What was the Iraq war really about?

The Iraq war wasn't about the protection of human rights. Neither was it about securing oil. As Middle East specialist Fred Halliday pointed out in his 100 Myths about the Middle East, if the US had wanted to secure oil in Iraq it would have done a deal with Saddam Hussein. The war certainly wasn't about Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD). The war was about something broader: it was about securing US dominance in this particular area of the world. It was about the US fearing its diminishing position on the global stage with the emergence of countries such as China and India.


I wouldn't argue that intervention of any kind was not necessary in Iraq. Clearly the position of the Iraqi people in terms of their treatment by authorities had become untenable. Furthermore, the effect this was having on neighbouring countries and globally was worsening.


What was the alternative to military intervention in Iraq in 2003? The alternative to the killing of countless innocent civilians? The alternative to engendering a situation now where Iraq is experiencing deep political and economic insecurity? The alternative to a situation where I recently listened to an Iraqi asylum seeker explain that the situation for Iraqi people as a whole, and homosexuals in particular has worsened and not improved since the 2003 invastion? I do not have the answer. But leaving Saddam Hussein to exercise terror over the Iraqi population cannot be the best alternative.