Light of Peace

Saddam Hussain, the former ruler of Iraq, was a dictator of his own kind with no parallel in the modern world. He gained power in Iraq through his political ‘Ba’ath Party’. After assuming power he suppressed his people through the use of ruthless force and brute techniques. The ‘Shiite’ Muslims, though being in majority, were denied their political and religious rights and were always kept away from power. They were not even allowed to celebrate their religious rituals of “Aashur’ in the holy city of Karbala. Similarly the Kurd population in the north Iraq was victimized. They were targeted and bombarded with brute use of force. The Kurds were even subject to the genocide by employing chemical weapons against their civilian population centers. The intelligence network of Saddam was so dreadful and effective that no one in the country could escape its wrath. The voices of dissent were crushed immediately by eliminating the opponents, even if they were from his family and clan.

Saddam attacks Iran

The political party of Saddam Hussain, ‘Ba’ath Party’ that was in power, had a socialist orientation. Hence neither his party nor Saddam Hussain himself had to do anything with Islam or Islamic ideology. Till second Gulf War, the posture of Saddam Hussain was that of a pure secular dictator; however during the war he amended his profile to display as a champion of Islam, just to attract the sympathies of the Muslim world.He invariably got himself photographed while sitting on a mat and saying prayers. At times he would compare himself with Saladin, the great Muslim leader who fought Crusades with the Christian armies of Europe in 10^th century. All this was a pseudo behavior as his actions never matched with the values and teachings of Islam. Despite his inhuman behavior and policies, Saddam Hussain was continuously pampered by the West. It is so unfortunate that the western democratic countries vehemently supported a dictator like Saddam, just to fulfill their own aims. A huge amount of military aid was provided to Iraq to make her army as a formidable force to face the Iranian Islamic revolutionary state. The result was obvious. Saddam Hussain attacked Iran in 1980 without any provocation but was supported by the West. Imbued with the spirit of patriotism and inspired the revolutionary teachings of their leader. Ayatulla Khomeni, the whole Iranian nation put up a formidable resistance and achieved success against Iraq, despite heavy odds.

The Gulf War 1991

Saddam Hussain then planned to capture Kuwait in 1990. He based his strategy on the assumption that the West, particularly the Americans will not interfere militarily with his adventure. It is yet not clear to the political and military analysts as to how Saddam could commit such a blunder without taking his benefactors ie the West, into confidence. One opinion is that the Americans themselves prompted Saddam to take this action so that they may have an excuse to interfere and then station their forces permanently in the Middle East. Whatever the case may have been, Saddam Hussain invaded Kuwait and occupied it virtually without any resistance. This adventure directly threatened UAE, Behrain, Qatar and even Saudi Arabia. It seemed as if Saddam Hussain was out on a winning spree in order to become the master of the richest lands of the world. Obviously the whole world opinion turned against Saddam and wanted to get rid of this menace. The military alliance created under the leadership of the US was unprecedented. It comprised troops from not only the Western countries but the significant Arab countries like Egypt, Syria, UAE and Saudi Arabia also contributed their troops. Even Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan sent their troops to fight against Iraq as the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq was being seen as a naked aggression and was to be undone at all cost. Israel was however kept out of war due to political reasons.

The Operation Desert Sabre was virtually a walk over. It was a one-sided battle that broke the myth of Saddam’s military strength. The Iraqi army suffered casualties like sitting ducks. Saddam never used his air force and chemical weapons which he had been threatening to use. The surface to surface Scud missiles proved to be total failure. Most of these missiles were neutralized by the under cover agents of the UK even before the war. The battle became a testing ground for the most sophisticated weapons held by the Western countries which played havoc with the Iraqis, destroying every target with precision and impunity. The morale of Iraqi army descended to its lowest ebb. Most of the soldiers surrendered without fighting. They sold their weapons in Kuwait city to get the fare for their journey back home. Iraqi army even could not carry out a planned withdrawal from Kuwait. The road from Kuwait to Baghdad was littered with the destroyed Iraqi tanks, vehicles and dead soldiers. After having 15000 Iraqi soldiers and 45000 Iraqi civilians dead, Saddam Hussain ordered cease fire and withdrawal from Kuwait.

Aftermath of the War and Strategic Blunder of the Allies

The plan of the allied forces was to retake Kuwait from the Iraqi possession. It was a very limited and short term aim and had its own consequences. The larger strategic aim should have been to remove Saddam Hussain from power. By then it was proved beyond doubt that he was a war criminal at international level and a cruel ruler who had been massacring his own people with impunity. Even George Bush, the then president of the US had declared ‘Saddam as worst than Hitler’. If that was the case, then why were the Iraqi people, the Middle East and the world as a whole left at the mercy of Saddam? The US could have very easily helped Iraqi people to replace the tyrant dictator with a democratic set up as the whole world was having a consensus on this. Had this been done back in 1991, the world would have been different today. The US misconstrued the aftermath of war and thought that the people of Iraq would themselves remove Saddam Hussain from power as no ruler can stay in power after such humiliation. That analysis of the situation was against the ground realities. The nations, whose ego, liberty, personal respect, freedom of expression and freedom of thought is crushed over a prolonged period of time, can never think of rising up to face a dictator in order to get their rights. Only the nations can stand up to face their cruel ruler and usurpers who have the life and spark left in them. Some analysts say that the Americans spared Saddam Hussain purposely so that he could again be used for some malicious plans in the future. But that time never came.

Conclusion

Saddam Hussain remained in power for the next about 13 years. He neither played any positive role nor did he prove useful for the West for his remaining period in power, till we saw the dawn of year 2003 and with it the America’s war on Iraq. Now after seven years of fighting in Iraq, what has the American nation gained or lost, is writing on the wall. The big question is: Did sparing of Saddam Hussain in 1991 help the promotion of global peace or otherwise? The answer is left to the political analysts. However the lesson learn t is that the strategic decisions taken by the super powers always have lasting effects on the world peace.