Did we do the right thing with Iraq?
By Makro74
@Makro74 (591)
4 responses
@owlwings (43910)
• Cambridge, England
8 Mar 10
I believe that what was done was done on a false premise and probably some of the reasons were wrong. However, once begun, there was no backing down and the job had to be finished.
I think that Iraq has the potential to become better but the Iraqis themselves will have to see to that. There is no sense in which it can be said that 'we' (meaning the US, the UK or any of the other forces which were involved) have 'made it better'.
Iraq has a very different culture, outlook, tradition and religion to the US &c. What we might consider 'better' may not be at all what an Iraqi might call 'better', though I do think that most Iraqis were glad to be rid of Saddam Hussein.
1 person likes this
@Makro74 (591)
•
8 Mar 10
You know, whilst I am no fan of Saddam Hussein- I used to know many an Iraqi back in the early 1990's before the sanctions started to bite. They all seem to imply one thing, the propoganda which began in the 1990's didn't affect the early folk early on. There was only a minority that was against Saddam, and Saddam was ruthless to them. But everyone else had a prosperous life. Education in the 80's was the best in the region, and it was up an coming economy.
Now what I question is - was Iraq's folly because of Saddam Hussein incompetence or the effect of sanctions and strangulation of his people by the Western powers. Saddam invaded Kuwait, this was the turning point. Prior to this, the West was arming this country and patted it on the back when gassing the Kurds.
I think, Saddam did not help himself by not being fair to his people, but much of it was instigated to overthrow him. Similar tactics, (my opinion only) it appears, are taking place in Iran to overthrow the Shah and the president. But Iran is proving reslient and I suspect they cannot even contemplate attacking Iran because simply because they know it won't be a pushover.
@awapak (1275)
• Pakistan
8 Aug 10
No doubt it was a great mistake and violation of International Laws to attack Iraq due to absolutely baseless accusations.Iraq allowed UNO teams to check various places for those arms but they could not find any at that time.In fact the big powers think they have all the rights to violate all International laws,make and use nuclear weapons but they never want other countries should make them for their safety.Recently the British Defence Minister has accepted that the allied forces had used nuclear weapons against Iraqis.Is'nt it a gross violation agaist human rights and humanity ?You killed millions of innocent men,women and children to take revenge of three thousand people killed in 9/11 incident.......which ,I still believe,was not planned by Muslims but by some third party.
@sierras236 (2739)
• United States
8 Mar 10
That's a tough question to answer. I think that the real answer will only come when it is possible to look backward in time. It might be 20 years before there is a solid answer to that. On one hand, a vicious dictator was overthrown. On the other hand, religious divisions previously kept silent now have a voice. Conflict was bound to happen. It takes awhile for the opinions of people once repressed to change. There are no "fast fixes" for a country that is struggling to set-up a new government, especially one that requires such a drastic change from a dictatorship to a democracy.
@spalladino (17891)
• United States
8 Mar 10
Destroyed it? I heard on the news today that people were risking their lives, standing up to those who seek to deny them a voice, in order to cast their votes in the election. Freedom is always better than a dictatorship.
@Makro74 (591)
•
9 Mar 10
True, but what freedom are we talking about. There is no freedom of clean water. Electric goes out too often. Security is a big problem. By invading, a monster was broken into fragments which created 1000's of Saddam Husseins and its still going on.
Freedom is better, but what about Robert Mugabe, why is nothing done about him. What about Rwanda in the 90's why did the US allow so many people to die? And if we talk of freedom, why are Palestinians in the Gaza being punished and allowed to be punished for simply have free and fair elections to elect Hamas. Palistinians have been dictated to for the last 60 years.
@spalladino (17891)
• United States
9 Mar 10
We didn't go into Iraq under the banner of freedom, remember? Saddam did himself in when he refused to cooperate with the U.N. inspectors, when he lead the world to believe that he had WMDs, when he harbored terrorists. Perhaps the intel was wrong...perhaps he got rid of them...but those were the reasons troops when into Iraq.
@valentinesdiner (1214)
• United States
9 Mar 10
Great point Spall, we were there for lots of reasons and only late in the game talked of making the mideast safe for democracy.
We have made Iraq better off (partly because we dropped the sanctions) and I'd refer you to recent articles in Newsweek on this.
