‘Fear of enforced McDonald’s culture

ORDINARY Iraqis fear a “McDonald’s culture” being forced on them

Shadow international development secretary Caroline Spelman rejected a blueprint which Washington is said to be developing where Iraq would be divided into 23 departments under American rule.

Observers fear a tug-of-war between the two emerging strategies for post-Saddam Iraq the US plan and one where the United Nations would play a leading role.

A "combination model," with America leading a multinational security force backed up by vetted Iraqi civilian police in tandem with a transitional government under the auspices of the UN, has been put forward by the conflict charity the International Crisis Group.

Ultimately the Iraqi people would play a major role in their future, a vision set out by the prime minister yesterday.

Challenged at Prime Minister's Question Time yesterday about who would run Iraq in the aftermath of conflict, Tony Blair said he wanted to see the Iraqi people themselves take control as soon as possible after the war ends.

Mrs Spelman backed the prime minister, arguing that a "bottom-up" approach was preferable to "colonisation" by either the US or the international community.

She said: "military intelligence is showing us that one of the reasons why Iraqis are not greeting coalition soldiers with open arms is because they are afraid of what liberation may actually mean, afraid of cultural or commercial colonisation.

"They are saying 'We don't want a McDonald's culture, we don't want to be colonised, we don't want to have the Western lifestyle imposed on us.'"