The War In Iraq

It's almost seven years since the American-led forces went to Iraq to free the Iraqi people from the Saddam Hussein dictatorship. The reason given for the invasion of Iraq was that Saddam Hussein had Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD). Such weapons were not found and the UN weapons inspectors had already indicated that there were no such weapons in Iraq. Despite that it suited Mr. Bush to invade Iraq in an ill-advised attempt, so cynics say, to control the oil fields in that country. Seven years later and the oil fields are still not producing anywhere near the amount of oil that could reasonably have been expected when the invasion took place.

Around 80,000 US troops are still in Iraq, and it would seem that their presence has merely served to up the ante of the terrorists' attacks in other countries. Afghanistan has become another war zone with NATO troops again led by the US attempting to stabilize a country which has a history of invasion and the defeat of the invaders. A look at the history of that country should have warned the foreign troops that any attempt to bring order in the tribal regions was doomed to failure. In Iraq, despite the fall of Saddam's regime, terrorists are fighting a battle for control of what is, after all their country. We should remember that one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter.

The war in Iraq cannot be separated from what is happening in Afghanistan, as it is perhaps a result of the invasion of Iraq. The foreign forces have become targets for militants who may or may not belong to Al-Qaeda. Osama bin Laden's organization has long arms and can seemingly strike at will, despite the world's intelligence agencies working together and sharing more information than they have ever done in the past. Only, it would seem in this way, has the world situation improved after the beginning of the war in Iraq.

The US has over-stretched itself in terms of the number of troops it has fighting on foreign soil. The cost in terms of human lives has been far greater than anticipated. The then US president George W. Bush had certainly not thought that the war in Iraq would go on this long when he ordered troops into that country. He had probably thought that the struggle for Iraq would soon be over in much the same way as the Gulf War that his father had engaged in. Unfortunately the world had moved on and Iraq became the focus of a power struggle which had clearly not been foreseen. The infrastructure of the country suffered greatly and rewards were not reaped as anticipated. The war in Iraq and the subsequent struggle in Afghanistan probably cost the Republicans the last presidential election.

Now the American public wants their troops to return home as they see little point in spending cash on keeping their forces in foreign countries as the benefits of doing so are not clear to them. Another 9/11 would be regrettable to say the east, but the increasing American presence in the Middle East and Afghanistan may make another similar strike on US and European soil inevitable.