American Withdrawal from Iraq and the Resurgence of al-Qaeda

The Iraq war was occurred in 2003 between Iraq and the Unites States. The United States invaded Iraq and overthrew Saddam Hussein despite not being backed by the United Nations because they claimed that Iraq had a WMD program and were linked to Al-Qaeda. However, no WMD program nor any direct links to Al-Qaeda were found. After the United States had occupied Iraq for a few months, Islamic extremist groups were founded. The United States goal of overthrowing Hussein was accomplished, but this was the incorrect time to overthrow him, as Islamic terrorist groups came in his place. The short-term effects of the Iraq war were the formation of AQI and the increased tensions between Shi’a and Sunni Muslims. The main long-term effect the Iraq War was an increase in worldwide distrust towards the United States. In conclusion, the Iraq War destabilized the Middle East by going against the UN security council and attacking Iraq, then finding neither a WMD program, nor links to Al-Qaeda, which were the reasons they invaded

The disbanding of the Iraqi army and “debathification” or dismantling of the government in place only served to increase the casualties of American troops and Iraqi civilians as the radical Sunni insurgency expanded. This point of cause and effect, clash of two distinct political and cultural worlds, defined this war for the generation serving, at home and the future generations. The threat of increasing terrorism after the attack of September 11, 2001 was one of the driving force of invasion of Iraq. However, in one analysis the increase of global terrorism today is told to be well contributed by the conflicts that were fueled by the western presence in Iraq and the surrounding

forces at a hideout in Abbottabad, Pakistan. In June 2011, President Barack Obama announced the beginning of large-scale troop withdrawals from Afghanistan, with a final withdrawal of U.S. forces tentatively scheduled for 2014. Many people throughout the world (though not all) are in agreement that the world is a better place without Saddam Hussein. In losing Hussein, the Iraqis gained freedom of expression. Due to us fighting the war they are slowly turning into a democracy. Iraq could eventually serve as an example of democratic transition for other nations in the Middle East. However, it’s too soon to measure the benefits of the Iraq war. It remains to be seen how history will judge America’s involvement in Iraq. The war against Iraq was a war that needed to be fought. If we fought more ruthlessly it would of been over sooner. In October 2002, a National Intelligence Estimate stated that Iraq possessed “weapons of mass destruction,” or WMD. On March 19, 2003, with the support of Congress and the majority of Americans, the U.S. military began bombing Baghdad in a campaign titled “Shock and Awe.” The result was 189,000: Direct war deaths, which doesn't include the hundreds of thousands more that died due to war-related hardships. 4,488: U.S. service personnel killed directly.32,223: Troops injured (not including

Before 2001, al-Qaeda, an Islamist militant organization founded by Osama bin Laden, had proven itself a security menace to both the West and the Muslim world. Achieving its height of power in 2001, the group and its Taliban allies were on the verge of taking over Afghanistan (Longest, 7). Then the group made a central mistake: It choose to wage an offensive jihad attack against the United States on American soil. For a time after 9/11, al-Qaeda appeared largely victorious from the devastation left behind of their ruthless exploit; but instead, the craven act would prove to be the beginning of the terrorist organization’s demise.

The other suspected motive that al-Qaeda had for the September 11th attacks was the United States’ continuing presence in Saudi Arabia. In 1991, when the Gulf War ended, the United State’s Department of Defense reserved approximately 5,000 troops to be stationed in territories located in Saudi Arabia. Part of their responsibility was to carry out the military operation, “Operation Southern Watch” ("Operation Southern Watch"). The goal of this military operation was to ensure that the no-fly zones over southern Iraq were enforced. In addition, they made certain that the oil exportation shipping lanes in the Persian Gulf were protected ("Operation Southern Watch").

In this essay I am going to discuss whether Al Qaeda still poses a threat to the United States. The essay will discuss the current state, since 2013, of Al Qaeda and its affiliate groups. It will use the information to lay out claims and facts that show Al Qaeda is still remains a threat. Although the threat has diminished some since the 9/11 terror attacks it still remains. The threat has gone from huge major attacks to smaller, lone wolf, attacks on the mainland of the United States. Al Qaeda still poses a threat to U.S. embassies in the Middle East, troops stationed abroad, and U.S. aid workers abroad. Al Qaeda also poses a threat to the financial welfare of the United States. The

The facts, however, suggest that following the surge associated with an influx of American soldiers and the U.S. military organization of Sunni tribes to fight against insurgents, the withdrawal then occurred. Afterward the U.S. stopped paying Sunnis, discontinued arming them and providing them air cover. Shortly after the withdrawal, Sunni areas started falling under al Qaeda control again. Consequently, some Sunnis gravitated to the insurgency. ISIS

The relative success against groups like Al-Qaeda is with the power of money and adjusting our nations and other partnering countries financial laws to report “shady transactions that fit a certain criteria. As for Al-Qaeda, the main success we had was the taking down of Osama Bin Laden, which was where a great amount of Al-Qaeda’s money came from (Guiora A., 2008).

Al-Qaeda is one of the major global militant terrorist that was founded in Peshawar, Pakistan in the year of 1988. Al-Qaeda is consisted a terrorist groups in different countries such as Russia, India, United States, United Nations Security Council, NATO also known as North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the European Union, France, New Zealand, Netherlands, Australia, Brazil, Israel, Japan, India, South Korea, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Ireland, Canada, Phillippines, Turkey, and Sweden. Al-Qaeda was led by Osama Bin Laden, Abdullah Azzam, and several other leaders but the current leader of Al-Qaeda organization is led by Ayman – alZawahiri. Al-Qaeda’s name was created from the War in Afghanistan (December 1979 – February 1989. Al-Qaeda’s current goals are to drive Americans and American influences out of the Muslim nation, to destroy Israel, and to topple pro-western dictatorships around the Middle East. Osama Bin Laden was born in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in 1957, he was the seventeenth child born out of fifty-one children by Mohammad Bin Laden. He went to school in Jiddah, and married at the age of seventeen to Najwa Ghanem in Latiskia, Syria and joined the Islamic Muslim Brotherhood like most other Saudi Arabian young men in the country; his other wives names were Khadijah Sharif, Khairiah Sabar, Siham Sabar, and Amal al-Sadah. Osama bin Laden was on American Federal Bureau of Investigations, the list of the top ten most wanted fugitives, and the most wanted terrorist

The Iraqi government has failed to implement a government that equally represents both the Sunni and Shia Muslims in the country. A lot of the Iraqi government’s failures to have representative government has to do with the United States initial invasion of Iraq in 2003. Prior to the invasion there was not much of a sectarian divide, “Historically, sectarian and ethnic differences had not been politically mobilized. Cross-sectarian/cross-ethnic intermarriage existed in Iraq. The sectarian identity as a politically mobilizing force had been in decline in Iraq, particularly since the mid-twentieth century” (Yamao 2012, 29). After the invasion of Iraq, the United States replaced Saddam Hussein’s regime with the Coalition Provincial Authority. The CPA administration directed an election in 2005 to shape a parliament for Iraq and they allocated political

Once again, terrorism is raising its head. After the Israeli-Palestinian conflict soared the tempers to the stratosphere had somewhat subsided, global terrorism also had somewhat receded. But the Al-Qaeda and Islamic State have pushed it to a new height.

Tactical terrorists such as ISIS and Al Qaeda use violence to achieve specific political and religious goals; thus I don’t agree that US counterterrorism policy relies too much on military force. Military force can and should play a part in counterterrorism. As controversial as the use of drones is, both in the U.S. and around the world, they are a key part of modern counterterrorism. Al Qaeda and ISIS may never be destroyed entirely by force of arms, but the U.S. and its allies should still make a priority of fighting the organization wherever and whenever they can, and drones have been very effective in this effort. With that said, the U.S. should also implement non-military strategies to fight terrorism--military force is not always the solution.

As stated by the US vice president there was no ISIS until the US invaded. Which suggests that the main cause of the world’s massive issues with terrorism are a result of the United States invasion to Iraq. The US’s justification to the world was that Iraq was concealing nuclear weapons which went against all agreements and all trust the US had with them. Although, proliferation of nuclear weapons was the reason given to maintain harmony in the world the US had more complex rationales to advocate for their invasion to Iraq. The United States being one of the major oil consumers worldwide wanted domination over the oil-rich Middle East and perceived taking control over Iraq as a key machinery to vanquish them. Saddam Hussein’s destitution and

Iraq has a history of turmoil and conflict. During World War I Iraq was occupied by Britain. “Iraq attained its independence as a kingdom in 1932, and was proclaimed as a republic in 1958” (CIA World Fact Book) Iraq was embroiled in an eight-year war from 1980 to 1988 with Iran, this war ended without

After the establishment of Al-Qaeda, the main purpose of the terrorists’ attacks become the Islam. Especially after the War of Syria, Al-Qaeda becomes ISIS, which threats people’s security and planed influential attacks which caused massive death. From the establishment of Al-Qaeda and ISIS, proves the war stimulate the growth of terrorism organization, and the data shows the period after a war occurs, the times of terrorists’ attacks increased.