Home Page: OCIN INITIATIVE
(Japanese Version)
(Arabic Version)
(Table of contents)
By Areha Kazuya
E-mail: areha_kazuya@jcom.home.ne.jp
Chapter 6: Genealogy of Islamic terrorism
6-4(47) War against Iraq, axis of evil
September 11 attacks was an epoch-making incident in 2001. In January 2002, President George W. Bush criticized Iran, Iraq and North Korea as "rogue state" which supported international terrorism in the State of the Union. He named these three countries "Axis of evil".
"Rogue" and "Axis of evil" are words that are quite understandable. President Bush from Texas pretended as if he was a sheriff of an old Western movie. As the strongest leader in the world, his speech sounded a little bit careless. But it echoed comfortable for American people. It is quite the same as President Donald Trump nowadays. Anyway, for the ordinary citizens in the United States, United States is the sheriff of the world who keeps the justice of God and punishes evil.
President Bush's strategic philosophy was named Bush Doctrine. The ultimate principle of the doctrine was to confront the "rogue state" that could spread terrorists and mass destruction weapons and to carry out the first-strike for self-defense if necessary. He declared that the world was either on the US side or on the terror’s side.
His philosophy was Neo conservatism that was composed of undercurrent in the modern American society. The adherents of Neoconservatism (so called Neocon) was a policy group related to the theory of political scientist Francis Fukuyama who was the author of “The End of History and the Last Man”. In the Afghan War Neocon joined hands with Islamic power to defeat the immediate enemy USSR, and in the Iran-Iraq war they supported the Hussein of Iraqi Sunni regime to defeat Iran of Shiites.
At the Gulf War in 1991, President H.W. Bush (Bush Senior) took military action without hesitation and repulsed Iraqi troops from Kuwait. But at that time, President H.W. Bush had to order Allied troops to withdraw from Iraq where they were just around the corner of Baghdad. It was due to the restriction of the UN resolution that the military action was permitted only for liberation of Kuwait. Hussein 's regime barely survived. Hussein had been holding the power domestically. He continued the reign of terror empowering military force and suppressing the antagonizing powers such as Shiites and Kurds.
President George W. Bush, son of H.W. Bush, suspected Hussein of concealment of weapons of mass destruction and connection with Al-Qaeda, an international terrorist organization. Having raised Bush Doctrine, the United States often preached military sanctions against Iraq at the United Nations. At the Security Council, in addition to Russia and China, France also opposed, while only Britain joined with the United States. G.W. Bush did not abandon hard-line stance of Neocon. It was necessary for Bush to overthrow Hussein’s regime and transform Iraq into a democratic state. It was his father's dream which could not be realized in the Gulf War.
In March 2003, the United States formed coalition with several countries like the UK and Australia and attacked Iraq under the name of "Operation Iraqi Freedom". US army traditionally had two brave slogans in the battle field. Following the Second World War and the Gulf War, US solders again repeated two slogans in the war against Iraq; "Show the Flag!" and "Boots on the ground!".
"Show the flag" means to declare his identity and "Boots on the ground" is to stand up on the battlefield. When translate two phrases into one; “Push the flags up and get on the front line". In other words, you should make clear whether you are friend or enemy and to confront the enemy with courage in the battlefield. President G.W. Bush who was the descendant of Texas cowboy could understand his role as if he was a cavalry captain who kicked out Indians (now referred to as "Native American" as an anti-discriminatory word).
Without such a slogan the Iraqi army was outnumbered and defeated by coalition force overwhelmed physically. The battle finished quickly. After two-month President Bush declared the termination of large-scale battle on the nuclear aircraft carrier "Abraham Lincoln” in the Persian (Arabian) Gulf.
However, as well known, the post war investigation found that there were no mass destruction weapons in Iraq. There was no reason to justify the Iraq war. Even after arresting Sadam Hussein and putting him on the death penalty, security in Iraq could not recover but rather sectarian and tribal conflicts came to the surface and security became worse. In 2011 President Obama finally issued a declaration of the end of the war in Iraq and the US troops withdrew completely. But it was not true that US army withdrew because the war was over. It was true that in order to withdraw the troops the war has been terminated.
As soon as the US troops withdrew IS (Islamic States) invaded from Syria to the northern part of Iraq.
(To be continued ----)
