More than ten years after "Desert Storm," the lines separating international sanctions imposed by the United Nations from sanctions imposed by the Americans are being clearly drawn. A superpower is challenging a small state entirely dependent on international decisions. The Arabs, France and Germany don't regard Iraq as a threat to the region or the world. They prefer a solution allowing the international inspectors to return to Baghdad. However, the arrogant Americans disregard the will of the international community and deal with Middle East states as if they were an international possession without sovereign rights. The threat of invading Iraq is no longer a possibility but the declared decision of the US President approved by most members of Congress.
The US and Britain aim to destroy Iraq, accusing it of threatening neighboring countries and resuming the manufacture of chemical and biological arms. They also say Iraq has relations with the Al-Qaeda organization and presents a threat to American security interests in the Middle East. For more than ten years, the US has devoted itself to finding motives to maintain the sanctions imposed on Iraq. However, the attacks of September 11th created a new situation and the rules of US strategy in the region were changed. The White House thinks the time is ripe for bigger blackmail. It wants to control Iraq with its oil wealth and make it an American political base. The Americans talk about Iraq's refusal to let the international inspectors return, but in reality want to destroy it. And they don't want the Security Council to intervene. They say that using military force against Baghdad does not need renewed Security Council approval.
The Zionists play a key role in the attack on Iraq. Their influence in Washington could not be resisted. Most of Israel's demands harmonize with US policy. Redrawing the map of the region with new bases that weaken and split it benefits both the American and the Israeli strategy. Both dream of applying sanctions to the states of the region after destroying Iraq.
There are also some purely American motives: The President needs a big triumph in Iraq due to his continuous failure to achieve the declared goals of his war in Afghanistan, to arrest Osama bin Laden and to use the country as a base for controlling Central Asia and its oil. The so-called "war on terrorism" is still bleeding to the US economically and morally. This is proved by the recession, a series of company scandals and the incipient flight of the foreign investments. A triumph in Iraq may help Bush's party to regain some electoral support in the coming congressional elections.
No persuasive reasons for attacking Iraq are offered. Even the "moderate" Secretary of State says that the US will do this alone if there is no partner except, of course, Britain. The American military forces have started to come to the region. Bush is analyzing the role to be given to Israel. If Iraq attacks Israel, it would respond militarily, in contrast to its behavior during "Desert Storm" when it accepted American advice about self-control. The Israeli tactics changed after Sharon monopolized the Palestinian homeland practicing killing and destruction with Washington's implied permission.
The administration of Bush the father destroyed Iraq in 1990. The US-British coalition continued to practice annihilation against the Iraqi people during the reign of Clinton. Now, Bush the son is trying to take the world back to the Middle Ages by his game of bloodshed and war. He defends his deceptions by calling the victim a criminal. He wants America to have the final word in every conflict as it were in the era of the strong conservative President Ronald Reagan, who led the world by his cowboy stick. He also wants to reimpose absolute United States leadership on the world.
The Iraqi and Palestinian people paid the price for the era of the sole superpower. Now, Washington is preparing for its war not to deter or punish Iraq but to impose a new regional security, economic and political system by force. Western Europe, except Britain, assures us that the US knows the Arab and Western capitals will not agree to the war with Iraq.
This proves that the strong are not bound by international legitimacy. The strong define human values according to their interests, and in their name assassinate thousands of civilians, paying no attention to Geneva accords guaranteeing civilian rights during armed conflicts and wars.
The international atmosphere can now envisage the application of more pressure to Arab countries. To destroy Iraq again is the US regional policy in the coming stage but the eventual American goal seems to control of other countries in the region too. And, even more important, the background of the Arab-Israeli conflict will be very different if Washington succeeds in destroying Iraq and controlling the region.
