US-Style "Democratization" Led Middle East to Disaster

The ongoing events in the Middle East make many Western politicians give objective assessments of the region's tragedy causes. Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair who has always been loyal to Washington, suddenly admitted in an interview to CNN that the "US and Britain-led coalition invasion of Iraq in 2003 could be the main cause of appearing the ISIS terrorist group".

This Blair's statement is remarkable because it was he who led the British cabinet during the "Iraqi Freedom" – operation aimed at overthrowing the regime of Saddam Hussein, whom Washington (with the help of falsification and direct deception of the international community) had accused of being connected with international terrorist organizations and of keeping chemical weapons of mass destruction. Blair, in fact, admitted the fraud by expressing regret at the fact that weapons of mass destruction, which were the main cause of the US invasion, was never found in Iraq. "I apologise for the fact that the intelligence we received was wrong. I also apologise for some of the mistakes in planning and, certainly, our mistake in our understanding of what would happen once you removed the regime," – said Blair. He acknowledged everything happening in Iraq and the whole region is the fault of mistakes made in 2003.

However, Blair made it clear that he didn't consider the whole Iraq War a mistake in the light of the struggle for democracy: "But I find it hard to apologise for removing Saddam."

But did this region, plunged by Washington into the chaos of a brutal civil war that can lead to several nations collapse, really need "US-style democracy"? Republican candidate for the Presidency Donald Trump says NO. At CNN Live he said he believed the world would be much better off if "ruthless dictators" like Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi were still in power.

"I mean, look at Libya. Look at Iraq. Iraq used to be no terrorists. He (Hussein) would kill the terrorists immediately, which is like now it's the Harvard of terrorism," – said Trump. "If you look at Iraq from years ago, I'm not saying he was a nice guy, he was a horrible guy, but it was a lot better than it is right now. Right now, Iraq is a training ground for terrorists," – said an American billionaire who is really a US presidential timber. "Right now Libya, nobody even knows Libya, frankly there is no Iraq and there is no Libya. It's all broken up. They have no control. Nobody knows what's going on," – he stressed.

Both Gaddafi and Hussein committed atrocities against their own people and were among the world's worst human rights abusers. NATO decided to intervene in Libya as Gaddafi appeared poised to commit a genocidal-like massacre. But Trump said human rights abuses continue to plague Libya and Iraq and claimed they're worse than they ever were. "People are getting their heads chopped off, they're being drowned. Right now, they are far worse than they were, ever, under Saddam Hussein or Gaddafi", – said Donald Trump.

It is worth remembering that Russia and a number of European countries including Germany and France stood firmly against the Anglo-American aggression in 2003 and warned of possible extremely negative consequences of Washington operations, which were aimed at overthrowing Saddam Hussein. Without the UN mandate and ignoring the opinion of the international community, the United States and Great Britain decided to take it upon themselves.

UN Secretary General at the time was Kofi Annan. Recently, speaking at a security conference in Munich, he characterized the invasion of the US and its allies in Iraq in 2003 as one of the causes of the Middle East destabilization, which gave rise to an extremist group "Islamic State". "The folly of that fateful decision was compounded by post-invasion decisions… The wholesale disbandment of the security forces, among other measures poured hundreds of thousands of trained and disgruntled soldiers and policemen onto the streets," Annan noted, pointing out that some of them subsequently joined the IS. At the same time, the former UN Secretary General pointed out that there are also regional factors. According to his words, "no region today illustrates the central idea of the Conference on Security better than the Middle East." Kofi Annan pointed out at the failure of desire "to promptly create a democracy without the presence of the relevant institutions."

It was not an effort to create a democracy in the full sense of the word or a desire to "democratize" the Middle East which led the United States to the region. If Saddam Hussein or Muammar Gaddafi were Washington's liegemen, they would perfectly suit the White House, and the United States would impose them no "democracy" ever. But these leaders showed obstinacy, so it was necessary to punish them, to make a savage reprisal, not only political, but also physical. The same fate was prepared for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. But, obviously, nobody in the White House ever thought about terrible consequences of such regime-change operations. And now the entire Middle East region is in a raging fire, killing dozens or even hundreds of thousands of people, pouring nearly a million refugees to Europe which is now in the face of a humanitarian catastrophe. But the largest problem is an uprise of a monster called "Islamic State". Generated by the US aggression in the region, it grew stronger and today poses a threat to the entire world. These are the consequences of the criminal US "democratization" of the Middle East, recognized by many politicians, including Tony Blair, Donald Trump and Kofi Annan.