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Your letters: Iraq War contributed to rise of IS

History is awash with bad decisions where unforeseen outcomes happen

The Jakarta Post
Sat, October 31, 2015

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Your letters:  Iraq War contributed to rise of IS

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istory is awash with bad decisions where unforeseen outcomes happen. When countries declare war and thereby commence a war, they do so because they believe it is in their interests, hoping for a quick resolution in their favor and benefits flowing in their favor. France declared war on Prussia/Germany three times, thus starting three wars, the Franco-Prussian War, World War I and (in company with the UK) World War II. Commencing all three wars had no immediate favorable outcome. The Franco-Prussian War led to a total defeat, WWI immense loss of life and WWII also led to a defeat and the Cold War.

The Iraq War was just another of those bad decisions where the rise of the level of instability was not foreseen. When France and the UK started World War II, they did so because they believed with the previous annexations by Germany of Czechoslovakia and Austria and the attack on Poland that it was in their best interest to stop Germany. They had every reason to believe that they could defeat Germany with their much larger armies and superior mobile equipment. Unfortunately for the allies, the Germans had superior tactics. They also failed to foresee that a collapse of the axis would lead to the Iron Curtain.

Former British prime minister Tony Blair in hindsight can rightly say it was a bad decision. At the time, given the advantages of getting rid of the instability created by Saddam, the decision seemed reasonable. If the decision had been not to declare war, then who knows what might have happened. Instead we might now be blaming Blair for not declaring war.

Jagera
Jakarta

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