The Reason for Going to War Essay

The Iraq War, also known as Operation Iraqi Freedom, took place in 2003 and dragged on for almost nine years, until the withdrawal of US troops in December 2011. The invasion was justified by the US using the new National Security Strategy that was proposed by the Bush administration. One of the key features of the National Security strategy was the justification that the US could preemptively strike targets nations that it deemed a threat to the security of the US. In order to justify the invasion of Iraq, the governmental leaders in the US claimed that Saddam Hussein had ties to Al-Qaeda and other terror groups, as well as using Saddam’s use of chemical weapons as legitimization for the war. Once the war began on March 20, 2003, the original

In 2003, President George Walker Bush and his administration sent the United States military to war in Iraq to overthrow Saddam Hussein, Iraq’s ruler and dictator, who murdered over 600,000 innocent people, and “...used chemical weapons to remove Kurds from their villages in northern Iraq…” (Rosenberg 2). According to the Department of Defense’s website, the war removed Saddam Hussein from power, ending an era when “Iraqis had fewer rights than when its representatives signed the Human Rights Declaration in 1948” (1). American blood, money, and honor was spent in what was allegedly a personal war and perhaps a fight to gain oil and natural resources, but only history may reveal the truth. Although the Iraq War removed tyrant Saddam Hussein from power, the failures of the war dwarf the successes.

According to Charles Ommanney “Much contention surrounds Bush's reasons for declaring war on Iraq. Many of his supporters believe that despite the false claims regarding weapons of mass destruction, Bush was passionate about bringing democracy to the nation. However, the Iraq war instead brought the country hundreds of thousands of casualties and severely damaged infrastructure. Many believe the war was unsuccessful in its aim to deter terrorist activity. Dissenters believe the Bush administration, particularly Vice President Dick Cheney, intentionally misled the American public in order to secure holdings for the oil industry. An MSNBC analysis of the incident reveals that many believe that Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfield came to the White House with the desire to start a war in Iraq. While the dispute continues, the fact remains one of Bush's goals in invading Iraq was to depose Saddam Hussein, and he was successful in that mission.”

Since the war on Iraq began on March 20, 2003, at least 1,402 coalition troops have died and 9,326 U.S. troops have been wounded in action. This is no small number and the count grows daily. One would hope, then, that these men and women were sent to war with just cause and as a last resort. However, as the cloud of apprehension and rhetoric surrounding the war has begun to settle, it has become clear that the Bush administration relied on deeply flawed analyses to make its case for war to the United Nations and to the American people, rushing this country, and its soldiers, into war. This is not to say that this war was waged against a blameless regime or that our soldiers have died

The United States has been at war since its creation in 1776. It has battled confrontation 222 out of 239 years or, 93% of its existence. Notably, one of the most crucial wars is the War on Terror. Beginning in March of 2003, this war initially served the purpose of getting rid of the country's leader Saddam Hussein to prevent his use of suspected stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction. Hussein has the questionable refinement of being the best known Middle Eastern ruler. He governed Iraq from 1979 until his capture in 2003. President Bush presumed he was harboring many chemical weapons such as synthetic warheads, shells, or aviation bombs. While politics justified this war the real war between Iraq and the U.S. began long before what recognized.

The invasion of Iraq was held on March of 2003 and initiated the war of Iraq, the American occupation of Iraq has cost America thousands lives, thousand seriously wounded, and approximately $900 billion, and has negatively affected American interests throughout the world. The costs are not over. The 2003 Invasion of Iraq was promoted by America it was a polemical historical event in our society and around the world. Detractors against the war differed with the resolution of George W. Bush, President of the United States, to go to conflict with Iraq. While activists, pro-war supported his declaration for the invasion. Opponents of the invasion made claims that the war was a mistake “To invade Iraq without the U.N’s approval, because we think

Yet another instance whereby the government’s hypocrisy has been displayed is when the Bush Administration declared war on Iraq, about five years ago. Matt Matusek, in an article entitled Purpose of Iraq war murky to Americans, wrote: “The plan was to invade Iraq and capture Saddam Hussein so he couldn't use his weapons of mass destruction on any other nation. The United States also wanted to sever Hussein's ties to Al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden. Then, we were to get our troops back home as soon as possible.” However, five years into the war, it can clearly be seen that the government’s initial goal was to get oil from Iraq, but used Saddam as an excuse to engage in war (Matusek). Today, more and more people, just like Montag, are starting to analyze the government’s actions and take a strong stand against them.

“If Hussein's brutal dictatorship warranted war, then we might also need to invade Zaire, Zimbabwe, Syria, Libya, China, and a host of other countries” (Babka) . This is a common argument that has been brought up by others who believe the invasion of Iraq was illegal. However, the failed diplomatic policies of the United States are what led to the failed invasion of Iraq.

The reason for the invasion of Iraq was that they were suspected of harboring weapons of mass destruction and they were a potential threat to world peace. However no evidence has ever been found of the existence of such weapons in Iraq and this brought a lot of criticism on the US. This was however not the first altercation the US has been involved in in the Gulf war they fought with Iraq in order to protect their oil interests in the gulf region. The united states in the past has been known for going to war to protect is economic interests from the second world war, to the Vietnam War to the Korean War. All was aimed to protect the economic superiority of the United States. The resolution that brought the gulf war to an end put Sadam Hussein in power and thereafter he failed to follow some compliances the United Nations had imposed and in 2003 the Us led a coalition of forces aimed to remove Sadam Hussein from power and it was successful as he was executed 3 years later. This however started war in the country with the people bring opposed to the occupying forces and the new government that was in place. They also had additional reasons for

The first was that Saddam Hussein had no WMD’s to hide. As Jamie Tarabuay puts it, “the search for WMD turned up empty-handed (2015).” Another reason against the war was that there was that Iran flourished after their main nemesis, Iraq, was destroyed; after the “death of [Iran’s] main nemesis, [Iran] now exerts greater influence over a region stretching from the Persian sands all the way to the verdant Levant (Tarabuay, 2015).” A third reason that people opposed the war is that the new Iraqi makes it hard to business regarding oil; the new government imposes “severe conditions” for new oil contracts and resists privatizing their oil fields (Tarabuay, 2015). A fourth reason that the other side claims that is that the Arab Spring and the invasion of Iraq had nothing to do with each other; Tarabuay claims that a connection with the Iraq War and the Arab Spring is Nonsense. A fifth reason is that the US did not make a democracy that worked; James Traub argues that while he believed the war could be just, President Bush did not accept responsibility for post-war nation building (2015). While both sides make very good arguments, the solution is not as black and white as it

     The war waged on Iraq by the United States has been the cause of heated debate all over the world. Many people have opposed the United States attack on Iraq for many viable reasons. Some of these reasons include that it is not in the best interests for the reputation of the United States with the other nations of the global community, it poses an increased threat to United States homeland security, and it will result in many unjust crimes committed by the United States.

Many Western countries had been backing Saddam’s Iraq during the war with arms and financing like Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands. Iraq even managed to convince the Reagan administration that Iran was behind all this but it did not take long for others to see the truth. What makes the truth even worse is that Americans provided Iraqis with intelligence about Iranian troops and their location although CIA knew Saddam’s forces were going to act with chemical weapons on it. They calculated coldly that using chemical weapons was better than Iraq losing the war to post-revolution Islamic Iran.

On September 20, 2002, the Bush administration published a national security manifesto titled "The National Security Strategy of the United States of America"; sometimes called “the Bush Doctrine”, which is a justification for easy recourse to war whenever and wherever an American president chooses. The United States wanted more control over the Middle East and the oil that could be obtained there; all they needed was an excuse to go to war and in turn be able to obtain resources. After 9/11 Bush had his excuse; Al Qaeda. Weaving a trail of propaganda and fear through the media with false information, Bush ordered an invasion of Iraq in pursuit of his form of hegemonic internationalism. The reasons broadcasted by the White House claimed that Saddam Hussein (President of Iraq in 2002) was building weapons of mass destruction and promoting/supporting terrorism which made him a grave threat to the western world. The real reason behind invading Iraq was to secure American access to vital resources, being oil. Iraq had been attacking Iran who was dangerously close to Saudi Arabia which is a huge supplier of oil to the United States. Once the United States had control of Iraq they installed a sympathetic “democratic” government which had eliminated the Iraqi threat to Saudi oil. Through the pursuit of hegemonic internationalism the United States had achieved one of its national interests, obtaining vital resources, but at a huge cost. Over 1 million

The Iraq war started on 20 March 2003 with the invasion of Iraq by the United States together with the United Kingdom against the Baath Party of Saddam Hussein. The overt reason behind the war was accusing Iraq of possessing weapons of mass destruction (WMD), and what reinforced the doubts was "Saddam Hussein 's refusing to co-operate with the United Nations inspectors in their search for his forbidden weapons of mass destruction at the beginning" . However, even after the fall of Iraq, invaders could not find any such weapons. This led to the repeated questions for Tony Blair and George Bush to give reasonable justifications for taking their countries to this war. This essay will discuss some of the reasons behind the UK participation in

War has a detrimental effect on the individual as the idea of killing another could be horrific to anyone; though in the context of war, it was expected that soldiers were to kill another to defend and honour their country. War can affect the individual mentally, physically and emotionally, causing major distress and discomfort with, not only how they see themselves, but how they see war. Regeneration was written by Pat Barker in 1991 and was inspired by her grandfather who had been bayoneted in the war; she was able to see the scars he had when he washed in the sink. His war experiences had affected her understanding of the war in a more immediate and personal way. Unlike Barker, R C Sherriff (a play writer and an ex officer in the East