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“Saddam Hussein and his son must leave Iraq within 48 hours,” warned the then President of the United States, two days before the invasion of Iraq that took place exactly two decades ago this week.
As we all know, Saddam did not respond to the ultimatum given to him by the American president, just as he never responded to such and such demands. So the invasion happened, and within days Iraq was going to look completely different.
Let’s go back 13 years before the American invasion of Iraq – and try to remember how the undisputed ruler of Iraq managed to alienate himself over so many countries.
In the early 1990s, Saddam was in trouble – there was no money and his popularity was declining. Of course, in a dictatorship there is no fear of losing power in a democratic way, and yet, in order to stay on the throne of power and for the head to remain attached to the shoulders, the citizens need to be satisfied at least at a reasonable level.
So there is no money, and the known solution is to create a war to forget the pain in the pocket. Now Saddam only had to choose a destination, and the choice was easy – the tiny Kuwait rich in oil resources that could also help him financially.
Following this invasion, the famous Gulf War slowly developed, in which the Beit Israel crowds found themselves sticking scotch tape on the windows, which was nicknamed ‘war tape’.
Steigen during the Gulf War – Israel’s fear of an Iraqi biological attack turned out to be a false fear (Photo: Flash 90)
Since the Gulf War, the United States, along with other Western countries, began to impose very heavy sanctions on the Iraqi government.
Towards the end of the nineties of the last century, the cruel Iraqi dictator had had enough. He decided to stop the repeated inspections on the question of whether Iraq possessed non-conventional weapons and claimed that the inspectors were American spies – and ordered honorable evacuations.
There was an immediate reaction to the speech in which the US Congress enacted the ‘Iraq Liberation Act’ which allowed large amounts of aid money to flow to opposition organizations in Iraq.
At the end of 2000, after years of democratic rule, President George Bush Jr. who promised throughout the campaign to be more aggressive towards the Iraqi government – was elected president and later entered the White House.
Since taking office, Bush actually began to check the area for the possibility of war – but one of the worst attacks in human history probably accelerated the proceedings – the attacks on the Twin Towers.
As you know, the immediate response was an American invasion of Afghanistan which provided a warm home for terrorism, but President Bush did not forget to include Iraq as part of the ‘axis of evil’ in his famous State of the Nation address.
The Iraq resolution passed by Congress changed the face of Iraq for days. At the end of 2002, Congress authorized President Bush Jr. to “use all necessary means” to eliminate terrorism in Iraq.
In the meantime, the Bush administration prepared together with other allies, Poland, Great Britain and Australia prepared to deliver a crushing blow.
At midnight the ultimatum given by President Bush expired (remember, we talked about it at the beginning…) and at exactly 5:34 the invasion of Iraq began.
The goals were clear: the end of the dictator Saddam Hussein’s era, elimination of weapons of mass destruction, expulsion of terrorists as well as intelligence gathering.
Within days, all of Iraq was in the hands of the United States and its allies. The price was heavy: more than ten thousand Iraqi soldiers and civilians and 172 British and American military personnel found their deaths.
The forces storm Baghdad (Photo: US Army)
Throughout the years that the troops were in Iraq, the rebels caused quite a headache for the United States and its allies – something that also claimed many victims.
Months after the invasion, the ousted dictator, crowned with an unkempt beard, was located after family members betrayed his hiding place.
For nearly a year, Saddam found himself under investigation by the American intelligence agency until finally a special court in Iraq sentenced him to death.
Throughout the entire operation, no evidence of a biological weapon held by the dictatorial regime was found – which indicated an intelligence failure of the West.
Over the years, thousands of people from the West have been killed, which increased the voices to leave Iraq and became one of the prominent election promises of Senator Barack Obama, and when he was elected, he began the process of withdrawing American soldiers. In 2011, the end of the war was officially announced and nearly 3 years ago, the Iraqi government asked the American fighters to leave its territory.
What changed?
20 years have passed since President Bush’s decision, but today more than ever you can see the change in attitude. Unlike President Bush and previous presidents, it seems that Presidents Obama, Trump and Biden avoid as much as possible getting into the mud of war.
While in the past there was legitimacy for the help of US forces, especially in the days after the attacks on the Twin Towers, it seems that the Americans are less and less satisfied with the loss of forces in a foreign country. Meanwhile, military aid to ally structures in distress such as Ukraine – continues.