Conquest as Liberation

The invasion of Iraq was a failure, but first it was a stunning success. It achieved, albeit temporarily, the spiritual triumph that the Bush Administration sought, reconsecrating America as divinely commissioned to spread the blessings of freedom around the world.

When Baghdad fell, an American tank pulled down the gigantic statue of Saddam that stood in Firdos Square, producing an icon vaguely reminiscent—in reverse — of the famous flag-raising at Iwo Jima. The media images insisted that American soldiers had not performed this feat: they kept the tank invisible off-camera, and featured Iraqis slapping the face of the statue with their shoes. This fantasy was re-affirmed in the official chronology that was prepared for President Bush: ‘April 9…Regime Fractured. Saddam statue toppled by people of Iraq.’

This is not military conquest, said the pictures, but the drama of freedom triumphing over fear. An inborn passion for American democracy had brought down the heathen idol under which Iraqis had been enslaved. The scene was screened over and over, exorcising remembered images of the falling twin towers, even though alert viewers could easily pick out the cable that had actually done the job, high above the heads of the surrounding Iraqis.

The predominant strategic goal of the invasion had become the capture of Baghdad, ‘regime removal’ replacing ‘regime change,’ as though taking down Saddam would obviate the need for a long occupation to create a stable new regime, to say nothing of a democratic government.