'Freedom of Iraq' is grotesque
Photo: The Sun.co.uk
Iraq war has ended' or 'US occupation of Iraq has come to an end' contradicts with history. History confirms that foreign occupation is nothing new to Iraq. Whenever the great players in the international system opted for change in the order of the game in the Middle East, they started with Iraq. The great siege of Baghdad by Mongols in 1258AD with their mission to impose imperial control over the Middle East was not different from the ones Americans did in 1991 and 2003. Only the context and pretext had changed, the motive remained the same. The people of Iraq over the ages have built a psychic shield: they have been used to this reality. Mongols massacred 100,000 to 1,000,000 inhabitants; Americans scored not less: they killed more than 100,000. This time the wounds caused to Mesopotamia is immense. The US played the ethnic and sectarian cards to weaken Iraqi resilience against the occupation forces. Today, Shiite, Sunni and Kurd are their overriding identity. Al-Qaeda is in Iraq, a gift from the Bush administration to the Iraqi people. Where there is al-Qaeda there is America. How can America leave Iraq in the hands of al-Qaeda? It is a taboo though. It cannot leave an Iraq living at the mercy of Iran as well. Shiite-dominated Iraqi government offers Iran an added leverage to maintain its control over its neighbour. An Iraq, free from US occupation, provides a strategic cushion for the nuclear aspirant Iran. The latter would not hope a Saddam like military might. Iran has its own design for Iraq. At present , Iraqi army are psychologically divided along the lines of Shiite, Sunni and Kurd. They are no longer able to provide national resistance against foreign aggression. If the US wants to keep control over Iraq without US troops, who else will do the job for them? While the US military are leaving Iraq, its paramilitary forces remain back to keep control of the country. It is too nasty a job for Americans to leave Middle East. Americans have just privatized the occupation. Around 100,000 private contractors are working for the United States in Iraq, of whom more that 11,000 are armed mercenaries. They are mostly third country nationals, typically from developing counties. In fact, the occupation is outsourced to third countries working for Americans, the advantage of which is that someone other than US soldiers can do the dying to maintain control over Iraq in return for money. Feeding these forces is less costly than feeding the whole army. It is no more possible to continue $1 trillion worth unnecessary war. US embassy in Baghdad, occupying a Vatican City size of area, is there to take care of them. Though Obama declared the withdrawal of troops at the end of 2011, his administration was willing to extend the presence of US forces in Iraq. Negotiation with Iraqi officials had been continued for one year led by U.S. officials, but the Iraqi government rejected American demands of immunity for the remaining US forces. It means that the advocates of rule of law across the world have motive to do whatever necessary for their security. Obama said that the US troops were coming back with victory. His statement is clear contradiction of his election speech which termed, ''Iraq was a strategic mistake''. He as an educated US citizen was right but as a US president is wrong. Iraqis now engaged in fighting within themselves, no more able to keep its eye on the developments in greater Middle East. In order to detonate Iran, US maintain military bases in Iraq and Kuwait. Afghanistan provides the largest US military base with the same view. More military bases have been established across the Middle East. What would happen to Iraq? US officials say their target is to ensure stability and democracy in Iraq. Its declared posture of exporting democracy to Iraq is bound to fail. US pretended to promote stabilisation and democratisation in Iraq, but ramified sectarian divides at the end. Democracy appears poisonous in a milieu of bitter differences. It is politicized and regulated for the interests of outside forces. Immediately after the US army left Iraq, its Shiite-led government issued an arrest warrant against Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, the country's highest ranking Sunni official, on terrorism charges. This is a reminder that the US left behind an Iraq still riven by sectarian division. A new battle field is at place including Kurds, Sunni, and Shiite. It is not clear whether the country is heading towards civil war. But the struggle to regain Iraq's independence has just begun. Who knows America might pay this price. The wounds they did to Iraq keep increasing the number of deaths every day. The vapour of this human disaster will reach America some day. War has a dual character: in the short run it relieves; in the long run it pains. It is the judgment of history.
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