, Kurds and Arabs in Kirkuk have very few problems, that what is considered in the Media. I am sure if now referendum for article 140 is conducted there, the people of Kirkuk would make no trouble, but I am afraid of some Arab militias, Iraqi government and interfering of regional powers.
I’d like to raise a couple points where I disagree with you, Chris.1. I don’t think it’s accurate to say that Biden was “a staunch supporter of the invasion of Iraq.” He attempted to cosponsor an alternative resolution with Richard Lugar that would have required the president to exhaust diplomatic avenues before going to war, and that likely would have slowed the march to war if not stalled it completely. Also, I think it’s fair to point out that Biden was lied to like the rest of us. An overwhelming majority of the American public supported the Iraq War as well because Bush lied us into it, and I think blaming politicians who like the rest of us came to the realization that it was a mistake is wrong for us to do. I’m fine with praising the good judgement of those who opposed the war, but I don’t think we should bash those who like many of us supported it initially.2. Experts are divided on whether or not a federalized Iraq would be worse than its current centralized government. Citing one expert who says it would ignores other experts with equal or better credentials who say it wouldn’t.3. Iraq’s neighbors have already been drawn into the conflict. Iran has been drawn in on the side of the Shi’ite majority. The Turks have been drawn in claiming that the Kurdish provinces are harboring violent Kurdish nationalists. If the centralized situation continues it seems to me that it’s inevitable that Sunni nations like Saudi Arabia will eventually be drawn in to protect the Sunni minority from oppression by the Shi’ite majority government. There is definitely potential for the whole region to be drawn in by federalism, but there is also potential in the current centralized situation.4. The Kurds are indeed a nation and should have the right to self-determination, regardless of what Turkey thinks about it. We’re either committed to democracy or we aren’t. This is not to say that we should fight Turkey on the Kurds’ behalf, but if they want to declare independence they should be free to do so without our interference and we should recognize their independence. The same is true in Abkhazia, the Republic of South Ossetia, the Chechen Republic, etc. We don’t get to decide who is and isn’t a nation and who does or doesn’t get the right to self-determination, or at least we shouldn’t.5. All of that said, I don’t think any form of government should be imposed on the Iraqis. We should let them decide. If the Kurds want to declare independence, the Kurds should declare independence. If the rest of Iraq decides on centralized government, it should have centralized government. If it decides instead on federalism, it should have federalism. Continuing to impose our will on Iraq a) deprives them of actual democracy and b) is a continuation of imperialism.6. I don’t see Obama supporting partition/federalism just because Biden does. He already said he wants a VP who will challenge him and be able to disagree with him, and I think this is one of the issues they’ll disagree on. He has never supported Iraqi federalism and I don’t think he will anytime soon.
And no line breaks again. I must have to insert the HTML manually. Sorry about that.
Briefly-
About all of us being misled. Considering there were the largest protest movement in human history in the lead up to the war, considering what socialists know about the nature of Empire and US foriegn policy. I don’t think the true Left or even center-left was misled about the war, only political opportunists were.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jackson-williams/joe-biden-true-friend-of_b_120776.html