The Special Relationship has seen better days



The chaos following the Brexit vote has dominated the British and world press in the month since the referendum.  Some have called it the greatest blunder by the UK since the invasion of Suez 60 years ago.  It will probably be considered one of the most significant events in the early twenty-first century, affecting the economies and politics of Europe and by extension the world for years to come.  

 The Brexit vote has overshadowed the release of the Chilcot Report, the seven year study of the UK's government leading up to, during, and following the invasion of Iraq in 2003.  The report's findings are somewhat scathing regarding the conduct of the governments of the UK and the US in the rationale, planning, execution, and follow up of the invasion of Iraq, another sovereign state which, though not a virtuous nation by any measure, was not at war with either state.  The invasion has had consequences in the Middle East, Africa, and Europe that will last for decades.  Tony Blair and George Bush are likely somewhat relieved that the political attention of their countries has been drawn to other matters, Brexit and Donald Trump, instead of the damning conclusions of the Chilcot report.

When considering a war with Iraq, Bush and Blair probably imagined they would go down in history as the FDR and Churchill of our age, a team who sought to vanquish the evil of our time as their predecessors defeated the evil of their time, a gleaming example of the ultimate special relationship between the two nations.  They considered the armies and oppression by Saddam Hussein to be threats similar to the armies and oppression of Adolf Hitler.  In both cases, the special relationship between the US and the UK vanquished their enemies of the moment.  
The Special Relationship: 1943
The Special Relationship: 2003
It's worth considering how the victories played out for the UK and the US.  A dozen years after FDR and Churchill met in Casablanca to plan the Allied victory over the Axis powers, the British empire was crumbling as colonies were granted their independence, challenging the whole structure of the British economy.  A dozen years after Bush and Blair crafted the invasion of Iraq, the UK, whose government and economy were on unsteady ground from the squandering political and financial capital on years of war, recession, and austerity, voted itself out of the European Union and has years of likely even greater instability and economic hardship to look forward to.

The situation in the US after the two partnerships of war is a study in contrasts.  A dozen years after WWII, the US was in many respects the envy and leader of the world, with a vibrant economy gradually providing opportunity to all, on the verge of a long overdue expansion of rights and opportunity to long oppressed and ignored members of society--blacks and women.  On the other hand, a dozen years after invading Iraq, the US struggles to recover completely from a recession made worse by the expenditures and debt incurred by the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.  The economic hardship and increasing inequality exacerbated by the waste of political and financial capital on war rather than the people of the US has led to a horrid flirtation with a brash demagogue as a major political party's presidential candidate.

FDR and Churchill's victory made the world a better place, opening the doors to freedom for millions and creating international structures to try to prevent devastating world war in the future.  FDR and Churchill are both considered among the most distinguished individuals to lead their nations, with monuments, ships, and buildings around the world named in their honor.  Bush and Blair left their nations with the costs and burdens of continual war and the lost opportunity to make the lives of all their citizens better.  It will take a drastic reevaluation of their legacies to warrant future monuments in their honor.  The Special Relationship has truly seen better days.

 

 

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