By Mouayad Alzoubi
The 20th of this March marked the 20th anniversary of the U.S. war on Iraq. And after 20 years of war, the question remains: Where’s the democracy the West wanted for Iraq? And how’s Iraq now after everything that happened? Despite the impact and great magnitude of the answer, it might be clearer than the sun because, throughout the past years, Iraq has suffered a lot and experienced the horrors of the war after it has become a haven for extremism and extremists, and transformed into a hotbed for ISIS thanks to the so-called democracy and its fake model that they wanted for Iraq.
In fact, there are countless questions after 20 years and the most important one is: Is it logical to kill one million Iraqis for the sake of democracy? And have the weapons of mass destruction – which have not been found yet – been a pretext for a war that turned the Middle East into a war zone? This war destroyed the history of an Arab nation that used to find its history and a part of its cultural heritage in Iraq. All of that was ruined for the sake of democracy and in the end, we found neither democracy nor stability in Iraq!
Until now, the U.S. has failed to establish its democracy in Afghanistan and Iraq, and previously in Vietnam and other counties in which it interfered politically or militarily. However, despite these failures, the Western view is still the same; that its model is the only correct and suitable one for the whole world, forgetting that every country has its own demographic and ethnic structure, social nature, and the contract between ruler and the ruled. We must keep in mind that the one who said that democracy only comes in one model is the one who succeeded in Washington but failed in so many other countries. Actually, this is the key point, as
there is no one model that suits all countries, so the success of a model in a particular country does not mean it will work everywhere else. This is an extremely crucial lesson that we must learn very well.
On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Iraq War, politicians in the U.S. must learn from the past and know that democracy and war on terrorism, and other pretexts, caused the death of innocent people, including children and women. Iraq has paid the price of the past 20 years with its wealth and capabilities, the blood of its people, and the destruction of its infrastructure and stability. Finally, if this lesson is not learned, then who will pay the price for the next 20 years? This is a question only the White House can answer.