Peace and Conflict Studies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Peace and Conflict Studies - Essay Exampleric. To misquote from one of George Orwells lesser-known sayings, where the British press is concerned, the facts and the rhetoric do not logically connect. Particularly where Britain is concerned, it will be necessary to disregard the rhetoric (as both sides of what is politely called the disceptation be equally guilty of distortion) and take the facts and form a picture from them, accepting that what passes for the accepted wisdom is not so more than a create from raw material of lies as a tissue of invention. On the other hand, it has proved close interesting to try and find out the real reasons for the (2003) Iraq disaster and make the most of this opportunity to set the record straight. Hypothesis The fundamental hypothesis that the author wishes to put forward for the 2003 Anglo-American intervention in Iraq is that the intervention (disaster would be a bankrupt word) took place for internal semipolitical reasons. In other words, nothing the Iraqis themselves, UN, EU, Russians, Chinese etc., etc. would or could have done would have pr make upted the war, as both the British and U.S, metropolitan elites were completely impervious to any outside persuasion. We will start with Todds (who, despite his Anglophone name and ancestry, is French) analysis. He cites the main American internal political factors 2004, Pp 207-211 inclusive) as economic mystification, ideological crisis and denial of reality. He also introduces evil, as a central concept. If the author understands Todd correctly, the Americans (or at least their metropolitan elite) intervened in Iraq in order to perpetuate the actual (as opposed to stated) ideological and psychological aims of using American military power (which, it must be said, looks impressive, even if it isnt in reality) to ensure that international investment (chiefly the purchase of U.S. Treasury bonds) is then channelled into U.S. domestic consumption. The mechanism appears to be that the funds generated by the bond purchases are used to fund the American imperial military, the bullion then being channelled through equipment purchases, salaries and base maintenance into the American economy at large - oftentimes of the money then being channelled back to the U.S. government through federal taxes. The ultimate expression of this is that wars (what Todd calls theoretical micro-militarism) against small countries such as Iraq are much more effective than peaceable military commitments in achieving this, as otherwise the purchasers of U.S. Treasury bonds might start asking awkward questions about where all the money is going. So much for economic mystification. We will now examine Todds concept of ideological crisis. Since the end of the Cold War (the author prefers the term terrible Area Planning