Post-Saddam Iraq Is Proving To Be An Unmitigated Disaster.

Iraqi-American, Samir, 34, pinning deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein to the ground during his capture in Tikrit, on Saturday July 24, 2004. Samir was the translator for the U.S. Special Forces that helped find Hussein and pull him from his hiding place on December 13, 2003. Samir later met with U.S. President Bush and thanked him for liberating Iraq. Wikipedia

Iraq's Devastation Outlasts Saddam Hussein -- Tom Switzer, Sydney Morning Herald

Far from becoming a viable state and flourishing democracy, post-Saddam Iraq has proved an unmitigated disaster.

This month marks the 10th anniversary of the capture of Saddam Hussein. In the long sweep of history, a decade is a mere second. But for the Facebook-Twitter crowd, whose memories are congenitally short, it's an eternity.

That may explain why the event is largely forgotten and has not received any media attention in Australia. Still, the capture of the Iraqi tyrant is worth revisiting, if only because it helps us heed the lessons of the war that led to his downfall.

On December 13, 2003, US forces found Saddam cowering in a rat hole outside his home town of Tikrit. At the time, foreign policy hawks predicted a turning point in what had been an agonising eight-month campaign since the invasion.

Saddam's capture, we were told, was a body blow to the anti-US insurgency. It would convince all Iraqis - Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish - the dictator would not return to persecute them again. It meant the end of "a dark and painful era" (George Bush). It would "bring about unity, reconciliation and peace between all the people of Iraq" (Tony Blair). And it was "a huge boost for the cause of liberty and democracy in Iraq" (John Howard).

Read more ....

My Comment: When I am asked on what is my take on the disaster that is slowly unfolding in Iraq .... I always quote the following .... "The road to hell is always paved with good intentions". The intentions of the coalition when they invaded Iraq were both noble and stupid without realizing that Iraq's history has always been one of embracing hell. Thousands dead, tens of thousands wounded, hundreds of billions wasted .... what a waste.