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Casualties of War
Without going into the objectives and aims behind the invasion of Iraq and its operational character or progress, it may be germane to identify some of the casualties likely to accompany the invasion’s long-term fallout.
Number 1 would be the OIC, virtually a proxy of the moneyed Arab Establishment and hence unlikely to rock the status quo boat. In an era of satellite TV, Internet, and chat-rooms, its pusillanimity has infuriated Muslim public opinion. Writing for The Independent of March 6, Robert Fisk observed that the OIC summit at Doha had presented an opportunity to show the world “some form of mature opposition” to a war on Iraq. Alas, the Iraqi and Kuwaiti delegates instead traded insults, with the former calling the latter “a monkey and a traitor.” Sadly, an Arab League meeting on March 24 similarly featured “short-tempered exchanges and barely disguised rudeness” as delegates called for “immediate American withdrawal from Iraq but agreed on little else,” according the Susan Sachs of the New York Times.
Two, the UN under the docile and passive Kofi Annan stands exposed as a concubine of predatory power politics. Its credibility as a peace-making body will be difficult to sustain when juxtaposed against its acquiescence to the bloodshed in Baghdad.
Third, the Muslim governing elites who look so haughty on home soil appear helpless and hopelessly out-of-step with public sentiments. At least five Muslim states are providing bases and other support for American and British forces attacking Iraq. The implications of this on the legitimacy of Muslim governing elites could be incalculable. Muslim people who are repelled by Saddam’s despotism are at the same time appalled over the loss of Iraqi civilian lives. They condemn Saddam but they do not condone the assault on Iraq and the precedent it may set on pre-emptive strikes against perceived threats.
Fourth, US influence in the Middle East and the broader Muslim world would take a hit with manifold side effects for the foreseeable future. For example, public opinion in Punjab sees the invasion of Iraq connected with:
(1) controlling oil;
(2) ensuring the supremacy of Israel; and
(3) visceral animus to Muslim aspirations.
Across the Muslim world, US motives in conducting the war are being questioned. Nabil Osman, the Egyptian government’s chief spokesman, reportedly remarked that “the image of the war to the public now is occupation, not liberation.”
Fifth and finally, global peace - as a consequence to events in Iraq - promises to remain a shimmering mirage. Writing in Foreign Affairs of July/August 2002, Lt. Col. Gal Luft, formerly of the Israeli Defense Forces, spoke of ‘The Palestinian H-Bomb’ (exploding humans), reflecting that “never in Israeli history has so much harm been inflicted on so many by so few.” In the view of the Israeli Colonel, the exploding humans are meant to achieve ‘strategic parity’ and this tactic is unlikely to be shelved. If so, the taming of Iraq might inflame other more lethal and intractable flashpoints in the region. The New World Order might prove too hot to handle.
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