It's been more than three weeks since the US-Iraq war began. US-led forces have entered Baghdad, but Beijing continues to call for a halt to the military action. This is truly puzzling. How can one remove the fire when the rice is already in the pot?
Facing the final showdown, the US had no other choice but to go on, even as it was dogged by anti-war demonstrations around the world. The causes and consequences of this war have become new issues, but the most fundamental, most important and hugely controversial one has been the question, "Why did the US start this war?"
Renowned Italian journalist Oriana Fallaci said in a recent article that she believed the Iraq war was not about oil. The US does not need Iraqi oil, she said, rather it was a political war. The enemies of the West declared a jihad against the West with the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The war is therefore a response to the jihad, Fallaci said.
This fits into the equation I put forth at the beginning of the war on March 20: "Without Sept. 11, there would not have been a US-Iraq war." American values and US global hegemony have long been in conflict with Islamic fundamentalism. On Sept. 11, however, the economic and political hub of the US came under a devastating attack. Even though the perpetrators did not quite achieve the total destruction that they had aimed for, the attack prompted a serious crisis that almost resulted in the collapse of the nation.
Undoubtedly, the Sept. 11 attack, marked by the destruction of the twin towers of the World Trade Center, was a cause of national shame in the US. It was also the beginning of a life-and-death showdown for which the US would have to pay a high price. The enemy is not any individual or group, but a "world." This inevitably reminds one of the clash of civilizations predicted by Samuel Huntington. Islamic terrorism elevated the conflict to a level of chilling violence. The cruelty and ambitions behind the Sept. 11 attacks warned everyone in the world that terror would not end there, that there would be more terrorists ready to seek a ticket to Heaven in exchange for the lives of thousands of people.
The removal of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan was a logical response by the US to the Sept. 11 attacks. At the time, not many people questioned the legitimacy of US military action. Now, a large number of people oppose the US war in Iraq, but they do not deny Saddam Hussein's despotic record, and his repeated violations of UN resolutions calling for disarmament. As a state leader, he publicly rejoiced in the Sept. 11 tragedy. The White House had reason to view him as a representative of vicious, belligerent forces hostile to the West.
Ousting him carries the same significance as ousting the Taliban. Only by starting such a project can the US finally remove the hidden threat of annihilation.
The White House would have hesitated 50 years ago, but ever since Kosovo, human rights have been elevated above sovereignty to become a new value of the civilized world.
The war in Kosovo was not authorized by the UN, but both France and Germany had no qualms about sending troops to participate in it. Opponents of the war were authoritarian regimes such as China. Tactically the attack on Iraq is pre-emptive. But strategically, from the perspective of the Sept. 11 attacks, it is post-emptive.
This is how we understand the US military action. A thousand years ago, the crusaders marched east and fought a religious war for 200 years. Now the US-Iraq war has manifested itself as Western civilization's war for survival.
Jin Zhong is editor in chief of the Hong Kong-based Open Magazine.
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