The Road AheadThe price of war [Archives:2003/628/Business & Economy]

Raidan Al-Saqqaf

Through the years, war brings nothing but misery and suffering, and now misery and suffering for the Iraqi people. Every body knows the consequences of war and many oppose it, yet there are those whom war is in their interest.
The Iraqi people might forget after sometime who won or lost in this war, but be sure they will not forget what they have been through, when a kid runs scared to his mother's arms and asks her; why is my dad never returning to us, why did we leave our home? Why did the Americans destroy our home?
What will the mother answer? What would you tell your children if you were in a similar situation? George Bush is no better than Saddam Hussein except that he succeeded in scaring the kid much more than Saddam would ever do, through hundreds and thousands of missiles directed to that kids' neighborhood, and millions of other kids like him.
What have the Iraqi people done to deserve all this? I am sure there have been a way for disarming Iraq or changing the leadership through peaceful means, for example brining out a new UN resolution that enforces Iraq to make elections for a new president excluding Saddam Hussein. That could have solved the problem. But no, Bush didn't try hard enough to find them. This demonstrates the fact that Bush isn't a man of peace, even though he tries to act like one.
There is no justification for this war; Saddam isn't that big a threat to the US or to his neighbors, the weapons inspection process was succeeding in disarming Iraq, except that Bush didn't allow them to complete their job till they declare Iraq a nation free of weapons of mass destruction, neither did he allow the United Nations to take suitable measures in case it was proven how Iraq can endanger world peace.
Or maybe it is purely a matter of interest. American interests in Iraq are far beyond oil and have been planned for over a decade, although it might seem that the Iraqis will pay the price of this war with oil. Also American companies will have more business in restructuring and reforming Iraq's infrastructure which is being destroyed by the American missiles at this very minute. Time will slowly show these other interests.
What you see today through different media about the dramatic scenes in Iraq is nothing comparing to what is actually happening there, people being attacked in their homeland, disparately facing their destiny to be killed or made to surrender, then treated as slaves in their homeland. Is this the new slavery of the 21st century? Now where is the liberation of human rights?
Isn't this the price of war? Hundreds of dead, thousands of casualties, and hundreds of thousands of innocent people who are arrested and treated like slaves. Children whose families are being killed, homes being destroyed, and above all, a growing hate for the invaders.
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