‘ Can we draw parallels between what happened in Iraq and the events leading up to Russia’s Special Operation in Ukraine? And why does it matter?
Well yes, I think we can, but, how it has been played out is a very different matter. If you recall, we were advised that Saddam had these Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) that US Intelligence had confirmed from its sources, and these highly technical devices could bring about terrible devastation, and if launched, could even reach London within fifteen minutes. Shock horror! Of course, President Bush did not need to do a hard sell on UK Prime Minister, Tony Blair, his poodle, that the only course of action was to invade Iraq, destroy these WMDs and replace the tyrant Saddam. The US/UK alliance would be our saviours and rid us of this threat – or so they would have us believe ( we should also be mindful that US regional interests no doubt played a part in the reasoning behind Washington’s scheme ). Yes, there would be collateral damage, thousands upon thousands of civilian deaths, and a humanitarian crisis of epic proportions, but nevertheless, right and democracy, in the guise of the US military, must and would prevail.
Of course there were dissenters on the world stage in the form of public demonstrations and the doubts being expressed by political leaders as to the merits, and indeed legality, of waging war against Iraq in order to bring about regime change, but once these WMDs were discovered and Iraq posed a real threat, then the US, backed by a subservient UK were presented with the opportunity to take the moral high ground given this potentially lethal development and make preparations in earnest for the invasion they had always planned to initiate. This discovery of WMDs by US Intelligence services provided the opportunity for a war that Washington had been preparing for. It was now difficult for other world leaders to offer support for a nation who posed such a threat to human life. Saddam, Iraq and its radical tendencies had to be neutralised. The stage was set, and the previous clamouring of dissent against this course of action, whilst not altogether disappearing, became more muted from a political standpoint. The US/UK alliance had crafted the scenario they desired. They were ‘clear to go’ because their cause was now just.
How could the global community possibly object to this moral crusade given the danger Iraq’s WMDs posed to the masses, in the hands of a ‘madman’? Iraq had to be neutralised. The Washington elite were rubbing their hands and counting the dollars. The game was on.
I imagine by now you see exactly where I am going with this. If we offer up a similar background to view events as they occurred in Ukraine, then we will get some idea of the incredibly astonishing, outrageous, bordering on the criminal, manipulation of nations that has been perpetrated by NATO and the western allies against Russia whose actions are in the main one of a defensive nature against a country having some thirty or so laboratories conducting illegal research into potentially deadly viruses and bio weapons that could be used against them, and indeed pose a threat to mankind in general.
One of Russia’s main stated aims in its Special Operation was to neutralise these laboratories in Ukraine which documentation proves to have been ‘sponsored’ by the US. According to Moscow, and confirmed by papers they have rescued from these facilities, the laboratories have been carrying out internationally banned illegal research and development of potentially deadly viruses as part of a Washington backed bio weapons program. Washington have since had to confirm that they have in fact been supporting laboratories in Ukraine but of course refute Moscow’s claims of their purpose. I have no doubts that papers found on site will tell us much as Russia seeks an international investigation as yet not confirmed.
So, in Ukraine, we have a country that is carrying out, to say the least, ‘dubious’ work, on Russia’s doorstep. This work is being ‘sponsored’ by the US government. Not only is this work being carried out potentially lethal to Russia, given events surrounding Wuhan, it is without doubt a potential threat to the global population. The difference between this situation and Iraq, is that the threat has actually been ‘seen’ to be real, not just some intel report from undisclosed sources who would benefit from the existence of such weapons to further their own ends.
Here is my problem. How on earth was the US alliance able to invade a country with complete impunity on the pretext of an unproven threat, when Russia takes similar action against a country where a threat has been proven to exist, but to the outcry of world governments that such an action is an invasion of an innocent nation??
It gets worse!! Instead of punishing Ukraine for such a blatant breach of international law, she is presented with billions of dollars of arms and aid in order to defend itself against a country protecting the interests of its own citizens and potentially millions of others!
Punitive measures have been taken by a global cabal in an attempt to bring Russia to her knees both militarily and economically when the actual villain is Ukraine itself. Ukraine is being rewarded for breaking international law in allowing such research and development to take place within her borders. Russia was simply protecting the interests of her own people, unlike the US who was only protecting Washington’s financial and political interests in the region. Even the pretext of the existence of WMDs was later found out to be nothing but a fraud, but it was that fraud which they believe gave them the right to inflict a holocaust on the people of Iraq. There were no sanctions against the invaders. No real international denouncing of the operation. And to add insult to injury, no further action was taken on the international stage when it was found out that the WMD affair was nothing but a fraud to gain global support.
Did any country demand sanctions against the US or UK? Was anyone taken to task by the international community? Were there any cries of War Crimes? Of crimes being committed against humanity? A big fat NO!
But Russia is experiencing all of these attacks from the western allies when the actions of President Putin, in his Special Operation, can be fully justified given the prevailing circumstances.
You cannot have one international law for one, and not for the other. In this short summary, we have illustrated without any shadow of a doubt, whilst the circumstances surrounding the actions taken against Iraq and Ukraine are not mirrored, they were both initiated as defensive strategies, designed to neutralise potentially dangerous actions being undertaken by an adversary. That is the sum of it. That is the actuality.
So, will someone please tell me, “who exactly are the good guys?”
Don’t bother. I think its already obvious. Don’t you?
Alistair E Scott, 10 May 2022