Ten Years Since the Iraq Invasion

Published in Diario de Cuyo
(Argentina) on 20 March 2013
by (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Laura L. Messer. Edited by Keturah Hetrick.
After a decade of war led by the U.S. against Saddam Hussein, it is agreed that it was a historic error.

The Iraq War, one of cruelest and most destructive in recent times, began on March 20, 2003, driven by the United States and its NATO allies, who argued that Saddam’s former regime had been developing weapons of mass destruction, according to irrefutable intelligence reports. But no evidence ever came to be proven of the existence of such an armament, which supposedly threatened world peace. Neither did the existence of a superior military capacity.

Beyond the overthrow of a tyrant and the liberation of an oppressed people, for Washington, the balance turned out to be catastrophic: 4,475 American soldiers died and 32,000 were wounded during Operation Iraqi Freedom until the transition period, which concluded with the military withdrawal last year. They join the victims of other coalition forces and civilians of different nations, and the Iraqis themselves, in addition to the colossal material losses that came to erode the U.S. economy.

Now, even the same politicians who went along with President George Bush’s decision, such as the new defense secretary, Republican Chuck Hagel, condemn the war, describing it as a serious error. However, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair said yesterday that Iraq would have been “probably a lot worse than Syria” had they not toppled Saddam, because he had utilized chemical weapons against his own people. The ex-premier believes “sincerely and deeply” that Saddam was a threat to world security, and for this reason, the United Kingdom joined the allied forces’ intervention. Blair’s words contrast with those of his deputy prime minister, John Prescott, who recognized that the invasion, in which 179 British soldiers died, “cannot be justified.”

The American public’s thinking has similarly varied. Support for the invasion at more than 70 percent in 2003, but one of the latest surveys puts it at 50 percent, at a time when there are those who consider it a grave tactical and strategic error, serious enough to be considered a second Vietnam.

Iraq, however, has not overcome its political, economic and social problems or the battering from the Shiite insurgency linked to al Qaida, which has promised to increase its attacks in order to recover the objectives of the fratricidal dispute.


20/03/2013 EDITORIAL
A 10 años de la invasión a Irak

Tras una década de la guerra liderada por EEUU contra Saddam Hussein se coincide en que fue un error histórico.

La guerra de Irak, una de las más crueles y destructivas de los últimos tiempos, comenzó el 20 de marzo de 2003, impulsada por los Estados Unidos y sus aliados de la OTAN argumentando que el entonces régimen de Saddam Houssein había desarrollado armas de destrucción masiva, según informes irrefutables de inteligencia. Pero jamás se llegó a comprobar evidencia alguna de la existencia de ese armamento que supuestamente amenazaba la paz mundial. Tampoco se pudo comprobó la existenciadeo una capacidad bélica superior.

Más allá del derrocamiento del tirano y la liberación de un pueblo sometido, para Washington el balance resulta catastrófico: 4475 militares estadounidenses muertos y 32.000 heridos durante la operación "'Libertad iraquí'', hasta la etapa de transición, que concluyó con la la retirada militar el año pasado. Se suman las víctimas de otros ejércitos de la coalición y de los civiles de diferentes países y de los propios iraquíes, además de colosales pérdidas materiales que llegaron a erosionar la economía estadounidense.

Ahora hasta los propios políticos que acompañaron la decisión del presidente George W. Bush, como el nuevo secretario de Defensa, el republicano Hagel, desaprueban la guerra calificandola de un grave error. Sin embargo, el ex primer ministro británico Tony Blair dijo ayer que "Irak hubiese sido mucho peor que Siria'', si no derrocaban a Saddam Hussein ya que utilizó armas químicas contra su propio pueblo. El ex premier cree "sinceramente y profundamente'' que Hussein era una amenaza de seguridad mundial y por eso el Reino Unido se sumó a la intervención de las fuerzas aliadas. Las palabras de Blair contrastan con las de su viceprimer ministro, John Prescott, que en esta recordación reconoció que la invasión, en la que murieron 179 soldados británicos, "no puede ser justificada''.

De igual manera ha variado el pensamiento actual del pueblo estadounidense, que en 2003 expresó un apoyo superior al 70% a la decisión de invadir Irak, en una última encuesta muestra lo contrario en un 50%, a la vez de coincidir con los que consideran un grave error táctico y estratégico de tal gravedad, que se considera un segundo Vietnam en EEUU.

Irak, por su parte, no ha superado sus problemas políticos, económicos y sociales, como tampoco los embates de la insurgencia chiíta vinculados a Al Qaeda que han prometido aumentar sus ataques para recuperar los objetivos de la disputa fraticida.
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