Two obsessions torment Washington these days: the outbreak of a new cold war and the continuation of the latent war in Congress. The two are connected and Colin Powell bears much of the blame. Yep, eighteen years later.
The potential new Cold War, with China as its opponent this time, deserves the sweat it generates. The firing of a hypersonic missile by Beijing, the construction of hundreds of nuclear missile silos in Western China, and President Biden’s reiterated promise on Thursday to “come to the defense of Taiwan if China attacks” are enough to make us feel bad. justified fears.
Let’s set aside the idea of a remake forty-five years of tension between the United States and the USSR! I gave enough in kremlinology during my university youth to know that China is showing itself much less opaque and immensely more voluntary in its commercial and human exchanges.
Then, not sure that the Americans were so surprised by the new Chinese military advances! Very little is escaped with satellites and other spy capabilities today. Rather, I side with the analysis that, while the United States wasted troops, money and reputation in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Chinese were quietly going their way.
TRIBUTE AND DISHONOR
America wallowed throughout the week in tributes to Colin Powell, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and former Secretary of State. The mere fact that he was the first African-American at the top of the country’s diplomacy validates these praises. However, we are dragging the consequences of his speech of February 5, 2003 at the UN.
He claimed to have evidence that Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi dictator, possessed chemical and biological weapons and possibly was developing a nuclear arsenal. We quickly knew that all this was false, archival. Still, the United States squandered $ 2 trillion in Iraq and lost nearly 4,500 troops, while up to 200,000 Iraqis were killed. A ruinous butchery! Worse yet, from a broad geopolitical perspective, Americans have sacrificed years of effort and undermined hard-earned credibility.
LIE FROM YESTERDAY TO TODAY
It is this credibility deficit that Donald Trump ended up exploiting. He didn’t invent anything, the former reality TV star: the table had been set for him. Starting with political leaders who deceive themselves into going to war, then military leaders who interpret the facts in such a way as to legitimize an endless warlike commitment.
While hundreds of billions of dollars were being pumped into rebuilding Afghanistan and Iraq, the American hinterlands continued to roll on rutted roads and attend decrepit schools. This is where the trust of many Americans in their representatives and institutions has eroded.
Today, it has metastasized in Congress, this war where each camp refuses to listen to the other, even demonizes it as on a real battlefield. I often wonder if – without this famous speech by Colin Powell, without all these falsehoods – Americans would dare to trust themselves a little more today.
Iraq, a drag to drag and a weight on consciousness
- 4,431 Americans killed
- 31 994 wounded
- More 2000 billion $, that is to say 6250 $ by American of all ages.
- More 200 000 Iraqis killed, between 2003 and 2021.
- In December 2021, the last 2,500 American soldiers will end their combat mission in Iraq.