Expert: war in Iraq showed true face of American pseudo-democracy

Twenty years ago, by unleashing the war in Iraq, the United States showed its true face: the policy of Americans in the international arena is based on violence and destruction – as noted by Vadim Gigin, the Chairman of the Board of the Republican Belarusian Znanie Society, in his talk with Alfa Radio

It is worth recalling that, twenty years ago, the United States made great efforts to prove that Saddam Hussein's power in Iraq posed a danger to the international community. The US Administration accused the country of resuming the development of weapons of mass destruction and of co-operating with the Al-Qaeda terrorist organisation. On February 5th, 2003, US Secretary of State Colin Powell spoke at a special meeting of the UN Security Council, providing numerous proofs that Iraq was hiding weapons of mass destruction from international inspectors (in particular, aluminium tubes allegedly purchased for uranium centrifuges). However, some time later, Mr. Powell admitted that the data released by him had been largely inaccurate, and sometimes falsified.

On March 20th, 2003, an active phase of the US and its allies’ military intervention began in Iraq, and Mr. Gigin commented on the role that military conflict played for geopolitics, “Actually, that war was not an exception to the rule. There was an absolutely aggressive invasion of Yugoslavia, which met no international laws. There was an invasion of Iraq, and the world community was deceived – not misled! – then. That was done not only by the United States, but also by the UK Prime Minister, Tony Blair. Everyone saw how it all happened. I think Colin Powell was used as the fall guy, and he was put as a liar. His long career – which started as an ordinary African-American from a lower class, who held senior positions among the American generals and then in the political leadership – was crossed out by a single speech. The country was destroyed, and that was a black episode in world history. This shows the true face of the American pseudo-democracy, which brings violence and destruction.”

Mr. Gigin added that the US invasion of Iraq resulted not only in tens of thousands of victims, but also the creation of one of the most monstrous terrorist formations in the world: ISIL. Also, after the war in Iraq, a multi-level armed conflict took place in Syria.

“It acted as a detonator. Eight years later, the so-called Arab Spring began, and the system of relations in the Middle East was virtually completely destroyed. That process was launched twenty years ago by Americans, and this clearly characterises their political style in the international arena: an elephant in a china shop,” the expert noted.