Is the Iraq Invasion a Bush
Vendetta?
By Paul V. Rafferty
Sometimes, Fiction can give us greater insight into Current
Affairs than a collection of Facts.
Anyone who has read Mario Puzo’s “The Godfather” or seen
Francis Ford Coppola’s excellent film adaptations should find
it easy enough to understand the Iraq Invasion by the United
States and its allies.
“The Godfather” tells the tale of one man’s rise to power in
the world of organised crime and the subsequent passing of the
mantle to his son. Don Corleone, the principle character,
struggled to reach a position of power – and learned from his
experiences when to use violence and also when to refrain from
violence. His son, Michael, was given the hard won ”empire”
and ruthlessly “settled old scores”, immediately upon his
accession to “the throne”, eventually presiding over the
demise of all his father had built.
A morality tale? Perhaps. A window into the U.S.? Probably.
In 1978, a popular uprising brought down the Shah of Iran, a
strong ally of the United States. The Shah had overemphasised
military spending, installed a formidable “secret police”, the
Savak, to keep down dissent and neglected the wishes of many
Iranian people.
Ayatollah Khomeini, a prominent dissident, living in exile, in
France, returned to Iran, in February 1979, took control of
the situation and installed the Islamic Republic of Iran.
On November 4, 1979, militant Iranians seized the U.S. Embassy
and held its staff hostage for over a year.
During the Carter Administration of the U.S., a rescue attempt
failed and during the early days of the Reagan/Bush
Administration, the hostages were released.
In September, 1980, Iraq invaded Iran, with the support of the
United States. Saddam Hussein was the leader of a powerful
secular state and an Islamic Republic on his border was
considered anathema to both Iraq and the U.S. The war lasted
eight years and bled both Iraq and Iran terribly.
Nevertheless, in August 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait and the Gulf
War lasted until the end February 1991. Saddam Hussein said
that Kuwait was using horizontal drilling to capture Iraqi oil
but the invasion of Kuwait was an act of aggression, forbidden
by International Law.
The United States led a United Nations endorsed military force
to restore Kuwaiti sovereignty and Iraq was made to pay all
the costs of the war, plus damages. A special U.N. Agency, the
U.N. Compensation Claims Commission (UNCCC) was established to
oversee payments. Sanctions were imposed and the Oil for Peace
Programme was established to manage Iraq’s oil revenues.
Meanwhile, the U.S. and the U.K. – without U.N. authorisation
– set up a “No Fly Zone” In Iraq and enforced this with
periodic bombings of Iraq.
The sanctions and the bombing
weakening Iraq immeasurably.
continued
through
2003,
Saddam Hussein, however, remained in power, because –
according to the then U.S. President George Bush, father of
the current U.S. president – to remove Saddam Hussein would be
to bring chaos to Iraq and the region. However brutal Saddam
Hussein’s regime was, he brought stability and prosperity to
Iraq.
In 2000, George W. Bush assumed the mantle of his father and
became the President of the United States, after a highly
questionable election, decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. Most
of the Members of the Supreme Court had been appointed during
the Reagan/Bush and former Bush presidencies.
The United Nations had sent a team of inspectors to Iraq, to
determine if Saddam Hussein possessed “weapons of mass
destruction” WMDs. They found none.
Saddam Hussein ran a totally secular government, where anyone
could practice whatever Religion they wanted – or none –
similar to the United States, in that respect. The main
problem was that if anyone in Iraq disagreed with Saddam or
the Baath Party, they were in SERIOUS TROUBLE and subject to
torture and other forms of persecution. Disagreement was not
allowed.
In 2001, the United States was victim of a terrible terrorist
attack, attributed to Usama bin Laden. This caused the
invasion of Afghanistan, where Usama bin Laden was based.
Usama bin Laden was a CIA- trained fanatic claiming to be a
Muslim who had helped bring about the fall of the Soviet
Union.
The Bush Regime linked bin Laden with Saddam Hussein –
although Saddam Hussein was extremely opposed to Islamic
Fundamentalism.
Nevertheless, the charges of possessing WMDs and being linked
to Islamic extremism were presented and the U.S., U.K. and
their allies invaded Iraq, overthrew Saddam Hussein and the
Baath Party and brought in a new government.
During the lead up to the invasion. OPCW Director-General Jose
Bustani was in negtiations with Saddam Hussein to get Iraq to
sign the Chemical Weapons Convention. (The OPCW is the
Organization for the prohibition of Chemical Weapons.) If Iraq
signed, there would be a ten year period – renewable – for
Iraq to get rid of any chemical weapons it still possessed.
(Iraq had been supplied with chemical weapons by the U.S.,
during the Iraq-Iran war.)
As the negotiations were nearing completion, Bustani was
ousted by the U.S.
We are now observing the Fifth Anniversary of the Bush-led
invasion and occupation of Iraq.
Saddam Hussein has been executed; the Baath Party has been
outlawed. More than one million Iraqis have died since the
invasion, along with approximately 4,000 U.S. troops and other
allied soldiers. “Depleted” uranium is causing severe
illnesses and birth defects in Iraqis and allied forces.
Sectarian violence permeates Iraq. Criminality is rife. The
cost of the war is estimated at over $500 Billion. There is
talk of a world-wide recession and there is even fear of a
Depression.
President George Bush experienced combat, during the Second
World War and left Saddam Hussein in power to avoid chaos. His
son avoided military combat.
Now, George W. Bush is threatening Iran. Another “score to be
settled”?
Perhaps, we should re-read “The Godfather” to make some sense
of it all.
-Paul V. Rafferty is the editor of the U.N. OBSERVER &
International
Report
(http://www.unobserver.com).
He
contributed this article to PalestineChronicle.com.