Iraq: Five Years on

As of March 23, 2008, a few days after the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq by the "Coalition of the Willing," the U.S. military death toll has reached 4,000, according to the Iraq Coalition Casualty Count, an organization that tracks the casualty toll in Iraq. If you include fatalities from all the coalition's countries, the Grim Reaper's toll rises to 4,308, or an average of 2.35 a day since March 20, 2003 -- the beginning of the War in Iraq, according to the organization's Web site.

The Iraq Coalition Casualty Count Web site puts the Iraqi Security Forces and civilian toll at more than 48,000 dead since Jan. 2005 and it warns that the toll is likely to be much higher.

It all started when U.S. President George W. Bush decided to rid the world of a dictator, Saddam Hussein, and eliminate Iraq's weapons of mass destruction (WMD), which a UN report said were highly unlikely to exist and which were never found, because they were not there in the first place (for more details on the Iraq Survey Group findings click here). Based on inaccurate if not outright fake evidence of links between Saddam and Al-Qaeda, Mr. Bush ignoring history (the Vietnam War and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan) embarked on Operation Iraqi Freedom with the official intent to restore democracy in the country.

Restore democracy? When was Iraq a democracy in the first place? And does the U.S. really care about democracy? Maybe at home, though I would rather call it a plutocracy, but surely not overseas.

What the U.S. means by democracy is "a friendly government" willing to support America's mission to maintain the title of world heavyweight champion.If it really cared about implementing democracy in the Persian Gulf region, it would not support the regimes of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states most of which have monarchies or similar political systems -- many without an elective parliament. The U.S. is also the major arms supplier to the region. The U.S. supports the local rulers in exchange for oil, gas and "friendship."

One may argue that after 9/11 there haven't been any terrorist attacks on U.S. soil. That does not necessarily mean that the Bush government policy to bring war to Iraq was right. It only proves that there aren't that many terrorists out there trying to destroy America. Firearms are easily available, as the recent shootings in U.S. schools prove. What would stop a terrorist from walking in a crowded shopping mall and open fire? Surely not the "Surge" in Iraq.

The only tangible result of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom is that more people from all sides have been killed in these five years than Bin Laden or any other terrorist might have ever imagined or hoped for.

Unfortunately, the real winner of the match is not democracy but terrorism.

As two of the greatest men of all times, Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela, have proven, violence is not defeated by violence.