Page 77 - Age of Peace Goodword.indd

A Prediction that Proved

to be True



he Iraq War, an armed conflict that began with the March
T2003 invasion of Iraq, was led by the United States during
the tenure of President George Bush Jr. A military action,
it was planned at the global level by the US. The US leaders
were very hopeful of the results of this strategy. However,
I had grave misgivings about this war and made a contrary
statement about its possible result in an interview with a
national daily long before the war was initiated. This interview
was published with the title: US Aggression would be Counter-
Productive.
1
I made this statement not on the basis of some mysterious
knowledge, but on the basis of long experience of history. It is
a fact that throughout history it has never happened that the
desired result could be arrived at through military action. This
proved to be true for the wars waged by Alexander the Great
(356 – 324 BC) and Adolf Hitler (1889 – 1945) and it applies
likewise to all the warmongers of the present day.
It has been seen that not only does the side that loses face
defeat, but even the winning side can only score a Pyrrhic
victory, that is, a victory in which the victor’s losses are as
great as or even greater than those of the defeated. The phrase
Pyrrhic victory is named after Greek King Pyrrhus of Epirus
(318 – 272 BC), whose army suffered an enormous number of
casualties in defeating the Romans at Heraclea in 280 BC and
Asculum in 279 BC during the Pyrrhic War.

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