Vaya aquí para
la versión española
Ten Lessons of the Iraq War
by David Krieger*, May 7, 2003
There are always lessons to be learned after a
war. Often governments and pundits focus only on lessons having
to do with military strategies and tactics, such as troop deployments,
engagement in battles, bombing targets and the effectiveness of
different weapons systems. There are, of course, far bigger lessons
to be learned, and here are some of the principal ones from the
Iraq War.
1. In the eyes of the Bush administration, the
relevance of international organizations such as the United Nations
depends primarily upon their willingness to rubberstamp US policy,
legal or illegal, moral or immoral.
2. The Bush Doctrine of Preemptive War may be employed
against threats that have no basis in fact.
3. The American people appear to take little notice
of the “bait and switch” tactic of initiating a war
to prevent use of weapons of mass destruction and then celebrating
regime change when no such weapons are found.
4. A country that spends $400 billion a year on
its military, providing them with the latest in high-tech weaponry,
can achieve clear military victory over a country that spends
1/400th of that amount and possesses virtually no high-tech weaponry.
5. Embedding journalists with troops leads to reporters
providing only perspectives sanctioned by the military in their
reports to the public. It is analogous to the imprinting of ducklings.
6. The American people can be easily manipulated,
with the help of both embedded and non-embedded media, to support
an illegal war.
7. An imperial presidency does not require Congress
to exercise its Constitutional authority to declare war; it requires
only a compliant Congress to provide increasingly large sums of
money for foreign wars.
8. It is far easier to destroy a dictatorial regime
by military might than it is to rebuild a country as a functioning
democracy.
9. If other countries wish to avoid the fate of
Saddam Hussein and Iraq, they better develop strong arsenals of
weapons of mass destruction for protection against potential US
aggression.
10. In all wars it is the innocent who suffer most.
Thus, Saddam Hussein remains unaccounted for and George Bush stages
a jet flight to the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, while
Ali Ismaeel Abbas lies in a hospital bed without his parents and
brother, who were killed in a US attack, and without his arms.
The most important lessons of the Iraq War may
be as yet unrevealed, but there is a sense that American unilateralism
is likely to continue to alienate important allies, while the
triumphalism of the Bush administration is likely to taunt terrorists,
making them more numerous and tenacious in their commitment to
violent retaliation.
*David Krieger is president
of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation (www.wagingpeace.org).
Readers Comments
If you'd like to send us your comments please e-mail
us at: letters@napf.org
(Please include the name of the article in the subject line)
I must however caution you on any suggestion that
Iraq didn't have WMD. I'm 100% confident they will eventually
be found....even if they have to be planted by US special opps.
Personally, from all I've read and followed prior to 9-11 and
Iraq war I have no doubt that Saddam was developing biological
weapons throughout the 90's. When you suggest Iraq didn't or doesn't
have them you risk losing credibility. You got too many other
important and accurate points to make. I'd hate to think others
will discredit you or your ideas because of one factual error.
Chuck, Washingotn DC
Author's Reply: I appreciate your comments and
concern. The administration did seem fairly certain before the
war that they could identify where the weapons were, which has
proven to be bogus. If the US were to plant weapons of mass destruction
in Iraq I don't think that should be discrediting. Best regards.
David
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I think there will be an 11th lesson: that in
an era of weapons of mass destruction in the hands of non-governmental
militias like al Qaeda and many others, there is no deterence
nor is there any defense against them without addressing them
respectfully to negotiate a cease-fire, like the UK did with the
IRA. To learn this lesson, I fear the U.S. public will require
losses orders of magnitude larger than 9-11 . . . likely what
Japan or Germany had to endure during WWII . . . unless there
is another way for the public to learn that we just increased,
in the attack on Iraq, the likelihood of nuclear/radiological
attacks against U.S. cities. Any ideas? (I'm looking but don't
know any.)
Kelly, USA
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I found your Ten Lessons of the War quite apt.
However, I think item #4 is a bit ambiguous. The experience of
the Vietnam war suggests that while it is true, as you write,
that "a country that spends $400 billion a year on its military,
providing them with the latest in high-tech weaponry, CAN achieve
clear military victory over a country that spends 1/400th of that
amount and possesses virtually no high-tech weaponry," victory
is not necessarily a foregone conclusion!
Walter, USA
Author's Reply: You are right. I wonder, though,
whether the high-tech weaponry of today along with strategies
of "decapitation" might not have changed the conditions
of the Vietnam War. I'm not sure. I was surprised, though, by
how quickly the Iraqis capitulated.
|
