As a child, did W have toys to play with? Chances are he had some sort of action figure that would lead his charge into some imaginary childhood war. His hero was brave and fearless and always came out on top. Most of us can relate to these childhood musings, and, as we grew and matured, our heroes and heroines were left behind in a toy box or Mum and Dad’s attic. The problem with W is, he is still that child. He has not matured past that boyhood desire of victory. Whereas we destroyed Mum’s garden digging trenches, or hid from the enemy under our fortress tables, W has grown up but not matured. The world is now his playground and his toys are bigger and more dangerous.
When a younger W saw his Pa defeated in 1991 by the evil Saddam Hussein, he must have been thinking to himself “I’ll get him!” So, when W came to power courtesy of some interesting legal argument in 2000, he was already scheming his way to war with Iraq. All he needed was a queue. And that queue came on September 11, 2001.
Several factors have always been against W and his bid to wage war on Iraq. The oil-for-food program was a farce and turned into a profit-making exercise for Saddam. The UN sanctions were said to have been the cause of many deaths from lack of food and medical supplies. And weapons inspections were suspected of being nothing more than fronts for covert CIA intelligence gathering.
W’s obsession with the belief that Iraq held large quantities of Weapons of Mass Destruction saw him turn into the world bully in order to coerce the international community into co-operating and forming the Coalition of the Willing. Unfortunately, this is one playground where bullies cannot be found out and punished by teachers, or where gangs with cool names are set straight. And this is not a scenario where Mrs Bush senior is going to come out of the kitchen with a wooden spoon and paddle W’s backside for not playing well with others.
W is a masterful storyteller, creating the illusion that many believed. From his soapbox he bombarded those that gathered around with powerful messages designed to make us believe that the evil had to be stopped, and that he was the man to do it. W did not care that during the weapons inspections period to 1998, the UN had recorded the destruction of large quantities of said WMD’s. Instead, he decided to change the storyline to suit his needs. Post September 11, W was telling the world that Iraq had “aided, trained and harboured terrorists, including operatives of Al Qaeda.”
W’s trigger finger was getting itchy and he wanted to go in all guns blazing. After all, he sees himself as the world’s sheriff. However, stumbling blocks kept getting in his way. The UN didn’t want to play, and that upset W because he wanted somebody to help him build his empire and he didn’t have enough pocket money to do it on his own. “America tried to work with the United Nations to address this threat,” he said. “Because we wanted to resolve the issue peacefully.” His best friends Don and Dick told him not to worry about talking to the UN, they wanted to play now. It wasn’t until Colin, the best war games player in town suggested that if they build up their troops slowly, the UN might come to the party.
But that didn’t work. The UN members with some of the biggest armies, Russia, China, France and Germany, didn’t want to play either. This caused a problem, so W labeled them as cowards and went looking for new friends.
W stood proudly on his soapbox and gushed, “Many nations…have the resolve and fortitude to act against this threat to peace, and a broad coalition is now gathering to enforce the just demands of the world.”
With that statement, W called his friend Tony and his occasional best friend, John, his deputy in the Pacific. They agreed to play, but didn’t have big enough armies, so W still had to supply most of the troops, and Tony and John would back him up. A few others with bits and pieces of war gaming stuff joined in. Mainly because they were scared of W and that he wouldn’t be their friend anymore.
W pulled out the rule book, and said that under UN Security Resolution 1441, Iraq weren’t playing fair because they were holding onto illegal toys like WMD’s and ballistic missiles. And, whilst the umpire, the UN, agreed with W that Iraq appeared to pose a threat to other players, it was not happy to let W do what his Pa did and “use all necessary means”. W’s problem is that while the UN gave his Pa the go-ahead in 1990 to push Iraq out of Kuwait, they wouldn’t give it to him. He wanted the same approval and decided to interpret the rule book in a way favourable to him. He didn’t seem to care that many pundits were telling him that he is in breach of international law, in particular, Article 42 of the UN Charter.
W has always gone up against the UN – they keep spouting out rules and regulations, and he just wants to play street rules. Ever since he told their inspectors to go away at the election, they haven’t gotten along.
W has declared “Mission Accomplished”, but, it would seem, a new game has begun.