The “shock and awe” invasion of Iraq was a stunning success and the US-led occupation a catastrophic failure.
The US sacked the Iraqi Army and the governing Baath Party. The loss of central control allowed warring religious militias, criminal and terrorist gangs including Al Qaeda to do their worst. Baghdad once one of the safest capital cities in the Middle East became renowned for indiscriminate killings.
Removing Iraq’s veteran dictator Saddam Hussein and his ruling Baath Party unleashed religious hatreds which had been suppressed for decades, upsetting the traditional power structure in the country; the majority Shia Muslims, were now in charge and the Sunnis responded to their loss of power by leading the insurrection against the foreign occupiers.
The failure of the US and its allies, including Australian weapons inspectors, to find claimed weapons of mass destruction – chemical and biological agents and plans for nuclear weapons – was a huge blow to the legitimacy of the war and to the reputation of the US throughout the region. Iraq demonstrated the futility of a “war on terror” and created the conditions for terrorism to flourish.
The big winner of the Iraq war was America’s main regional enemy Iran. The Islamic Republic exploited the Shia/Sunni divide sending militias into the Shia dominated south of Iraq, progressively taking over regional and national politics. Only in the northern region of Kurdistan has democratic government prevailed.
Production credits: Produced by WildBear Entertainment in association with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
