Paddy Ashdown: When I look to the future in Iraq, I start by studying the past
[Mr. Ashdown is a former leader of Liberal Democrats in the UK.]
Those who, like me, supported the removal of Saddam Hussein by force now have to face up to the awkward task of deciding what can be salvaged from the mess. I have joined a new and independent Iraq study group, the Iraq Commission, with Tom King and Margaret Jay, to do this in front of Channel 4 cameras. We will be concentrating on the future, but it is important not to forget the lessons of the past.
The tragedy is that the military invasion was not a failure. It was a success. But what happened afterwards has been a lesson in how to make a mess of the peace that follows. It didn't have to be like this.
The US administration wasn't unaware of the past. In 2003, it convened a group of historians in Washington to help spell the lessons out. One was Dr Helmut Trotnow, an expert on the occupation of Germany. The problem was, as he later discovered, all the recommendations made at the conference were completely ignored by the US war planners.
What Trotnow said should have been listened to. The allies ran Germany from 1945 to 1949 and in that period, the rule of law was re-established, human rights respected, robust democratic institutions created and the foundations of Europe's strongest economy laid. Much of this happened despite some spectacular blunders in the early days, many of which were repeated in Iraq.
In 1945 the allies planned to remove 180,000 officials from their posts, but discovered that if they did, they would have no one to run the state. Former membership of the Nazi party ceased to be a barrier; West Germany's second president was a former member.
The situation the coalition found in Iraq was similar. Most of those responsible for running the country were members of the Baath party. The coalition proceeded to purge all the Baathists from their posts. And then found, as in Germany, they were left with no one to run the state and its services.
There was the similarly disastrous decision to disband the Iraqi army. ...
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Those who, like me, supported the removal of Saddam Hussein by force now have to face up to the awkward task of deciding what can be salvaged from the mess. I have joined a new and independent Iraq study group, the Iraq Commission, with Tom King and Margaret Jay, to do this in front of Channel 4 cameras. We will be concentrating on the future, but it is important not to forget the lessons of the past.
The tragedy is that the military invasion was not a failure. It was a success. But what happened afterwards has been a lesson in how to make a mess of the peace that follows. It didn't have to be like this.
The US administration wasn't unaware of the past. In 2003, it convened a group of historians in Washington to help spell the lessons out. One was Dr Helmut Trotnow, an expert on the occupation of Germany. The problem was, as he later discovered, all the recommendations made at the conference were completely ignored by the US war planners.
What Trotnow said should have been listened to. The allies ran Germany from 1945 to 1949 and in that period, the rule of law was re-established, human rights respected, robust democratic institutions created and the foundations of Europe's strongest economy laid. Much of this happened despite some spectacular blunders in the early days, many of which were repeated in Iraq.
In 1945 the allies planned to remove 180,000 officials from their posts, but discovered that if they did, they would have no one to run the state. Former membership of the Nazi party ceased to be a barrier; West Germany's second president was a former member.
The situation the coalition found in Iraq was similar. Most of those responsible for running the country were members of the Baath party. The coalition proceeded to purge all the Baathists from their posts. And then found, as in Germany, they were left with no one to run the state and its services.
There was the similarly disastrous decision to disband the Iraqi army. ...