War or Liberation?
JEDDAH: What shall we call the 2003 US war in Iraq? The Americans had no problem describing it as a liberation. From the Arab perspective, however, it was something completely different.
If you flip through editions of Arab News published in the lead-up to the start of the bombing of Baghdad on the night of March 20, 2003, what strikes you is that many Arabs were opposed to the US war because they correctly foresaw that the result would be to hand the country to Iran on a platter.
Bush’s Personal Vendetta Against Saddam
US President George W. Bush was always prejudiced against Saddam Hussein. Bush’s cabinet colleagues and advisers, especially Donald Rumsfeld, Richard Perle, and other neocons in the administration, made no attempt to hide their own pathological dislike of the Iraqi leader.
There were several theories for why Bush despised Saddam. Some reports suggested the hatred stemmed from Saddam plotting to kill his father, former President George H. W. Bush, during a visit to Kuwait in 1993. Whatever the reasons, Bush Jr.’s advisers took full advantage of his strong dislike and fed it with a variety of stories.
Post-9/11 Fear and Manufactured Justifications
The horrific attacks on US soil by Al-Qaeda on Sept. 11, 2001, gave Bush and his advisers a reason to take out Saddam. He was portrayed as a supporter of Al-Qaeda and its leader, Osama bin Laden, and was therefore tarred with the same brush of Muslim terrorism.
Nobody in the Middle East was taken in by this story, however, because it was well known that Saddam hated Al-Qaeda more than anything else. As a Baathist, he viewed Islamist terrorists as a great threat to his rule, even greater than the danger posed by Iran.
In the post-9/11 atmosphere, it was easy to create any narrative as justification for eliminating a perceived enemy. That is exactly what happened with Saddam. A flimsy case was put together alleging that he was in possession of weapons of mass destruction, based on flawed intelligence.
Colin Powell’s UN Speech and Global Skepticism
Colin Powell, Bush’s secretary of state, gave an elaborate speech to the UN, complete with maps and pictures of where the WMDs allegedly were hidden. The wider world remained unconvinced. The UN, having sent its own experts to Iraq who found nothing, refused to approve Washington’s war.
Saudi Arabia’s Warnings Ignored
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal raised serious concerns during an interview on Frontline, an investigative documentary series on PBS.
“What’s going to happen to them (Iraqi soldiers and officials), especially since the army was disbanded and the government fired? And who’s going to rule Iraq if you have that?” he asked.
“Saddam Hussein had perhaps 2 million people controlling Iraq. The US and its allies have close to 150,000. How do you make that work?”
Nonetheless, Washington developed and choreographed its plan to attack Iraq. Arab News published many reports at the time showing how Saudi authorities advised the US to pursue sanctions instead of military action.
Long-Standing Saudi Concerns About Regime Change
Even after Saddam invaded Kuwait in the early 1990s and his army was pulverized by US and Saudi-led forces, Riyadh had urged Washington not to remove Saddam from power. Saudi officials understood that his downfall would trigger chaos and offer Iran a golden opportunity to expand its influence.
Their fears came true. Saddam’s removal led to horrific atrocities both in Iraq and across the region. Al-Qaeda, badly weakened in Afghanistan, bounced back and found fertile ground in post-Saddam Iraq.
Rise of Daesh and Iran’s Opportunism
Much later, Daesh emerged from the chaos. Iran seized the opportunity, fueling sectarian violence through proxy militias. Thousands died, and Tehran’s forces used improvised explosive devices (IEDs) to devastating effect.
Inside Arab News: Covering the War
As a senior member of staff at Arab News, I was part of the team selecting stories and photos for the front page. Some images remain etched in our memories. On March 19, 2003, our front page showed Bush in a cowboy hat under the headline: “High Noon for Cowboy Era.”
That same front page reported King Fahd’s address to the Saudi people on March 18, in which he stated:
“The Kingdom will under no circumstances take part in the war against Iraq, and its armed forces will not enter an inch of Iraqi territory.”
Baghdad was bombed the next night, following Bush’s 48-hour ultimatum to Saddam. Arab News correspondents filed extensive reports from Kuwait, Jordan, Washington, and Baghdad. The March 21, 2003 edition’s headline read:
“Baghdad Set Ablaze; Palaces, Saddam’s Family Home Targeted in Aerial Bombardment.”
No Weapons, Only “Weapons of Mass Deception”
In the days that followed, the US unleashed at least 3,000 satellite-guided bombs and cruise missiles. No Iraqi weapons of mass destruction were found. On the Letters to the Editor page, readers mockingly referred to them as “weapons of mass deception.”
Regional Anger and the Surge of Terrorism
There was fierce criticism in Saudi Arabia because the UN had refused to sanction the war. In the March 21 edition, Adnan Jaber, a Jordanian journalist, predicted the conflict:
“Would increase terrorism rather than reduce it, since political instability would provide a breeding ground for radicalism.”
His warning proved chillingly accurate. The disbanded Iraqi army became the core of Daesh and Al-Qaeda’s resurgence, aiming to strike back at the forces that had destroyed their nation.
Dark Comic Relief: Saddam’s Information Minister
Despite the grim reality, the war provided moments of dark comic relief. In the newsroom, we gathered around TV screens to watch Saddam’s information minister, Mohammed Saeed Al-Sahaf, making ludicrous claims of Iraqi victory, even as the US campaign of “shock and awe” dismantled Iraq’s military.
It later emerged that many Iraqi soldiers abandoned their posts, shedding their uniforms to wage guerrilla warfare alongside Daesh or Al-Qaeda.
The Lingering Aftermath
The region continues to suffer from the consequences of that war:
• A surge in terrorism
• Deep political instability
• A lasting breeding ground for radicalism
In virtually every way, the after-effects have proven even worse than the war itself.
Arab News: A Legacy of Truthful Reporting
Arab News was well placed to report on the war and its aftermath, and remains proud of its tradition of responsible journalism to this day.
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