Yesterday, Obama announced that he will be bringing back US troops in 18 months. Thus he has fulfilled his election promise to bring back American troop. This also herald a failed military adventure perpetuated by his predecessor Bush2. Many would have thought the American has learnt their lesson from Vietnam. But the very confident and arrogant trio of neo-conservative of Bush2, Cheney and Rumsfield have totally misjudged their ability to win this Iraq war.
But why was the American so eager to commit to a costly war. My belief is that the far right wing politicians are always insecure about their need for energy security. American is totally dependent on oil for their livelihood and prosperity. If oil is denied from Middle East, American will be literally crippled, unable to move to work and produce in the factories. It has managed to keep Saudi Arabia on its side for now, but the future is never guaranteed from this conservative Muslim country. It has also supports and coddles Israel by giving them unconditional support as well as provides billions of aids money. Of course, one can intelligently guess that in a scenario when American need a military launching pad, Israel will be featured prominently.
Before the 80s, American has an unstinting friend call Iran. The Shah of Iran was propped up by the American even though he had committed numerous human right abuses. When Ayatollah Khomeni overthrew the Shah, American has been looking for an alternative since. That’s why America was supporting Saddam Hussein of Iraq against Iran. When Saddam became over ambitious by invading Kuwait, American was forced to rethink their Middle East strategy.
Iraq has the second largest oil reserve in the world. If America could secure Iraq and Saudi Arabia, then the supply of oil is almost guaranteed. Opportunity came when Saddam turned against the US. Using excuse that Saddam had acquired WMD, Bush2 send in American troops to ‘disarm’ Iraq. Many Iraqis were grateful American got rid of their dictator, Saddam but that is all they wanted. American initially hailed and cheered the easy victory. Bush2 proudly announce “mission accomplished”. Bush2 thought he has given the greatest gift to Iraqis by giving them ‘freedom’ and ‘democracy’. That would be the stupidest fallacy Bush 2 has to learn.
Winning the war was the easy part. Winning the hearts and minds of the conquered was the most difficult task both the military brass and politician had to bear. No people were willing to be subjugated by foreigners. Not every human put the same price on freedom or democracy as American does. After the humiliating withdrawal from Vietnam, I would have thought the American had learnt an expensive lesson, but alas, history is to repeat itself.
Militarily the American has not lost. But in the perception of the rest of the world, not winning is considered a loss. But what America lost is the intangibles. She has lost more friends around the world and alienate so many. She has lost the trust, admiration and respect of many peopIe around the world. She has lost the voice of conscience in the area of human rights. I hope this lesson will be learnt by the future generation of American. Military might alone will not be able to guarantee success.
So Iraq war may be the defining moment for American dominance. This is further exacerbated by the ongoing global economic crisis where America is facing the major brunt. With high unemployment rate and buried in trillions dollars of debts, there will be very little political and military muscles left to dominate the world. I think this will mark the beginning of a new era, when America has to concede that the world does not belong to America anymore. She now needs the share the world stage with the European Union, China, India and Russia.
History will remember how Britain used to boast that the sun never set in the British Empire. But after WW2, “Great Britain” is never that way again. It is simply call UK, that’s all.
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