Translated material
From the heights of history
Rumsfeld talks about Iraq, but thinks about the USSR
Today marks three years since the military invasion of Iraq began. On the eve of this date, US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld published an article in the Washington Post newspaper “What We Got in Three Years in Iraq.” The head of the Pentagon included the adoption of a new constitution and the election of a permanent parliament as achievements. The number of Sunni Muslims participating in the political process has increased (the Sunni minority, which had privileges under Saddam, was reluctant to participate in politics after his overthrow).Rumsfeld urged opponents to look at Iraq not from the point of view of “newspaper headlines or the latest sensation like a terrorist attack,” but “from the heights of history”: “Anyone who realistically sees the world today, the threat of terrorism that we face, can only come to one conclusion: now is the time to solve the problem, not leave.” The withdrawal of troops from Iraq, according to the head of the Pentagon, will be akin to “if we gave post-war Germany into the hands of the Nazis” or “called on the liberated countries of Eastern Europe to return to the rule of the Soviet Union.” “A free and stable Iraq will not attack its neighbors, collude with terrorists, pay bounties to the families of suicide bombers, or kill Americans,” Rumsfeld concluded. He did not allow any criticism of the United States. On the contrary, he said: “Even terrorists are watching with fear the progress in Iraq over three years.”
Not everyone shares the US administration's optimism. Even in Iraq. Former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi (who headed the interim government of Iraq from June 2004 to February 2005) called what was happening in his country a “civil war.” "Every day we lose on average 50-60 people, if not more," he told the BBC. According to him, “the situation with violence in the country is moving to a point from which there is no return.” Allawi, who heads an alliance of secular Shiite and Sunni politicians, fears the collapse of Iraq and the impact it will have on other countries in the region, and even on Europe and the United States. Earlier, the leader of radical Shiites, Imam Muqtada al-Sadr, made the same assessment.
Neighboring Iran is also concerned, although the Americans have repeatedly accused it of supporting Shiite militants in Iraq. Tehran has offered Washington to negotiate on the situation in Iraq, but the White House is skeptical about this.
In connection with the third anniversary of the occupation of Iraq, protest demonstrations took place around the world. The number of people dissatisfied with Bush's policies in the United States has reached a record level. According to polls, 65% of Americans believe the leadership's actions regarding Iraq were wrong.
The Americans began their invasion of this country at dawn on March 20, 2003. The very next day, a list of members of a coalition of 44 states led by the United States appeared. They all acted without the approval of the UN Security Council.
Total coalition losses since then have amounted to more than 2,400 people, of which more than 2,270 were American troops. Iraqi civilian casualties over three years could range from 25 to 100 thousand people.