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

Peace and Conflict Studies - Essay suitric. 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. in particular where Britain is concerned, it will be necessary to disregard the rhetoric (as both sides of what is politely called the debate are every bit guilty of distortion) and take the facts and form a picture from them, accepting that what passes for the accepted wisdom is not so much a tissue of lies as a tissue of invention. On the other hand, it has proved nigh interesting to try and find out the real reasons for the (2003) Iraq disaster and make the most of this opportunity to commit the record straight. Hypothesis The caudexamental hypothesis that the author wishes to put forward for the 2003 Anglo-American handling in Iraq is that the intervention (disaster would be a better word) took place for internal political reasons. In other words, nothing the Iraqis themselves, UN, EU, Russians, Chinese etc., etc. would or could have done would have prevented the war, as both the British and U.S, metropolitan elites were tout ensemble impervious to any outside persuasion. We will start with Todds (who, despite his Anglophone name and ancestry, is French) analysis. He cites the chief(prenominal) American internal political factors 2004, Pp 207-211 inclusive) as economic mystification, ideological crisis and denial of reality. He likewise 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 source (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 fun ds generated by the bond purchases are used to fund the American imperial military, the money then being channelled through equipment purchases, salaries and base maintenance into the American delivery at large - much 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 trenchant than peaceable military commitments in achieving this, as otherwise the purchasers of U.S. Treasury bonds might start asking unskilful 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 Grand Area prep