The U.S. invaded, captured Saddam and cannot win this war. William Pfaff succinctly observed in the International Herald Tribune (Dec.21, 2004):
“Ending the carnage requires renouncing permanent bases and developing a timetable for withdrawal. Iraq will tragically experience continued security challenges but without United States military forces…A successful exit strategy is elusive because wars solve nothing, but the heavy hand of the American occupation must be lifted. From the 1991 Gulf War, the twelve year No-Fly-Zone-War, the crippling sanctions and the current conflict, more Iraqis died, perhaps, than under Saddam Hussein’s autocracy. Greater instability and deprivation exists without adequate electricity for homes, cooking gas for kitchens and even gasoline for cars!”[22]
Ending the war will have the added advantage of reducing American militarism as well. If photographs of prisoner treatment in Abu Ghraib is anything to go by (the photos showed Iraqi prisoners blinded by hoods and slung over prison railings, tied to leashes as animals and piled naked one upon another in heaps). Susan Sontag poignantly compares them to lynching of black Americans when pictures of corpses decorated postcards and souvenir albums. When defenceless, non-resistant prisoners were mercilessly tortured and killed, the very fundamentals of martial law are being breached. In Vietnam insurgents were named disparagingly as “gooks” and “slants”. In Iraq they are disdainfully termed “terrorists” and “thugs” without paying attention to their genuine grievances and interests. Reverend Jesse Jackson aptly describes this war as “without moral, legal or military legitimacy.” Hopefully, Americans will demand an overhaul of American foreign policy, so that the neoconservative craving for power is not allowed to thrive.
[1] Max Boot,. “The New American Way of War.”, Foreign Affairs 82.4 (July-August 2003): 41.
[2] I. H. Daalder, James Lindsay, The Preemptive-War Doctrine Has Met an Early Death in Iraq, Los Angeles Times, 30th May, 2004.
[3] R. Kagan, America’s Crisis of Legitimacy, Middle East, Foreign Affairs., March-April 2006
[4] Toby Harnden., “Hoping for the worst: Toby Harnden talks to an anti-war journalist who wants to see more Iraqis die–so that Bush will be thrown out in November.” Spectator 295.9171 (May 15, 2004): 26(2).
[5] J. S. Nye Jr., (July-August 2006)., Transformational Leadership and U.S. Grand Strategy,. Foreign Affairs, 85, 4. p.139.
[6] J.L. Gaddis, (Jan-Feb 1994). The tragedy of Cold War history: reflections on revisionism. Foreign Affairs, 73, n1. p.142(13).
[7] William Shawcross, “The cynicism of the defeatists: William Shawcross rebukes Andrew Gilligan and Rod Liddle for their reflections last week on the war in Iraq.” Spectator 294.9168 (April 24, 2004): 16(1)
[8] Stephen Glover, “Anti-war journalists hope for the worst–because the worst will prove them right. (Media Studies).” Spectator 291.9112 (March 29, 2003): 27(1).
[9] James Hamill, “The United States, Iraq, and international relations; part one: the backdrop to conflict.” Contemporary Review 282.1649 (June 2003): 326(8).
[10] Andrew Gilligan, “Not many bucks for our bangs: Tony Blair may be George Bush’s most reliable comrade in the war on terror, but, says Andrew Gilligan, British firms aren’t getting much reconstruction work in Iraq.” Spectator 295.9169 (May 1, 2004): 14(1).
[11] Sharif Shuja, “India and Pakistan ponder a role in Iraq.” Contemporary Review 283.1654 (Nov 2003): 257(8).
[12] Toby Harnden, “A cat ate the face of the corpse: Toby Harnden accompanies American troops as they fight the insurgents with everything they’ve got.” Spectator 296.9198 (Nov 20, 2004): 14(2).