Geopolitical perspectiveson war and peace (3):

Critical GeopoliticsCounter-framing and ‘Othering’ Iraq

GEOG 220 – Geopolitics

Why did a majority of Americansinitially supported the war in Iraq?

Framing ‘Iraq’

Framing

=> Selective representation

• Policy framing: selected words, images, descriptions => limited policy options

• Mass media framing: biased depictions => limited public debate

Geopolitical framingObjective: using the trauma of 9/11 to justify Iraq invasion and consolidate ‘US security and credibility’

Iraq as terror threat

Iraq as theatre of war

Iraq as liberated population

• Iraq as terror threat => American determination

IRAQ = ‘SADDAM’ + WEAPONS + TERRORISTS

Gaining ‘consent’ for war

Jan-03 31% immediate invasion

Feb-03 40% Convinced by Bush’s speech

Mar-03 47% Invasion without UNSC approval

Apr-03 62% In support of the war

Jan-03 Feb-03 Mar-03 Apr-030%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

• Iraq as theatre of war => American firepower

• Iraq as liberated population => American heroism

Pew Research Center, poll 1500 adults in UShttp://pewresearch.org/pubs/770/iraq-war-five-year-anniversary

• Iraq as terror threat

=> US Government deception

“Top US officials…made at least 935 false statements in the two years following September 11, 2001, about the national security threat posed by Saddam Hussein’s Iraq…[as] part of an orchestrated campaign that effectively galvanized public opinion and, in the process, led the nation to war under decidedly false pretences.”

Center for Public Integrity, 2008 report.

• Iraq as a theatre of war=> US military limitations

Iraq as liberated population=> US government exactions

Documented civilian deaths from violence 110,205 – 120,395

• Main points:– Geopolitical framing of ‘Iraq’ allowed for initial

consent by US public– Framing proved biased and shortsighted– Resulted in counter-framing of ‘US’ as deceiving,

declining and dangerous => greater distrust

– Need to resist such ‘framings’…

• Re-interpreting the geopolitical frame: Saddam’s rifle

• Subaltern geopolitics – Libya in Western perspectives

IRAQ = ‘SADDAM’ + WEAPONS + TERRORISTS

• Why is Saddam Hussein firing an ‘old rifle’ at a public meeting in Bagdad?

- Ottoman Empire/Turkey mocked - acquiring remnants of its empire become Allies war aim

Today the European states have attacked the Islamic countries from every corner. Italy has attacked Tripoli in North Africa, Russian troops have occupied northern Iran, and English troops have entered southern Iran. This will inevitably result in the disappearance of Islam. Therefore all Muslims, Arab and non Arab, must prepare themselves to repel unbelief (kufr) from ‑the two Islamic countries. They must not hold themselves back or spare any expense to bring about the means to expel Italian troops from Tripoli, and Russian and English troops from northern and southern Iran. This is one of the most important Islamic duties, in order that the Ottoman and Iranian empires remain protected and safe from Christian attacks, with Allah's help. 5 Dhu ‘l Hijjah‑Muhammad Kazim al Tabataba'i.‑

The Iraqis are going towards Baghdad to demand their rights, and it is necessary for you and for all the Muslims to join their brothers on this noble principle. Beware of disturbing the peace and disagreeing and quarrelling amongst yourselves. I advise you to protect the lives, possessions and honour of all religious communities and sects in your country, and never to harm any one of them.

Mirza Shhazi, religious leader, April 1920

• Enfield rifle seized from British colonial troops in 1920 pro-independence uprising by Iraqis

• Symbol of Iraqi nationalism as British came to rule former Ottoman provinces following WWI

• Up to 9,000 Iraqi killed by British troops to quell the May 1920 Revolution, incl. through air bombardments

• British install Faysal ibn Husayn as King of Iraq in 1921 to give the appearance of independence (indirect rule)

• Iraq remains de facto colony until 1958 coup, with nationalization of oil assets between 1961-1972

Othering

• The ‘Othered’ Iraq and the ‘other Iraq’– ‘Othered Iraq’: the Iraq within conventional

geopolitical perspective, where even understandings of ‘everyday life’ brings a sense of distance and ‘Otherness’

– The ‘other Iraq’: the Iraq outside conventional geopolitical perspective, where understandings of ‘everyday life’ brings a sense of common humanity (commonality)

The ‘Other’ or ‘constitutive Other’

• Through selective (and biased) perceptions of differences between yourself and someone else, or between your country and another, you come to define yourself or your country

• More than a comparative perspective … it is a constitutive one (i.e. constitutes two supposed ‘realities’)

Þ Other or ‘constitute Other’Þ See, Edward Said (1979) Orientalism

• Performative attributes (repetition of appearance)

Performative attributesin ‘everyday banal geopolitics’

Othering 102

• Prejudice and assumptions

Racialized geopoliticsApartheid South Africa’s Bantustans

Othering 103

• Inclusion by virtue of Othering

Inclusion in the geopolitics of migration

Geopolitics, Othering and Imperialism

• Othering: “act of emphasizing the perceived weaknesses of marginalized groups as a way of stressing the alleged strength of those in positions of power”

• The way in which you define ‘Others’ defines your ‘Self’ => self-legitimization of conduct

‘Iraq Market’

The other Iraq The Othered Iraq

‘Iraq School’

The other Iraq The Othered Iraq

Conclusion

• Geopolitical frames are culturally and historically relative

• Critical geopolitics gives attention to diversity of interpretations of ‘history’

• Anti- or counter-geopolitics requires to be attentive to processes of ‘Othering’ and to bring out counter-narratives

At home …

• See this brief video:• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cAeTkA_1fk

• What was the US government trying to (literally) get ‘out of the frame’ of the cameras at the UN?

• What counter-narrative did the tapestry evoke?• What is the role of art in geopolitics?• Was this communication maneuver by the US

government successful?