Was the Iraq Invasion Worthwhile? Ask an Iraqi: Jeffrey Goldberg

[boomer113189]

4 - 8 - 2013

 

In a recent interview with the New York Times, the writer Toni Morrison said, “I dare you to tell me a sane reason we went to Iraq.”

Her request is not unreasonable. We’ve heard similar arguments a lot over the past few weeks, as we marked the 10th anniversary of the war. There is widespread agreement that the American invasion of Iraq was provoked by a series of lies, neuroses, venalities and delusions.

And so much of what has happened over the past 10 years in Iraq has been undeniably disastrous. The cost in Iraqi and American blood and treasure is appalling, and the damage done to our country’s reputation -- and to the ideas that animate liberal interventionism -- may be irreparable. (Just ask the people of Syria, who are struggling against tyranny without much help from the U.S.)

One thing I’ve noticed over the past two weeks, however, is that Iraqis themselves haven’t often been asked about their opinion of the war. Iraq, after President George W. Bush failed to accomplish his mission, was a place of violence and chaos, but before the invasion, it was a charnel house. Saddam Hussein’s regime murdered as many as 1 million Iraqis in its years in absolute power. Many Americans forget this. Most Iraqis don’t.
Torture Chambers

The New Yorker’s Dexter Filkins, who wrote the best book on Iraq (“The Forever War”), recently recalled a visit, shortly after the invasion, to one of Saddam’s torture chambers, a place called Al Hakemiya. He met a man there who identified himself as Al-Musawi. The two visited a room where Al-Musawi’s “arms had been nearly torn from their sockets.” He had been hung from the ceiling and electrocuted.

“Today, in 2013 -- a decade later -- it’s not fashionable to suggest that the American invasion of Iraq served any useful purpose,” Filkins continued. “But what are we to make of Iraqis like Al-Musawi? Or of torture chambers like Al Hakemiya? Where do we place them in our memories? And, more important, how should they shape our judgment of the war we waged?”

His suggestion: “Ask the Iraqis -- that is, if anyone, in this moment of American navel-gazing, can be bothered to do so.”

I took Filkins’s charge to heart, and asked another graduate of Saddam’s torture chambers, a man named Barham Salih, what he thought of the invasion, 10 years on.

Today, Salih is the chairman of the board of the American University of Iraq in Sulaimani, which provides a liberal education in a place not previously known for such a phenomenon. In recent years, Salih has served as both the deputy prime minister of Iraq and as prime minister of the Kurdish regional government. He was in the camp of people who argued that Saddam’s decision to commit genocide against Iraqi Kurds (sometimes with chemical weapons) in the late 1980s made his removal a moral imperative.

I asked him if he thought the invasion was worth it.

“From the perspective of the Kurdish people -- and I dare say the majority of the Iraqi people -- it was worth it,” he said. “War is never a good option, but given our history and the brutality of Saddam’s regime, it may have been the only other option to end the genocidal campaign waged by Saddam against the Kurds and other communities in Iraq.”

Here is where his answer became a lament. “I must admit, however, that 10 years on, Iraq’s transition is, to say the least, characterized by unrealized expectations, both for Iraqis and for our American liberators. Iraq is not the friendly democracy that the U.S. had hoped for, and it is far from the secure, inclusive democracy that Iraqis deserved and aspired to.”
‘Inherent Danger’

He went on to blame Iraqis, rather than Americans, for the failures of the past decade. “Much can be said about U.S. missteps and miscalculations in this process, but there is no denying that Iraqi political leadership bears prime responsibility for squandering a unique opportunity to deliver to their people. This has been nothing short of a drastic failure of leadership on our part! The Kurdistan region offers hope that all is not lost in Iraq.”

I asked Salih to answer the argument that the Kurds -- who make up almost 20 percent of Iraq’s population -- were, by 2003, mainly living in relative safety in a region protected by an American-enforced no-fly zone. In other words, the invasion wasn’t a humanitarian necessity at that moment.

“All Iraqis lived under a regime that had complete disdain for human life,” he said. “Executions and killings continued at will. Thousands of Iraqis were being sent to the mass graves. The Kurds were never safe as they knew that Saddam could at any time decide to reconquer the no-fly zone.”

He went on, “Saddam was a menace to the Kurds, to the other Iraqi communities, and an inherent danger to the region. He was, from our perspective in this part of the world, a grave and mortal danger that we could never be safe from while he was still around.”

I take Toni Morrison’s beliefs seriously. The serial and tragic mistakes of the Bush administration, and the naivete of people like me, make questioning the value of the invasion necessary. I thought that Iraq, with competent American help, could make the transition to at least semi-democracy, even after suffering such physical and psychological damage during the bleak years of Saddam’s reign. But those who believe the invasion was an act of insanity -- especially those who fashion themselves as advocates for human rights, dignity and liberation -- should at least ask Saddam’s many victims for their opinion on the matter before rendering final judgment.

 

http://goo.gl/bp2Hj

 

 

[FlintNPebbles]

Thank you for the article. Just goes to show the "walk a mile in my shoes" is never understated. Perceptions vary and eye witness accounts are not always accurate but a person's individual experiences make them who they are and what they are grateful for. These two are probably not the minority when it comes to believing the invasion was well worth it.

[hame55]

Thank you for the article. Just goes to show the "walk a mile in my shoes" is never understated. Perceptions vary and eye witness accounts are not always accurate but a person's individual experiences make them who they are and what they are grateful for. These two are probably not the minority when it comes to believing the invasion was well worth it.

Yes well worth it.

Just ask the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis killed in the war...wait. Sorry.

They're dead. 

Just ask a journalist.

[dontlop]

was the revolutionary war worth it >,

 

 the civil war ..?

 

ww1 >?

 

ww2? ...

 

korean war ?

 

 vietnam ?

 

cold war ?

 

gulf war ?

 

 balkins ?

 

afganistan ?

 

 one of these days people will learn american history ....

 

they asked and said some nasty things about america after the japan.. how they were savages .. suicide bombers ..  they would never change ...  yep right out of the starting gate .. they made their comments ..  they dont wait for a country to develope with the new policies  that are put in place .. all they see is   the kaos  in the first few years after .... japan took 40 years to rebuild and re-educate their children .... iraq will  need the same .. history judges that , not  some  new journalist fresh out of some liberal college ..50 years from now  those questions will be answered

 

 

 

 

 

 ask the  millions that died at the hands of saddam in iraq and iran  and kuwait . .. and how many more would be dead right now  if we would of  just kept up sanctions .. how long would the world tolerate it ..

 

 close to a million  children under the age of 5 .... just under the age of 5 ... died during the 90s .. because of sanctions on iraq ..saddam stole all the humanitarian   supplys  and capitol for food and medicine gained in the food for oil program .. he was only allowed thru sanctions  to sell a small amount of oil  and the money was to be used for humanitarian  purposes .., but he kept the money and used it to build palaces for himself ..

 

 

 so to judge history so son is not going to be genuine .. even though the left wingers like huffington post want to post article after article every day . for political agendas .. the truth is not with huffington post . or msnbc ..

 

 ask yourself how was japan doing just after world war 2 .. ask how south korea was doing after  the war ..

 

  hows the balkins doing ?   america trys .. .. to just walk  by the worlds problems and let brutal dictators have their way is no solution to anything .. it only adds to the problems .

 

 look into the future . what do you see ..?

 

north korea ?   iran?   syria ?   ... people act like the only war the united states ever was involved in was the iraq war ...like i said some day they will learn history ..but guess what.. after they learn .. their will be a whole new group of young kids .. who still dont know history coming out of liberal colleges  writing for left wing news papers .., doing the same thing others have learned  was not to be   the correct way to judge history ..and the political  agenda of the commie socialist types will still be in america will still be alive  .. because we believe in free speech  here ... ask the media thats controlled under a dictatorship .. maybe they can answer the question right now today .. forget  the future and what it hold for iraq .. discard it and judge from your hip  pocket .  its all speculatin as to iraqs future right now .

 

 i personally believe in american policy .

 

 ask the dead children   of iraq that saddam  discarded  so he could live like a king .

a decade later as if the war has been over for a decade .. is how they write the supposed truth about iraq and its future .. they talk about a decade later . .. ya every thing was accompluished the first day ..that we wanted to accomplish and look at it a decade later that shows the mentality of  those trying to make their weekly pay check for doing a job .. writing storys

new york times is known as a liberal news paper . end of story

this was united states policy . and it still is .. just like korea .. japan .. vietnam ..    not a single persons .. iraq was planned well before the invasion .. iraqs  was on a time table  ..  comply with un resolutions or ..  i guess the iraqi liberation act would  take place that was signed into law in 1998 .

[dontlop]

george bush , **** cheney . colon powel .  condelisa rice .. the united states congress , the united nations ,  the coalition forces knew excatly what they were doing ..  ... they are no dummies like some  to try  to  make them out to be . 

[ronscarpa]

Thank for your posts boomer & dontlop...  ..!

Unfortunately, too many of us (Americans) have our heads in the sand, and most don't take the time to search for truth, they are influenced by the news and articles as presented by the liberal media and the secular humanists. There is an agenda here in the USA (and abroad) to rewrite history so that certain groups & individuals can lead us to the kind of world order they have been trying to establish. Slowly but surely Americans are being trained (by media, tv, pop stars, liberals, etc) to be a culture of "entitlement oriented", then we are easier to manipulate. Also, we are becoming less educated and less literate - depending on others to inform us on what we need to know, or do, to gain or maintain a lifestyle.  It's a sad commentary on our society in America. 

 

I'm not accusing any particular group, because we need all kinds of thinkers and educators - liberals, conservatives, independents, scientists, religious, strategists, philosophers, real leaders - to have a balanced perspective on & for our culture to truly be a free and democratic Republic.  This is what our country was founded upon, and what will permit us to progress and move into the future.  But, each of us as Americans must move away from our apathetic and indifferent attitudes, and be individually responsible for our behavior and actions. I could ramble on more, but I think the point is made here.  God help us, and may God bless the United States of America. 

 

Be Blessed Everyone.....RON