An Unnecessary War

Iraq was was a personal experience. I was very involved in current affairs discussion groups in my college. So I followed the build-up to the war and then actual happenings in Iraq closely. I remember when Bush gave his ultimatum to Saddam in a dramatic and rather fake voice I happened to watch it live and happened to be barely 300 miles from his studio. I remember reading articles about possible connections between Iraq and Al-Quida almost year and half prior to the actual start of the war and remember thinking, wtf! I remember reading an NYT news story where the term WMD was first used. I remember the press conferences of Cheney and Rumsfeld and remember thinking that they are one, arrogant pricks and second, ‘liar liar pants on fire’. (Of course, the fire was going to drop on Iraq) I remember the photo of Powell dramatically holding a test tube in UN Assembly purported to be the proof of Saddam acquiring chemical weapons.  That photo will probably be engraved on his tombstone.

The ‘test tube’, which nobody in UN bothered to actually, you know, test, was considered then as the only credible piece of evidence against Saddam. Powell, a four star Army General, had such a stellar reputation that if he is convinced of reason to go to war then the consensus was that there must actually be a valid reason for the war. 

The test tube was fake and worthless. The evidence was actually an evidence of not having any evidence. The reasons for the war were always flimsy but conjectures were presented as facts, and predictions from experts were shoved aside as white noise. The war was simply a forgone conclusion by then. The wheels of war machinery were already rolling down the hill when Powell presented the test tube ‘proof’ to the world. So many billions of dollars were already invested. Moreover, so many billions more were planned to be invested in the war that, looking back, there was no way anyone could have stopped that war. It is often said that US goes to a war every 10 to 15 years. The factoid is somewhat true but to actually witness the preparations for the war rampaging through what can technically be termed as democratic institutions is a breathtaking. The chilling reality behind that fact becomes apparent. Terms like ‘Military-Industrial complex’, something that Eisenhower warned about more than 50 years ago, and ‘War Economy’ ceased to be academic. These terms came alive with godly wrath. It is like a storm is stirred by the devil where all we can do is to witness the fury and destruction.

War is just another happening for the folks in US. The news channels go hoarse over it for a month or so and then it became the middle story and finally a back story. What these news channels look for is some sort of interesting controversy in the war. The Haditha killings for example. It is rather morose reality that the society has resigned to war – something that country should resort to as a last option, being a frequently used option. As the Iraq war dragged on, the death toll kept rising along with delusional leadership of the government. The death toll of US troops in Iraq weren’t high compared to some of the prior wars US has fought. The Vietnam war had more than 58000 casualties. The Iraq was on the other hand had little over 5000 over the span of 6 to 7 years. It’s just that lives were unnecessarily lost. The war on terror had couple of other better suited candidates but those countries were considered as friends while Iraq was targeted as terrorist. Of course, Saddam deserved to die. But if we are talking about who is worse, then Saddam kind of takes back-seat.

The WMDs and chemical weapons were never found. The invasion stirred the delicate balance of shia and sunni sects of Iraqi society. The animosity was historic but the war provided the legitimacy to the senseless slaughter these sects resorted to. The elections were held, the Iraqi military was ‘established’ and ‘trained’ but the violence between these sects ebbed and flowed, constantly threatening to very existence of Iraq as a nation. ISIS is only the recent chapter in the flux. It will probably be defeated but the seeds violence will continue to sprout. One would only hope that the violence doesn’t spill over into rest of the world.

By fifth year of war the American society lost interest in the war.  There was historic Obama election to worry about, an financial crises of unprecedented scale to bear. The Iraq war ceased to be even the back story. The impetus for the war never explained and the end no one cared about. The empire that never considers itself as an empire, it its empire like arrogance has created another Afghanistan that rest of the world now has to bear.