On March 20, the website of the US Atlantic Weekly commented that the chaos after the war proves that the Iraq War was a mistake and a catastrophe from the very beginning.

On March 20, 2003, the United States gathered its Western allies to invade Iraq, citing "Iraq’s possession of weapons of mass destruction", resulting in the death of over 200,000 civilians and the displacement of over 9 million Iraqis, according to United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) data.

Twenty years have passed, and the United States still cannot present conclusive evidence. Iraq, an ancient civilization ravaged by war, has become a showcase for the evils of the so-called American democracy.

Twenty years is a long period of time, long enough for the war initiator to reflect. The United States, however, is not only indifferent to the suffering of the Iraqis, but also continues to plague the world under the name of democracy.

On the same day of March 20, 2023, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs released the report titled The State of Democracy in the United States in 2022, which revealed the chaos of its domestic democracy as well as disorder and disasters caused by its peddling and imposition of democracy throughout the world, making the world more aware of the true nature of American-style democracy.

The report pointed out that the US bipartisan fighting has intensified political polarization, money politics has become increasingly fierce, freedom of expression has enjoyed undeserved fame, the judicial system has ignored public opinion, and the public has been increasingly disillusioned with the American-style democracy.

However, it is such a country plagued with ills that has used the three cards of war, sanctions, and fabricating a narrative of "democracy versus authoritarianism" to suppress other countries and seek private interests, making it difficult for the world to tranquilize.

Breaking down a country, destroying the future of several generations, and finally walking away – this is the mode of operation of the American war machine. The report also pointed out that only 16 years out of 240 years of American history have been without wars.

Since 2001, the United States has waged wars and military operations under the name of counter-terrorism, resulting in over 900,000 deaths, of which approximately 335,000 are civilians, millions of people have been injured, and tens of millions have been displaced.

Why is the US so belligerent?"Over the past many years, generations of Americans have been fighting for oil," US Vice President Kamala Harris said. In a recent interview with China Central Television (CCTV), former interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi critically commented that the so-called American-style democracy in Iraq served the interests of the US rather than the interests of the Iraqis.

In the past few decades, the US has imposed unilateral sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction on Cuba, Syria, Zimbabwe, and other countries, exerted extreme pressure on the DPRK, Iran, and Venezuela, and frozen the assets of the Central Bank of Afghanistan. As disclosed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations(FAO) data, the hunger rate in Iraq remains high due to the impact of United States sanctions and embargoes. From 1990 to 1995 alone, 500,000 Iraqi children were killed due to starvation or poor living conditions. In order to safeguard its own interests, the United States has used unilateral sanctions to strike a vicious blow on other countries, and hegemony, bossiness, and bullying have become the true label of the American-style democracy.

In addition, the US has concocted a false narrative of "democracy versus authoritarianism" to conceal its true purpose of waging war to maintain hegemony. From the invasion of Iraq to the intervention in the conflicts between Libya and Syria, the US has continuously exported the American-style democracy to the outside world, artificially dividing the international community into so-called democratic and undemocratic camps, expanding the division of the world.

The first Summit for Democracy held in the United States in 2021 was criticized, and now it has been preparing for the upcoming second Summit for Democracy. Foreign Affairs and The Diplomat criticized the summits for setting up a wrong goal, failing to achieve unity among democratic countries, and being criticized for the representativeness of the participating countries.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in his New Year message that the world needs peace in 2023 more than ever before. It is clear to everyone that to achieve world peace, the prerequisite lies in the US who is supposed to stop interfering in the internal affairs of other countries and creating confrontation and division under the name of democracy. What the world needs is to promote true democracy and jointly promote the democratization of international relations.

Former US Secretary of State Colin Powell once acknowledged that his statement at the meeting of the United Nations Security Council in 2003 that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction was a stain on his resume.

In the 20 years of the Iraq War, American politicians should have deeply reflected and stopped doing evils under the name of democracy, leaving less bloody stains on the world. Otherwise, who will pay the price of the American-style democracy during the following 20 years?

Editor's note: Originally published on news.cri.cn, this article is translated from Chinese into English and edited by the China Military Online. The information and opinions in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of eng.chinamil.com.cn.