White phosphorus in Fallujah becomes main lesson of Bush’s presidency

Who can guarantee that the massacre in Iraq will not repeat in their country? No one. As long as guns beget power, nations will be apprehensive about their neighboring states. The United States has shown how it can kill. Other countries will need to learn how they can protect themselves against this plague. This is one of the main lessons of the George W. Bush’s presidency.

Photo: White phosphorus in Fallujah becomes main lesson of Bush’s presidency

When George Bush was holding his last press conference in the White House, he highlighted the subject of the war in Iraq. Bush acknowledged that his main reason to deploy troops in Iraq was ungrounded, whereas the search for weapons of mass destruction became a great disappointment.

In addition, Bush recollected the episode, for which he was criticized on numerous occasions. On May 1, 2003 Bush announced the end of the major part of the US-led operation in Iraq on board the USS Abraham Lincoln and said that the United States and its allies had achieved victory. "Clearly putting 'Mission Accomplished' on an aircraft carrier was a mistake," he said.

It is worthy of note that the war in Iraq, which took the lives of over 4,200 US servicemen, is the main reason why the Republicans flopped at the congressional elections in 2006. The 43^rd President of the USA, who is leaving the White House now, has made several reviews of his politics recently. He particularly said in his interviews that history will have a better understanding of his decisions sooner or later.

Bush’s rating has dropped to 30 percent nowadays – one of the lowest ratings of all US presidents. George W. Bush can be described the worst president in 50 years, media outlets say. Bush responded with saying that presidents can try to avoid making serious decisions to avoid criticism. However, he added, that was not his style of working.

Military experts will continue to analyze the results of the US aggression in Iraq for many years. International relations are still based on the right of the strong, who is allowed to do anything, and no declarations will chill out the determination of an armed state to make the world around comfortable (for this one state only). A dialogue with this state can be possible only if another state is armed to the teeth too. To put it in a nutshell, a country must rely on well-balanced armed forces. Russian politicians of the 1990s assured the nation that the country did not need thousands of tanks, hundreds of fighter jets, bomber planes, etc. They believed that it would be enough for Russia to have strategic troops and professional special operation forces.

The war in Iraq showed that it was a totally wrong assumption to make. Nuclear weapons can guarantee security indeed, but the fate of a country can be solved on the battlefield with the use of good old tanks, fighter jets, battleships and submarines. High-tech wars with self-guided missiles and all-seeing satellites are real in science fiction novels only.

Special operation forces proved to be unable to find Saddam Hussein and rescue their servicemen from captivity. The majority of prisoners of war were freed after Baghdad had been stormed.

It was money, but not laser-guided bombs that put a stop to the Iraqi war. Top US military politicians do not conceal nowadays that the generals of the Iraqi Republican Guard were bribed at a crucial turning point. Tommy Franks, the Commander of the United States Central Command, said in an interview with Defence News that he was receiving letters from Iraqi generals in which they were saying: “Now we are working for you.” The US dollar turned out to be a lot more attractive to Iraqi generals than their heroic death in fierce battles for their motherland.

The Iraqi aviation had about 200 warplanes after the battle for Kuwait in 1991. However, none of them performed a flight. The vanished MiG-25 planes were subsequently found disguised in a desert: all of them were ruined with sand.

The United States disregarded the public opinion of the whole world. It seemed in February 2003 that the whole planet stood up against a new war in Iraq. However, Washington accomplished its goal: it destroyed the country and killed its leaders.

George W. Bush may talk about his mistakes as much as he wants to. He made the USA a nation of barbarians who come to other countries bringing white phosphorus along.

Vladimir Anokhin