Iraq Through Uncle Sam's Eyes

To the moderators, I know that I just posted this in the creative-work forum, but wonder if it would Have a better spot here, given what it is about. So far, it has had 9 notices, but no replies. Here, I might garner some more feedback.

Here's hoping you allow it, and here it is:



People worldwide could not understand Uncle Sam'sa obsession with Saddam Hussein. Why was he so fixated on an Iraqi regime change while tolerating other dictatorships? Why act then when he did so at the potential loss friends and allies?

Why, why, why?

Well, whether or not Uncle Sam was right, here is why he set his face towards Baghdad.

First, realize that Uncle Sam styles himself as a hero. Given his power, that's not a bad aspiration, and besides, that's how much of the world views him. At least, that is how much of the world views him.At least, that is how it works in theory. Like mythic heroes, Uncle Sam has headaches, and must constantly cope with his fallible human nature.

Sam has come a long way from the Spanish-American War, but to him the problems begin to rival his growth in power. After WWI, he decided to wash his hands of affairs, and left. At Pearl Harbor, Uncle Sam learned negligence's price. Justified or not, he unleashed the atomic horror to end the war his absence allowed.

Entering the Cold War, Sam believed in himself and his cause, but Vietnam unnerved him. Could he ever summon the will to fight on foreign soil again? Was it worth it? These were open questions.

It took years for Uncle Sam's confidence to recover. He found it again in places like Grenada and Panama. It felt good to feel successful, not like some baby-killing loser.

Then came the Gulf War.

Saddam was Sam's ally at the time, and if he let the thug keep Kuwait, they probably could have cut a mutually beneficial oil deal, but instead he chose to face him down. Sam liberated Kuwait, but the Gulf War accomplished far more.

Uncle Sam was a hero at home again. "You took a stand for what we stand for" declared American ads. The Soviet Union collapsed, making the jubilation complete. It felt good. It felt cleansing. It felt right.

The lone irritant was Iraq. Sam had created an embargo, weapons inspections, and no-fly zones, weakening Hussein militarily and economically. Thought almost as good as dead, Sam left him alone. In a war filled with pleasant surprises for Uncle Sam, the final surprise was a downer: embargo and sanctions were not enough.

Like a fantasy hero, he had not totally vanquished the foe, but merely sealed it up behind an enchanted barrier. Also like the storybooks, barriers never last. The Berlin Wall, the Maginot line, and the Great Wall all failed. Sam's barrier began to failwhen the embargo collapsed, the inspectors were restricted, and the jet patrols were attacked.

The reason Sam opposes Baghdad is the same reason Rome destroyed Carthage: it was insolent. By the Third Punic War, Carthage was no Roman threat, yet they were not quite vanquished. Rome could not abide that.

Superpowers have no tolerance for crushable foes walking around under the sun. They never have and assuredly never will. Like Napoleon against England, Sam tried to bring his quarry down through economic isolation, but like Napoleon, he found it unworkable. Unlike Bonaparte, he need not accept defeat for lack of a road. No ocean, much less a channel, is his barrier.

That Sam chose the barrier approach as a first resort, unlike Bonaparte, largely reflected Sam's acquiescence to international pressure. The coalition was only in it for the Kuwait's liberation. Proceed further, and he was on his own. He simply chose the expedient choice.

Besides, Uncle Sam also had personal reasons. Vietnam's specter restrained him, exhorting him to quit ahead, regretless. The sanctions, however, made him a baby-killer again, and the Kurdish massacres made him treacherous. To Sam it was the best thing he'd done in decades, and the Vietnam criticisms still resurfaced.

To just leave Saddam alone was unthinkable to Sam. His American fear of doing too much is only superseded by his fear of too little. Vietnam runs deep, but Pearl Harbor and 9-11 run deeper.

Since the Gulf War, Uncle Sam has triumphed first in the Balkans, and then Afghanistan. These have given him a greater peace of mind in imposing his will on the world. His successes outnumber the solitary failure overwhelmingly. Simply put, Sam like his track record.

Now, when Saddam cast his periodic glances at his antagonist, a thin smile crossed Sam's lips; a disturbing look entered his eye.

Saddam knew it well: It's that of a predator eying its prey.