The consequences of war are always, or most of the time, unpreventable. On the same scale, the Iraq War, which began with the US invasion of Iraq, not only transformed Iraq and both countries, but it also changed the entire Middle East and had a profound impact on the world forever. Within weeks after the September 11, 2001, attack, the United States took over Afghanistan because Al-Qaeda, the terrorist group, was based there and removed their existing government. But soon, when the George W. Bush Administration came to power, he gave an order to invade Iraq because, according to them, they were involved in Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD), giving reason that they were actually defending the world from grave danger just because they had a perception that Iraq could lead to something worse.
After spending 8 years in Iraq, no evidence was found of weapons of mass destruction, and till then, much of Iraq had faced destruction. And the invasion resulted in death, destruction, and massive blowback, making the Middle East less stable than ever. Even though the reasons for waging the war were unjustified, the outcomes were opposite of what the US planned to achieve in the context of the democratization of Iraq and the Middle East. Critically analyzing the event, we can highlight the long-lasting impact that the US invasion of Iraq had on the Middle East region.
Even though there are uncountable impacts, this article discusses the major impacts of the Iraq war on the Middle East. Firstly, when Saddam Hussain was removed after the invasion, the Shiite Arabs took over, and this shift in balance of power started another conflict between Sunni-Shiite Arabs. This shift in power dynamics resulted in far-reaching implications for Iraq and the broader Middle East region that can be observed today. Most importantly, the main reason that the US gave for the invasion was to eliminate al-Qaeda, but strangely, it began to rise after the US invasion as they dismantled the Iraqi Army and Security Forces, which allowed all sorts of foreign fighters and violent groups to enter, making the region more complex.
Notably, it affected US foreign policy because it prevented the US from being a long-term ally to Muslim and Arab states, and it had a negative impact on the US reputation as a result of not allowing any future military intervention in the region. These impacts have had far-reaching implications for the stability of the Middle East, shaping the geopolitical landscape and regional relationships in the post-war era.
Unfortunately, the US illegal decision to invade Iraq killed 2 lac Iraqis and 10,000 American soldiers, and after so many years, the socio-economic condition of people in the region has become even worse since then. In the region today, sectarianism is rife, the economy is weak, poverty is spreading, and people are migrating to neighboring countries in the Middle East and Europe. Iraq has always paid the highest price for the decision to invade the US. But the people who pushed for the war had never been held accountable, leaving the entire Middle East region to suffer.
The writer is the Member of PYDIR and a student of ”BS International Relations” at ”International Islamic University Islamabad”
