THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume IX, Issue # 97, May 27, 2007
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
IRAQ: MISTAKES WERE MADE
By Alan Caruba
MISTAKES THAT WERE MADE IN THE U.S. MILITARY INVASION & OCCUPATION OF IRAQ & IN THE SUBSEQUENT ENDEAVOR
TO BRING TO THAT COUNTRY THE RULE OF LAW & A STABLE CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRACY: WHAT AMERICA'S
NATIONAL LEADERS FAILED TO FORESEE AS CONSEQUENCES OF THE INVASION & OCCUPATION -- WHAT THEY FAILED TO
COMPREHEND ABOUT IRAQ & THE ISLAMIC MIDDLE EAST -- WHAT THE U.S.A. SHOULD DO ABOUT THE CURRENT CHAOTIC
SITUATION IN IRAQ -- ALAN CARUBA'S ARGUMENT THAT AMERICA SHOULD WITHDRAW ITS MILITARY FORCE FROM IRAQ
& LET THE IRAQIS DEAL WITH THE CHAOS
FULL STORY:
Always after some fiasco that, in hindsight, should have been avoided, someone will say, “Mistakes were made.” I was
among those who thought that President George W. Bush was justified to invade Iraq. The tipping point for me was
Secretary of State Colin Powell’s United Nations speech asserting that Saddam Hussein had vast amounts of weapons of
mass destruction.
I no longer believe that, but I recall some others who did.
“If Saddam rejects peace and we have to use force, our purpose is clear.” That was President Bill Clinton on February 17,
1998.
“We must stop Saddam from ever again jeopardizing the stability and security of his neighbors with weapons of mass
destruction.” That was former Secretary of State, Madeline Albright on February 1, 1998.
“Saddam Hussein has been engaged in the development of weapons of mass destruction technology which is a threat to
countries in the region and he has made a mockery of the weapons inspection process.” That was U.S. Representative
Nancy Pelosi on December 16, 1998.
“We know that he has stored secret supplies of biological and chemical weapons throughout his country.” That was
former Vice President Al Gore on September 22, 2003.
Others who pretty much said the same things include U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton, Senator Ted Kennedy, and the whole
gamut of government figures and others who, before and after 9-11, scared the living daylights out of all of us.
Having enjoyed some success chasing the Taliban and al-Qa'ida out of Afghanistan, mostly using northern tribes and
our unassailable air superiority, it was easy to assume that the invasion and occupation of Saddam Hussein’s Iraq would
be a cakewalk. We had had success against his military in 1991, after he had invaded Kuwait, but then-President George
H.W. Bush had stopped short of removing the tyrant. He did so on the advice of then Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Colin
Powell.
We tried sanctions, only to discover that the United Nations Food-for-Oil program was rife with corruption, harming the
Iraqi people, and doing nothing to rein in Saddam’s continued rape of the nation. He had a lot of help. For some thirty
years, Saddam and the Sunni minority had ruled the Shiites and Kurds with a ruthlessness that defies the imagination.
Surely, if the United States liberated the Iraqis, they would welcome us and set about creating a constitutional democratic
nation with our help and guidance. Wrong. Very wrong. The invasion and subsequent occupation unleashed an orgy of
corruption and violence, equal to anything Saddam and the Baathists had pursued. The indications were there from the
very beginning. The taking of Baghdad was immediately followed by massive looting and the breakdown of all civil law.
I have recently finished reading The Occupation of Iraq: Winning the War, Losing the Peace by Ali A. Allawi.
Every member of Congress should be required to read this book and, of course, everyone in the White House.
Allawi was one of many Iraqis who fled the Saddam regime, taking up residence in London. Highly respected, he was
asked to return and participate in reconstituting a free and sovereign Iraq. As such, he served as the country’s first
postwar civilian Minister of Defense. He was elected to the Transitional National Assembly, and was appointed Minister
of Finance after the elections. He remains an advisor to the Prime Minister of Iraq.
His book details the utter folly, the misplaced optimism, and the endless succession of decisions made as it rapidly became
evident that Iraq was tearing itself apart based entirely on whether one was a Sunni or a Shiite, as well as whether one was
a Kurd in the north or Shia in the south.
The term “insurgents” masks the determined effort of the Sunnis to regain the power that was wrested from them by the
invasion. It includes the foreigners, whether members of al-Qa'ida or Iranians, who see Iraq as a battlefield to defeat the
infidel Americans. It barely describes the chaos and anarchy that has been postwar Iraq and continues today. Allawi says
of the insurgency: “It was to do with some form of existential struggle, where the Sunni Arabs’ entire history and identity
was at stake.”
The epilogue of this 460-page, detailed and documented review of what is widely viewed to be an American blunder
testifies to the failure of the Bush administration to grasp what they did and their desperation to put as good a face on it
as possible. It cost the Republicans control of Congress in 2006, and it will be the central issue of the national elections in
2008.
What the invasion unleashed were, Allawi says, “the divisions within the world of Islam” that became “more pronounced. "
These divisions "are about to move on to an altogether different plane of mutual antipathy and internecine warfare.”
“It was the Bush administration,” says Allawi, “that acted as the unwitting hand-maiden to history and denied, ignored,
belittled, and misunderstood the effects of what it had created.”
And here is why the Middle East will remain in turmoil:
“Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan, the linchpins of the American
security order in the Arab world, cannot accept the principle of a
Shi’a-dominated Iraq, each for its own reasons. These countries
will do their utmost to thwart such a possibility, and, failing that,
will probably try to isolate such an entity from any effective role
in the region.”
I have written that we should begin to withdraw our troops from Iraq, but many warn that chaos will follow such a withdrawal.
No, chaos already exists in Iraq, and only the Iraqis can sort it out. Our small military force cannot, nor should it be asked to
try.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
The Middle East & the Problem of Iraq
Page Two
Page One
The Problem of Rogue States:
Iraq as a Case History
National Strategy for Victory in Iraq
American Foreign Policy -- The Middle East
Alan Caruba is a veteran business and science writer, a Public Relations Counselor, and Founder of the National Anxiety Center, a
clearinghouse for information about media-driven scare campaigns. Caruba writes a weekly commentary, "Warning Signs," posted
on the Internet website of the National Anxiety Center, which is located at
www.anxietycenter.com.
Caruba’s new book, Right Answers: Separating Fact from Fantasy, has been published by Merril Press.
© Alan Caruba 2007
Published with Permission of Alan Caruba
ACaruba@AOL.Com
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THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
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Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
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