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The US caused the civil war in Iraq

PRESIDENT BUSH WAS CROWING two years ago that Iraq is a democracy, that it is a far better place that when Saddam Hussein, who is now facing trial for his life, was in charge. But US destroyed the framework, made enemies of the Baathist Party, opened the country to be run by Shia, made sure that the Sunnis would never have a place in the government. The civil war is fuelled by the Sunnis, Iraqi nationalists (both Sunni and Shia), the youngsters who see no future in an Iraq under American control. President Bush has had to eat every one of US optimistic statements. Sure, there are foreigners amongst these insurgents, but so has the Americans. The world hears only one side of the story, the insurgents are not allowed, but the appears on Arab television stations, even if they do not report the more horrendous American atrocities, is had enough. In less than two years, the Americans have made themselves unpopular not only in Iraq, but elsewhere in the Middle East and Iran. But they want a foothold in the Middle East at any cost. Would they get it?

More than 100 die everyday. It does not matter who killed them. The Americans kill at leisure. The insurgents kill to frighten the Americans, the Iraqis who have sided with them, to get the support of the Iraqis. Others get killed, as they would in any situation like Iraq is in now. And like the Americans, there are several groups among the insurgents who do the killing.The Americans, with Britain and a host of countries arm twisted to send troops, have spent billions of dollars to bring the insurgents to heel. But they have begun to fight with the government they established. The latest American weapons have been tested in Iraq, but it is the insurgents with their car bombs have spread fear into the foreign troops and Iraqis. It is now not what it used to be. The car bomb has been modified with low technical skills and using common every day appliances like doors. It has become a deady weapon, especially the Americans and others fear death by these bombs more than anything else.

The country is ruled from the fortified Green Zone, named by the Americans for the area from which Saddam Hussein ruled. They do not leave it except under heavy escort, and are more worried of evading car bombs and ambushes than knowing the country and its problems. To make matters worse, the Americans and the British have taken their proteges to task, and there has been open fights. They have demanded that the local authority does not touch them, this is resented by the population at large, and so those officially linked with the Americans stay put at the fortified zone. Not that this helps them. The insurgents have make their way into the fortified zones where they are, and created havoc. The Americans have stopped telling the world they are winning, in fact gives out news only when it puts them in a good light. The media once used to carry daily reports of their success, but not anymore.

Today, only the insurgent's dastardly behavour, as they say, is reported. Even the Arab media has toned it coverage. To make sure it does, its media is regularly killed. It is dangerous to be from the media if one has a different view from the West of the civil war in Iraq. The reporters were the megaphones of the invasion. Later, they took a more neutral stance, and now are cowed because their number is killed, both by the Americans and the insurgents. Iraq is now more dangerous than Vietnam ever was. But instead of understanding the enemy, the West not only annoys it but gets the world to accept its assessment. Osama bin Laden is kept alive, at least in the public imagination, since he is the leader that the war on terror is hoping to kill. But he has become the beneficiary, just as Ho Chi Minh was. Ho Chi Minh's death robbed the Americans of an enemy in Vietnam, and they had to leave with tails behind their legs, This will happen in Iraq too.

In the process, the Americans have made enemies of the Middle East and Iran. It wanted to keep Syria under control, and now set its eyes on Iran. It is a war of words now, but these countries could interfere in Iraq through their proxies. If they have not done so, then the insurgency could slip into them. The Americans had planned to stay for ever in Iraq, at least that is the Pentagon's aim. It has the support only of the governments in the Middle East, but these governments are more at risk now than ever before. The Middle East remains a cauldron, largely because the youngsters cannot get jobs, the people are pushed around. For many death is preferable. And so many willingly die for a cause. The West cannot understand it. But it has become a weapon in the insurgents' arsenal.

The Al Qaeda attack on the Abqaiq oil refinery in Saudi Arabia was foiled, but that the car bombers made a point. The oil refineries in the Middle East are exposed. American presence in Iraq for reasons that are now found to be false, and its war on terror on the Muslims, will see to that. In Pakistan's Baluchistan, action against the Bukti and Murree tribes by President Musharraf had redound on Pakistan. He is in a precarious position. The earth quake last year affected the Pathans. The foreign aid was distributed by the Pakistan government, which already was in enmity with the Pathans.

The Americans have rushed in like bulls in china shop, especially after it invaded neighbouring Afghanistan. It has arrested for years without trial Afghans and Pathans in Guantano Bay. The Americans put a gloss over it telling how they taught English to some who have been released. But their presence is no different than the Russians. The Russians had their Najibullah, the Americans have their Hamid Karzai. Both had lived overseas before they were made President, Najibullah was torn to bits by an Afghan crowd. The Americans can just hope that this fate would not be Hamid Karzai's. The same fate awaited the Iraqi prime minister under British overlordship, when he was torn to bits while trying to escape in a women's veiled dress. Would that fate also be the American-installed Iraqi leaders?

M.G.G. Pillai
pillai@streamyx.com