Editorial
One year of Iraq invasion
A journey backwards
President Bush is still convinced that the war on Iraq was a legitimate attempt by the US to oust President Saddam's regime. But his ideas have not been that convincing to his people, as nearly 50 percent Americans now believe that the president is not handling the Iraq situation correctly. The war effectively demolished the moral force of international order since it was waged in face of a barrage of protests from peace-loving people all over the world. Even some staunch US allies did not approve of President Bush's plan. So the war has bred divisiveness among the international community, which could only make the task of fighting terrorism even harder. Terrorism, which President Bush sought to eliminate, has not lost its force. Terrorist strikes have led to more deaths and destruction in countries like Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Spain, though it is not clear whether the same terrorist group masterminded all these attacks. President Bush has little to show for the war that has been so costly in terms of men and material. It has very rightly been termed by Senator John Kerry as the 'worst diplomatic blunder' in the 200-year history of the US. Public opinion in his own country is a good indicator for the US president to realise that his grandiose plan of liquidating a dictator has backfired, particularly because the WMD theory turned out to be a brazen lie. American troops are fighting an unequal and morally unjustifiable war that is taking a heavy toll of human lives on both sides. And what is most disquieting about the Iraq scenario is that no end to the hostilities is in sight. And what about the people of Iraq who were sidetracked in the war between Bush and Saddam? It was a mistake on the part of the US war strategists to think that Iraqi people would welcome the foreign invaders. They have suffered and are still suffering as the country bleeds from war and sectarian violence. The interim government installed by the US is far from a broad based entity capable of running Iraq smoothly. The question of returning its sovereignty is a very tricky one, though Americans are telling the world that their plan is to clear the way for a people's government in Baghdad. But the talk of power transfer by July 1 appears to be more of a political ruse than a seriously conceived plan, since no indigenous leadership acceptable to the Iraqi people has emerged.
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