World and Press April 2
April 2 2023• No 8 • 75th Year of Publication •Original Pressetexte aus britischen und US-amerikanischen Medien€ 3,00 [d]Sprachtraining • Landeskunde • Vokabelhilfen • ÜbungsmaterialIN FOCUSB2–C2• Opinion: Generation Zetiquette• Earthquake: Survivors’desperate hunt for shelterPages 2/3| | Photo:Picture AllianceThe Parker family in New Yorkreceived letters from all over the worldaddressed to the superhero Spider-Man.These letters are now on display in amuseum.Read more on page 4Royal Mail revealed theimage of King Charles to be used onstamps. The tradition of definitivestamps in the UK dates back to thecreation of the Penny Black.Read more on page 10How the U.S. broke Iraq| Photo: Picture AllianceUSA• Employment: Some stateswant to relax child laborprotections• Environment: Golf coursesremain untouched byColorado River crisisPages 4/5BRITAIN• Scotland: Will rejectionof gender bill helpindependence movement?• Northern Ireland: Truthof the Troubles now trumpsjusticePages 6/7OTHER TOPICS• Conflict: Cashmeretrade ensnared in militarytensions in the Himalayas• Globalization: NewOrleans wants to profit fromnew global integration• Climate: A firm has startedgeoengineering the climate• History: Secret lettersof Mary, Queen of Scots,decodedDie Nr.1 unter den Vokabeltrainern.Pages 9/11/13/14Get thevocabulary trainer!www.phase6.de/wp/0823ANALYSISThe war in Iraq, drivenby the hubris of theBush administration, isnow widely seen as agenerational Americanmistake.By Ishaan Tharoor1 “YOU BREAK IT,you ownit.” That’s the so-called PotteryBarn rule, famously invoked twodecades ago by Secretary of StateColin Powell to President GeorgeW. Bush ahead of their administration’sdecision to launch its invasionof Iraq. In February 2003,Powell staked his considerablereputation on a presentation hedelivered at the U.N. SecurityCouncil, offering to the world“facts and conclusions based onsolid intelligence” about the Iraqiregime’s possession of so-calledweapons of mass destruction.2 In later years, he would lamentthe defects in the U.S. intelligenceprocess that led himto that moment, which precededthe Bush administration’s decisionto launch its invasion. Criticscontend that figures in theBush administration deliberatelylied to get the war they wanted,but, whatever the case, Powell,who died in 2021, voiced moreremorse than many of his immediatecolleagues. And he wasat least partially right about thePottery Barn rule.3 With little doubt, the UnitedStates broke Iraq. U.S. forces succeededin the campaign to toppleIraqi dictator Saddam Hussein,George W. Bush (right) speaks to reporters alongside Colin Powell, shortly after demanding Iraqdisarm in February 2003. | Photo: Luke Frazza/dpa/Picture Allianceshocking and awing their way toBaghdad in a matter of days. Butwhat followed turned into a debaclefor U.S. grand strategy, anda traumatic nightmare for muchof Iraqi society. An oppressive regimewas ousted, but the initialglimmers of hope and optimismfelt by some Iraqis faded as a dysfunctional,unstable status quotook root, shaped far too oftenby sectarian enmities and kleptocraticelites.4 The war, driven by the hubrisof the Bush administration anda supportive Washington establishment– as well as what hasto be described at this point as avengeful post-9/11 bloodlust thatpermeated American society – isnow widely seen as a generationalAmerican mistake. Iraqis paidthe biggest price: According toBrown University’s Costs of Warproject, many of the 306,000 estimateddeaths in the Iraq warwere of civilians killed by “directwar-related violence” between2003 and 2019, a span of timethat saw Iraq convulsed by wavesof insurgencies and counterinsurgencies,and its cities ravaged byterrorist attacks and airstrikes.5 The consensus now, evenamong formerly hawkish Republicans,is that the United Statesshould never have invaded Iraq20 years ago. But an older genreof conventional wisdom inWashington maintains that theBush administration’s real failurecame only after it deposedSaddam, when it turned out thatthe United States didn’t have areal strategy for managing whatcame next. …6 Saddam’s nominally secularregime carried out hideousatrocities against ethnic Kurdsand rebellious Shiites. But it stillpresided over a united sense ofIraqi identity that was, to a certainextent, broken up by theContinued on page 12Die Nr.1 unter den Vokabeltrainern.€3,50 [a] CHF5,40 [ch]0 – 2 HUBRIS Überheblichkeit — Pottery BarnUS-Einrichtungshaus — to invoke anführen —Secretary of State US-Außenminister(in) — tostake aufs Spiel setzen — intelligence Geheimdienstinformationen— weapons of mass destructionMassenvernichtungswaffen — to lament beklagen— to precede vorausgehen — to contendargumentieren — remorse Reue3 to topple stürzen — shocking and awing vgl.Shock and Awe militärische Taktik der US-Streitkräfteim Irakkrieg — oppressive unterdrückerisch— to oust entmachten — glimmer of hope Hoffnungsschimmer— to take root (fig) s. etablieren —sectarian enmity religiös motivierte Feindseligkeit4 – 5 vengeful rachsüchtig — bloodlust Blutrünstigkeit— to permeate durchdringen — to convulseerschüttern — insurgency Aufstand — counterinsurgencyAufstandsbekämpfung — to ravage verwüsten— hawkish e-n harten außenpolit. Kurs vertretend— conventional wisdom gängige Meinung— to depose absetzen6 hideous abscheulich — atrocities Gräueltaten— Shiites Schiiten; s.w.u. Shiite schiitisch — topreside over s.th. über etw. walten —
