Followers

Monday, September 28, 2020

The Peace on The Horizon - 70 Years after The World War 2 in the Middle East (47)

 

(Japanese Version)

(Arabic Version)

 

Chapter 6: Genealogy of Islamic terrorism

6-4(47) Axis of evil


 

September 11 attacks was an epoch-making incident in the history. In January 2002, US President George W. Bush condemned that Iran, Iraq and North Korea inspired international terrorism. He declared three countries as "rogue state". He named these three countries "Axis of evil".

 

Everyone can easily understand the words "Rogue" and "Axis of evil". US President Bush of Texan pretended as if he was a sheriff of old Western movies. Considering that he was the strongest leader in the world, his speech looked like thoughtless. But it was enough for American people. It is quite the same as President Donald Trump nowadays. Anyway, for the ordinary US citizens, United States was the sheriff of the world who kept the justice of God and punished evil.

 

President Bush's strategy was named Bush Doctrine. The principle of the doctrine was to confront the "rogue state" that could spread terrorism and mass destruction weapons. And the doctrine embodied to do the first-strike for self-defense. He declared that all the countries should be either on the US side or on the terror’s side.

 

He adhered the Neo conservatism prevailing in the modern American society. The advocators 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 fight against USSR. During the Iran-Iraq war US supported even Hussein of Iraqi Sunni regime to defeat Shiites Iran.

 

In 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. President Hussein scarcely survived. Hussein had kept the domestic power. He empowered military force and continued the reign of terror. He suppressed the opponents like 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. United States often claimed military sanctions against Iraq under Bush Doctrine. Not only Russia and China but also France opposed US proposals at the Security Council of the United Nations, while Britain joined with the United States. G.W. Bush did not abandon Neocon’s hard line policy. 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 at the Gulf War.

 

In March 2003, the United States formed coalition force with several countries including the UK and Australia. Coalition force attacked Iraq under the name of "Operation Iraqi Freedom". US army traditionally had two brave slogans in the battle field. As in the World War II, US soldiers 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" means to stand up on the real battlefield. To amalgamate two phrases into one tells that “Raise up the flag of justice and fight against devils at 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 deemed his role as a cavalry captain who kicked out American Indians (now referred to as "Native American" as an anti-discriminatory word).

 

Even if there were no such inspiring slogans, the Iraqi would be defeated by coalition forces due to their superior arms and logistics. The battle had finished after two months. President Bush declared the termination of battle on the nuclear aircraft carrier "Abraham Lincoln” in the Persian (Arabian) Gulf.

 

Unfortunately, the investigation carried out after the war could find no mass destruction weapons. Coalition forces could find no reason to justify the Iraq war. Even after arresting Sadam Hussein and putting him on the death penalty, security in Iraq did not recover at all. In return sectarian and tribal conflicts took place and security of Iraq became getting worse. In 2011 President Obama finally declared that the war in Iraq was over. All US troops withdrew from Iraq. But withdrawal of US army didn’t mean the end of war in Iraq.

 

IS (Islamic States) invaded from Syria to the northern part of Iraq just after the withdrawal of US troops.

 

(To be continued ----)

 

By Areha Kazuya

E-mail: areha_kazuya@jcom.home.ne.jp

 

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