If we classify wars on the basis of the strengths of the opposing forces, the US-led war against Iraq is undoubtedly one of great inequality. We did not see any scenes of bloody battles, nor have we heard of any heroic and moving deeds.
First, the two sides were not on an equal footing in terms of strength. Second, the targets and the methods employed were unequal. The dispatch of a large army with advanced weapons was only aimed at one person, Saddam Hussein. And third, the two armies were not balanced. As tanks and military vehicles went straight into enemy territory, the enemy forces were not there to meet them head-on. When there was fighting on the front line, commanders at the rear still could leave for a vacation. This is more like a US live-fire military exercise than a war.
The US might easily say the war game is over. But, for the Iraqis facing their broken homeland, the long night is just about to start. Even if Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is such an unforgivable sinner, why should the Iraqi people have to undergo the suffering of losing their loved ones and having their houses destroyed?
Look at those Iraqi people who have had to bear the brunt of the war and the following looting rampage. Comparing them with the US soldiers, bloated with pride, one can't help wonder, though all are human, why do the children of Allah and the followers of God have different destinies?
The US used the pretext of pursuing peace to legitimize its war. Though the war has ended, peace remains a long way off.
The US estimated that postwar reconstruction work in Iraq will require between US$50 billion and US$100 billion. But this is only for tangible infrastructure. How much more money and time will it cost to reconstruct the Iraqi people's souls?
When a US soldier covered one of the statues of Saddam with an American flag, it symbolized not only the collapse of Saddam's regime but the loss of Iraq's face, the extinction of its national spirit.
It might be easy to set up a regime, but it will be extremely difficult to rebuild a state with a culture and history of several thousand years. As we have seen from TV, Baghdad has sunk into a state of anarchy. Once a new government has been formed under the auspices of the US, will Mesopotamian civilization disappear?
Chen Wen-ching is director of the waste treatment technology division at the Energy and Resources Laboratories, Industrial Technology Research Institute.
Translated by Jackie Lin
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