George W. Bush Administration's Role In The Iran-Iraq War

September 11, 2001, was marked as one of the worst acts of terrorism against the United States since the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. President Bush’s platform of not interfering

Osama Bin Laden was the most wanted man in the world, after the attacks of September 11. On September 11 2001 two planes crashed in to the Twin Tower, another plane crashed in to the pentagon, and another crashed into a field on rout to the nation’s capital, killing three thousand people mainly civilians. (Benson) Hours after the attacks the CIA and FBI stared a search to find who was responsible for the attack; with in the day they found that the terrorism group al-Qaeda was the brains behind the operation. With extensive research American FBI came to the understanding that Osama Bin Laden was the leader of an anti-American terrorism group al-Qaeda group and ordered for the attack. (Benson) After the Bush declared to war on terror (the war to end terrorism) in September 2001 he appointed the CIA and FBI to start the search for Bin Laden, the search started October 2001. (Benson) Shortly after Obama was elected in to office in 2008 he made finding Bin Laden the top of the priority list (Obama). The search for al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden took ten years after extensive CIA research and the brave efforts of seal team six.

More than thirteen years ago, United States-led coalition boomed and invaded Iraq and overthrow the regime of President Saddam Hussein. This essay will analyze the decision to go to war with Iraq of Bush Administration indicates the selective perception shortcut in making judgment and some biases namely confirmation bias, overconfidence bias and hindsight bias.

United States policy towards the Iran-Iraq war was interesting to say the least. While the United States claimed to be a neutral party, they supported Iraq for the majority of the war, supported Iran for a brief period, then went back to only supporting Iraq. Both sides committed numerous atrocities and war crimes, and for the most part received little to no American condemnation. Through this essay, I will explore the reasons for the US involvement, and their responses to a number of war crimes, particularly Iraq’s use of chemical weapons throughout the war.

President Bush started searching for Al- Qaeda, and Osama Bin Laden. And President Bush also informed that they were the mastermind behind the attack. Then, a war unleashed in Afghanistan. After Taliban leaders rejected Bush’s demands, (on October 7) the U.S and British Aircraft released a massive bombing attack on major Afghan cities. The capital of Afghan, Kabul fell by mid- November. And, Osama Bin Laden was believed to escape during the “war” of Tora Bora in December 2001.Couple years after, on March 2003, a war in Iraq began with an “air campaign” followed by a ground invasion led by the U.S forces. Iraq’s capital city of Baghdad fell in April 2003, then on May 1, 2003, President Bush announced the “end of major combat operations in Iraq. Then on December 2003, Saddam Hussein was captured by the U.S forces, then they were executed by Iraqis in

support of the overthrow of the Taliban Regime. The attacks on the Taliban were to justify the attacks on 9/11. “... the impact of 9/11 contributed to strong American public support for the invasion.” (ANDERSON 1). President George W. Bush had declared war on Afghanistan on October 7, 2001 after the country had declined to release Osama Bin Laden from hiding after the attacks.

On September 11, 2001 a national tragedy struck the nation. The terrorist group, al-Qaeda, hijacked 4 passenger airlines and performed multiple suicide attacks at locations such as New York and Washington, D.C. This event struck fear in the American people as this was the largest event that caused the highest lost of lives from a foreign attack on the country. Following the event, the national government was forced to act quickly. The incumbent president at the time, George W. Bush, was left with a difficult task on how to deal with this threat and possible future threats. He worked with Congress to come up with multiple measures they could implement to prevent future events of terrorism.

After 9/11 the war of terrorism was declared and has lasted for more than a decade. Troops invaded Afghanistan along with Iraq. Many years were spent trying to capture Osama bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaeda. Today troops are still hold a presence in these parts of the world and will not give up.

Bush was sworn in as the 43rd President of the United States on the 20th of January 2001. President Bush narrowly won the 2000 election, garnering only 271 of the needed 270 Electoral College votes required against his opponent, former Vice President Al Gore. This close race resulted in nationwide unrests due to the popular vote going to the defeated candidate. Partisan affiliation divided national outlooks concerning the future. Despite the political rift present following the election President Bush and his Administration began working to fulfill the priorities established based on campaign promises. This concept of priorities, however, became all but forgotten following the September 11th attacks targeting the World Trade Center towers in New York City, the Pentagon, and a fourth plane was disallowed their hijacking efforts and subsequently crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. This coordinated and organized attack on the American people was sanctioned by the terrorist leader of al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, and unfortunately resulted in the deaths of nearly 3,000 innocent lives. President Bush responded decisively and declared a “War on Terror”. The War on Terror effectively dominated President Bush’s first term. Within a month of the 9/11 attacks, the United States had invaded Afghanistan and overthrew the oppressive Taliban Government due to their alleged role in harboring Osama bin Laden. Coalition

The National Security Adviser of the Bush administration, Condoleezza Rice, was informed by the CIA of there possibly being an attack in a few months time. Rice’s response to the information was indifferent, and it mentioned the “significant terrorist attacks against the United States in the coming weeks or months.” (Bush Administration Ignored CIA Warnings in the Months before 9/11 That 'spectacular ' Terrorist Attack on the U.S. Was Imminent and 'just Didn 't Get That We Were Going to Be Struck ', Former Top Agency Officials Reveal, 2015) Not to mention, the Bush administration was given a fair warning prior to the attack, however, rather than preventing this devastation from happening, they did nothing to stop it, traumatizing America. Bush risked the safety of his people when he did nothing to intercept the terrorist plans on America. Another reason regarding the failure of President George W. Bush was how as president, his main purpose was to bring in al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, who was behind those terrorist attacks, to justice. At first, he made numerous plans and declarations of how he will succeed in the capture of bin Laden. He had also declared, “I 've directed the full resources of our intelligence and law enforcement communities to find those responsible and to bring them to justice.” (George W. Bush: Address to the Nation on the Terrorist Attacks, 2001) Despite announcing he would bring bin Laden to

After Clinton left office, a republican from the state of Texas takes the presidency. George W. Bush wins the election of 2000 against Democrat Al Gore. Even though the Al Gore won the popular vote for the presidency, Bush won the vote from the Electoral College vote, causing him to win the running. Gore didn’t believe Bush won the votes, demanding a recount of the votes to ensure that he one but was later stopped by the Supreme Court. As president, bush supported many things, including the stem cell research, education reform, and the major tax cut for the people. Foreign policy became a great issue after the attacks on September 11, 2001 hit in the world trade center. 2 planes hit the towers each which caused them to collapse, 1 plane hit the pentagon and 1 plane attempted to hit the white house.

19 members associated with al-Qaeda flew four airplanes and carried out suicide attacks against targets in the United States. The members flew into the World Trade Center towers in New York, hit the Pentagon near Washington, D.C., and crashed into a field in Pennsylvania. Approximately 3,000 people were killed in this tragic incident, and Americans were outraged at this, leading to initiatives to combat terrorism and President George W. Bush’s promise to eliminate the terrorism. Bin Laden and his group, al-Qaeda, planned this because they were angered at Israel gaining support from America, the United States’ involvement in the Persian Gulf War, and America also continued its military support in the Middle East. In the evening of September 11, President Bush declared that America remains strong and the terrorists would not get away with this. After this, the United States created Operation Enduring Freedom to destroy the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and to take out bin Laden’s terrorist network. American forces had efficiently destroyed the Taliban from power, and bin Laden was finally tracked down by the United States forces and was killed on May 2, 2011. Because of the horrific event of 9/11, the United States passed a 40 billion dollars disaster relief bill and passed the Patriot Act, where investigators were given a great amount of freedom in their domestic

The Gulf War in 1990 and the invasion of Iraq in 2003 both had a profound impact not just on the countries directly involved - primarily Iraq and the United States (US) - but also on the geo-politics of the world. Arguably, the War ended in a stalemate because the Iraqi regime that had started the War by invading Kuwait remained in power. Perhaps inevitably then, in March 2003 the US and its allies invaded Iraq with the stated aim of overthrowing the regime of Saddam Hussein and destroying that regime's Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD). Some similarities between both Wars are immediately obvious: for example, the same country, the

In 2003, President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell launched an invasion of the nation of Iraq. United States Secretary of State Colin Powell outlined the reasons Iraq posed a threat to international security in a speech he gave at the United Nations. Iraq’s nuclear weapons program concerned the Bush administration. Fearing Iraq might use this program to act aggressively in the region, and wanting to secure oil supplies and a friendly regime, the administration pursued a plan of action to remove Iraqi President Saddam Hussein from power (FLS 2016, 43). A constant secure supply of oil stood as a cornerstone of the military-industrial complex thriving in the United States and a friendly regime in such an oil rich country remained an important objective of President Bush. This directly conflicted with the desire of President Saddam Hussein of Iraq to remain in power.

After the gulf wars, a ceasefire was negotiated between the United Nations coalition and Iraq. During the ceasefire, the United Nations became aware that Iraq had started a biological warfare program in the 1980s, as well as a chemical warfare program. Upon further investigation, they found that these programs had not continued after the war. As a result, the United States main focus moving forward was the removal of the Saddam regime, their official foreign policy for years to come focused on this goal. With the suspicions that Saddam Hussein had the abilities to acquire weapons of mass destruction, the Bush administration going as far as to claim he already had them, the United States and other countries began devising a plan of action. These countries strongly believed that Iraq was a treat to its neighbors and the rest of the world, and that the only solution was to invade Iraq. The United States invading Iraq in 2003 was a turning point in the reason why relationship between Iraq and the United States is the way it is today.