Iraq 10 years On

The mother of all battles was fought over Iraq by the US-led invasion 10 years ago. But the Iraq war would turn out to be the mother of all mistakes in the first half of the 21st century. When Saddam Hussein was hanged I wrote a blogpost condemning the barbaric execution and the injustice of it all, especially perpetrated by a superpower who boasts in the rule of law that guarantees a fair trial. If there is such a thing victor's justice, Saddam's hurried trial, condemnation and hasty execution was it.

10 years on Iraqi people are no better on account of the invasion. A conservative estimate has 120,000 Iraqis killed in the past decade and another half a million injured or disabled. On the eve of the 10th anniversary of the war more than 50 people were killed by bombs, a regular occurrence on Baghdad's streets. As much as I admire the American political system and its chief executives in her Presidents, President George W. Bush would prove to be one of the worst presidents of all time. At the end of his 2nd term, 80% Americans thought that President Bush simply did not measure up. It's all too easy to beat the drums of war than to sound the note of caution and restraint. America has no cause for war against a nation half a world away that did not pose an imminent threat to America or her people. There was no weapon of mass destruction. Instead, there was the weapon of mass delusion propagated by the Bush administration and assisted by the Blairs of this world who have shown no remorse in the deaths of many innocents and the destruction of an ancient and proud nation. May Iraq rise from the ashes of war and find peace.