I think it’s safe to say the entire invasion can be seen as a failure no matter which reasoning you follow. There never were any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and of course they have not been found. Saddam may have been removed from power, but Iraq has now become a lawless, brutal, unsafe place that is far removed from the relative peace and safety Saddam’s misguided dictatorship provided. Iraq is on the brink of a civil war that having Saddam in power delayed. America is not safer today, not with thousands or millions of new terrorist supporters being shown that the terrorists are right, at least in the fact that Americans are invading the middle east and killing its people. America does not have access to more oil now, and oil prices are rising. The American currency has not increased in value, but rather sunk lower throughout the war. America has not rallied behind unholy Bush and his regime of terror, but has become divided between those who oppose him and those who are still blinded by the Republican propaganda. America is losing allies, and the promotion of capitalism throughout the world was dealt a beautiful blow when Spain elected a socialist government.
So the war is a failure. I didn’t expect it to be a success in any of its goals, public and true, and I knew it would prove to be hell for the Iraqis. What can we take away from this great blood stain in the books of history?
I think one of the most important things we need to look at is how the peace movement has failed and how we can make it far more successful in the future. It is vitally important that we work towards a peace movement that not only has a very loud voice, but is also willing to commit the civil disobedience needed to disrupt plans for future wars. We may not be in the majority in many countries when wars are called for, but we will always be right in our opposition to war. We can not allow ourselves to become pushed to the side when our governments rush to war, and we must act to stop them each and every time the seek to invade other countries needlessly.
The most important part of this Iraqi invasion is of course the Iraqi people. How can we work with them to expell the Americans and build their own nation, a nation with full rights for its citizens and sovereignty as a state (or states)? I honestly don’t know the answers to that myself, but I do know that the international community needs to work to provide Iraq with the freedom and resources needed to build a nation that can give its citizens safety and pride, and also provide the world with peace in its region.
There are many other aspects of this situation we need to explore. There’s no way I could do justice to the lessons and problems we are now faced with. We can not forget about this unjustified invasion, and we can not ignore the many things we need to learn from it.