Who thought that the war is about the Iraqi people?”America must always come first” [Archives:2003/630/Opinion]

By Amin Al-Da'iri
On Thursday, March 20, 2003, the US started its aggressive war along with its allies on Iraq in an attempt to overthrow the current regime, led by Saddam Hussein. This war was waged despite the fact that it did not gain the approval of the international community through the Security Council of the United Nations.
American and British administrations and army chiefs justified their military actions as an attempt to liberate the Iraqi people.
What I am very surprised at is the dangerous turn in the war, which is displayed in the outrageous slaughtering of innocent Iraqi civilians and the destruction of infrastructure facilities, which the Iraqis have devoted themselves for too many years to build.
I cannot refrain from thinking of the huge distance crossed by American and British troops to the gulf region for the war, the difficulties they had during their journey, and the high expenses the American and British people will pay to finance this war.
I want to ask: is all this trouble just for the sake of Iraqi people and their interests?
Logically, it is difficult to believe that this is the case, simply because the US in particular has never done something for the sake of others, it is its self-interest that was at the top of the agenda.
The reiterated claims the US administration has been repeating over and over again about the 'noble' goal and legitimacy of this war, have cast doubt on the whole issue, and resulted in the disbelief of many nations that think that the US is deceiving the world.
With its short-sighted policy, the US leadership -not nation- is damaging the USA's reputation as a country of peace and justice. The Bush administration has proven again that a few materialistic interests of the USA are far greater than defending the ideals the US nation has been known for throughout history. After all, wasn't G. Bush Sr. who once said, “America must always come first”?
However, the war will eventually neither benefit the Americans, nor will it liberate the Iraqis, but will only damage international relations and weaken international justice, and I can prove that by presenting the following two points:
1- What the US and its allies are doing is an obvious interference into another nation's internal affairs, which can't be accepted by any country around the globe.
2- Lunching this war without resorting to the United Nations is in clear breach of the UN's charter, regulations and resolutions. This will result in less respect for international regulations by other UN members, especially powerful ones. In brief, it will result in massive chaos around the world.
I wonder why the US and the UK insist on going on with this illegitimate war. Do they seriously believe what their intelligence sources suggesting about the expectations that Iraqi people would rebel against their leaders and welcome coalition forces with flowers? Isn't this closer to an illusion that they lived in and tried to make their own peoples believe so as to justify their aggression?
The US hasn't carried out a referendum concerning the Iraqi people's opinion on Saddam and those Iraqi citizens never asked the US for help to topple the regime in the first place.
Therefore, the US and Britain are trying their best to convince world nations that they are committed to liberate the Iraqi people. But how can they convince the world if Iraqis themselves are not convinced? On the other hand, this war will certainly leave negative effects on US and UK relations with Arab and Islamic nations.
I want everyone in the US and the UK to realize that even if the war ends with an invasion of Iraq, there will always be unforgettable memories of the aggressive nature of this war -and every war- resembled in the innocent victims and destruction caused to the Iraqi.
The USA and its allies have not come for the sake of Iraqi people but for their own interests, and that can be illustrated in the following.
First of all, why did this UN impose economic embargo on Iraq? The truth is that the US has always wanted to be the most powerful country in the world and become the only superpower. But when a developed country starts meeting its needs economically and militarily, the US government feels bad about it because this developed country will maintain a steady line of progress and one day become as strong as the USA itself. Well. It may surprise you to know that Iraq was that particular country.
You may realize that this doesn't coincide with the fact that Iraq is the only Arab country to be able to produce military weapons and have a strong military arsenal. The USA wanted to destroy this emerging regional power and make it look like a model to other countries that may one day dare to do the same.
The Iraqi regime has rightly decided to produce its own weaponry after the many wars it went through in its history. After all, importing such weapons in case of continuous wars is an extremely wrong tactic as shortage of such imported military weapons due to some internal or external circumstances and some other related problems could have catastrophic consequences.
Iraq's oil wealth was the main factor behind its ability to establish its mighty military arsenal, and hence, Iraq's oil is a source of threat to the USA as well.
What I mentioned above is also the main reason behind the eruption of the various wars between Iraq and its neighbors. It is undeniable that those wars were incited or encouraged by the USA in a way or another.
The US succeeded in reaching its goal and went further to persuade the UN to send inspection teams to ensure that Iraq destroys all its military arsenal and continue monitoring Iraq's activity in this regard to prevent it from rebuilding it. Moreover, the Iraqi sources of military power couldn't be specified exactly, giving grave importance to the continuous monitoring of inspectors on Iraqi soil.
However, that wasn't enough to satisfy the USA, which feared that Iraq may have already started rebuilding its military arsenal. Hence, the world's super power exerted great pressure on the UN to start the oil for food program in order to have oil revenues barely meet the food needs of the Iraqi people, leaving little surplus for other expenditures including those involving military purposes. This happened in front of the world, despite the fact that it violates the sovereignty of the country and damages its citizens' well being by depriving them from basic imported goods needed under the pretext that they are not part of the food for oil program.
This is and has been the US policy to impose its will on other countries, and it is also evident in how the government dealt with Sudan when it started producing its own military equipment. The only deference between the Iraqi and Sudanese cases is that the former was exposed to external wars but the latter wasn't.
It's worth mentioning that there are two important pillars for a properly established country. Those pillars are a flourishing economy and a mighty military.
These two pillars have been there in the two countries mentioned above before the USA reacted by bombing, embargoing, and waging war against. Hence, it seems that the US believes that it has the right to apply 'preemptive measures' including this war.
I think it's enough for readers to know that the US doesn't care about the interest of others but rather only thinks selfishly of its own interests. Let people not be fooled by the motto of “Iraqi freedom from Saddam Hussein's regime”.
The truth is that the USA's war is merely for its own survival.
And I am sure that time will prove this fact to all who may still be in doubt.
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[archive-e:630-v:13-y:2003-d:2003-04-07-p:opinion]