News Analysis: Reckless, irresponsible U.S. policies destabilize Middle East region: analysts

Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-24 17:13:30|Editor: Li Xia
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by Jamal Hashim

BAGHDAD, May 24 (Xinhua) -- With tensions rising between Iran and the United States, political analysts said this was another proof that reckless and irresponsible U.S. policies are the root cause of the endless crises, violence and chaos in the Middle East region.

For many Iraqis, if anyone should be blamed for their misery and bloodletting in the past years, it must be the U.S. government which mishandled the Iraqi crisis that led finally to the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Ibrahim al-Ameri, an Iraqi political analyst, told Xinhua that there is a lack of peaceful options by the U.S. government in dealing with the crises in the Middle East.

"I always find the U.S. policy toward Iraq, and the region as well, has something to do with the Wild West style. It is like the concept of shoot first, and ask questions later," al-Ameri said.

"This cowboy policy has dragged the people of Iraq into uncountable bloodletting and threatened all aspects of life in the country during the past years," he added.

The latest standoff with Iran and the explicit threats of military intervention is threatening to bring the Middle East region with more violence, chaos and tragedies, which could continue for decades until the logic of wisdom and fairness to prevail in the end, according to al-Ameri.

He was referring to the recent U.S. threats toward Iran and the U.S. military buildup in the Gulf, including an aircraft carrier strike group and a special bombers squad, which came after Washington blamed Iran for threatening its interests in the region.

The U.S., which quitted the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal last year, has restored suffocating sanctions on Iran in a bid to force it to renegotiate the deal under the U.S. terms, which has been rejected by Tehran.

"I believe that the expansion of terrorism and extremism -- the most serious phenomena in the Middle East -- is largely due to the wrong strategies adopted by the U.S. government toward the regional and world crises," al-Ameri said.

In 2003, then U.S. president, George W. Bush, consistently described the Iraqi war as "the central front in the war on terror," claiming that the U.S. invasion was a reaction to the Sept. 11 terror attacks in the United States. The U.S. alleged that then Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein had links with the al-Qaida group, which was behind the attacks.

Washington also justified its invasion of Iraq with claims that Saddam was developing weapons of mass destruction (WMD). However, years after the invasion of Iraq, the U.S. occupation authorities failed to come up with any evidence that Saddam's regime had any links with al-Qaida, or possessed any WMD.

"The U.S. administration's false allegations and the rush toward war and invasion clearly depicted its irresponsibility and the lack of peaceful options when dealing with the world crises," al-Ameri said.

The U.S. invasion completely destroyed the system in Iraq and substantially decimated the fabric of the Iraqi society, leading to the mass killing of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis as well as the displacement of millions others, he pointed out.

Sabah al-Sheikh, another Iraqi political analyst, told Xinhua that U.S. officials frequently boasted that they wanted to set the Iraqi people free, secure them from the evil of Saddam Hussein, and provide Iraq and the Middle East region a better place to live, but in fact the U.S. policy is not really intended to bring democracy and better life to Iraq as Washington simply sides with whatever parties that could advance its interests.

In the post-Cold War era, especially after 1990, the world has suffered from the policy of U.S. unilateralism, as the U.S. government has been bent on imposing its values on the international community, he said.

"The history shows that the UN charter is constantly threatened by the unilateral use of force by major powers. The worst case of such unilateralism was the 2003 Iraq war," al-Sheikh noted.

"Currently, U.S. President Donald Trump's administration is pursuing unilateralism in dealing with the region's crises. Such policy would have unpredictable consequences to regional and international peace and stability," he warned.

Unilateralism by the U.S. after the 9/11 attacks in 2001 sowed the seeds of violence when it invaded Afghanistan and then Iraq, according to al-Sheikh.

However, the impact of the American invasions would not be uprooted in decades, he said.

He said that the United Nations and its security body, rather than the U.S., should play a leading role in solving global crises, including the fight against terrorism.

To achieve international peace, the countries across the world need to adopt the concept of common security, because it will enhance common trust among them through cooperation, instead of acting unilaterally, al-Sheikh said.

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