You are here: Home > Opinion > Columnists

Tracing Bush's Iraq War -- an unmitigated strategic disaster

BY Zhao Jinglun: 0 Comment(s)Print E-mail China.org.cn, March 26, 2013

Adjust font size:

Leaving a little problem behind [By Jiao Haiyang/China.org.cn]

I was in New York City ten years ago in mid-March attending the 21st annual Socialist Scholars' Conference (main theme: Endless War, the Left responds), when I wrote a column for the Hong Kong Economic Journal, predicting that when my piece appears in print, Bush would have started his invasion of Iraq. My column appeared on March 21, a day after Bush launched his "shock and awe" bombing of Baghdad.

Six months before the invasion, the Bush administration announced its National Security Strategy. That document claimed the US has a right to launch a pre-emptive war in "anticipatory self-defense"(in the words of the then National Security Advisor Condi Rice, a former Stanford provost, accomplished pianist and figure skater with a wacky mind). Iraq War was the first specimen of preventive (not pre-emptive, because there was no imminent threat) war planned by George W. Bush and his inner circle of virulent militarists Cheney and Rumsfeld and neocons Wolfowitz and Feith, ostensibly to rid Iraq of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), in fact for "full-spectrum" world domination (in their own words). That illegal war was opposed by US major allies Germany and France and the world's people. Over ten million—an unprecedented number-- demonstrated to no avail.

Faced with overwhelming American fire power, Sadam's guards divisions melted away. Baghdad fell on April 9. On May 1, W actually flew a plane and landed on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln off San Diego, where the swaggering airman gave his infamous "mission accomplished" speech.

Major combat operations were far from over. Insurgents started attacking occupation forces. In the end, the US suffered over 5,000 dead and close to 50,000 wounded at a cost of some three trillion dollars, including care for the wounded. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis died and millions were displaced. Calling it "a war of choice", Obama finally ordered all US troops out of Iraq, leaving behind the world's largest embassy in the Green Zone, trying to steer Iraqi politics.

The result of all this bloodshed is a Shiite regime allied or semi-allied with Iran (Nuri al-Maliki, al-Sadre and others lived in Iran in exile for many years). Heightened sectarian strife, especially between Shiites and Sunnis. It was a big lie that Sadam sheltered al Qaeda. But US occupation brought forth al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, also known as al Qaeda in Iraq, who prefer to be called Islamic State of Iraq.

It claimed responsibility for a wave of bombing and suicide attacks that killed around sixty people, mostly Shiites and security forces on the tenth anniversary of US invasion. "Just the first drop of rain" declared the attackers, "and a first phase, for by God's will, after this we will have our revenge." So they were avenging Sunnis who were marginalized by the Shiite-led government. Suicide bombers have struck twice a week since January, as al Qaeda is regaining strength.

Both the US and Maliki governments have said the threat of al Qaeda is exaggerated and manageable. But it is not an isolated conflict in Iraq alone. Rather, it is part of the Sunni-Shiite struggle throughout the Middle East. US Secretary of State John Kerry visited Baghdad unannounced on Sunday trying to stop Iranian overflights of arms and fighters to support the Syrian government as it battles rebels.

As early as 2004, King Abdullah of Jordan warned against a "Shiite crescent" that went from Damascus to Teheran, passing through Baghdad, where a Shiite-dominated government had taken power and was dictating a sectarian brand of politics that was radiating outward from Iraq across the whole region.

Sunni powers, Saudi Arabia in particular, and Turkey are intervening in the Syrian civil war, supporting the rebels trying to topple the Alawite ( a branch of Shiite) Bashar al-Assad. Al Qaeda in Iraq has sent Sunni fighters to fight alongside al Nusra. Saudis, Bahrain, on the other hand, are facing Shiite protests in their own countries.

George W. Bush's invasion of Iraq has not "democratized" the Middle East. Instead it has destabilized the entire region. In Iraq itself, sectarian war rages on unabated. And the Iraqi people are suffering from the aftermath of US invasion, including deformed babies caused by US depleted uranium weapons, seriously damaged infrastructure and high unemployment.

By launching an illegal war against a sovereign state, George W. Bush made the worst strategic mistake in American history, that sagged American strength militarily, politically and economically; brought untold suffering to the Iraqi people, and indelible shame to himself.

The author is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit: http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/zhaojinglun.htm

Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.