Safe and Stable Iraq Prevented by US Interference 

U.S. accusations of Iraq engineering 9/11 and producing WMD causes U.N. members to choose sides according to U.S. credibility. U.S. relations with Iraq, a rogue state under Saddam Hussein, triggers the Iraq War. The formulation of a stable, safe Iraq is prevented by U.S. interference in Iraq’s political and economic arenas with unrealistic goals, poor planning, mismanagement of the U.S-led Iraqi occupation/reconstruction and by misinterpretation of friction of factions within modern Iraq.

U.S. interference in Iraq’s political arena starts in 1979 “when the Reagan administration [is] eager to use Saddam as a surrogate against Iran.” After the fall of the Shah, Iran turns hostile. Although American officials secretly think Saddam is a psychopathic dictator, the U.S. gives support to Saddam to fight Iran so America won’t have to. “The United States provides Saddam with satellite photos, tanks, “dual-use” (commercial-military) equipment such as database software, helicopters, and video surveillance equipment and ships chemical analysis equipment and ‘bacteria/fungi/protozoa,’ used to make anthrax.

” This use of bio-chemicals proves counterproductive for the U.S. The result: the Iraq regime plots to develop anthrax, nerve gas and uses poison gas to murder thousands of its own citizens.

U.S. interference in Iraq’s economic arena begins in July 1990 when Saddam marches troops to the Kuwaiti border to gain Kuwait’s oil fields. At first, the United States won’t get involved. But on August 8,1990, Bush sends U.S. troops to defend Kuwait, saying: “America does not seek conflict, but America will stand by her friends.

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” Americans question whether the U.S. is really defending a friend or is staking out Kuwait’s oil production. Unfortunately, the retreating Iraqi troops deliberately set Kuwaiti oil fields on fire, one one of the worst forms of environmental destruction imaginable.

On September 11, 2001, the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon U.S. brings U.S. focus on nations harboring terrorists, specifically Afghanistan and Iraq. Secretary of State, Colin Powell tries to convince the UN that Iraq is responsible for 9/11. Germany and France remain unconvinced. France, Russia and China say they will veto any UN resolution authorizing invasion. The UK, Australia, Spain, Kuwait, Bulgaria and Poland support the U.S. position. In 2004, U.S.credibility sinks further as the 9/11 Commission says there is “no credible evidence that Iraq and al-Qaeda cooperated on attacks against the U.S.” Colin Powell’s “evidence” of WMD is unsubstantiated. Worldwide mistrust of U.S. intelligence deepens.

The Iraq War overthrows Saddam Hussein. Baghdad falls. The occupation and reconstruction of Iraq begins in 2003, but the way the U.S. wants. Uprisings against U.S. occupation: car bombings, suicide bombings and assassinations escalate. The U.S.-led occupation is criticized further as photos of Iraqi prisoner abuse and torture by U.S. forces at Abu Ghraib are published. Americans are horrified.

Much of what goes wrong is avoidable. The Bush administration has no contingency plan for postwar chaos. The (Sunni) Baath Party is ousted from Baghdad and Shiite officials replace the Sunnis without analysis of Shiite governing potential. In the Election of Iraqi Transitional National Assembly, the Shia United Iraqi Alliance wins a majority of seats, Kurdish parties come in second with Sunnis boycotting. This group starts drafting the Iraqi constitution without Sunni input, a huge strategic mistake with consequences.

The Iraqi constitution, written for a rogue state existing under one of the harshest dictatorships in the world, creates a “federal democratic republic consistent with Islamic principles, to establish justice and equality with rights for women, the elderly and children, and regional autonomy for the Kurds and the other groups.” Judging from Arabic culture, including the suppression of women and children and the domination of Arabic men in all ways of life, the wording of the Iraqi Constitution sounds like a simplified U.S.

Constitution

The Iraqi Constitution illustrates little understanding of Iraqi state of affairs, especially regarding political issues among the Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds. Surely the writers were not Arab. Unbelievably, the U.S. seriously expects Iraqis to suddenly embrace the concepts and enforce the laws of equality for all: freedom of religion, assembly, the press, and of speech. This goal is so unrealistic that the U.S. has done much more harm than good in expecting it to be achieved. In addition to creating an Iraqi constitution that will never be followed, the U.S. continues on its path of mismanagement and poor planning for Iraq’s occupation and reconstruction.

The Bush administration gives no thought to the prevention of increased damages to Iraqi economy or infrastructure. “Two months following the US takeover, unchecked looting effectively [guts] every important public institution in the city. The National Library is looted and burned, destroying every book published in Iraq, all newspapers from the last century, as well as, rare manuscripts.

The destruction of the library [means] the loss of a historical record going back to Ottoman times.” More than 10,000 objects are stolen or destroyed from the Iraqi National Museum. On April 16, 2003, looters attack the Iraqi equivalent of the U.S. Center for Disease Control, stealing live HIV and live black fever. The U.S. military fails to secure Iraqi government offices, hospitals, laboratories, and intelligence sites. Incompetence of the U.S. administration and military has caused political and economic paralysis of Iraq, not including the conflict among various factions.

Friction among these three factions prevents a strong n Iraqi strong central government from forming. The Kurds want independence, autonomy without Turkey’s involvement. Iran, Turkey and Syria, have substantial Kurdish populations and fear the precedent set if Iraqi Kurdistan becomes independent. Shiites want to impose their version of an Islamic state with Shiite law being the majority at 60% of the population. “Sunni Arabs have always been principal Iraqi nationalists. The Sunni Arabs have been accustomed to seeing the Iraqi state as part of a larger Arab nation.” Sunnis continue fighting for their former positions of power through Al-Qaeda. The central administration in Iraq has been severely weakened and must cope with armed militias from these three groups chipping away at its strength and authority.

In conclusion, U.S. interference in Iraq’s political and economic arenas with unrealistic goals, poor planning, mismanagement of the U.S-led Iraqi occupation/reconstruction and by U.S. misinterpretation of the friction among factions has prevented a safe, secure Iraq. The toppling of Saddam’s political infrastructure, and the U.S. attempt to build a democratic regime with a strong central government, has changed Iraq’s political arena negatively. The Iraq War, the burning of oil fields and the looting of Baghdad leaves Iraq economically crippled. U.S. interference and the resulting catastrophes need to be examined in order for the U.S. to know what NOT to do in the future. U.S. government credibility for the American people and our allies has suffered by the Bush administration’s actions in Iraq. Americans are embarrassed for our country. The Bush administration’s strategies in Iraq have failed because the strategies are all based on an idea of an Iraq that does not exist.

References

1. Frontline, PBS. The Long Road to War: 1995-2002. WBGH Educational Foundation, 2005. www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/longroad/etc/cron.html
2. Galbraith, Peter W. How to Get out of Iraq. Vol.51, Number 8, New York Review of Books, June 13, 2004
3. Kam, Ephriam. To Iraq and Back: The Withdrawal of U.S. Forces. Strategic Assessment, Vol 14, Number 4, Institute of National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University, January 2012.
4. Metz, Helen Chapin. Iraq; A Country Study. Library of Congress, 2011.
5. World Intellectual Property Organization. The Constitution of Iraq, 2005,
   www.wipo.int/wipolex/en/details.jsp?id=10027.