Friday, May 28, 2004
How Baghdad Fell
The occupation of Iraq by the USA went like a dream! Possibly beyond the dreams of military planners at the Pentagon!
Many theories have been put forward to explain the ease with which the regime and the country crumbled almost without a fight before the invading armies…but the explanation is quite simple!
Saddam used two major weapons to control Iraq and the Iraqi people: fear and greed. Most people including many Baathists hated that regime.
Following the initial resistance at Um Qasr and Nassereyyah, Iraqis began to believe that the US was serious this time and was evidently determined to topple the regime.
This explains what happened! Iraqis – soldiers, Baathists and others simply did not fight…they did not want to. The simple logic was that any soldier did not want to fight so that, in case of victory (!), he went back to oppression and suffering!
Hence, the en-masse abandoning of tanks, posts and arms.
Quite simple, isn’t it?
The result was that Iraq fell like a ripe fruit into the hands of the USA and the US had an easy victory over Saddam. (Subduing the people is another story! If you don’t believe me, ask any American soldier how fiercely people in Fallujah fought!). The US occupied the country. Children began waiving to US soldiers. Grown-ups were more cautious.
The declared policy of the US was to win the hearts and minds of the people. The US had an opportunity of historic proportions to make a permanent change in this troubled corner of the world. [They only had one major hurdle inside Iraq: a deeply held mistrust of US policies!] People were generally prepared to watch and wait!
The politicians took over. Then began a long series of mistakes, blunders, bad judgments and pure criminal incompetence!
Many theories have been put forward to explain the ease with which the regime and the country crumbled almost without a fight before the invading armies…but the explanation is quite simple!
Saddam used two major weapons to control Iraq and the Iraqi people: fear and greed. Most people including many Baathists hated that regime.
Following the initial resistance at Um Qasr and Nassereyyah, Iraqis began to believe that the US was serious this time and was evidently determined to topple the regime.
This explains what happened! Iraqis – soldiers, Baathists and others simply did not fight…they did not want to. The simple logic was that any soldier did not want to fight so that, in case of victory (!), he went back to oppression and suffering!
Hence, the en-masse abandoning of tanks, posts and arms.
Quite simple, isn’t it?
The result was that Iraq fell like a ripe fruit into the hands of the USA and the US had an easy victory over Saddam. (Subduing the people is another story! If you don’t believe me, ask any American soldier how fiercely people in Fallujah fought!). The US occupied the country. Children began waiving to US soldiers. Grown-ups were more cautious.
The declared policy of the US was to win the hearts and minds of the people. The US had an opportunity of historic proportions to make a permanent change in this troubled corner of the world. [They only had one major hurdle inside Iraq: a deeply held mistrust of US policies!] People were generally prepared to watch and wait!
The politicians took over. Then began a long series of mistakes, blunders, bad judgments and pure criminal incompetence!
