DAMMAM, 25 March 2003 — It is proving to be a war of miscalculations for the United States and Britain. The increasing lines on the faces of President Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair clearly show a mounting uneasiness within themselves.
Their post-invasion statements, such as “it will be a long and hard war,” are contradicting previous assertions that Iraq will fall to the so-called allied forces within days.
It is now openly admitted in the corridors of Pentagon that the attack was not slated for Thursday, May 20. After the first round of bombing and missile attacks on Baghdad, the Pentagon said that it was not the beginning of A-Day and that the attack was launched after receiving intelligence information that the “regime leadership was in a meeting in a place in Baghdad.”
The first attack was aimed at decapitating the regime leadership. But just three hours after the first barrage, America and Britain saw the results of their miscalculations when Saddam Hussein popped up on TV screens addressing his nation and the world — affirming that he was very much alive. The rest of the argument put by US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his British counterpart Geoff Hoon, that he was injured and carried away in an ambulance, was nothing but beating around the bush!
Certainly Saddam’s appearance on TV was the first taste of humiliation for the invading forces of Bush and Blair.
It was this humiliation which prompted the Pentagon to go ahead with their “Shock and Awe” attack, and once again their calculations failed. Al-Jazeera channel, as well as SKY TV, showed Iraqis unfazed by the raining down of cruise missiles and Tomahawks and the bombardment by B-52 and Stealth bombers.
It is now crystal clear that when President Bush planned his attack on Iraq, he counted much on gaining support from within Iraq — especially in the south where Shiites had rebelled in 1991 war. This theory was evident in initial Pentagon predictions that they will “secure Basra within 24 hours”.
SKY TV and CNN reported capture of Umm Qasr and Safwan, and even showed footage of Iraqis welcoming American forces. President Bush was so confident of capturing Umm Qasr that he even said on TV that humanitarian aid will reach Umm Qasr Port “within 36 hours”. Generals are now saying it is not safe for ships to berth at Umm Qasr.
Millions of pamphlets were air- dropped in southern Iraq, especially in Basra, with a hope the “disgruntled population of southern Iraq, mainly Shiites, will lend a complete support to American forces.” SKY TV showed a Safwan resident, Khalifa, who bluntly told Americans: “We don’t trust you. Where is the aid? You promised us help 12 years ago, and it has not yet arrived.”
It was a very clear indication of anger among the Iraqis against America and the United Kingdom.
What shocked invading forces most was the scene in Basra, where Iraqi Shiite women were putting Iraqi national flag in bombed buildings and chanting slogans in praise of Saddam Hussein.
What Bush and Blair failed to realize is that their actions has consolidated Saddam’s position both at home and abroad. Whatever political opposition Saddam had evaporated when the invasion commenced. Bush failed to understand Arab pride. It was not question of Saddam Hussein and his dictatorial regime, but the pride and honor of Arabs which was being defaced and defied by America and its partner. No Arab could ever tolerate foreign forces on their land. Bush Senior did realize this psychology and, as a result, refused to enter Baghdad in 1991. The then Defense Secretary and current US vice President Dick Cheney supported going all the way to Baghdad; but the then president vetoed the idea. Bush has to accept the simple reality that Arabs resent the presence of Americans troops on their land.
