Everything about the American war in Iraq is not just a failure, but an international human tragedy of immense proportions. 
The man who tried to stop the war, Hans Blix – former chief weapons inspector for The United Nations, was ignored by George Bush, even ridiculed. Blix’s views have not changed. He now says that the war continues to be a gross violation of decent, responsible international behaviour. He adds that it is "a tragedy — for Iraq, for the US, for the UN, for truth and human dignity." During the lead up to the Iraq war, Blix insisted that the US and Britain were exaggerating the threat from Saddam Hussein’s alleged "weapons of mass destruction" — traces of which have never been found. In a recent article, Blix says the war was a "setback in the world’s efforts to develop legal restraints on the use of armed force between states" and added that at the time of the invasion, "Iraq was not a real or imminent threat to anybody."
The war has alienated America from the rest of the world, shredded its once great reputation and violated international law. It has promoted torture and violence and the killing of untold thousands of innocent civilians. It has come close to breaking the U.S. military and has saddled America with a debt, both monetary and moral, that will take generations to pay off.
No matter what spin George Bush tries to put on this misguided war, it has left his country in a moral quagmire, divided his own nation and caused misery and pain to all involved. His trite phrase "Axis of Evil" (coined by the expatriate Canadian, David Frum, incidentally), is a tarnished relic and his occupation of Iraq has deeply eroded both western values and the honour of his own armed forces.
Democracy, diversity, equality and freedom of expression cannot be imposed by armed might. They are values that must be nurtured…learned over decades…even hundreds of years. The U.S. has only to look at its own history to see that.
On this 5th anniversary of the American assault on Iraq, American foreign policy, American morality, the American economy and American pride are – to use a crude phrase, "in the toilet".
The coming world depression is not unrelated to a forlorn war that has ripped apart fiscal prudence in the US. And before we Canadians get too smug in our criticism of America, we need to look much more closely at that other war.
Our ongoing military involvement in Afghanistan will eventually have consequences that will prove to be as serious for the western nations involved, as Iraq has been for the U.S. It will drain our economies, sap our moral strength and undermine our own security by creating ever greater resentment against us.
- An economy dependent, even in part, on the production and use of military equipment cannot last for long.
- Tanks, Humvees, bombs and warplanes are built and then destroyed. The resources used to build them are lost forever.
- The lives of soldiers destroyed by war – both physically and emotionally – are lost forever.
- And the lives of innocent civilians slaughtered in war as "collateral damage" are lost forever; their families never fully recover.
Saddam was a very bad man, but he was not a threat to the west. It was our job to keep a close eye on him, but it was the job of the Iraqi people to remove him.
The Taleban are cruel, ruthless and fanatical, but the Taleban are not a threat to the west and it’s not our job to fight someone else’s civil war. It’s the job of the Afghan people to contain the Taleban.
We can help, but we can’t do the job on their behalf.
“We can help, but we can’t do the job on their behalf.”
You understand that, I understand that, thousands upon thousands of Canadians understand that. What is it going to take for the Canadian government to understand that?
Hello from Scotland.
Jim
The Taleban are cruel, ruthless and fanatical. Your words.
Nothing like our heroic gals and guys in uniform?
Decent humanitarians, one and all?
NO. Inside every uniform, not just Canadian, is a social misfit dedicated to killing people and smashing things.
Find me ONE uniform who can see beyond this Afganistan nonsense. You won’t, because anyone who does would be leading a mutiny if they had a conscience, and ruining a military career in the process.
Good luck with that.
You describe as victims some poor American schmucks being electrocuted in the barrack-showers.
I agree with you, but victims of electrocution, food-poisoning, drug overdoses and suicides are even less our concern in the two evil wars which me-too Canada supports, on which war-profiteers are feasting like hyenas.
How many Iraqi or Afghani lives and families and livelihoods did these “victims” wreck before heading for that relaxing shower, a luxury far beyond the realm of those they persecute?
Like little Ponce Harry “calling in airstrikes” and being made a hero, did he deserve a nice shower?
I’ve seen some of the bbc coverage of this and it would make you vomit.
Good comment L/A. It’s been like that for a long time now. War mongers in all countries feasting like hyenas – I like that one. Pretty sick hey? All those companies now have their home bases in Dubai. Didn’t Eisenhower warn us about this?
A harsh assessment L.A.
Somehow we need to do more to impress on our comfortable politicians that they are leading us down the wrong path.
Harsh depends on what your comfort-levels are, Jim. Yours are different from mine.
And I am more agitated, I am currently exposed to UK television Royal Marine recruitment adverts. Much worse than Canadian.
May I address the current sickening situation of Canada in three parts?
First the war-profiteers, the faceless scum Bush described as his base of “haves and have mores”, Canadian, American and global.
I will not waste a further keystroke on them since I presume we march under the same banner.
Next, the dumb Canadian civilians who think we should be proud to be in Afghanistan without a shred of knowledge of history, those who think it right to blindly support the Bush war on terror, those who line the overpasses on the 401 Highway of Heroes with their Tim Horton cups as the pathetic trickle of bodies trucks in from Trenton.
Last but far from least is the military who can’t believe its luck with this opportunity to strut and flex while both sides of parliament support their antics by publicly expressing their contempt for what Canadians actually want to see.
Think Rick Hillier.
The miltary is lapping up the saccharined reverence of Canadian media as it pitches for more guns, bombs and other nasty toys, our heroes keeping terrorists out of Canada by blowing up mud huts and their civilian occupants in Afganistan.
They are part of the problem.They are not victims as you believe.
We can of course disagree. It’s what your blog is about, no?
The truth is the truth and it is sometimes harsh. L/A calls it like he sees it and I see it the same way, as you know from our rants together Jim. Right from the beginning I have seen through this media sold production of the Bush people to spread their vile, disgusting agenda to the rest of us. Harper, Hillier, and that ilk are supporting a corrupt, opportunist mission to further the goals of American foreign policy which I do not support one bit. I’m sure Karzai, Mallaki (sp) are being rewarded by many different factions for their jobs in those countries, at the expense, as always of the citizens there. I agree 100 % with your assessment of the situation L/A. I am really interested in what you feel about this cluster bomb building, weapons giant trying to buy our radarstat 2 operation? How stupid are our Leaders anyway? Does it not sound like an invitation to develop their missile defense system without approval??? When did America keep promises when their self serving agenda was at stake. Just ask Osama about that, and why didn’t America do some rebuilding and democracy spreading when the Russian’s were beaten back?????
I agree with you both. The evidence may be more striking in the case of Major Hess-von Kreudener’s death than it is in either Afghanistan or Iraq.
Our adbdication of the Canadian tradition of peacekeeping and peacemaking is sad indeed. What’s sadder, however is the media’s puerile excitement over being part of an actual “shooting war”.
During the time of Disraeli, Lord Salisbury offered this advice: “No lesson seems to be so deeply inculcated by the experience of life as that you should never trust the experts. If you believe the doctors, nothing is wholesome; if you believe the theologians, nothing is innocent; if you believe the soldiers, nothing is safe. They all require to have their very strong wine well diluted by a very large measure of insipid common sense.”
I would add that if you believe the mainstream media,then you are mad.
As one great and honest journalist – I.F. Stone used to say – all governments lie – and I conclude that by implication, so do those who promote, report and parrot the government liars.
All this leaves the general public in dire need of a dose of truth, which unhappily arrives in their glass only after the disaster is complete.
Thank the Goddess that we’re so smart eh?