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U.S. acts as a troublemaker in Middle East

(People's Daily Online)    13:28, January 09, 2020

The U.S. is a troublemaker that never provides solutions but always makes things worse, international relations experts told People’s Daily Online in recent interviews.

The U.S. Department of Defense announced Jan. 2 that U.S. forces had carried out a strike that killed Qasem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The information on which Trump based his decision to kill Soleimani was unconvincing, said Li Haidong, a U.S. studies researcher at China Foreign Affairs University.

The war the U.S. declared in Iraq in 2003 was based on twisted and politicized information, and it was disastrous for the Middle East, said Li, who added that the reckless operations of the U.S. against Iran will make tragedy repeat itself.

The unilateral act of the U.S. was strongly condemned by the international community. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres expressed deep concern over rising global discord, saying, “This is a moment in which leaders must exercise maximum restraint," and “The world cannot afford another war in the Gulf."

The recent act of the U.S. has blatantly sabotaged international law and is an act of roguery, said Jin Canrong, a professor with the School of International Studies at Renmin University of China and a U.S. studies expert.

As the strongest country in the world, the U.S. chose to assassinate the military leader of a country in a third country, which reveals its vulgar and barbaric nature in dealing with international relations, Li said.

The operation of the U.S. against Iran has drawn anti-war sentiment in the U.S. For days, anti-war groups have taken to the streets in more than 70 cities in the U.S., including New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Seattle, opposing the U.S. arms increase in the Middle East and demanding U.S. troops’ withdrawal from Iraq.

Anti-war voices have also been strong on social media. Tweets with the hashtag #Iran vs USA have totaled 597,000 and continue to rise. Most Twitter users denounced the U.S. behavior and called on the two sides to embrace peace.

The more Washington becomes involved in Middle East affairs, the more insecure the American people will feel, said Li, adding that frequent intervention in Middle East affairs has caused damage to the U.S. itself. The U.S. could have allocated the resources mobilized to create the Middle East situation to solve its domestic issues such as unemployment, health insurance, and polarization of political parties, Li explained.

In 2003, a U.S.-led invasion of Iraq was carried out based on an allegation that the government of Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction. However, the U.S. has not found the so-called weapons of mass destruction over the following seven years and ended the war with the excuse that the Saddam government had destroyed relevant documents and killed witnesses.

The death toll among Iraqis as a result of the U.S.-led invasion reached an estimated 655,000, according to U.S. human rights records. Also, the U.S. intervention in Iraq proved to be a lose-lose game. The war in Iraq cost the U.S. $800 billion, and left 4,500 U.S. soldiers dead and 50,000 more injured.

The root cause for the U.S. meddling in the Middle East lies in its twisted values of security, said Li.

“The U.S. thinks its security risks come from the outside and not from its domestic problems. It believes that it will become safer only when the external world becomes more and more like itself,” Li pointed out. Driven by such a philosophy, the U.S. is never tired of meddling in the affairs of other countries, especially countries in the Middle East.

U.S. intervention has made the Middle East situation worse and more complicated. The wars have led to a large number of refugees and the rising influence of the Islamic State group. While its allies in Europe are bothered by the refugee issue, the U.S. has restricted access to asylum seekers.

Facts have proved that the U.S., a troublemaker, has never provided effective solutions, but has always made things worse.

“Soleimani was a strong enemy of the Islamic State group. It’s hard to say whether his death will lead to a rise of the Islamic State terrorists. Is the U.S. maintaining peace and stability in the Middle East or creating more chaos? The international community knows the answer,” Li said.

(For the latest China news, Please follow People's Daily on Twitter and Facebook)(Web editor: Hongyu, Liang Jun)

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