Reality woven around fantasy
P. K. Vasudeva

Iraq 2003: The Return of Imperialism
by Zafar Imam. Aakar Books, New Delhi. Page 112. Rs 225.

THIS is the story of one of the most tragic incidents of 2003. The main excuse for attacking Iraq, to find weapons of mass destruction (WMD) concealed by Saddam Hussein, proved false. However, Iraq has been made safe for democracy. Though Saddam has been captured by the Americans, the peace there is a distant dream.

The opening chapter, on the history of Iraq, states that one of the earliest zones of human settlement lay in between and around the Rivers Tigris and Euphrates, attracted people speaking diverse languages. They were known as the Sumer and the Akkad. Assyria and Babylonia, collectively called Mesopotamia by the Greek and the Romans, saw the entry of Islam to these areas, which was welcomed. Kofa and Basra played a decisive role in shaping the early Islam.

The Ba’ath party had come to power in Iraq after a split in the sultanate. With the birth of Israel, Arab nations became hostile to America and the rest of the western countries, so in the mid-1950s, Britain and the USA dragged Iraq into their global strategy against the erstwhile Soviet Union.

The post-Qasim years in the history of modern Iraq (February, 1963 to July 1968) are littered with military coups and untold violence against the Iraqi communists and their sympathisers. It was in a coup on July 30, 1968, that Saddam Hussein emerged as the sole leader of the Ba’ath party and Vice-President of Iraqi Republic.

Iran-Iraq disastrous conflict made him pragmatic. His biggest folly was to attack Kuwait in 1991 for capturing its rich oil fields. The US and its allies attacked Iraq and the subsequent UN sactions shattered the economy of Iraq.

The 9/11 attacks on World Trade Center in New York shocked the world and turned the US administration angry and revengeful. It was revealed to be the act of Osama-bin-Laden, prot`E9g`E9 of the CIA against the Soviets in Afghanistan and fugitive Saudi millionaire, and his tiny band of crazy warriors, Al-Qaeda. This pushed US President George Bush to launch his war on terrorism, which in his view was inspired by the Arabs in particular and the Muslims of the world in general.

Iraq was the "unfinished agenda of the first Gulf War". The main attraction for the West, especially the US, was the oil wealth of Iraq. According to the US Government Energy Information and Administration (EIA), the US imports of crude oil during the years 1999-2002 had been an annual average of more than double its domestic production. Bush and Blair found an excuse that Saddam Hussein had amassed weapons of mass destruction, and launched the war on Iraq in early summer of 2003.

Towards the end of Apri1 2003, after about six weeks of unleashing its military might on Iraq, Bush triumphantly proclaimed victory. Iraq came under the rule of the US Army, and the Saddam regime was changed. The readers will like this book for presenting this change in a capsular format, in an academic framework.

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