Saturday, February 24, 2007

The Iraq 'game' turns deadlier

February 24, 2007

The Iraq 'game' turns deadlier

THE recent attacks in Iraq targeting trucks carrying chlorine gas prove that the insurgency has taken a worse turn — if that term is applicable, given the already high intensity of violence in the strife-torn country.
The international media have aptly termed them "dirty" chemical attacks, which highlight the reality that the insurgents are remarkably adaptable and have learnt to switch tactics.
The "chemical" attacks, when seen coupled with the increasing firepower and expertise of the insurgents — as seen in the use of shoulder-fired anti-aircraft rockets and heavy machine guns — strengthen the conviction that the US would never be able to "contain" Iraq through military means.
The "dirty" chemical attacks have raised fears that the insurgents could be turning to possible new and co-ordinated assaults using deadly toxics if they could lay their hands on them. Chlorine bombs are only just one threat on a long list of possible attacks that Iraqi insurgents may try to carry out.
No doubt, whoever is pulling the strings behind the insurgency, whether Iraqis — who account for an overwhelming majority in the groups waging the anti-US guerrilla war or the so-called international jihadists affiliated with Al Qaeda — should be aware of the turn that use of toxic material would signal. They could be expected to — and indeed they would be doing so even at this moment — to improvise on the "dirty" chemicals and come up with deadlier material that could inflict higher casualties, whether US or Iraqi soldiers or innocent bystanders.
We are not short of comments from US military commanders that the "success" of the three attacks against trucks carrying chlorine gas since Jan.28 would encourage copycats, and that reflects a "maliciousness, a desire to injure and kill innocent people in the vicinity."
Granted that it is indeed so. However, the US bears the sole responsibility to having turned Iraq into the deadliest spot on earth today. It was a unilateral (but Israeli-engineered) US decision to invade and occupy Iraq and to target other "rogue" states in the region despite, Arab and international warnings that it would not be able to finish what it started. The US military has proven itself incapable of offering the ordinary people of the security and protection that they rightfully deserve.
Instead of owning up its responsibility, accepting that it is part of the problem and not the solution, setting a definite timeframe for ending its military presence in Iraq and seeking alternative means to find an equitable solution, Washington is pursuing a non-existent military answer.
The emergence of new insurgent tactics and increasing intensity of attacks could be seen directly linked to US President George W Bush's "troop surge" plan for Iraq. We have repeatedly seen that the number of insurgent attacks go up whenever and wherever the US beefs up its military strength in Iraq. It has turned the insurgency into a deadly catch-me-if-you-can game with new players replacing the dead ones at every point.
It is not a new finding. We in this region have always known that the US drive in Iraq is going nowhere but disaster for itself. However, it is not a US affair on its own because it is the people of Iraq who are paying the price. Washington has no room to manoeuvre around the reality that it the US has to answer for the death and injury of every innocent Iraqi caught in the crossfire of the insurgency or sectarian blooshed. The US started it and it could not escape from its responsibility to end it, but not at the cost of innocent Iraqi lives.