US Invasion of Iraq Was a Strategic Error, Despite Rice-Rumsfeld Denials By Hassan El-Najjar

US Invasion of Iraq Was a Strategic Error, Despite Rice-Rumsfeld Denials

By Hassan El-Najjar

Al-Jazeerah, April 11, 2006

US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice had a public exchange of evaluation of what went wrong in Iraq with the US Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld. Rice said that the US committed “thousands of tactical errors” but the strategic decision to invade Iraq was right. This evaluation angered Rumsfeld who does not admit any strategic or tactical mistakes in Iraq. Actually, he does not see anything wrong going on in Iraq. As a result, he accused Rice of ignorance about military issues. The exchange was published at Al-Jazeerah, on April 9, 2006, and can be accessed at:

Rumsfeld Comes Out Swinging at Rice Over her Iraq's "Thousands of Errors"

Well, Condi and Rummy sound like they are in need of a candid third opinion they will never be able to hear from their employees in the State and Defense departments or from the Empire propaganda machine, the corporate media. Here it is.

The US Invasion of Iraq Was a Strategic Error, which if not corrected may cost the US its privileged status as the Crown Jewel of the Zionist Empire. China and Europe can't wait to claim that status.

To be fair to Condi, Rummy, and the Bush administration teams, which planned and executed the invasion, we have to mention that the roots of the US invasion of Iraq go back to the Israeli Prime Minister, Yitzhak Rabin and his Foreign Minister, Shimon Peres, in 1988, which I discussed in a previous article (See State of the Zionist Empire Three Years After the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq, Al-Jazeerah, March 20, 2006).

When Saddam invaded Kuwait in 1990, he did it after getting a green light from the US Ambassador, April Glaspie, who told him that the US had no business to interfere in inter-Arab disputes.

Was it a trap to Saddam?

So far, the evidence has demonstrated that it was a trap to Saddam, an excuse to allow US forces to occupy the Arabian Gulf area, which contains more than two-thirds of the world oil reserves. More important was the removal of Iraq as a threat to the Israeli hegemony in the Middle East.

When US forces did not move to Baghdad following the ejection of the Iraqi forces from Kuwait, in 1991, the Zionist propaganda machine in the corporate media never stopped to mention that the George Bush Sr.'s mission was not accomplished. He had to finish the job by going to Baghdad.

This explains why George Bush Jr. was obsessed with the idea of "Mission Accomplished" only two months after the start of the US invasion of Iraq. He wanted to redeem the name of his "Dad" in history by going to Baghdad. That's why he told his cabinet in the early days of his first term that he was going to invade Iraq, as his Treasury Secretary, Paul O'Neil, mentioned in his book, and as the White House Security Chief, Richard Clark, also mentioned.

Two Trips to Mongolia, linked to the Road to Baghdad

I can’t help but mention the trip of the US Secretary of State, James Baker III, to Mongolia in the last days of November 1990, following his trip to Moscow to convince Gorbachev to support the US-led war to evict Iraq from Kuwait. When Baker was sure that Gorby was in his pocket, he delegated the job of finalizing the joint statement Dennis Ross and Tarshinko and left to Mongolia.

I can’t also help but mention that among the very small number of countries George Bush Jr. visited during his presidency was Mongolia, where he was taken to the desert for some pictures with descendants of Ghankis Ghan warriors and their horses.

For those who still don’t know what I am talking about, I believe that there is a connection between the two trips of Baker and Bush Jr. to Mongolia. The invasion of Iraq was in the minds of US officials and power elite since the Rabin-Peres desire to destroy Iraq was known to them.

Mongols, led by the grandson of Ghankis Khan, Holago, were the non-Muslim conquerors who invaded the Muslim world, including its capital of Baghdad in 1258. They also found local collaborators, Ibn Al-Alqami. When Baghdad fell to them, they looted it and killed more than a hundred thousand Iraqis until the water of the Tigress River turned red. Then, they destroyed its history and the world intellectual treasures when they threw books of its precious libraries in the Tigress River until its water turned black from the ink.

Baker’s and Bush’s trips to Mongolia were more than an admiration for the Mongols who destroyed the Arab-Islamic Empire and its capital of Baghdad in the 13th century. They represented an identification with the Mongols, as conquerors of Baghdad, but from a different time.

A Strategic Error

The US warriors are following the footsteps of the Mongol warriors in their fast expansion around the world, establishing military garrisons in lands they occupy by war or agreements (700 US military bases in 156 countries), which overburdened the US treasury to the verge of collapse. Napoleon Bonaparte and Hitler did exactly that, fast expansion and occupation of as many countries as possible.

The US has been led to follow the footsteps of not only the Mongols but also the fast-erected Empires of Napoleon and Hitler. Resources from the motherland of the conquerors dwindle more and more everyday, as they become farther away in their conquests. Hostile forces of the conquered nations have resisted conquerors throughout history and other rival world powers can't wait to provide the resistance with assistance.

The US has been placed in a course that devours its resources for the benefit of the larger world Zionist Empire, which itself may suffer dire consequences if its main colony collapses .

As the US is dragged to launch more and more wars, forced to maintain its world-wide military bases, and whipped to the level of chastisement to continue its military spending, it has reached now the verge of financial collapse by more than $8.3 trillion in debt. This is a proof that the US is not benefiting from its world-wide service for the Zionist rulers, who want to dominate the world using the US to the last dollar it can generate, let alone the blood and pain of soldiers who are killed and injured during the "permanent war."

The US planners of the invasion of Iraq have demonstrated a shameful ignorance of what to do next after the occupation of Iraq. They are in the middle of a quagmire larger and deeper many many times than that of Vietnam. They dragged the US into a conflict not only against the Iraqi people, who have demonstrated a stubborn and persistent resistance, but against the Arab and Muslim worlds, despite the fake self-assurance emanating from the US-backed puppet rulers.

It seems that the US officials who planned the invasion of Iraq or endorsed it (Republicans and Democrats alike) don't know what to do except waiting for the conflict to intensify, leading to more invasions (Iran now) and a deeper and beyond-redemption national debt.

This is going to lead to the same dead end that faced the previous empires, which were erected without vision or mission. The collapse will be sudden and very fast. This is what happened to the Soviet Union in the late 1980s, to Nazi Germany in 1945, to the Napoleonic Empire in the early 1800s, and before that to the Mongol Empire in the 13th century.

It may be educational to tell the story of how the Mongol conquerors disappeared as rulers directly after establishing their empire. Ghankis Khan used to reward his generals by allowing them to marry thirty women from the tribes, cities, or nations they conquered. Lower-level military leaders would get less than thirty women but all including soldiers would get women as booty in addition to what they would loot.

When Holago was defeated by the Egyptian Mamluk commander, Saifuddin Qutuz, in the battle of Ain Jalot, in Palestine, the Mongols settled down and stopped their conquests. They started to pay attention to their wealth, and particularly to their women and children. Well, women were Muslim and they educated their children to be good Muslims, which meant that they were no longer Mongols. They became Muslims. Period.

Is there a way out to save the US?

Absolutely, yes. The US leaders have to think about America first. This will never happen if they continue to pledge allegiance to Israel. They have to stop following Israeli policies, particularly funding continuous Israeli wars against Arabs, particularly against the Palestinian people. Israelis have to be forced to live peacefully with their neighbors by cutting aid to them.

Without pressure from Christian Zionists and Jewish Zionists to support Israel, America does not need to fight the Arab and Muslim worlds. Arabs and Muslim become trade partners and friends instead of enemies and terrorists, they are depicted as right now by pro-war supporters of expansionist Israel.

So far, the vast majority of US politicians on both sides of the isle are Israel-firsters.

Even today, in Moscow again, the Republican leader of the US Senate, Frist, was negotiating with Russia to give it a favorable trade status and to lift the 57-year-old ban on trade with it if it stops its support to Iran in the UN. And by the way, the trade ban was imposed on the Soviet Union because its leaders refused to allow Soviet Jews to immigrate to Israel, as long as the Palestinians were deprived of return to their homeland.

It is Israel, again and again, the prime mover behind the US moves in the world.

But can these American politicians change their attitude towards Israeli world domination dreams?

Some of them may do so as they realize the degree of danger their positions are causing to the US. Others may never change their supportive position towards Israeli expansionist policies. These must be voted out of office for their ignorance and threat to the very existence of the United States?

Removing them is not going to be an easy job. There has to be a grassroots movement to PUT AMERICA FIRST. It should start within the two parties dominating American politics, with candidates who declare that they are running under a platform of peace and putting America first. This should be the password for people to vote for them.

More important is establishing the America First Coalition, which should include all third parties, independents, academics, and dissenting military and civilian officials in the US government. Coalition activists should educate the American people about the dangers of continuous wars and world domination policy adopted by the US government in service of the Zionist Empire.

A major battle ground is churches, where people are erroneously taught to support Israel as a religious duty. They have to be told the truth (See my article (The Promised Land ). The Zionist corporate media may be denied to the America First Coalition activists but they should use alternative media, particularly the internet and the few free written, heard, and seen media.

It's not going to be an easy battle, but it's a must to save the United States from a sure collapse if the present policies continue.

Let's bring our troops home from Iraq and everywhere.

Let's save the United States of America.

Dr. Hassan A El-Najjar is the Editor of Al-Jazeerah. ( www.aljazeerah.info ).

Earth, a planet hungry for peace

Apartheid Wall


The Israeli Land-Grab Apartheid Wall built inside the Palestinian territories, here separating Abu Dis from occupied East Jerusalem. (IPC, 7/4/04).

The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank, like a Python. (Alquds,10/25/03).

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