(30 April, 2003) - U.S. wins the war but may
lose the peace, as events unfold following the Iraq War. Once again, in
the tradition of attempts to remove Ghadaffi of Libya, the 1990 Gulf War,
and the search for Osama bin Laden, the U.S. went to war against one man
and missed.
Americans are now labouring under staggering budget
deficits, a byproduct of President Bush's extreme tax cuts and a
determination to treat the troubleshoots of the world like the Death Row
in a Texas prison. Is it deja vu all over again? His father had the
highest personal popularity of any president in history, immediately
following the first Iraq war. But the economy did him in. After the
adventure, the bills have to be paid. George H.W. Bush fell under the
Bill Clinton steamroller.
Meanwhile, in London, Prime Minister Tony Blair, will
have to explain the phantom "weapons of mass destruction," and,
therefore, the urgency of sacrificing British lives.
Removing Saddam Hussein and his regime from power is
undoubtedly a blessing for mankind, but will this villain join the long
list of American targets who seem never to be found?
If such a thing can be said with a clear conscience,
it was a better war than what has been the case in recent history. The
military effort was surgical. There was far less collateral damage than
what had become standard practice and, therefore, far less loss of
innocent lives.
But the disturbing modern trend - principally American
- is to be so obsessed with the political downfall of one's own
casualties, wars are fought by machines lobbing lethal weapons
indiscriminately at vaguely defined targets. The first Iraq War,
Afghanistan, some of the African horror stories and the Balkan wars rank
among the most ignominious chapters of history. The wanton devastation
wrecked upon civilian populations, all in the interests of getting
western pilots and mechanized warfare specialists back to a hot meal and
a warm bed each night, was shameful in the extreme.
A separate issue - but part of the same cowardly
syndrome of launching bombs and running for cover - is the propensity to
kill each other and your allies.
The aftermath of the latest Iraq war may not be kind
to either President Bush or Prime Minister Blair.
- 30 -
