Since the occupation of Kuwait in August 1990, Iraq has been a part of intense global public consciousness. Regardless of whether our approach is hostile or sympathetic, we cannot but recall the massive aerial assault of the first Gulf war and the prolonged sanctions/ inspections regime and no-fly-zones of the 1990s which thoroughly shattered the nation, its economy and society. This was followed by the second Gulf war whose aftermath has included insurgency, sectarian violence and the hanging in public gaze of Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussein. Now, suicide bombers, both boys and girls, blow themselves up daily, killing a few US soldiers and a large number of Iraqi innocents. An ancient civilization has been despoiled, with its people living in penury and misery.
Ambassador Kalha’s book has the great advantage of being truly comprehensive: After giving a thumbnail sketch of Iraq’s past, the author has provided its history in the 20th century in some detail, looking at the period from the British occupation upto the mid-1990s. There are fairly substantial studies on various aspects of Iraq’s politics, economics and social life, including that of women, children, health, education and crime. Again, besides covering the country’s internal political situation, Kalha in separate chapters has discussed Iraq’s ties with the US, other Arab countries, Iran, Turkey and India.
Even now, after nearly 20 years, the behind-the-scenes diplomatic activity which culminated in the occupation of Kuwait in August 1990 and the US-led assault on Iraq a few months later, raises a number of questions: Did the US give a “green signal” to Saddam Hussein to invade Kuwait? Would the US at that stage have been “satisfied” with the Iraqi occupation of a small bit of Kuwaiti territory and some offshore islands? Above all, was Saddam Hussein “duped” into a trap that the US, in association with Kuwait, had set for him? No final answers are available.
What continues to have significance today is the explanation the senior Bush has given for not pursuing Saddam’s forces to Baghdad in early 1991 and effecting a regime change. He has said that this would have “incurred incalculable human and political costs,” and “would have left the USA with no viable exit strategy.” Again, being in unilateral breach of the UN mandate, it would have set an inappropriate precedent in regard to the international community’s handling of aggression in the new world order. Above all, Bush Senior pointed out, the US would have been seen as an occupying power in a bitterly hostile land. These points were valid in 2003, but in undertaking the assault on Iraq, Bush Junior was impelled by the ideological zeal of the hard right neocons and a blood lust, after 9/11, that the assault upon Afghanistan had not satiated.
Kalha’s narration of India-Iraq relations has a strong whiff of nostalgia. India’s ties with Revolutionary Iraq were based not just on common strategic interests but also on strong ideological affinities between the Congress and Baath parties, and above all, the deep affection and respect that Saddam Hussein and the overwhelming majority of the Iraqi people had for Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Now, like the Iraqi nation, this once vibrant relationship also lies in ruins.
Iraq’s contemporary significance lies in the fact that it has the world’s second largest oil reserves. On the eve of the US assault on Iraq in 1991, Kalha quotes a senior American official as saying: “We are taking about oil. Got it? Oil, vital American interests.” Kalha ponders whether oil has been a curse for Iraq. Certainly, the misfortunes of the Iraqi people over the last 30 years would suggest that hardly any of them has realized any benefit from this valuable mineral.
Kalha’s main narrative ends in 1994, with a 15-page epilogue bringing the story up to date. Though the Iraq war has left the Americans with four thousand dead, 25,000 other casualties and an expenditure of half a trillion dollars, and the Iraqis have suffered over half a million dead and the destruction of their state, the situation today is as unclear as it was nearly six years ago. Amidst the various forces tearing the country apart are the Kurds who believe that this is the moment to realise their aspirations for freedom; but, a clean break seems unlikely and could even be dangerous to their cause. To complicate matters, their leadership, in Kalha’s words, “is naïve, easily influenced, bitterly divided, and unfortunately, not very astute.”
The Ultimate Prize is an excellent introduction to the tortured history of a once great country and is distinguished from many Western writings by the deep affection and sincere concern the author has for the people of Iraq.
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The reviewer is an Indian diplomat. The views expressed here are his own
THE ULTIMATE PRIZE
OIL AND SADDAM’S IRAQ
Ranjit Singh Kalha
Allied Publishers
428 pages, Rs 695