Since the year-end and New Year are times for reflection, it is perhaps a good time to look back to see where we have been and where we are going. Twenty-twenty hindsight usually provides clarity, but back in late 2002 when George W. was beating war drums for an invasion of Iraq, 20 per cent of Americans (and 20 per cent of Canadians) said that it would be foolish - the other 80 per cent were anxious to begin the slaughter.
Now that America's last soldier has left Iraq, it is perhaps time for the 20 per cent who urged caution and was against the war to say - not gloat - "We told you so." In retrospect, just what has been accomplished by this massacre of humanity, and just who has paid the price in misery, grief, and precious dollars which could have been used for "good" in both nations rather than the destruction of Iraq.
When George W stood before his nation and prevaricated about: a) weapons of mass destruction which threatened them, b) mobile labs producing biological weapons, c) Scud missiles poised to deliver death to neighbouring nations within 45 minutes, and d) Saddam Hussein being a cohort of Osama bin Laden and close ally of Al Qaeda responsible for 9/11, even members of his Executive and close military advisors knew that this was poppycock, yet over 220 million Americans believed his every word.
The Iraq war death toll in American newspapers always report 4,500 deaths, but scarcely make mention of the 100,000 (perhaps closer to 150,000) of Iraqi men, women and children who lost their lives, another 1,000,000 who are now disabled and 1,000,000 who lost their homes and businesses and were displaced.
Iraq's infrastructure has been destroyed, and the democratic government the occupiers recently installed is now in tatters.
Only a week after the Americans left, the Malaki government which was to share power with Sunnis, Kurds and other factions, is making an effort to consolidate power by freezing out Sunnis and former Baath Party members. His issuance of an arrest warrant for his Sunni-Arab vice-president, Mr. Hashimi, is not providing the stability Iraq needs at this crucial time. Such divisions will lead to protests and even more violence from those who wish to seek more autonomy for their specific region.
For the trillion American dollars spent, and all the deaths of Iraqis and Americans, America has achieved almost nothing and has now placed Iraq in a precarious position with an uncertain future.
America's belief that removing a dictator will cure any country's ills and will instantly change it into a peace-loving, democratic nation is just not realistic, and demonstrates that American policy-makers appear to live in their own simplistic world without regard for others.
Nations such as Iraq, borne of deep history and culture thousands of years old, cannot forget its past overnight and begin all over again as though nothing has happened. Moderate change will take generations and complete change may take many centuries.
Today the USA and NATO countries pride themselves in seeking out murderous dictators and bringing them to justice. Hussein and Gadhafi are gone, and perhaps Syria's Assad will be next, but what about Western leaders who instigate war based on outright prevarications and then live out their lives with impunity?
Where is the justice in all of this? And what exactly does this say about Western ideology and our sense of double-standard justice? Only time will tell, but I am certain that history will not judge us kindly.
Dave Harrison, BA, B.Ed, PBCE - author, writer, retired teacher, political observer and analyst who has lived in PG for the last 30 years.
