The Fall of Saddam and Rise of ISIS - II

(The 2nd part of Fall of Saddam and Rise of ISIS....)

 

Then 9/11 happened. Americans were never attacked on their home soil (Technically mainland, as Pearl Harbor attack by the Japanese during World War II was in Hawaai). Americans, who in general, can't distinguish between Albania vs Armenia, Australia vs Austria, Swiss vs Swedish, were frantically trying to locate Afghanistan on the World map. They were shocked to the hilt and obviously angry too. 

 

For George Bush, Dick Cheney and Rumsfeld, it was a God sent opportunity. Americans, who leave no stones unturned in grinding their leaders on domestic matters, are completely  novice about rest of the world. So they mostly trust what their leaders and media tell them on global matters. The Bush administration successfully diverted the anger of the American public towards Saddam Hussain. A sizable number of Americans believed that Saddam was behind 9/11. (It's another matter that Saddam hated fundamentalists and no Iraqi national was involved in World Trade attack).

 

Failing to link Saddam to 9/11, Dubya Bush ordered attack on Iraq under the pretext of weapons of mass destruction. USA had a cakewalk in less than a month, driving Saddam into hiding inside a hole. Americans, known for their Cowboyish "Wham Bam, Thank you ma'am", are great at bombing the hell out of their opponents. But inherently being creatures of comfort, they lack stomach for long term war. The battle was won, but the war just began.

 

Bush's Man Friday in Iraq, Paul Bremmer made the cardinal blunder of disbanding the Iraqi army. Unemployed, but we'll trained military personnel can be of dangerous proposition. The ex Saddam guys, hardened military tacticians, ran a very stubborn and successful guerrilla insurgency against the USA army. It was their land, the were well endowed with its topology. Killing 2 to 3 American soldiers by road side bombing and RPG attacks on daily basis wasn't a big deal for them. Living close to Fort Benning Infantry. I had the opportunity to meet an Iraq returned marine. He described seeing a Humvee tossed a few feet above the ground and blown apart by a road side bomb - "Before you pronounce IED, all would be over".

 

News of kids being killed in Iraq dominated the news headlines in America. Politics and Public opinion is a matter of perception. The fact that America was stuck in a desert quagmire, slowly percolated into the Americans mind, with Bush starting to lose the Public support. His approval rating was lowest in history, comparable to Nixon in the heydays of Watergate scandal.

(Last and Concluding part to follow tomorrow...)