U.S. Couldnt Find WMD
The most influential Iraqi Shiite Muslim, Muhammad Bakr al-Hakim, returned home Saturday and rejected U.S.-led Western-style democracy for the country. Prior to this, the U.S. admitted on Friday that they failed to locate weapons of mass destruction, the justification for the war with Iraq.
The U.S. is now more likely to encounter a backlash from the Islamic community which is predominated by Shiites and claims the U.S. had an obscure objective for its war with Iraq. The U.S. is thus expected to experience more difficulties during the Iraq reconstruction phase.
Hakim, founder of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, a dissident group of Iraqis has returned to Iraq after 23 years in exile.
Ayatollah Homeniye who also lived in exile to escape the oppression of the Saddam Hussein regime is an important figure comparable to Iran`s Islamic Revolution Leader Ayatollah Khamenei. His return home is not irrelevant to increasing Shiites influence in the power struggle to establish a future Iraqi government.
A Western style democracy is not compatible with Iraq`s Islamic culture, said Hakim in his first speech in Basra, a southern city in Iraq, amidst fervent cheers from residents.
Iraq must base itself on Islamic laws and prohibit the kind of behavior that may be acceptable in the West but is forbidden in Islam, Hakim asserted. We don`t want extremist Islam. But a new modern Iraqi government must be established by free elections that is representative of all ethnic and religious groups.
The U.S. is keeping its eye upon Hakim. The U.S. believes that Hakim might claim to establish a new government and as he is somewhat closely connected to Iran, a country that is waiting for its chance to expand influence in Iraq. Hakim noticed such an atmosphere, and said he would be satisfied to take the role of a spiritual leader in the country.
The 75th Exploration Task Force currently carrying out its mission to search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq is winding down operations having not located any WMD, the Washington Post reported on Sunday.
Task Force 75 is planning to leave Iraq next month after seven weeks in action. This symbolically implies that the U.S. has failed the main objective of its war with Iraq, the paper analyzed.
Task Force 75 searched 17 out of 19 suspected weapons sites. The results, however, have been disappointing. It`s true that our team couldn`t find weapons of mass destruction but at least I believe we stopped the country`s WMD programs. Army Col. Richard McPhee, leader of the Mobile Exploitation Team, said.
What Army Col. McPhee said means that the U.S. has shifted its policy from finding WMD to confirming Iraqs capability to produce WMD, AP reported.
Lack of information and leaks of confidential information which caused evidence to be destroyed were the major reasons for Task Force 75s failure. There wasnt enough information and most of it was unclear or destroyed during looting.
Task Force 75`s objective was only to search and locate WMD, but as their duties increased and diversified, it found evidence proving Saddam Husseins involvement in human rights crimes and connection to terrorist groups.
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