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America’s invasion of Iraq fuelled militant Islam

As published in the Toronto Star: Wed., Aug. 26, 2020

Canadian intelligence assessments of Saddam’s Iraq got it right, new research paper says, Aug. 23

Many pundits and politicians have claimed that ungrateful Iraqis rejected America’s gift of freedom and chose sectarian violence after the 2003 U.S. invasion. That slipshod incursion created the conditions for violent chaos and inspired Al Qaeda and later ISIS to enter the country.

Since the illegal 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, more than 1.5 million Iraqis have been killed by military assaults, sectarian violence, terrorism, starvation and disease. The Canadian Press recently reported that Canada’s accurate 2003 assessment of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction capabilities contradicted the U.S. position later used to justify the invasion and occupation of Saddam Hussein’s Iraq.

In spite of Jean Chrétien’s refusal to commit Canadian troops to Iraqi combat, he did approve ammunition sales to the U.S. military for use in Iraq. While perfectly legal, such deals are a prime example of the sort of detached cynicism that views armed conflict as a business opportunity.

In 2008, Prime Minister Stephen Harper admitted that his public support for the 2003 U.S. invasion had been a mistake. While there is no way to predict the human cost had Canadian combat troops deployed to Iraq, the U.S. casualty rate is instructive.

As John Tirman of MIT says, “Expediency (has) usually trumped principle in U.S. foreign policy … The result has predictably, been a growing antipathy for America and its hypocrisies … The avatar of that antipathy has been militant Islam. We remain deaf to this lesson, at our peril.”

Original Letter before edits:

Canada’s Quiet Hypocrisy on Iraq

Many pundits and politicians have claimed that ungrateful Iraqis rejected America’s gift of freedom and chose sectarian violence after the 2003 U.S. invasion. That slipshod incursion created the conditions for violent chaos and inspired Al Qaeda and later ISIS to enter the country.

Since the illegal 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, over 1.5 million Iraqis have been killed by military assaults, sectarian violence, terrorism, starvation and disease. This conservative estimate that may be compared to the approximately 1 million Vietnamese civilian fatalities during the 1965-1975 period of U.S. aggression in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. While American, South Vietnamese, Australian and South Korean casualties are well documented, there is little agreement on the number of Viet Cong and North Vietnamese military dead and wounded.

The Canadian Press recently reported that Canada’s accurate 2003 assessment of Iraq’s WMD (nuclear, chemical, biological weapons of mass destruction) capabilities contradicted the U.S. position later used to justify the invasion and occupation of Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. The Bush government’s desire to control Iraq’s vast oil resources has since been revealed as their actual motive.

In spite of Jean Chretien’s refusal to commit Canadian troops to Iraqi combat, he did approve ammunition sales to the U.S. military for use in Iraq. SNC-TEC; an SNC Lavelin subsidiary, received a 2004 contract to manufacture and supply millions of bullets. While perfectly legal, such deals are a prime example of the sort of detached cynicism that views armed conflict as a business opportunity.

In 2008, Prime Minster Stephen Harper admitted that his public support for the 2003 U.S. invasion had been a mistake. Unbeknownst to Harper, his 2003 remarks contained material plagiarized by a PMO staffer from a previous speech by Australian leader John Howard. While there is no way to predict the human cost had Canadian combat troops deployed to Iraq, the U.S. casualty rate is instructive.

According to John Tirman of MIT, “…expediency [has] usually trumped principle in U.S. foreign policy…the result has predictably, been a growing antipathy for America and its hypocrisies…the avatar of that antipathy has been militant Islam. We remain deaf to this lesson, at our peril.”