It was March of 2003 and the USA and UK launched ‘preemptive’ strikes on Iraq, a sovereign nation, without UN approval or popular global support.

The justification given by the elite to the world for such an attack was two-fold:
1) Iraq was accused of harbouring weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) capable of reaching London in 45 minutes
2) Later, of having links to al-Qaeda which made it part of the global ‘War of Terror’

The Iraq War left many scars on our society. With the Chilcot Report to be (finally) published in a few hours, we examine the legacy of the Iraq War.

The British people were ignored

In the wake of the invasion, evidence failed to emerge for either Iraq’s WMDs or any links to terrorism. The truth is many knew that both of these justifications were out-and-out lies. Millions marched against the war only for them to be ignored. The dogs of war had already been unleashed.

The British Government’s decision to act despite the extremely vocal resistance to the war by the British public, is used as a justification to not take part in political action and produced a generation of political apathy. Why would people want to be involved in politics if they were just going to be ignored? Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership has gone some way to re-energising people to get involved in politics but the scars of the Iraq War run deep in our society to this day.

Death, Destruction and Disease

The legacies of the death and destruction continues to compound the devastation the war wrought on the political stability of Iraq.

Probably the greatest legacy of the Iraq war was the sheer loss of life. According to a 2006 Lancet study the Iraqi death toll, directly and indirectly due to the destruction and disruption of the war, was estimated at 655,000. There are a lot of people that argue about the numbers. The destruction was huge and there are only ‘estimates’ of the number of dead and these ‘estimates’ very to the degree of millions.

During the invasion of the Iraq the US used cluster bombs, white phosphorous and depleted uranium against the Iraqi people, ironically all weapons of mass destruction. According to a number of epidemiological studies there was a marked rise in congenital birth defects and cancer in areas where the most violent bombings took place.

Abu Ghraib

The images of prisoner torture that occurred in Abu Ghraib were grotesque and gruesome. There remain many unanswered questions about Abu Ghraib, the fundamental one being who was ultimately responsible.

There are people still waiting for answers about what happened to their relatives that were held there – will Chilcot hold Blair et al to account for this? Unlikely to say the least.

The harrowing images did go someway, however, in symbolising the hypocrisy of the UK and USA establishments. This was not the moral ‘let’s free Iraqis’ war they had told the world about. And although much of the world didn’t believe them, now the hypocrisy confronted them in black and white.

Da’esh

For all the furore and disgust at the actions of Da’esh, politicians are unsurprisingly less vocal about the role the UK- and US-led destruction of Iraq by the illegal invasion of 2003 had with regards to the emergence of the group.

The emergence of Da’esh can be directly attributed to the tactics used at the time during the uprisings that followed the occupation of Iraq.

Much like ‘divide-and-conquer’ in the British empire, Iraq was split into a number of ‘institutions’. Each of these institutions was handed to different parities, with often the minority group ruling the majority group. And much like the overthrowing of the Ottoman caliphate, the insurgency were bribed and promised a stake in the future of Iraq in return for ‘pacifying’ the majority rule. This only triggered sectarian fighting and the rise of Da’esh.

Some people got very rich

Aside from the death and destruction, the Iraq War proved to be incredibly lucrative for many big companies and the politicians that called for the war.

Iraq saw the resurrection of the military-industrial complex, where both industry and defence fed each other with the blood of Iraq’s dead.

It was not only companies like Halliburton, Washington Group International and Accenture that profited to the tune of millions. The very politicians that took their countries to war profited too.

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Tony Blair and George Bush would have us believe that they acted in our countries’ interests, but the reality is that they created conditions which have led to more instability and destruction. Conditions that have made it harder for us all to live in peace.

That is the legacy of the Iraq War.