| by N.S.Venkataraman
( June 15, 2014, Chennai, Sri Lanka Guardian) Several years back, USA invaded Iraq under the pretext that there were weapons of mass destruction stored in Iraq. A number of other countries including UK joined US in launching the war against Iraq.
Later on, investigations by United Nations and a few other agencies clearly pointed out that there were no such weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Obviously, USA lied and several of its pledged allies simply followed the lead of USA without applying their mind. Nevertheless, the objective of USA to capture and kill Sadham Hussain and install a regime of its choice in Iraq was achieved.
The ground reality today is that even with the presence of American troops in Iraq and USA friendly government in charge in Iraq, peace has not been restored in this unfortunate country. Rebels continue to thrive and murders and killings have not abated . Such present conditions have caused huge hardships to the innocent citizens of Iraq ,who are not part of these political dealings and bickering but only want a peaceful and dignified life for themselves.
Certainly, USA is largely responsible for the hardships presently faced by Iraq and its citizens.
Now, it appears that the rebels in Iraq are gaining upper hand and rebel forces are said to be moving towards Baghdad.
In spite of having been responsible for creating such sort of turbulent conditions in Iraq, USA now says that the local government of Iraq has to sort out the issues. President Obama has said clearly that US would not commit its troop further to restore law and order in Iraq. This clearly amounts to running away from Iraq and abdicating its responsibility.
There cannot be doubt in anyone’s mind that the objective of USA and western countries in dealing with Iraq was to get control over the huge oil fields in Iraq and facilitate the companies based in USA and Europe to expand their business by setting up exploration projects , refineries and petro complex in Iraq. The interest of USA in Iraq was essentially commercial and has nothing to do with the cause of freedom or to ensure world peace by eliminating weapons of mass destruction.
Now, President Obama and his team have clearly realised that US does not enjoy the support of the Iraqis whatsoever and large number of citizens of Iraq want USA to quit and go away. With no alternative , and to avoid further loss of American lives in Iraq, US government has decided to call it a day and move away from Iraq in the most feasible manner possible and as early as possible.
Now, where does Iraq go from here ? This great country with proud history, culture and traditional practices may slip into a period of anarchy. It is possible that huge investments made by western companies in Iraq may face uncertainty, making the multi national investors withdraw from the scene.
The local government in Iraq formed with the support of US government may find itself in very unenviable situation.
One only hopes that US would learn the right lessons from its misadventure in Iraq and refrain from disturbing other countries, as if it is the police man of the world.
What is surprising is that USA continues to claim that it is the champion of human rights and freedom of thoughts and speech. Its actions in Iraq and several other countries prove to show that USA would remain as champion of freedom only when it would suit its interests.
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