Crusade in Iraq

In the beginning we were told by Mr Bush and his supporters, that the war in Iraq was necessary in order to:

(1) Get rid of that nation’s weapons of mass destruction.
(2) To get rid of Iraq’s thoroughly unpleasant thug ruler, Saddam Hussein.


It was also hammered into our collective heads at the time, that war against Iraq was also necessary to stop terrorism.

That was over a year ago.

Nine hundred or so combat deaths later, no WMD have been found, although for what its worth, Saddam Hussein is now in US custody. An interim government (created by the US) now pretends to run the country, but seems powerless to deal with what appears to be a Shiite religious rebellion. As to terrorism, there is far more terrorism in the Middle East now;--shootings, bombings, assassinations and various other acts of murder and mayhem, than ever there was prior to the Iraq war.

The interim Iraq government is constructed of paper; real power resides in the US and UK military forces and the various Islamic terrorist factions.

And things are getting worse, if that’s possible.

It now looks like the US is taking sides in what amounts to a civil war between the so-called “legitimate” government of Iraq and an Islamic cleric by the name of Muqtada al-Sadr. This man appears to be the spiritual leader of the Shiite sect of Islam in Iraq. He is not a believer in democracy, any more than Saddam Hussein is. Al-Sadr’s power flows out of his religious standing and his armed followers. Right now, according to CNN, his forces are holed up in and around the city of Najaf's Imam Ali Mosque. US forces surround this mosque and are preparing to flush him and his followers out. If successful, this operation will result in a lot of deaths (mostly Iraqi, mostly Shiite) which will do little but create martyrs and more terrorists in the bargain. Which will then lead to even more destabilization.

And there it goes, ad infinitum, no end in sight. Quagmire City.

For the Iraq occupation is not only perceived as US intervention in a local civil war, it is US intervention in a war of religion. How can the US win a war against an Islamic religious sect? The answer is, it can’t.

To many Moslems in the region, the US and UK are turning into modern-day crusaders, interested in forcing western democracy and democratic values and a people and culture who don’t want them.

What to do?

Well, it’s time to seriously reconsider our presence in Iraq and what exactly we are doing there. If one of the objectives of the Iraq War was to reduce the threat of terrorism, the US making war against the Shiite sect of Islam, is surely not the best way to do it.

In fact, its time to seriously think about withdrawal.

Punditwalla