Posted on 04/23/2003 1:40:54 PM PDT by knighthawk
For critics of war in Iraq, evaluating the outcome of the conflict has become an exercise in movable goalposts. Nothing the coalition does is good enough. As one problem is solved, the naysayers identify another. Some of this stems from naïveté: Most anti-war activists seem to imagine that a nation's infrastructure and civilian authority can be rebuilt overnight. But many commentators are handicapped by ideology, and have made themselves wilfully blind to the numerous successes in Iraq -- be they political, cultural, economic or military.
It is instructive to remember what naysayers were predicting when this war began. The figure of 500,000 Iraqi civilian casualties was cited commonly -- never mind that similarly apocalyptic predictions before the Afghan campaign had proved spectacularly wrong. As the war wore on, the antis were quick to label the campaign a "quagmire." When Shiites failed to rebel in the first three days of the war, this was trumpeted as proof the Iraqis did not want to be liberated. Then came the fall of Saddam's statute in Baghdad's Paradise Square and the Royal Marines' enthusiastic greeting in Basra. Naturally, that's when we started hearing about the horrors of looting.
This was supposed to be a long war. Yet Baghdad fell within three weeks. Naysayers complained that no weapons of mass destruction had been found. This past weekend, an Iraqi weapons scientist began leading U.S. Marines to sites where quantities of weaponable chemicals had been destroyed as coalition armour rolled toward Baghdad.
Anti-war commentators, leaders and protesters complained before the war there was no link between Saddam Hussein's regime and terrorism. Then three large terrorist training camps were discovered during fighting, and Palestinian terrorist Abu Abbas was captured in a Baghdad suburb. At the largest of the three facilities, just south of the Iraqi capital, evidence was found linking the Iraqi intelligence service to African affiliates of al-Qaeda.
Gasoline prices were to soar. Indeed, some doomsayers were preparing us to pay $2 a litre at the pumps. Yet gas prices have actually declined nearly 15% nationwide since the war began, and crude is off nearly one-third. The American economy was to hurtle into full-blown recession. But U.S. stock prices hit their low in the week leading up to the war, and since have not only regained those losses but also risen 10% beyond that. To the extent people are worried about the economy, it is because of SARS, not Iraq.
The latest sign of moving goalposts is the manufactured outrage at the "looting" of Baghdad's National Museum and at the alleged patronage and profiteering by U.S. corporations in reconstruction contracts. While we would not diminish the magnitude of the loss to scholarship resulting from the theft and destruction of Iraq's Mesopotamian antiquities, it's important to note that the sacking of the museum was hardly a spontaneous act of looting brought about by U.S. indifference. It appears now to have been a sophisticated heist by professional relic hunters, very likely with inside help.
Most display cases were skilfully cut open and their contents carefully removed; then the glass was shattered to leave the appearance of an amateur smash-and-grab. Several items, such as a 5,000-year-old Sumerian pottery known as the Warka Vase, were too heavy to be removed by casual looters and too big to be transported out of the country without large trucks. As John Burns pointed out in his remarkable account of the last days of Saddam's regime in Sunday's New York Times, the Iraqi government was built on corruption, thievery and terror. It is likely the museum break-in was a final outrage committed by its agents or hangers-on.
As for the large U.S. corporations that have been awarded contracts for reconstructing Iraq's infrastructure and oil industry, this is hardly a case of neo-colonial mercantile exploitation. Half to 70% of the value of those contracts is expected to go to Iraqi subcontractors -- and 90% of the wages will be paid to Iraqi workers. (In any case, U.S. firms will do the job right, which should be the main issue for anyone concerned with the country's rehabilitation.)
A swift war ending in an unambiguous U.S. victory was the last thing the peaceniks wanted. Now that this scenario has unfolded, they are betting the farm the peace is the failure the war was not. Fortunately for Iraqis, their success rate for predictions is close to zero.
I would say rather they are handicapped by stupidity.
Also, try Hal's thread here on FR (FABULOUS!): ! HAL9000 - Links to News Sources (v 1.8)
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