geopolitics of iraqi war

From Somalia to Pakistan, Japan to Central Asia, Europe to America, openDemocracy writers present global perspectives on Saddam’s overthrow.
Thursday 30th August

Iraq's short century: old problems, new perspectives

Peter Sluglett, 30 August 2007
Iraq's occupiers should learn from its colonial past (archive)
Wednesday 14th July

America's intelligence wars: asking the wrong question

Charles V. Peña, 14 July 2004
The damning findings of the Senate Intelligence Committee report in Washington on Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction highlight larger political failures, says Charles Peña.
Wednesday 19th May

Farewell to Iraq: the least worst solution

Marcus Raskin, 19 May 2004
American leaders invaded Iraq high on national vainglory and moral absolutism, says Marcus Raskin of the Institute for Policy Studies. United States forces there will never gain legitimacy. They should leave as soon as possible and allow Iraqis to find what America itself needs: a new relationship with the world.

America after 9/11: victims turning perpetrators

George Soros, 19 May 2004
By launching a “war on terror” after 11 September 2001, America made a tragic mistake, says George Soros. The country must now learn a different lesson: fighting terror by creating more innocent victims perpetuates the cycle of violence, creates a permanent state of war, and corrodes the open society that wages it.
Monday 17th May

America must quit Iraq

Charles V. Peña, 17 May 2004
America gave “the terrorists” their victory in Iraq by invading. It must now leave, on its own terms, says the Cato Institute’s Charles Peña, as he judges the occupation against one overriding concern: the security of Americans in their own homeland.
Wednesday 12th May

America and Arabia after Saddam

Fred Halliday, 12 May 2004
The Iraq war is only one aspect of a “greater west Asian crisis” that carries the extreme danger of further, terrible violence. Fred Halliday joins knowledge, insight, empathy and anger to assess the current “winners” and “losers” and insist on the central importance of listening to the Iraqi people.
Wednesday 5th May

Civil liberties and the 'war on terror'

Geoffrey Bindman, 5 May 2004
When citizens’ fundamental freedoms are made a casualty of sweeping political objectives, the damage is to democracy itself. The experienced British lawyer Geoffrey Bindman draws a lesson from those imprisoned without trial in Tony Blair’s backyard – Belmarsh prison.
Wednesday 7th April

Where is Iraq going?

Laura Sandys, 7 April 2004
What lies behind the revolt of the cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and his Shi’a followers? Does it signal the end of American rule in Iraq? Laura Sandys sees parallels and portents in an earlier period of colonial rule.

Muqtada al-Sadr and the Mahdi Army: America's nightmare?

Firas Al-Atraqchi, 7 April 2004
Could the insurgency of the radical Shi’a cleric Muqtada al-Sadr fuse with the Sunni rebellion to ignite Iraqi nationalism against the occupiers?
Thursday 18th March

Peacemaking at the sharp end: Iraq before and after war

Scilla Elworthy, 18 March 2004
One year on from the Iraq war, an experienced researcher of military conflict and peacemaking asks: was there an alternative, what can be done now, and what are the lessons of Iraq for conflict prevention and peace-building worldwide?
Thursday 11th March

The trial of Saddam Hussein

Douglas Murray, 11 March 2004
What kind of justice does the world owe the former Iraqi dictator?
Thursday 26th February

An ordinary power, Japanese-style

Takashi Inoguchi, 26 February 2004
Japan is learning a new geopolitics. Its sense of identity, capacity, and relation to the world is shifting amidst great economic, military and regional pressures. But what kind of foreign policy model will Japan choose? One of the country’s foremost analysts explores the possible answers to a reopened question.
Thursday 5th February

Iraqi realities, American dilemmas: a New York debate

James Westcott, 5 February 2004
What political choices should the United States now make in Iraq? Christopher Hitchens, Mark Danner, Samantha Power and David Frum debated recently in front of a packed New York audience. James Westcott was there.
Thursday 18th December

The capture of Saddam Hussein

Yahia Said, 18 December 2003
The arrest of the Iraqi dictator presents a huge opportunity to the country’s new political figures. Can they seize it?
Thursday 13th November

Iraq - the democratic option

Mary Kaldor, 13 November 2003
Amid terrorist carnage, military blunders and CIA panic, Mary Kaldor finds hope for a democratic future in the creative social energies of ordinary Iraqis. Will its possibilities be crushed by America’s vaulting strategic ambition and Britain’s disdainful pragmatism? The US presidential election in 2004 may help decide.
Wednesday 1st October

Iraq: the lesson from Somalia

Harun Hassan, 1 October 2003
Before agreeing to any military involvement in Iraqi peacekeeping, the United Nations and its member states should recall the bitter experience of the disastrous United States/UN operations in Somalia a decade ago.
Wednesday 6th August

The Japanese decision

Takashi Inoguchi, 6 August 2003
Why has the Japanese government decided to send armed forces to Iraq to assist in its economic recovery? A leading scholar of Japanese politics places the decision within the context of the country’s search for a self-defined global role over the past generation.
Tuesday 22nd July

We cannot afford to fail

Robert Orr, Rick Barton, John Hamre, Johanna Mendelson Forman, and Bathsheba Crocker, 22 July 2003
The Iraq Reconstruction Assessment Mission, an independent team of experts commissioned by the Pentagon, recently published a report of their ten-day Iraqi tour. After presenting evidence to the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the authors draw on their report to challenge the Coalition’s masters of war to a gargantuan effort of peacemaking and society-building.
Monday 14th July

Redrawing the Iraqi plan: from war room to street corner

John Mackinlay, 14 July 2003
The transition from war to post-war in Iraq is proving more painful and bloody than coalition leaders expected. US and British troops on the ground are forced to adapt quickly from the role of war-fighters to peace-keepers, while strategic planners confront the failures and lacunae of pre-war projections. If lives are to be saved and the reconstruction of Iraqi society is to succeed, an urgent rethinking is needed.
Wednesday 9th July

Finland's 'Iraqgate': passing the test of democracy

Pentti Vaananen, 9 July 2003
Finland’s anti-war prime minister, Anneli Jäätteenmäki, was forced to resign over her conduct in relation to a leaked memo on Iraq. As questions to American and British leaders intensify over their own record in the prelude to war, does Finland’s ‘Iraqgate’ reveal a political culture where consistency between words and actions still matters?
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