Vivement un syndrome irakien

L’Irak est plus que jamais le cœur et le moteur de la crise politique washingtonienne. L’expert réputé des questions stratégiques Andrew J. Bacevich s’attache aux très récentes interventions des néo-conservateurs et juge qu’elles annoncent un débat dévastateur à Washington pour la recherche des responsables de la catastrophe irakienne.

Son texte, paru dans le Los Angeles Times le 7 novembre, montre un singulier pessimisme. Bacevich argumente que ce déchirement du débat sur l’Irak qui s’ouvre et le traumatisme qui va l’accompagner sont une excellente chose — parce que cela pourrait empêcher une autre aventure (on pense évidemment à l’Iran). C’est la signification, notamment, de cette phrase : «With luck, those surviving will be at least momentarily chastened, perhaps giving rise to an Iraq syndrome akin to the Vietnam syndrome, and which at least for a while will save us from another similar debacle.»

Il s’agit d’un commentaire indirectement très éclairant de l’état de la situation washingtonienne. Bacevich implique que plus personne ne contrôle cette situation et qu’il faut à tout prix empêcher un mécanisme ou des manœuvres désespérées menant à une attaque contre l’Iran.

La conclusion de son article :

« Still, whatever their political inclinations, Americans should welcome this debate. At a bare minimum, the eruption of blame and backstabbing will offer considerable entertainment value. To read (on the Vanity Fair website) that neoconservative David Frum, former White House speechwriter and author of a fawning tribute to Bush, has discovered that “the president said the words, he just did not absorb the ideas,” is simply a hoot.

»More substantively, the purging of political elites infesting Washington always has a cleansing effect. Figuring out “who lost Iraq?” ought to provide the occasion for throwing out more than a few rascals who hold office and discrediting others — a process that will no doubt get a kick-start with today's midterm elections. With luck, those surviving will be at least momentarily chastened, perhaps giving rise to an Iraq syndrome akin to the Vietnam syndrome, and which at least for a while will save us from another similar debacle.

»We should not kid ourselves that political sniping of the sort now in evidence will yield conclusive answers. These are merely the preliminaries. But let the preliminaries begin — so that we can work our way forward to the main event. It cannot fail to involve Americans more generally and to pose fundamental questions about 21st century governance, this nation's real role in a globalized world and the illusions about American power and prerogatives that spawned the Iraq war.»

Mis en ligne le 8 novembre 2006 à 08H39