Essay The Invasion of Iraq was Illegal

Justification of the War in Iraq Despite contrary belief, the Iraq War can certainly be justified. This war began in 2003 with the invasion of Iraq by U.S troops under the command of former president, George W. Bush. This invasion can be vindicated for several reasons. The greatest is that Iraq was a severe menace to its own people due to a corrupt and distorted government, spearheaded by the dictator, Saddam Hussein. Furthermore, Iraq was a substantial threat to other nations in the world, including the United States of America because of its previous possession of weapons of mass destruction and ties with terrorist groups. It would be misleading to not mention the economic gains that motivated the American government to occupy Iraq.

President George W. bush made the decision to go to war with Iraq just months after the 9/11 terror attacks on the United States. There is evidence that shows Bush was after Saddam Hussain from day one of his presidency. Paul O’Neill claims that Bush started constructing arrangements for the invasion of Iraq within days of Bush’s inauguration. Bush denied these claims and discredited O’Neill by declaring he was a dissatisfied employee who was dismissed by the White House and that O’Neill had no reliable comprehension of U.S. foreign policy. The Iraqi National Congress argues that soon after Bush’s inauguration, Bush contacted them to discuss how to remove Hussein from power, which confirms O’Neill’s allegations

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.

McNamara’s lesson seven belief and seeing are often wrong, that can be applied to the information of “Buying the War,” there was not enough evidence to demonstrate the culpability of Saddam Hussain in relation with the terrorist attacks of 9/11, or that in reality he had or was building weapons of mass destruction. According to Bush and his delegates, they had a source who confirmed that Saddam had in his power aluminum tubes, which were need it to build centrifuge needed to build nuclear weapons. They began to manipulate information through the newspapers and T.V. news to make everyone believed that it was a fact that Saddam was link to the 9/11 terrorist attacks and that in fact he had weapons of mass destruction. Also The New York Times was the first newspaper informing to the public about this evidence and a day after Cheney used the same information to convince the people that in fact this fact and Saddam need to be stop. They went to war without following all the protocols of inspections in order to corroborate their speculations. We all believe it, until the damage was done.

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.”

One must examine the fine points of each argument that the administration had proposed for the immediacy of war in order to best refute them. The first and often most repeated argument that Saddam Hussein posed a direct threat to the United States is that he possessed weapons of mass destruction. I am willing to concede that the Iraqi military possessed both chemical and biological agents. Saddam Hussein had stockpiles of them that were never accounted for after the first Gulf War. He has even used them on several occasions on Kurdish minorities in Northern Iraq. However, no proof was ever offered that he possessed nuclear weapons or the means to develop them in the near future.

The first step in establishing an Iraqi threat was to demonstrate that Iraq possessed WMD, meaning chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons, and the means to deliver these weapons. The possession of these weapons would be in direct violation of U.N. resolutions put into effect after the Gulf War and hopefully justify any use of force under international law. Time and time again the Bush administration put forth statements that, “Saddam Hussein still has chemical and biological weapons and is increasing his capabilities to make more. And he is moving even closer to developing a nuclear weapon.” In February of 2003, one month before the U.S. waged war on Iraq, Secretary of State Colin Powell brought the administration’s case for war before the United Nations Security Council in an effort to garner U.N. support for an effort to disarm Iraq. By one count, “Powell made twenty-nine claims about Iraqi weapons, programs, behaviors,

Even when faced with reasonable arguments against their courses of action they still went ahead and acted in the same way. Creon took advice from the elders and President Bush took advice from the people looking for WMDs. Colin Powell, in May 2001 informed his President and the nation that “even though we have no doubt in our mind that the Iraqi regime is pursuing programs to develop weapons of mass destruction, I think the best intelligence estimates suggest that they have not been terribly successful." The war on terror is now justified by the White House administration as having been in response to Saddam Hussein’s human rights record and not down to a reasonable threat of attack and the use of WMDs. The difference between Creon and Bush is that Creon stood alone in his bad decision making, George W Bush took the UK, Australia and Poland along with him. This desire to show power was never more obvious than when, in January 2003 a meeting took place at the White House at which George W Bush and Tony Blair allegedly discussed how they could look for alternative ways to provoke a war after full disclosure about any weapons Iraq held was not forthcoming.

Saddam Hussein had the nearly hopeless task of justifying the invasion. He plead the fact that Kuwait had

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.

The Authorization for Use of Military Force against Iraq Resolution was enacted in 2002 after being signed by the President in October, 2002 at a time when the congress was significantly influenced by the terror attacks carried out by the Al-Qaeda group which was funded by Iraq. The President George W. Bush initiated the resolution through a declaration to the General Assembly of the United Nations that it was adopting a resolution in protection of its national security with or without support of the Security Council. The resolution which had limited time from its initiation and enactment was greatly influenced by the political campaign of the presidential elections in which George W. Bush had been an influence to the Republican party and

The main reason for invading Iraq was because America is concerned about the nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons Saddam Hussein might have. Intelligence indicated Saddam was reconstituting its nuclear weapons program and maintained links to al Qaeda affiliates to whom it might give such weapons to use against the United States. After two years of examining Iraq, the weapon search group failed to find weapon of mass destruction stockpiles or any program to produce them. The Bush administration has expressed disappointment that no weapons or started programs to produce weapons were found, but the White House had been reluctant to call off the search, holding out the possibility that weapons were moved out of Iraq before the war or are hidden somewhere inside the country. But the intelligence official said that possibility is very small. It is very likely if Iraq was holding any kind of weapons that America is concerned about, they would have used it to keep U.S soldiers out of Iraq.

The Bush Administration considered and was influenced by liberal or realist views when handling the international debate on Iraq. The six months before the United States invaded Iraq, it was clear the Bush administration was going to use the UN route and allow the inspector to investigate Saddam's "Weapons of Mass Destruction". However, the investigators did not find anything to prove that Saddam had wmd's. This led to the Bush administration being wrong.

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

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.