#3
Komsomolskaya Pravda
No. 53
March 2003
[translation from RIA Novosti for personal use only]
WAR IN IRAQ DESTROYS MYTHS ABOUT AMERICA
By Sergei CHUGAYEV

The Statue of Liberty may be sent to a museum of the latter half of the 20th century together with its ideals that appear to be funny today, with its naive world outlook and its unfounded philosophy. A museum commemorating the "Free World," the moral leader of which the United States was believed to be all those years, a country that used to serve as an example for a considerable part of mankind - a paragon country. The paragon is no more.

The start of the war in Iraq, the first days of hostilities, dispelled a few established notions of what place the United States occupies in the modern world, and of the world itself. All these notions turned out to be myths.

Myth No. 1: the U.S. is the indisputable world leader and definitely the leader of the Western world.

A leader does not abandon those following in its wake. But America, pursuing only its own goals, betrayed its Western allies. As a result, the so-called Western world has split and is unlikely to return to its former state. Meanwhile, threats of terrorism and other challenges to this world remain. Possibly after the Iraqi war the U.S. will be feared more. But it would definitely not be respected more. And in this case it is not a leader anymore.

Myth No. 2: the ideals of human rights, freedom of speech and strict observance of laws are above anything else for the U.S.

War and human rights are incompatible by definition. Besides, it is known to all that the Americans and the British entered Iraq not to save the local population from dictator Saddam Hussein (though a dictator he really is) but to get hold of oil. As for the freedom of speech, we see it every day. The relatives of the U.S. soldiers in Iraq cannot learn anything definite about their fate - such information is strictly dozed out in the U.S. in the leading mass media - in fact censorship has been imposed.

Everything is clear about law-abiding as well. The U.S. acted as it wanted to, ignoring all UN resolutions.

Myth No. 3: the U.S. Army is the best in the world, because the U.S. is the world leader and ideals of liberty and democracy are above anything else for it.

U.S. soldiers are far better clothed than, say, Russian servicemen. They are far better fed. And they have plenty of most up-to-date arms and ammunition. So what? During the entire Chechen war less Russian helicopters collided than the U.S. choppers did in the first days of the military campaign. Helicopters drop, U.S. missiles hit U.S. planes, and soldiers shoot at their combatants. Most of the losses are inflicted not by the enemy but due to their own incompetence and disorderly actions. They are trying to make up for the blunders by powerful bomb strikes at cities.

The myths are being destroyed one after another - a domino effect. As a result, there is a crisis of world outlook, an ideological crisis in the world today. The world order that existed until recently is changing cardinally. Now the states will have to look for new ideas and new alliances. The consequences of this search may be far more serious for the U.S. than possible benefits obtained from redistribution of control over flows of oil and money in the world.

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