After failing to get endorsement of war on Iraq from the western and other nations; the US President George W. Bush with his two knots Tony Blair and John Howard has now declared to use his mighty power at any time to invade Iraq even if Saddam Hussain decides to leave power and his country. No wonder why US, UK and Australia has been piling-up their forces and military arsenals surrounding Iraq for the last two months or so while the Iraq’s case of disarmament was being dealt by UN and the UN inspectors were doing their job and achieving slow but steady progress in disarming Iraq from the weapons of mass destruction. No wonder why United States was ready to pay billions of dollars to Turkey to open its territory for US forces to launch an attack on Iraq from the Northern border. No wonder why US has been ready to relinquish the long-term alliance with France and Germany over war on Iraq. It is very hard to believe that this extreme action of United States is to disarm Iraq from the weapons of mass destruction. Even if one believes that US option for war on Iraq is merely to free Iraq from weapons of mass destruction and the occupant Saddam Hussain then why couldn’t Bush administration convince US closest European allies France and Germany on the option of using force against Iraq? In this situation, it is very logical to understand that the Bush administration must be carrying a hidden agenda behind this decisive war phobia which is concealed to the rest but divulge to France, Germany, China and Russia. However, any simple mind may not think the other reasons except to believe simple and obvious US intentions to get control over Iraq’s oil resources and also to provide security to Israel by controlling Baghdad against any possible future threats to Israel in repulsions of Israel’s continuous occupation and atrocities in Palestine.
The other important factor which also creates suspicions on US eagerness to invade Iraq despite the strong opposition by the majority within the United States and around the world is that if the change of Saddam’s regime and abolition of weapons of mass destructions are the only reasons rather then transforming Iraq’s present ruling structure into a US military-based government for any long period of time to achieve the targeted benefits then why US administration yet failed to disclose the post-war plans and timeframe for US forces to stay in Iraq.
The main charter of UN is to maintain peace and international security among the nations and states. United Nations was never established for any super power to use its influence on other members either by the fear of military might or by monetary bribes to obtain a license to invade weaker nation by using dangerous military might. Since the creation of UN; the world contentedly or discontentedly ingested the influence of US in the United Nations on different forums and issues. In the past, United States has vetoed 14 times the resolutions on Palestine despite of the fact that each time the majority of the members of the Security Council were in favour of the resolutions.
Today, the US has shocked the world by (1) ignoring the views of the majority especially its own western allies France & Germany (2) disregarding the consents of the majority in UN (3) disrupting the UN peaceful process of disarming Iraq through its inspectors (4) opting to close the doors of diplomacy and (5) choosing to go for invasion of Iraq by using dangerous modern weapons. All the past military actions, from Gulf War in 1992 to invasion of Afghanistan in 2001; US had been valuing and claiming United Nations as a supreme body because it was serving the US interests. Now United States sees United Nations as an ineffective platform because majority of its members don’t agree with the US plans. Today, United States is ready to incapacitate the prestige and status of United Nations because the same members of UN who supported US, in the past and in the recent war against terrorism (in Afghanistan) are now disagree with US plans on launching war on Iraq. Today, US is ready to divide its own friends and allies because these countries unanimously feel that this war (on Iraq) does not justify and will bring the instability, divisions and more terrorism around the world. Of course, this excessive and unilateral decision must have been analysed and measured from all perspectives by the advisers and think-tank sitting in Washington and obviously it must have been found them ultimate beneficial over the decreasing support from US traditional allies and friends.
In this difficult time, one must acknowledge the outstanding efforts especially made by France and Germany to block US from obtaining the sanction of war against Iraq. However, without going into the debate on Saddam Hussain and his weapons of mass destruction as claimed by US, UK and Australia, in the present situation, when the US administration has already ignored United Nation and declared war against Iraq; urgent, bold and extreme actions are required to take against US war declarations by the rest of the world’s powers particularly by China, Russia and the Islamic block. However, it is also the opinion of many that whether United States looses or wins in Iraq’s gamble one thing is quite certain that France and Germany may comprise with US at some stage but the traditional rivals Russia and China will never digest the US control over Iraq.
According to US claims now the attack on Iraq is only hours away and the world might already be watching the war when this article gets published. Should Iraq is invaded by US-UK-Australian forces, would that act of war not be an illegal act of invasion other nation. If ‘Yes’ is the answer, then the majority of this world would like to see the supremacy of the United Nations by taking an appropriate, timely and justified action against the intruders by the Security Council.
The writer is a Sydney-based freelance journalist and a political analyst.
