Iraq Press Roundup

Obama must complete the work of his predecessors

Washington has been searching for excuses to occupy Iraq since the 1990s with its "liberation" ploy, but the real motivations are unclear.

The destruction of Iraq was started when James Baker, the secretary of state for President George H.W. Bush, threatened to return Iraq to the Stone Age, al-Iraq lil-Kul said Friday.

The ruling mullahs in Tehran and the leadership in Israel pressured Washington to take action against Baghdad by imposing harsh sanctions in an effort to force Saddam Hussein from power.

The claims linking Iraq to al-Qaida and weapons of mass destruction were part of a propaganda campaign enacted by U.S. President George W. Bush to continue that policy.

These claims, however, proved false, forcing the Bush administration to change course and claim the invasion of Iraq was to promote democracy.

President-elect Barack Obama is expected to fix the mistakes of the Bush administration, but the passage of the bilateral security accord with Baghdad is evidence the next president will only maintain the status quo policy of occupying Iraq.

Would the Baath Party be brave to apologize like Bush?

After the United States invaded Iraq, former members of Saddam Hussein's regime ramped up their attacks against the new Iraqi government and U.S.-led forces.

The Baath Party leadership is asked to apologize to these forces and to the Iraqi people for creating the illusion of victory instead of defeating the American forces in 2003, the independent Kitabat news service said Friday.

Baath loyalists must admit the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, the 1990 invasion of Kuwait and the challenges against U.S. allies were manifestations of their broken policies. Thousands of Iraqis died as a consequence, and thousands others were killed for failing to take part in the aggressions of the former regime.

Kitabat said U.S. President George Bush has apologized to Iraqis for the burden he placed on their country due to failed intelligence regarding weapons of mass destruction and the so-called liberation. The Baathists, however, are in denial of their past atrocities and insist their losses were actually victories for the former ruling party.

Supporters of the former dictator Saddam Hussein are responsible for the fall of Baghdad because they gave Washington reason to invade. These same supporters showed they were only willing to fight against their own kin when they failed to practice resolve against American forces in defense of their country.

Openness is the secret to a successful democratic process

Removing Saddam Hussein from power was not enough for the Iraqi people, given the suffering under the U.S. occupation. When the U.S. civilian administration assumed control in 2003, it dismantled much of the infrastructure as well as national security forces, leaving Iraq vulnerable to an insurgency and infiltration from foreign fighters.

U.S. occupation forces interfered with the political, economic and security structure of Iraq, while its people were enslaved by their own leaders, al-Bayyna newspaper of the Iraqi Hezbollah said Friday.

The new leadership of Iraq put on a nationalistic front while pursuing individual interests and forcing the Iraqi people into crisis. None of the political parties that came to power after Saddam Hussein embraced the democracy they had once advocated.

Meanwhile, cross-party rivalries only created internal skirmishes among this new leadership, leaving the people to grow distrustful of their leaders and the political process.

No doubt the legacy of Saddam Hussein left people with few options but to trust the new government, but the current leadership has taken much of that trust away.

The democracy the Iraqi people were promised was one of freedom and equality, but the one they have is plagued with division and violence, turning many away from the political process.

The solution, al-Bayyna says, lies in the hands of the major parties in Baghdad to change course to address systemic deformities and reassess their leadership before it is too late.

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(Edited by Daniel Graeber)