Has
America's reaction to September 11 - its invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq - accelerated
the end of U.S. dominance of the international system? According tocommentator
He Liangliang of Hong Kong's Phoenix TV - one of the few privately-owned cable operators permitted by Beijing authorities to broadcast to the Mainland - America's
days as a global cop are well and truly over.
On June 29, 2009, the U.S.
military in Iraq began to withdraw from cities and towns, and handed over the
building that houses the Iraqi Ministry of Defense to the Iraqi government. This
symbolized the end of the first chapter of the U.S.-launched war in Iraq which began
in 2003. Now the Iraqi army is responsible for implementing the nation's defense,
including the task of counter-terrorism.
Posted
by WORLDMEETS.US
It was in that year, in
defiance of global opinion and bringing upon itself universal condemnation, the
U.S. invaded Iraq over its supposed possession of weapons of mass destruction. Unable
to obtain United Nations authorization, it brazenly attacked the sovereign nation
of Iraq and engendered intense opposition from around the world. But the Bush Administration,
assuming that America's superpower status gave it permission to do whatever it
wished, precipitated the fall of American Empire from its perch.
Iraq under Saddam Hussein's rule
certainly had its problems, but what country doesn't? Iraq had no weapons of
mass destruction, it was no threat to its neighboring countries, nor was there
evidence that Saddam had conspired with al-Qaeda in the terrorist attacks
against the United States and Europe. Relying on its overwhelming superiority,
the American military quickly occupied the whole of Iraq. This is when the
trouble really began.
U.S. occupation forces
disbanded the Iraqi army and police, and along with the so-called
"coalition of the willing," had to shoulder the entire burden of maintaining
law and order in Iraq. Simultaneously, international terrorist organizations
began a recruiting drive in many countries to carry on a “Jihad [holy war]” in
Iraq, using various methods of "asymmetrical warfare" - mainly numerous
types of terrorist attacks in cities and towns with the goal of exhausting the U.S.
military.
The over 100,000 American
troops still stationed in Iraq represent the kind of strategic defeat not seen
since the Vietnam War. First, the U.S. military provoked an unjust war, letting
loose the dogs of war without cause. And although a few countries, dispatched
small numbers of troops to curry American favor and allow the U.S. to deceive
the public, everyone knew that these foreign soldiers contributed nothing to
the effort, and never played a significant military role.
Iraqis
throw rice, dance to celebrate the end of the American
occupation
in the city of Basra, June 30. U.S. forces have now
withdrawn
from Iraq's towns and cities.
Second, the Americans had no
clear enemy. The original Iraqi army collapsed during the first engagement, and
a new Iraqi army was being organized, trained, and was fighting, all at the
same time. Terrorist attacks in this so-called holy war began, mujahedeen struck
and disappeared without a trace, and the high-tech equipment the Americans had was like using a cannon to hit a mosquito.
Posted
by WORLDMEETS.US
With the Iraq War still under
way and 130,000 U.S. troops still stationed in-country; the security situation
remains serious and the Iraqi army still needs U.S. support to carry out its mandate.
Since the situation is still unstable and the process of rebuilding Iraq's
economy remains problematic, the democratic system that the U.S. pushed hoping
it would be an example to neighboring Arabs states is no example at
all.
U.S. strategic priorities
have now shifted to Afghanistan, but its experiences in the Iraq War will not
help it win in Afghanistan. The Afghan question cannot be resolved by war. Rather,
the Afghan government requires the assistance of the international community
politically and in terms of security, economy, culture, and many other fields.
The U.S. must rely on the United Nations to bring stability to Afghanistan.
The formidable
U.S. war machine wasted many years in Iraq and was unable to force a decision
through battle. Unable to find a quick fix, Barack Obama came to power and
chose to gradually withdraw American troops - but the blunders had already
piled up to such an extent that they are impossible to remedy. Not only did the
war lose for the United States global support for its battle against
international terrorist groups, it exposed the weaknesses of the United States
to terrorist organizations and caused countries that were already antagonistic
to American wishes (such as North Korea, Iran) to become bolder in their
contempt. When these countries posses real weapons of mass destruction, the
United States will have even fewer options. That is the true irony when one
looks back at the Iraq War.
The post-Cold War arrangement
of a lone superpower has been broken by the United States itself; accelerated
by the U.S. financial crisis, it is no longer able to act as the world's
policeman and the international order has begun to reshuffle. The disastrous
American defeat in Iraq has prompted soul-searching among the American public,
enabling Obama to be elected president. But although he has complied with popular
sentiment and has changed American policy toward Iraq and the Middle East - the
prospects for achieving true peace in the Middle East remain anything but
bright.
