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A greater threat to global peace now exists in the Middle East |
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What will become of Iraq? |
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By Thomas Terrio |
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With the recent national address by President Barack Obama, the US has officially pulled out of Iraq. As Obama explained, the war was originally started by the former Bush administration to remove a ruthless dictator, but ended in a costly war against an insurgency. A costly war indeed, with the end total estimated at $3 trillion US. As I mentioned in earlier opinion pieces, the war in Iraq will be seen as one of loss, with many Iraqis and Americans dead and thousands more both physically or mentally crippled for life. In his book “Plan of Attack,” Bob Woodward outlines a secret US document titled, “Iraq: Goals, Objectives and Strategy.” The document sketches out the American plan and focus of the invasion. It says:
“US goal: Free Iraq in order to eliminate Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, their means of delivery and associated programs, to prevent Iraq from breaking out of containment and becoming a more dangerous threat to the region and beyond. End Iraqi threats to its neighbors, to stop the Iraqi government’s tyrannizing of its own population, to cut Iraqi links to and sponsorship of international terrorism, to maintain Iraq’s unity and territorial integrity. And liberate the Iraqi people from tyranny and assist them in creating a society based on moderation, pluralism and democracy” (154-155).
Using this top-secret document as a guideline, has America and its allies accomplished what they set out to do in the invasion of Iraq? In my view, no. Iraq is more fractured now than it ever was. With the US ending combat operations, Iraq is now open to further influence from Iran and Syria, which will only create more cleavages between the Sunni and Shia Muslims. The idea of containment is even less probable. What will become of Iraq? In my opinion, Iraq will end in a bloody civil war with many more dead and become an even greater threat to the stability of the Middle East. After all, it is in the interests of both Iran and Syria to propagate such an event in order to draw Israel into a conflict. Once Israel is involved, the US and its allies will have no other choice but to defend Israeli interests, which will evolve into an even wider regional conflict, once again playing into the hands of the jihadists such as Hamas and Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinajad, who has stated his Imam said “the regime occupying Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time.” The war in Afghanistan is another front waiting to explode in the face of the West. The Taliban is relentless. As long as they have a safe haven in Pakistan, there will be no peace. The withdrawal of Western forces in Afghanistan is long overdue. Canada should have pulled its troops out of Afghanistan the moment the Americans re-focused their efforts on Iraq, rather than finish the job of either capturing or killing Usama bin Laden. The idea of re-building Afghanistan—another failed state like Pakistan, Somalia and now Iraq—has proven historically futile. Indeed, Pakistan is a key factor in defeating Islamic extremism, including the Taliban; unless the West asserts itself in Pakistan, the so-called War on Terror will go on indefinitely with catastrophic results for the greater world. |
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When you're wounded and left on Afghanistan's plains, and the women come out to cut up what remains, jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains and go to your gawd like a soldier. |
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As for the United States' future in Afghanistan, it will be fire and hell and total defeat, God willing, as it was for their predecessors - the Soviets and, before them, the British. |
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Afterthoughts |
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Page design by Thomas Terrio www.viewfromthewest.ca ©2010 All rights reserved |
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View from the West |
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Edition no. 70 September 1, 2010 |
