IRAQ: THE INEVITIBILITY OF OUR LATEST HUMILIATION

The major powers have suffered a string of humiliating defeats over the years, and the US is set for another. Look at history for a second.

Of course we can think firstly of Viet Nam. Forget where right or wrong lay, they beat us. The North Vietnamese defeated us by imposing a cost which was too much for the American political will to suffer. It got to be too much, and we slunk away.

Then there is the more significant, if more gradual, loss by the British of their Empire. They once ruled the world, now they rule only barely more than their tiny island. Most of the world does not hold this as being a loss of face, but many Brits burn with humiliation when confronted with this reversal of their fortunes. For my part, I feel that the spirit of people of this island of Britain, which allowed them to create and rule this Empire, was something unique in the world, and this spirit of the British people exists still. I admire them greatly.

The Russians at the peak of their power fell mightily in Afghanistan, beaten by Mujihadeen with hand held rocket launchers, and the international treachery which could not stomach a Russian victory there.

More recently, though less significantly, the US was run out of Somalia by some savvy and brutal warlords.

But Somalia is small potatoes compared to the pending ruin of Iraq.

Before the US intervened Iraq was ruled by a truly evil man, but it was a functioning country. They had a judiciary, a secular, bureaucratic, government, an educated upper class, and a thriving business environment. Yes, they had a brutal dictator who suppressed revolt with poisonous gas, who killed thousands of his own citizens, and who allowed his depraved family to commit horrendous crimes on his countrymen. But, prior to the sanctions against Iraq imposed by the US, they had a functioning country.

Now the US has freed Iraq from the hands of Sadaam, but they have left the country unprotected, and it is going to fall into chaos.

The responsibility of what is happening to Iraq lies completely in the hands of the shortsighted and arrogant US leadership, and it will be our latest, and worst, humiliation; a sting on our face which will live for a long time.

The Iraqi people had it bad, but they never deserved the fate that the USA imposed upon them.

It is hard to hold up one's head in the world when we do such stupid stuff.

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