EDITORIAL – Iraq war on final footing

On Monday, United States President Barack Obama announced that he intended to complete his plan to withdraw designated combat forces from Iraq by the end of August “as promised and on schedule”.It is clear that Mr Obama is determined to keep his election promise despite the fact that the elections earlier this year have left Iraq without a permanent government and with no party gaining an outright majority. Unfortunately, there is still a sense of foreboding and uncertainty in Iraq although there has been some progress amidst the chorus of persistent violence. There still remains the question about Iraq’s stability although the time may have come for it to manage its affairs.It is universally accepted that the Iraq war was based on epic deception and lies, and continues to cast its dark shadow on all countries involved with colossal loss of human lives and the enormous economic burden on American and British taxpayers.  Though Mr Obama’s proposed troop drawdown does not end the conflict, the transition represents a significant milestone after seven years of war that toppled Saddam Hussein and set off a brutal wave of sectarian violence and untold loss of Iraqi and American lives.  The focus now will be completely on Afghanistan where, quite frankly, the war seems to be going nowhere. Every day it seems that the United States and coalition forces are hoping for a way out. The Netherlands last week pulled out its contingent of troops there and was congratulated by al Qaeda.Coincidentally, Britain’s Iraq war inquiry is drawing to a close. Chaired by Sir John Chilcot, it has just concluded questioning Hans Blix, a crucial witness whose testimony will be critical to the final verdict in the case against the Iraq invasion. Blix, who was the chief of United Nation’s Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission at the time of the invasion, had demolished the grounds for going to war in Iraq. In his testimony he reiterated his position, saying both the United States and Britain based their decision on totally unreliable and spurious intelligence sources. He reiterated that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction, confirming that the fundamental reason offered for the invasion did not exist. Blix said he had repeatedly stressed this point before then British Prime Minister Tony Blair and American Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. As was well known, Blix’s appeals for reason fell on deaf ears, for which he was roundly condemned by the military establishment. It is clear that the then George Bush administration had decided on the invasion despite lack of evidence and did so with the full complicity of the British government. The loss of thousands of lives was as a result of a brazen distortion of facts and remains an epic injustice by those who claimed to be the champions of human rights and democracy.