With United States warplanes and tanks heading home, the war in Iraq is close to an end in much shorter time than predicted. However, the impact the war has brought to the world seems to be profound and significant.
Some analysts believe the Iraq war is an offspring of preemption and has dealt a heavy blow to the principle of sovereignty.
Moreover, they say the US defiance of the United Nations frustrates the international community which has made unremitting efforts in safeguarding the credibility and authority of the world body.
The breakout of the Iraq war was not accidental. Since the Sept.11, 2001 terror attacks on the US mainland, the conservatives have adamantly advocated doctrines of unilateralism and preemption.
The key point of preemption, according to American "National Security Strategy" made public last September, is that the United States "will not hesitate to act alone" if necessary, and to destroy any threat before it reaches its borders.
In other words, the US could use force to invade a sovereign country or to topple a government of a sovereign state based on its judgment of possible foreign, external threats.
Iraq, part of what US president George W. Bush called the "axis of evil," became the first case of the preemption doctrine. The United States repeatedly claimed that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction (WMD) which, it said, posed a great threat to its security.
The Americans finally launched the war on Iraq under the banner of disarmament, despite the fact that UN inspectors had made major headway in the weapons inspection and found no evidence of Iraq hiding WMD before the war began.
In an article published in The Washington Post on April 14, former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger said "Preemption ran counter to established principles of sovereignty that justified war only as resistance to aggression or the imminence of attacks."
Analysts also worry that the Iraqi case will be a dangerous precedent that could have negative consequences on the world order, because there are some countries that have already asserted the right of preemptive strike in state-to-state conflicts.
The breakout of Iraq war has also undermined the authority of the United Nations, a world body consisting of sovereign states. With safeguarding world peace and security as its primary tenet, the United Nations is widely considered an effective multilateral mechanism to address the disputes of the world today.
Originally, the United States brought the issue of Iraq before the UN Security Council in hope of seeking a resolution authorizing the attack on Iraq.
However, the US intention, which gave rise to fierce disputes, met strong opposition in the Security Council, and the setback in the United Nations prompted the United States to take unilateral actions against Iraq without UN authorization.
Some analysts even suggest that the controversy inside the UN building was in essence about what had become two conflicting views of the world -- a unipolar or multipolar world.
"Any community with only one dominant power is always a dangerous one," French President Jacques Chirac said in an interview with the Time magazine. "That's why I favor a multipolar world, in which Europe obviously has its place."
The schism within the European Union (EU) was another impact ofthe Iraq war, which divided the European continent into what US defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld called "old" and "new" Europe.
The rise of the "new" Europe, local press said, would no doubt weaken the EU's endeavor to achieve its goal of speaking with one voice in terms of diplomacy.
The disputes in the Security Council that pitted France and Germany against the United States and Britain have also hurt traditional transatlantic relations, which have plummeted to their lowest point historically.
Now, with the fall of the regime of Saddam Hussein, differences over who should play a leading role in post-war Iraqi reconstruction come to the surface.
The soured transatlantic ties have caused unease among some politicians, including Dr. Kissinger, who said: "If the existing trend in transatlantic relations continues, the international system will be fundamentally altered."
"Europe will split into two groups defined by their attitude toward cooperation with America," he added.
Also, there are signs indicating that the US goal of invading Iraq is more than oil. Great changes have always taken place after a war in terms of geopolitical patterns. Bush and his aides sometimes acknowledged that the war was about far more than just Iraq, according to The New York Times.
The report said Iraq was the first step in the US strategy to spread "democracy" in the Middle East. The United States hoped that through the transformation by force, Iraq could have "exemplary effects" on other Arab nations so as to bring about changes in the region. |
America’s top military leaders drafted plans to kill innocent people and commit acts of terrorism in US cities to trick the public into supporting a war against Cuba in the early 1960s. Approved in writing by the Pentagon Joint Chiefs, Operation Northwoods even proposed blowing up a US ship and hijacking planes as a false pretext for war. [ABC News, 5/1/01, Pentagon Documents]
1996–2001: Federal authorities are aware for years before 9/11 that suspected terrorists with ties to Osama bin Laden are receiving flight training at schools in the US and abroad. One convicted terrorist confesses that his planned role in a terror attack was to crash a plane into CIA headquarters. [Washington Post, 9/23/01, CBS, 5/30/02, more]
1996–2001: On multiple occasions spies give detailed reports on bin Laden's location. Each time, the CIA director or top White House officials prevent bin Laden's elimination. [Los Angeles Times, 12/5/04, New York Times, 12/30/01, more]
2000–2001: 15 of the 19 hijackers fail to fill in visa documents properly in Saudi Arabia. Only six are interviewed. All 15 should have been denied entry to the US. [Washington Post, 10/22/02, ABC, 10/23/02] Two top Republican senators say if State Department personnel had merely followed the law, 9/11 would not have happened. [AP, 12/18/02, more]
2000–2001: The military conducts exercises simulating hijacked airliners used as weapons to crash into targets causing mass casualties. One target is the World Trade Center (WTC), another the Pentagon. Yet after 9/11, over and over the White House and security officials say they’re shocked that terrorists hijacked airliners and crashed them into landmark buildings. [USA Today, 4/19/04, Military District of Washington, 11/3/00, New York Times, 10/3/01, more]
Jan 2001: After the Nov 2000 elections, US intelligence agencies are told to “back off” investigating the bin Ladens and Saudi royals. There have always been constraints on investigating Saudi Arabians. [BBC, 11/6/01, more]
Spring 2001: A series of military and governmental policy documents is released that seek to legitimize the use of US military force in the pursuit of oil and gas. One advocates presidential subterfuge and hiding the reasons for warfare “as a necessity for mobilizing public support.” [Sydney Morning Herald, 12/26/02, more]
May 2001: For the third time, US security chiefs reject Sudan’s offer of thick files on bin Laden and al-Qaeda. A senior CIA source calls it “the worst single intelligence failure in the business.” [Guardian, 9/30/01, more]
June-Aug 2001: German intelligence warns the CIA that Middle Eastern terrorists are training for hijackings and targeting American interests. Russian President Vladimir Putin alerts the US of suicide pilots training for attacks on US targets. In late July, a Taliban emissary warns the US that bin Laden is planning a huge attack on American soil. In August, Israel warns of an imminent Al Qaeda attack. [Fox News, 5/17/02, Independent, 9/7/02, CNN, 9/12/02, more]
July 4-14, 2001: Bin Laden reportedly receives kidney treatment from Canadian-trained Dr. Callaway at the American Hospital in Dubai. Dr. Callaway declines to comment. During his stay, bin Laden is allegedly visited by one or two CIA agents. [Guardian, 11/1/01, Sydney Morning Herald, 10/31/01, London Times 11/1/01, UPI, 11/1/01, more]
July 26, 2001: Attorney General Ashcroft stops flying commercial airlines due to a threat assessment. [CBS, 7/26/01] In May 2002, Ashcroft walks out of his office rather than answer questions about it. [Fox News/AP, 5/16/02, more]
Aug 6, 2001: President Bush receives an intelligence briefing warning that bin Laden might be planning to hijack commercial airliners. Titled “Bin Ladin Determined To Strike in US,” the briefing specifically mentions the WTC. Yet Bush later claims it “said nothing about an attack on America.” [Washington Post, 4/12/04, Briefing, 8/6/01, more]
Aug 27, 2001: An FBI supervisor says he’s trying to keep a hijacker from “flying a plane into the WTC.” [Senate Report (Hill #2), 10/17/02] Headquarters chastises him for notifying the CIA. [Time, 5/21/02, more]
Sep 10, 2001: A number of top Pentagon brass suddenly cancel travel plans for the next morning, apparently because of security concerns. Why isn't this news spread widely? [Newsweek, 9/13/01, Newsweek, 9/24/01, more]
9/11/2001: Data recovery experts extract data from 32 damaged WTC computer drives. The data reveals a surge in financial transactions shortly before the attacks. Illegal transfers of over $100 million may have been made through WTC computer systems immediately before and during the 9/11 disaster. [Reuters, 12/18/01, CNN, 12/20/01, more]
9/11/2001: Described as a bizarre coincidence, a US intelligence agency was scheduled for an exercise on 9/11 at 9:00 AM in which an aircraft would crash into one of its buildings near Washington, DC. [USA Today/AP, 8/22/02, more]
9/11/2001: Hours after the attacks, a "shadow government" is formed. Key congressional leaders say they didn’t know this government-in-waiting had been established. [CBS, 3/2/02, Washington Post, 3/2/02, more]
9/11/2001: Six air traffic controllers who dealt with two of the hijacked airliners make a tape recording describing the events within hours of the attacks. The tape is never turned over to the FBI. It is later illegally destroyed by a supervisor without anyone making a transcript or even listening to it. [Washington Post, 5/6/04, New York Times, 5/6/04]
Sep 13-19, 2001: Bin Laden's family is taken under FBI supervision to a secret assembly point. They leave the country by private plane when airports reopen days after the attacks. [New York Times, 9/30/01, Boston Globe, 9/20/01, more]
Sep 15-16, 2001: Several of the 9/11 hijackers, including lead hijacker Mohamed Atta, may have had training at secure US military installations. [Newsweek, 9/15/01, Washington Post, 9/16/01, New York Times, 9/15/01, more]
Sept 20, 2001: Several 9/11 hijackers later mentioned in the 9/11 Commission Report turn up alive. "Five of the alleged hijackers have emerged, alive, innocent and astonished to see their names and photographs appearing on satellite television...The hijackers were using stolen identities." [quote in London Times, 9/20/01, see also BBC, 9/23/01, more]
Dec 2001-Feb 2002: The US engineers the rise to power of two former Unocal Oil employees: Hamid Karzai, the interim president of Afghanistan, and Zalmay Khalizad, the US envoy. The big American bases created in the Afghan war are identical to the route of the projected oil pipeline. [Chicago Tribune, 3/18/02, more]
May 17, 2002: Dan Rather says that he and other journalists haven't been properly investigating since 9/11. He graphically describes the pressures to conform that built up after the attacks. [Guardian, 5/17/02, more]
May 23, 2002: President Bush says he is opposed to establishing an independent commission to probe 9/11. [CBS, 5/23/02] Vice President Cheney earlier opposed any public hearings on 9/11. [Newsweek, 2/4/02, more]
May 30, 2002: FBI Agent Wright formally accuses the FBI of deliberately curtailing investigations that might have prevented 9/11. He is threatened with retribution if he talks to Congress about this. [Fox News, 5/30/02, more]
July 22, 2004: The 9/11 Commission Report is published. It fails to mention that a year before the attacks a secret Pentagon project had identified four 9/11 hijackers, including leader Mohamed Atta. The Commission spokesperson initially states members were not informed of this, but later acknowledges they were. [New York Times, 8/11/05, more]
2004 - 2005: A growing number of top government officials and public leaders express disbelief in the official story of 9/11. 100 prominent leaders and 40 9/11 family members sign a statement calling for an unbiased inquiry into evidence suggesting high-level government officials may have deliberately allowed the attacks to occur. [Various Publications]
Aug 9, 2006: A book by 9/11 Commission chairmen Kean and Hamilton outlines repeated deceptions by the Pentagon and FAA, including the timelines of Flights 77 and 93. CNN News: "The fact that the government would...perpetuate the lie suggests that we need a full investigation of what is going on." [CNN, 8/9/06 , MSNBC/AP, 8/4/06, more] |
