Intelligence And Development Of Iraq War Plans

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

After World War II American intelligence had the need to be transformed. The inexperience along with bureaucracy and poor coordination among American intelligence officers obligated the United States intelligence community to change dramatically in order to confront the new challenges that emerged after the end of WWII. From Early America through WWI the intelligence system of the United States of America was involved in operations in which they had to construct intelligence systems virtually from scratch (Andrew 1995). Human intelligence was already developed, but with certain limitations and other intelligence disciplines were underdeveloped and very seldom sophisticated. After WWI America recessed and settled in a period of peace. The

The United States (U.S) Intelligence community has come a long way since the revolutionary war. After winning independence from England, the U.S would not invest much into intelligence or foreign policy until the 20th century. Foreign policy was simply not a priority for our young nation, having an ocean on eastern and Western boarders of the country severely limited potential threats. President Franklin D. Roosevelt would be the first president since Washington to understand the importance of intelligence and lay the groundwork for what we now consider national intelligence. Unfortunately, it has taken two catastrophic failures in intelligence for the U.S to realize the need for good intelligence and take steps to improve itself. The

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

The intelligence community has been able to adapt to working in a more intergraded fashion with Special Forces operators to deliver intelligence to the operators that are in the field. The intelligence community’s development of analysis and intelligence, allowed for the capture or elimination of known bad actors (most of the major Al-Qaeda leadership targets) to include Osama Bin Laden.

The Iraq War, also known as the Second Persian Gulf War or Gulf War 2, started in March 2003 with the combined invasion of Iraq by the United States and Great Britain. President George Bush urged the invasion of Iraq for two reasons. First, the vulnerability of the United States following the terrorist attacks on September 11th, 2001. Secondly, the belief in Iraq producing weapons of mass destruction and their support for terrorist groups in the region. In the early stages of the invasion, Iraqi troops did not stand a chance against the invading countries. Iraqi military forces were forced to flee or surrender which allowed for a relatively easy takeover of the country. With his county being completely dominated by allied forces, Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein went into hiding. He was later found in December 2003, and was turned over to country officials. After being convicted of crimes against humanity, he was executed in 2006. With over 39,000 soldiers remaining in Iraq by the start of Barack Obama’s presidency, the new commander of chief of the United States announced they would be leaving the country upon by the end of 2011 (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2015).

Operation Iraqi freedom started on March 20th 2003. One of the main reasons for America to go to war was the terrorist attacks on September 11th 2001. During a speech by President George W. Bush on January 2002, he stated that Iraq had a connection to the terrorist group al-Qaida and was identified as a “rouge nation”. America reacted by sending in its military to get rid of the Iraq dictator Saddam Hussein. All branches of the military were deployed to participate in Operation Iraqi Freedom, but only one branch stood out amongst the rest for doing noteworthy effects and some damaging effects. This branch of service was the U.S. Marine Corps. The U.S. Marines played a major role in Operation Iraqi Freedom because they fought and won a lot

According to this now-infamous study, Saddam had "so overextended his capital in the war with Iran that he was not in a position to undertake any significant hostile action for, at the very least, three years"�. The CIA grossly underestimated Saddam's penchant for military expansionism. Critics of the quality of US intelligence abound. Freedman and Efraim have concluded that "Operation Desert Storm was a low point for Marine Corps intelligence. It revealed an antiquated architecture that was unresponsive to the needs of the United States Army"� while Seliktar writes of an "unprepared organization" and of "considerable in-theatre limitations and restrictions."� Arguably, the military success camouflaged these intelligence failings. Surprisingly, these intelligence failures during the Gulf War were carried over into the Iraq War.

The invasion of Iraq was a surprise military invasion without the official act of declaring war. This eventually led to an occupation and the taking of President Saddam Hussein. Saddam Hussein was tried by the new Iraq government and executed. From the start of the US occupation to years later, little had improved in Iraq despite media portrayals and in 2008 Iraq was number five on the Failed States Index. The 2003 Iraqi war symbolizes an international event that created a type of propaganda varying from the media broadcasted in previous wars. It also represents a defining moment in US history for its public relations campaigns. Even from the beginning of the war, the United States already labeled the event as “Operation Iraqi Freedom.”

Following defeat in 1991, where US Air Land Battle doctrine and “second offset” technological advantage were demonstrated effectively, Hamdani recommended transforming Iraqi land forces from “heavy mechanised” to “light infantry” with focus on “guerrilla war” to counter US air power dominance. However, Saddam was in denial viewing the “Mother of All Battles” a victory; this was logical to him – he remained in power when his enemy was no longer POTUS and he still had a military with the world’s largest Arab army. He regarded internal (coup, Shia) and regional (Iran, Israel) threats ahead of external (US) threats with “the possibility of … American invasion … nonsense.” Having successfully quelled in March 1991what he perceived as the greatest danger to his regime, an internal uprising, he intended to maintain the military capability proven to ensure “the internal security of the Ba’ath dictatorship” ; viewing change unnecessary. But he was wrong: the US threat was credible and his military was not fit to counter it. Nonetheless there was no transformation. The regime complied with his will, coerced by fear. Saddam’s draconian leadership created a culture of deceit. Most feared for their lives and ‘toed the Ba’ath Party line’ with lying becoming commonplace across government and the military. “The resulting personal and organizational paranoia profoundly affected how Iraq addressed its strategic and military problems.” This negatively affected Iraqi military readiness and planning. To the contrary, Hamdani, viewed as a competent officer with ‘top cover’ from

But Richelson also affirms that human sources also contributed considerably to the cause and may be of more importance today, more than ever. He points to certain shortfalls in identifying intelligence gaps being due to the limitations of technical collections systems, which can be targeted for interception or eavesdropping. Furthermore, these systems cannot acquire policy documents or weapons systems manuals hidden in some vault or commandeer systems components, etc. That is why there is the requirement for human intelligence (HUMINT) activities, which can get you planning documents, technical manuals, contingency plans, and weapons systems blueprints (Richelson 2011, pg.

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.

“There is substantial evidence that the Bush administration – like many of its predecessors – oversold the threat to foster its preferred policy choice.” ” There is a debate in the public on whether the intelligence that led to the Iraqi war was shifted in the direction by the Bush administration, or whether the I.C simply got it wrong. A realization that the I.C got it wrong might be equally damaging, as it would mean that they did not do their jobs properly.

The Ansar al-Islam (AI) insurgent organization was established in 2001 in Iraqi Kurdistan with intentions of creating an Islamic caliphate in northern Iraq. The research paper will provide insight into the background, leadership, tactics, and objectives and transformation of AI. The paper will provide a chronological overview of the AI organization followed by a synopsis of the PMESIIPT variables and how their involvement in the Syrian civil war has facilitated in creation of the current situation. After each variable, the author will explain how each unique situation will affect Human Intelligence (HUMINT) operations in Syria as well as recommendations on how to successfully implement HUMINT into this theater of operations.

In most cases these INTs community compete among each other to provide needed intelligence information to policy makers to justify their budgetary allocations (Lowenthal, 2014). However, intelligence collection can be divided into five main categories referred to as “intelligence collection disciplines” or the “INTs”. These include Human Intelligence (HUMINT), Signals Intelligence