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The Brink of the Future By
D. LINDLEY YOUNG and
C. J. CLARKE
WASHINGTON, D. C. (3/22) - The world forever changed the day the US invaded Iraq in a way that only the future can tell. As the might of the world exerted itself with a "shock and awe" never before seen, the world has gotten a clear message that an indelible course of history has been set - the new American century. Although the superiority of US military might is under control, the consequences are not. An uncertain destiny lies before us as a scene of blood and iron is broadcast around the world. The bombing of Baghdad may have created Dente's Hell as Baghdad burns and mushroom clouds bellow above the city in the most massive air strikes ever.
The majority of the world opposed the war on Iraq as unnecessary because there was no evidence that Iraq posed an imminent threat to the US or its allies and urged time to let inspections work. Most, including the CIA and FBI believed an attack upon Iraq would provoke more terrorism and hatred against the US. The world expressed concern about regional and global economic instability if the US attacked Iraq. Yet, the die was caste.
Now we are involved in a battle against the world. Hatred of the US is at an all time pitch. Global demonstrations against the Iraq war appear to be more violent. A vivid hatred screams out against America. People in Cairo, South Korea, Yemen and other countries violently attack US embassies - resulting in deaths and injury to police and protestors. Muslim leaders called for Jihad against America and suicide bombers. The first blood of the call for Jihad has already been drawn as a suicide bomber in Iraq killed five - including an Australian journalist.
American "shock and awe," was supposed to cower the Iraq regime and result in wide spread public rebellion in support of the American liberation. The upraising by the Iraq people against Saddam has yet to take hold.
Their are valid concerns that taking Baghdad may result in a battle of Stalingrad with urban warfare waged in intricate underground tunnels below a city of millions and that we are being drawn into another Vietnam where military might is equalized by the will of a people to resist what is seen by them as an invasion of their sovereignty. Some argue that the failure of the people to revolt is due to a hold on the military and the people of Iraq by Saddam.
If the war on Iraq is a harbinger of glory for America and the path it will take to lead the new American century, it is a message resisted by the world and may be a path to doom. A great division of the world has been struck by the Bush "you are either with us or against us" doctrine. That division will clearly widen as the US expands its campaign of world leadership and its gift to the world of freedom and democracy.
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