In 2003, an American-led coalition launched a war against Iraq, which lasted till 2009. On the face of it, America won the war, but after this a huge problem in the name of the self-styled ‘Islamic State of Iraq and Syria’ (IS) was born.
The former British Prime Minister Tony Blair played a key role in this war. He admitted that the war was wrong. According to a media report titled “Iraq War contributed to rise of IS”:
Britain’s former PM Tony Blair has apologized for mistake made over the Iraq war and said there were ‘elements of truth’ to claims that the 2003 US-led invasion was the principle cause of the rise of IS.
In this regard, it is more proper to say that the Iraq war was a case of a wrong choice. In this war, more than 4000 American and British soldiers were killed. The cost of the war was around 3 trillion dollars. But the result was counterproductive, and the problem of the Middle East became only even more serious than before.
The fact is that war cannot cease by one party defeating another. In practice, what happens is that the defeated party does not accept its defeat. Instead, a thirst for revenge overtakes it. This negative reactionism can become so severe that if the party does not have the strength to engage in regular war, it can resort to suicide-bombing—destroying itself and the other party, too.
War is really no choice at all. Instead, the right choice is to try to manage a war-like situation in a peaceful manner. One should seek to strengthen oneself on positive foundations in such a way that positivity itself becomes enough for one’s victory.
‘War is no choice at all' (translated from al-Risala July 2016 p.37)