“Did the
decision to invade Iraq in 2003 do any good for the Middle East or the world?”
This is the question that still haunts the USA and breeds serious doubts on the
credibility of the US as a responsible superpower. The series of events that
have followed the US invasion have been far from those expected. The unstable
nature of the region in the recent decades can well be seen as after-effects
of what US did in Iraq. The reasons given by the US for invading a sovereign
nation far from its borders have been far from convincing. Nonetheless, the
significant effects the invasion has had on Iraq in particular and the region at
large have not diminished in the last decade.
The world has
changed a lot since USA first got involved in Iraq with an aim to rescue
Kuwait. What has remained same is one of the primary causes of the problems the
region struggles with at present that can be backtracked to what US did in
2003. Following the defeat of Iraq and the restoration of Kuwaiti government in
1991, sanctions and other containment measures were then put in place to check
the influence of Iraq in the region. Since the first invasion in 1991, Iraq
became one of the core subjects of concern for US foreign policy. The significance
of Iraq in the US politics is evident from the fact that the USA passed
Liberation of Iraq act in 1998 with an aim to install a democratically elected
government after toppling Saddam Hussein. It is worth noting that the
legislation was in contrast to the UNSC resolution 687 which aimed at finding
and destroying the WMD. There was nothing about the change of regime in the
UNSC resolution.
Moreover, it
was not only the US involved in the invasion of Iraq but the allied forces of
the UK, the USA, Poland, and Australia. It is interesting to note that the Iraq
invasion was firmly opposed by some of the long-standing US allies which
included France, Canada, Germany, and New Zealand.
A lot of
speculations have been made since US invaded Iraq in 2003 and captured Saddam
Hussein. From the Terrorist attack of 9/11 to the alleged development of
weapons of Mass Destruction including those of chemical and biological warfare
by the Iraqi regime have been touted as reasons for Invasion in 2003. The
public sentiment in the USA is also considered as one of the reasons for USA
deciding to invade Iraq. Interestingly, the republican candidate George Bush
Jr. won on the promise of taking firm action against terror groups which led to
his holding the white house in 2000. Later on, the 9/11 followed which left very few options for the US.
Following the
attack, a Global “War on Terror” was launched by the US President George Bush Jr. This announcement was accompanied by the doctrine of
"pre-emptive" military action, which later came to be known as the Bush Doctrine. Following the announcement of the “war on Terror”, Allegations of a
connection between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda were made by some U.S. Government officials who asserted that a highly secretive relationship
existed between Saddam and the radical Islamist militant organization al-Qaeda from 1992 to 2003, specifically through a series of meetings
reportedly involving the Iraqi Intelligence Service (IIS). Regarding the alleged bonhomie between, Saddam Hussein and Al-Qaeda, Some of Bush’s advisers favored an immediate invasion of
Iraq, while others wanted to go for building an international coalition and
obtaining United Nations authorization. Bush eventually decided to seek UN
authorization, while still reserving the option of invading without it.
Bush put his
case before the United Nations General Assembly on Sept 12, 2002 in order to
outline the complaints he had with the Iraqi government. Key US allies
including the UK agreed with the action against Iraq. However, France and
Germany conveyed their reservations regarding the US plan of action. Following a considerable discussion, the UN Security Council adopted a
compromise resolution, UN Security Council Resolution 1441, which authorized the resumption of weapons inspections and promised
"serious consequences" for non-compliance. However, Security Council
members France and Russia made clear that they did not consider these
consequences to include the use of force to overthrow the Iraqi government.
Saddam Hussein
agreed to the resolution 1441 and allowed a team of United Nations appointed
inspectors and the International Atomic Energy Agency to inspect Iraq for any
existence of the Weapons of Mass Destruction. Later, the inspection team
concluded that they have "found no evidence or
plausible indication of the revival of a nuclear weapons program in Iraq".
However, US President George Bush and UK Prime Minister declared that Iraq was
not cooperating with the inspection and called any further diplomatic efforts
to be futile. Saddam Hussein was given an ultimatum of 48 hours to leave Iraq
or be ready for an invasion. Germany and France continued their protest against
such hostility. However, when Saddam Hussein refused to leave Iraq, on the
morning of March 20, 2003 several guided bombs started dropping on the bunkers
where President Saddam was believed to be taking shelter. Yet another major
power in the region Turkey was against this invasion as it denied the US forces
entry in Iraq through its southern territory. It is worthy to note that Turkey
was a part of NATO and yet opposed the US invasion much like France.
Nonetheless,
US forces started invading Iraq from Kuwait in the South and dropped paratroopers in the Northern territories of Iraq which are mostly inhabited by the Kurds. The war that followed
can be classified as brief and decisive with the allied forces of the USA and
the UK taking control of the Iraqi territory. Saddam Hussein was then captured and
tried for crimes against humanity and was finally hanged in 2006. But the Iraq invasion
later took unexpected turns as the US armed forces decided to station themselves in
Iraq as an occupation force post successful 2003 invasion.
The
US armed forces, having toppled President Saddam Hussein became an occupation
force in Iraq. There was no formal Iraqi government in the intervening period. The sentiments of Iraqi people were demolished, having
suffered a defeat at the hands of a foreign power. The US occupation of Iraq
came to be seen more and more as a 21st century Arab Imperialism. Post
Saddam Hussein there was a situation of chaos on ground. The challenge to
establish law and order and then maintain it was immense. There were widespread
incidents of looting and crimes. Government officials that served during
Saddam’s regime were attacked.
Unfortunately,
the situation was not limited to random acts of looting and violence. Before
the Americans could understand the situation and get a hold of it, several
groups of local Iraqi militias had raised their banners. They attacked Iraqi citizens and US
soldiers alike. For Americans, the occupation proved harder than eliminating Saddam
Hussein. The mortality rate of US soldiers increased with figures reaching in thousands.
By each passing day, the public opinion in the world shifted against the idea
of invading Iraq in the first place. There was a larger support base for the
Iraqi mission in the US. However, the perception was fast changing.
The
Bush administration struggled making the death of American soldiers public. In
2008, the democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama took hold of the White
House. On his appointment, he declared a phased return of US soldiers from
Iraq. A large chunk of the US armed forces left Iraq in 2011 with the situation still far from being stable. In 2010, A whistleblower organization Wikileaks brought out a series of
classified documents in public that mentioned the number casualties of both
Iraqi civilians and American soldiers. The exact number of casualties incurred
on Iraq during the period of 2004-08 remains impossible to calculate because of the absence of any government post US occupation until April 2005. It can be safely said that the unease with the Iraq adventurism has been felt by the US but not displayed.
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