Haaretz
Shvat 30, 5765
For joy, for joy: Democracy has
won in Iraq. Bush's determination proved itself. There's only one problem:
Bush has already won in Iraq too many times, and meanwhile, after so many
victories, the "free world" is only losing. There's a duty to be a
killjoy.
The liberation of Baghdad in April 2003 was the first
victory; On May 1 that year, the American president ceremonially and
festively announced "the end of combat," and that became the second
victory. In December that year, Saddam Hussein was captured, and the world
breathed a little easier - the third victory.
In June 2004, Iraqi
sovereignty was handed over to the puppet government of Iyad Allawi, and
we still haven't counted the famous (and failed) offensives in Falluja and
elsewhere. On the basis of the experience so far, it is recommended to
regard the Iraqi elections as a limited achievement. Indeed, maybe it is
only an optical illusion of an achievement and should actually be chalked
up on the side of the damage that the war in Iraq has already caused,
heavy damage and certain damage.
It's well-known that the "smoking
gun" is not to be found in Iraq. If so, where's the damage here? It's open
to all to see: From now on, every American warning - wolf, wolf - will be
met with disbelief. Such a result - the issuance of warnings that impress
nobody - is extremely dangerous, especially for Israel. By being mired in
the mud of Iraq, the U.S. and its natural and frustrated allies are not
able to turn to dealing with countries that are obviously developing
weapons of mass destruction. Iran and North Korea are celebrating the
American involvement in Iraq, because the American army has stretched its
capabilities there as far as it can, and as far as American public opinion
is prepared to digest more active military intervention.
The Iraq
war, like any war that goes on too long and becomes a quagmire, has
dragged America into war crimes. The entire world saw the abuse at the Abu
Ghraib prison, the bombings of populated cities and the shooting of
wounded men, and the entire world has yet to see, but has heard, about
what is happening in Guantanamo and Afghanistan.
The U.S., as
leader of the enlightened world, has lost its moral authority, and its
preaching is now received with mockery. Every evil monster will claim that
its crimes are as pale as the driven snow compared to the crimes of the
superpower. Every year, the U.S. State Department issues a report
detailing the state of human rights around the world; from now on that
document will be regarded with contempt.
So far, the war has cost
the administration some $200 billion, so it cannot meet its noble
obligations to Africa, and it is highly unlikely if it will meet its
meager promises to the victims of the Tsunami. Some 6,000 Africans a day
will continue to die of AIDS, and some 3,000 children under the age of 5
will die of malaria every day there. The No. 1 democracy in the world will
bitterly disappoint the rest of the world not only in its democratic
mission, but also its humanitarian mission, and that too, is the price of
this war.
No wonder, then, that the Shi'ites went en masse to the
polling stations to determine their sovereignty in Iraq, and the Kurds
went en masse on their way to independence, and "their" fractured state
will meanwhile continue to be the center of world terror, which will only
intensify in the ethnic and religious contradictions. According to the
emerging results of the vote, the day is not far off when there will be a
religious Shi'ite state there. And it won't be the first time in history
that a democracy seemingly gives birth to a monster.
Nonetheless,
if those elections pave the way and the hearts for an "honorable
withdrawal" from the Iraqi adventure, that would be good. America will
declare another victory and leave the valley of the shadow of death, and
the world will finally be able to deal with the real threats facing it -
from the nuclear threats to the diseases, from the terror to the tyranny,
from genocide to hunger.