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Iraq War Headed Nowhere

Amit Pyakurel - 12/2/2005

The US Congress and President George W. Bush attacked Iraq underlining the "basic" cause which seemed to be the global hazard, "the threat of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)". The WMD were never found by the assessment performed by many independent strategic analysts, key Iraqi defectors, and former chief UNSCOM weapons inspector Scott Ritter, and the failure to prove it created ambiguity upon the global onlookers.

Instead, we've been seeing the modified reasons for the Iraq-war or "war-on-terror", which is rather terrorizing the Iraqis due to the intensity of increasing insurgency and irrational conducts by the coalition troops. Many believes that the "war", moreover the extrajudicial intervention, even on terrorism is wrong, because it further creates another ground for the innocents to suffer despite the "unwillingness" of the war handlers.

Regarding its growing opposition today, the Bush administration has came up with a fabricated description of the war, which has been ultimately bent to have linkage with the September 11, 2001 attacks, the recent London bombings, or similar attacks held by the terrorists on the other corners of the globe. And more interestingly, the reasoning of the war has also taken its another facet: to free the Iraqis from Saddam's tyranny and summon up their snatched sovereignty, as described by Bush and his allies, additionally "to defeat the root of global terrorism".

The claiming that Bush administration held even before the war started, that Iraq had the backing for Al-Qaeda or other terrorists' organizations has also proved wrong on the face of the interrogations to various Iraqi intelligence officials and investigation upon thousands of Iraqi documents.

At the other side, the question is skeptical that how the war has served the world community in terms of world peace or sovereignty of Iraqi people? Instead, the so-called "war on terror" has led a kind of genocide in Iraq. Today, it's like a routine that numbers of Iraqis die on the urban streets without any reason, the fate they had never experienced even at the time of Saddam's dictatorship. One can argue that there was enough oppression and suffocation at the time of Saddam's dictatorship, but the scenario has worsened today, stressing the fact that the Iraqi people wouldn't burst to death while visiting to the market places and were fearlessly able to walk on the streets even in the late evening, in spite of the tyranny.

The war being executed in most of the regions in Iraq by the US-led coalition forces has become the subject of the worldwide condemnation these days. More than half the percentage of American citizens' attitude towards the war is notably shifting and they're beginning to believe that the real intension of the Iraq war isn't achieving its significance, but rather deteriorating the situation in Iraq on the face of routine deaths of number of innocents and fueled insurgency. This indicates that the people who supported the war before are putting their denial today and the concepts which were already against the war have been strengthened.

The shifting opinion and varied ideologies already describes that United State's authority isn't united with its own citizens, and it has shouldered a huge and sole "responsibility" to make the world united on fight against terrorism and establish a sustainable peace. The opting for a sustainable world peace merely cannot be seen otherwise, but the improper execution of its ideologies and forceful inductions of its self-proclaimed principles on the weaker authorities can only highlight the word called "imperialism", that most recognizes America has adopted in its policy.

What the Iraq war is seemingly decorated with today? Afterthoughts, or hegemonic but unjustified principles of Bush and speedy and abundant numbers of civilian casualties. The war has forwarded another huge challenge to rebuild the infrastructures, but the rebuilding of the lives of number of victimized Iraqis could be an impossible task.

The war has created a power vacuum in Iraq providing more uncertainty in the absence of a ruling muscle. The fulfillment of this gap is not that easy to ascertain and on the other hand full throttle dependency that is to be given to Iraqi people will not gain its significance until the occupying force remains in the Iraqi land.

The US occupation in Iraq is becoming like a bone stuck in the throat, which it is hard to spew out and even to swallow. To continue the occupation without viewing any considerable outcome would prove unworthy. Whatever disturbance the war has already created in Iraq, many argue that the US and other coalition allies should pull back their troops in order to stop further fading the situation over there.

Let the people of Iraq decide their own fate and have political independence. And this independence cannot be achieved amid the continued engagement of foreign troops in the land, because such engagement would deter the Iraqi citizens' full indulgence in political-decision-making, despite the invaders' explaining to give Iraqis a full space to decide and choose their "legitimate" authority.

Is that, the drawing of timetable to pull back from Iraq is harder than to stay there to bear the increasing loss of the coalition troops themselves, spoiling the security condition for Iraqis, and moreover gaining the condemnation from the international arena? Is it justifiable to keep deteriorating the situation in a foreign land simply because, as believed by some military's kith and kins, the lives lost of number of army personnel will not be paid back without the targeted mission or "without ensuring full independence of Iraqi citizens" is not achieved?
Remaining there wouldn't ensure the independence of the Iraqi people and the country's stability, but longer the stay the harsher the aftermath handling of situation the country would bear at the time the occupying troops leaves Iraq. And, what about the non-combatant innocent citizens who have lost their lives and their payback?

Catastrophic losses of lives cannot be turn-around and recovered, be it of the armed personnel or the innocent civilians. But, looking forward, if the objective is really for the goodness of the Iraq and its citizens, the coalition should think twice and pull-back. Instead, the US and the international arena could help the rebuilding of infrastructures and political sustainability of the country from outside through the diplomatic channels, without directly ruling over the state's authority.