The First Axis War
The United States’ war with Iraq was undoubtedly the war of 2003 for mobilized forces and funds, for the vigor of the world community’s reaction, and for media coverage. “Unpredictable” will probably be the best epithet for this war, as the development of events in Iraq repeatedly contradicted prewar predictions. Predictability has not increased with the end of the active phase of operations. Today, it is absolutely impossible to answer the main question: when will this war really end? Or another important question: who will be next?
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| Photo: AP |
| The toppling of monuments to Saddam Hussein may have reminded Russians of the removal of the bronze statue of Felix Dzerzhinsky from Lubyanka Square. It would be interesting to know whether at some point the Iraqi people will discuss the question of restoring the monuments to their former leader |
Our whole life is a game, as anyone would argue. This is why one of the most important symbols of the war in Iraq was a deck of cards with photos of high-ranking officials in Hussein’s Iraq dreamed up by some obscure Pentagon PR manager. It was contrived and of course tempting, but patience did not agree with the American army: all the trump cards remained in the enemy’s hands. The ace of Saddam seemed to be a trump. All the American statements about how they managed to lay down this card turned out to be highly exaggerated. Even less impressive were the results of the game “Find It, Whatever It Is”, that is, weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The only thing found was the body of a British civil servant who unexpectedly committed suicide after exposing his main boss as a cheat.
Players in the “Right Price” contest proved to be unskilled, as barrels of oil stubbornly refused to become cheaper after Baghdad fell. The “Short Triumphant War” game, which heads of state had long considered a patented method of increasing their popularity, played a dirty trick on George Bush, Jr. As long as the war was short and triumphant, the American president’s rating really did soar, but as the Iraqi operation passed into a long drawn-out sluggish phase, the patented method no longer worked and his rating began to fall. In 2004, George Bush will have to play “Spare Chair in the Oval Office”, and someone without similar experience in military failures will be competing for that chair.
All the Article in Russian as of Jan. 12, 2004
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