So its about eight years since the second Iraq war started. And what has the US gained out of it? Nothing really. Right now US is facing the worst economic disaster since the Great Depression. But yet the Republicans defend their decision on the Iraq war.
So what’s the truth?
US went into this war alleging that Iraq was piling weapons of mass destruction(WMD). Did they find any? No.
The govt thought it would be a quick and easy war. Was it so? No.
The govt never expected the costs to mount. The reality is US spends almost $10 billion every month on this war.
Are they going to stop any soon? No. Why? Because they do not want to come back home defeated. For the love of God, whom did they win over? Whom were they fighting? There was no resistance offered. So who would have defeated them?
Was Al Quaida established in Iraq? No, but after the US invasion they found a few bases here and there.
Are the people of Iraq happy with the US occupation? Can’t really say. The reports that appear in the American media have every chance of being biased.
Right now the US economy is in a rut. They have huge deficits and debts. The recent bailout of $850 billion did very little to the stock market. The govt blames Wallstreet for excessive greed when they themselves are victims of the same.
After 9/11 when the US should have concentrated wholly on Afghanistan to weed out the Taliban (whom they created in the first place) and the Al Quaida, they chose to dabble in Iraq. The British govt had already owned up to the fact that the Iraq war was a mistake, but not the current arrogant US govt. The result is the people of the country paying through their nose. In eight years, going by $10 billion a month, the US govt spent close to $1 trillion on Iraq. Wouldn’t it have been good to have that money now?
John McCain, the present Republican presidential candidate, keeps on saying that the surge in Iraq is a success. Well I have news for you John. The surge wouldn’t have been required if you and your stupid friend George W Bush Jr didn’t go into Iraq in the first place. What did you gain out of it? A big zero. Instead thousands of US nationals lost their lives. Yet the govt persists. Iraq did not have an Al Quaida cell or terrorism before the war, but now it does. In Afganisthan, the Taliban and Al Quaida are resurgent. So now the US has to fight them on two fronts rather than one. So indirectly the US has encouraged terrorist acitivities. Did they get oil in return? Naah.
Iran was not a threat in the region due to the long standing rivalry with Iraq. Iraq in one way helped keep Iran in check. But with Iraq gone, Iran is a direct threat to the peace in the region, to the US national security and to the world at large. So who is to blame for that? The lame, short-sighted, arrogant, stupid George W Bush administration.
In short, whether the current govt admits to it or not, Iraq is turning out to be the second Vietnam for the United States of America.
