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Policies and Politics Iraq Three years on
February 21, 06
One month shy of three years into the Iraq war is a good time
to take stock of the situation. Is the world better off today
after U.S. and British forces invaded Iraq on March 19, 2003?
Is Iraq better off? Are the United States any safer? Are its
allies in Europe and elsewhere more secure? Hardly. The toll
in human lives is a heavy one: more than 100,000 Iraqis killed
according to a 2004 study by Lancet, the British medical journal.
Other sources place the toll higher, at 250,000. However,
more conservative estimates are provided by Iraqbodycount.org,
an independent London-based non-profit volunteer organization.
They offer two sets of numbers: a high of 32,041 and a low of
28,427. Either way, it's a lot of bodies.
And the Pentagon's tally of killed U.S. military personnel,
as of Feb. 17, stands at 2,275 and 16,742 wounded. That's an
average of 2.07 Americans killed and 15 wounded every day since
the start of the war three years ago. What can we say has been
accomplished in return?
Very little.
On the positive side, Saddam Hussein has been overthrown
and his despotic regime neutralized. His two sons, Uday and Qusay,
who showed potential for even greater ruthlessness than their
father, were eliminated. Saddam was captured and is standing
trial for a fraction of his crimes, although he is making a mockery
of the court proceedings.
Democracy came knocking at Iraq's door which was edged ajar,
but risks of civil war persist. But then so did terrorism come
knocking, except it kicked the door wide open.
Judge what Daniel Jordan, an instructor at Ventura College,
and Neil Wollman, a senior fellow at the Peace Studies Institute
and a professor of psychology at Manchester College, Indiana,
have to say in an article titled "Pandora's Box Opened in
Iraq: Looking Backward, Forward, And Beyond." They give
a good summary of what has gone wrong in Iraq during the last
three years.
Poverty, they say, has risen by 20 percent. They cite a United
Nations report indicating that childhood malnutrition has doubled.
They quote a Minority Rights Group International report citing
"Iraq as the country where minority rights are most under
threat."
Frequent conversations with members of the Assyrian Christian
community in Iraq confirm that minorities, such as the Assyrians
and Turkmen, are being harassed and discriminated against.
As in all countries where violence persists, the brain drain
of professionals emigrating in large numbers impacts the future
of the nation. Kidnappings have become common currency -- where
anyone with money is liable to be detained and exchanged for
money. And that does not only apply to foreigners. Iraqis, too,
are being kidnapped. Typically, this is a clear indication of
rising unemployment, poverty and desperation in a country. Particularly
in a country where large numbers of former soldiers have been
demobilized.
"Iraq," say Jordan and Wollman, "is a deadly
mess."
And this mess is affecting the rest of the world. According
to the International Institute for Strategic Studies (London),
the U.S. invasion of Iraq has benefited al-Qaida. Large numbers
of recruits have joined up to fight the U.S. military presence
in Iraq. "Iraq is now a breeding ground for terrorism,"
say Jordan and Wollman.
"The U.S. sponsored National Memorial Institute for
the Prevention of Terrorism counted 3,991 global terrorist attacks
in 2005, up 51 percent from 2,639 in 2004," states the report,
which goes on to say: "Ironically, a war intended to produce
freedom has, according to Amnesty International, lead to an increase
in worldwide human rights violations. Tyrants can legitimately
argue that since the United States waged pre-emptive war, so
can they."
Never has American foreign policy suffered as much as it
does now. "Our reputation is at an all time low," states
the paper. And rarely has hatred in the Arab/Islamic world been
so vehemently directed at the United States.
Additionally, a number of scandals have tarnished the image
of the United States. Images of prisoners tortured and abused
at the infamous Abu Ghraib jail near Baghdad were so horrid and
shocking that anyone who has seen them will forever remember
them. And from the Guantanamo detention camps, from where no
images were released, but stories of equal, if not greater nightmares,
are beginning to emerge.
Anyone who dares to question authority is immediately labeled
a terrorist, say Jordan and Wollman. As for the cost of the Iraq
expedition, the two researchers place it around $2 trillion.
To make it easier to understand what that translates to for the
average taxpayer, it's about $6,800 dollars for every U.S. citizen.
Faced with an increase in global and local terrorism, high
body counts and spiralling war costs can we, three years on,
say that the Iraq War was worth it?
Source: United Press International
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