…For a brief time, the people welcomed the fall of Saddam and were grateful to the US for getting rid of him. However the appointment of a puppet government under an American Viceroy didn’t sit well with the Iraqis. Protests, at first peaceful, were met by a similar reaction as under Saddam. Life in Iraq subsided into the type of life found in any dictatorship. Those who went about their business were pretty much left alone. Those who protested or stepped out of line, or criticized the government went to places like Abu Gharib, where they were tortured and executed. We became identified as an occupying force and a resistance began to form…
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In Order to determine our course of action in Iraq, we must first analyze the situation as it now stands. To do so, we have to look back at the origin of the war to see what possible errors in tactics and strategy were used at the outset. This might lead to a plan for bringing the war to an end.
In the beginning, Saddam Hussein was put into power by the United States. When Iraq was at war with Iran, our enemy of the moment, we gave him lots of WMD’s to use on the Iranians. He did use a lot in that direction, but also used a good deal of it to slaughter Kurds and Shiites in his own country. This did not bother us at the time as he was fighting a foe for us. (“Granted he is a brutal dictator, but he’s our dictator”)
He was encouraged to invade Kuwait by the answer of an American diplomat, who told him that that was a matter between Iraq and Kuwait and had nothing to do with us. (This was under the regime of Bush I.) A good deal of propaganda was spread in the news about the brutality of the Iraqi soldiers, killing babies in incubators, etc. (much of which was later exposed as lies) so we went to war with Iraq and we steamrollered them. Most of the Iraqi military was destroyed and then we pulled back and told Saddam, “Don’t do it again.
The Shiites were encouraged to revolt, then we stood by and let Saddam slaughter them wholesale. Then we imposed no fly zones, etc., effectively grounding him. His air force was destroyed and virtually anything remotely offensive was destroyed. No Iraqi even dared turn on a tracking or targeting radar without getting a rocket or bomb down his throat.
Sanctions were imposed on Iraq, to keep him from rebuilding his war machine. This resulted in many thousands of children dying or suffering from malnutrition, though Saddam and his close followers never lacked for anything. Life in Iraq subsided into the type of life found in any dictatorship. Those who went about their business were pretty much left alone. Those who protested or stepped out of line, or criticized the government went to places like Abu Gharib, where they were tortured and executed.
Most of the WMD’s given to Saddam by us during the Iran war were expended. Most of the remainder had a fairly short shelf life. Iraq was monitored to see that he didn’t buy the raw materials and equipment necessary to rebuild his stocks. We watched endlessly from our satellites, the UN had inspectors on the ground, The international business and financial cartels watched and analyzed where he spent his money. We tracked any purchases of spare parts for his aging fleet of tanks, etc.
Around the time we were first courting young Saddam, the Russians made the mistake of invading Afghanistan, which has been swallowing up armies since Alexander the Great. In our best cold war manner, we trained and supplied the Muhadjadeen to help run the Russians back out of their country. They received many millions in aid and arms. One of the leaders of the Muhadjadeen was a young man whose family has been very close to the Bush family for years. His name was Osama bin Laden. Osama was a very radical Muslim, who hated Saddam Hussein as a secular ruler. He never had anything to do with him. Not to digress too far, after the war of attrition had driven the Russians out of Afghanistan, for various reasons, Osama and his Muhadjadeen turned their sights on the United States. Our intelligence agencies knew about this, but the new regime of Bush II refused to take their own intelligence services seriously on this subject. The result of this was 9-11.
When Bush II was appointed President by the Supreme Court, one of his first concerns was how to start a war with Iraq. Both the military and the intelligence agencies told him it would be inadvisable to do this. We had no causus belli in the first place; he was no threat to the United States; he was under close scrutiny by the UN; his trading was closely monitored. This was no excuse not to go to war as far as Bush was concerned. The intelligence was ordered cooked to prove Saddam was an imminent danger to us.
The administration had already received information that al-Qaeda intended to attack American targets using stolen aircraft, but the Bush regime brushed that off and ordered all intelligence agencies to concentrate on a way to go to war with Iraq. The destruction of the WTC on 11 September 2001proved to be just what Bush needed. The perpetrators were identified as mostly Saudi Arabian, linked to al-Qaeda. Al-Qaeda was supported by the Taliban government of Afghanistan. Bush made his “Axis of Evil” speech and we began to bomb Afghanistan, killing thousands of Afghans, but not touching Osama bin Laden who simply stepped across the border to Pakistan.
By some strange leap of illogic, Bush now decided that Osama bin Laden, who loathed any Middle Eastern state that was not governed by Islamic law and especially loathed Saddam Hussein, was working hand in glove with him to attack the United States with nuclear missiles! Even though our intelligence could find no link between them, Bush took this as an article of faith and, after getting Congress to approve his going to war if he wanted, launched “Shock and Awe” on Iraq. It took very little to conquer Iraq. Their war machine was a decade old and nearly worn out, they had no air force and resistance was mostly token resistance. Everyone was prepared for Saddam to unleash his weapons of mass destruction, but nothing happened. The reason turned out to be a simple one; there weren’t any!
For a brief time, the people welcomed the fall of Saddam and were grateful to the US for getting rid of him. However the appointment of a puppet government under an American Viceroy didn’t sit well with the Iraqis. Protests, at first peaceful, were met by a similar reaction as under Saddam. Life in Iraq subsided into the type of life found in any dictatorship. Those who went about their business were pretty much left alone. Those who protested or stepped out of line, or criticized the government went to places like Abu Gharib, where they were tortured and executed. We became identified as an occupying force and a resistance began to form.
To the Iraqis, they are freedom fighters, fighting against overwhelming odds to rid their nation of a powerful occupier. To the Bush regime, they are terrorists.
During World War II, most of the occupied countries of Europe developed resistance organizations to fight similar battles. We supplied them with explosives, timers, radios, arms and even sent in OSS experts to help them be more effective. When the Nazis were eventually overthrown, these people were lauded as heros and patriots who put their lives on the line for years, at terrible cost, to keep the lamp of freedom lit.
As far as the Iraqis are concerned, Iraq is in the same situation as Occupied France under the Nazis. They want their country back, under their terms, not ours, and they are fighting with all the resources at their command. I am sure that Osama, delighted that we had done his work for him and had gotten rid of Saddam’s secular state, has sent in his own “OSS” to help the Iraqis get rid of us. The more cities we lay waste to, the more citizens we kill, the harder everyday life becomes for the people, the more “terrorists” he can recruit for his mission. Just like Vietnam, the longer we stay, the more people we kill, the more damage we do, the more people will fight to get rid of us. In the end, unless we destroy Iraq in the same manner as Attilla or Ghengis Kahn did, we will be forced to leave and they will have their country back, to do with it as they wish, not as we wish. And they will have to live with it, not us. The only questions are; how many more young Americans will have to die enforcing this hated occupation on the Iraqi people before we do leave? How long will we play into Osama bin Laden’s hands and provide him with fertile recruiting ground for his growing army of followers? And finally, how long will we allow the Bush regime to make a mockery of the freedom and justice that America stood for for over three centuries?
Written by Stephen M. Osborn, and published at www.populistamerica.com. Stephen is a freelance writer living on Camano Island in the Pacific Northwest. He is an “Atomic Vet.” (Operation Redwing, Bikini Atoll 1956, ) who has been very active working and writing for nuclear disarmament and world peace. He is a retired Fire Battalion Chief, lifelong sailor, writer, poet, philosopher, historian and former newspaper columnist. He welcomes your feedback at theplace@whidbey.net