Iraq War - the bell tolls

President Obama has formally declared the Iraq War over. It started on 2 March 2003 at 5.30 am Baghdad on the final bleak, war-mongering Saturn opposition Pluto which was then square a Pisces Sun Mercury. The first hit of that Saturn Pluto was just weeks before 9/11 and oversaw the Afghanistan War which started a few weeks later in October 2001.

The Iraq Attack chart is strange for a war since it was not well grounded only having one earth sign. It had a detached, up-in-the-head Air Grand Trine of Libra Moon trine Venus in Aquarius trine Saturn in Gemini, formed into a Kite by Pluto opposition Saturn making destructive Pluto the driving focal point planet. Pluto was within four minutes of a degree (one fifteenth) exactly on the Midheaven in Baghdad when the attack was launched.

Mars in materialistic Capricorn was the only earth planet and it was in a strained inconjunct to a flashy Jupiter in Leo. The Afghanistan War in October 2001 was started on a Mars in Capricorn opposition Jupiter. Mars Jupiter tends to go on holy crusades, wrapping aggression up in moral justifications. It tends to be overly confident and plans launched under it often come unstuck especially in the case of the Iraq War since Jupiter also opposed Neptune which really is head-in-the-clouds.

Relocating the Iraq War to Washington puts the Saturn opposition Pluto on the financial 2^{nd/8th axis which well describes the eye-watering cost to the USA government of an estimated $1 trillion.}

So the chart certainly reflects the muddled course of a questionable war which quickly fell out of public favour.

Could you have predicted from the chart itself when the war would end?

Hmm. The Saturn opposition Pluto has moved by Solar Arc Directions from 2003 to almost clear the T square to the Sun in the Iraq War chart. Solar Arc Pluto and Solar Arc Midheaven are within a few months of being exact on the square to the natal Sun and the effect is always strongest in the run up. So that might have been a hint.

What is more obvious is last week’s Lunar Eclipse at 18 degrees Gemini/Sagittarius which fell almost exactly conjunct the Iraq Attack Pluto MC opposition Saturn.

Oddly enough (maybe not) the Eclipses in 1975 over the end of the Vietnam War were also Solar in Sagittarius and Lunar in Gemini. And those Eclipses in late 1974, spring 1975 did impact on the Vietnam War 1964/65 start of USA involvement chart quite clearly – since at the start in 1964/5 there was also a Saturn in Pisces opposition Pluto in Virgo. So the Eclipses have it over transits or Solar Arcs for pin pointing the finish.