The Iraqi War
In March of 2003 George W. Bush declared war on Iraq. The war against this country was expected to be a quick victory for the United States. Sure enough, in May of 2003 Bush declared an end to major operations in Iraq. The United States had taken the country from Saddam Hussein with little resistance. Americans were mixed in the approval of the use of force, and their doubts of Bush’s faults were boosted when no weapons of mass destruction were discovered. However, during the war, the United States suffered a very small number of human casualties. Since Bush declared the end of major military operations, more than 150 U.S. soldiers have lost their lives in occupied Iraq. This number is much higher than the total of
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On November 3rd the U.S. suffered the biggest military loss of life since the end of major operations. On that day a U.S. Chinook helicopter was gunned down, killing sixteen soldiers who were on their way back to the United States for a short leave (Tran). That number has certainly grown since then, and will continue to grow until the U.S. occupation is over.
The U.S. involvement in Iraq has cost the U.S. over 150 casualties since the end of major operations. The war began with the Bush administration’s decision that Saddam Hussein needed to be taken out of power, and power in Iraq should be handed to its people. When war began Americans expected Saddam’s forces to fall will little resistance, and to some effect they did. Within a few months the war ended, and Hussein fled the country. Many Iraqi citizens rejoiced in the fall of tyranny and rise of a future democracy. Not every Iraqi felt joy when learning about the fall of Hussein. These people soon became the terrorists that are now causing more and more American troops to lose their lives. These attackers will never stop until Iraq is free from the United States’ control. Despite the attacks, and the massive loss of American life, Bush keeps telling the world that America will never back down (Stevenson). The fact is that America cannot back down. If the occupation of Iraq were to end today Iraq would fall under the reign of Hussein once again. Bush has no
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.
The plan to send more than 100,00 troops home by September 2003 was now absolutely out of the question. As the war continued, thousands of Iraqis were swept up in raids. The reality became that you’d go into a village and just arrest everybody. Things were beginning to get out of hand, the Defense Department decided it wanted Iraq to be given back to the Iraqis as soon as possible. Soon after the discussion, the US Army captured Saddam Hussein and he shared that he was willing to negotiate. Many believed that this would lower the tension in Iraq, but they were absolutely wrong. Four American contractors were murdered and two of the bodies were hung from a bridge. This upset George Bush very much and he demanded that the Marines retaliate. The Marines took the order and moved into the city, killing people. Once the Marines were ordered to stop fighting, they were now ordered to simply surround Fallujah and contain the insurgents. Soon after this, Bremer formed a new government, and handed Iraq back to the Iraqis.
…The U.S. began the Iraq war with the goal of ridding the region of a tyrannical government that didn’t protect its people. However, a decade later, at the conclusion of the U.S. military mission in Iraq, the people are perhaps worse off than they were before 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
Many Americans responded to the September 11 terrorist attacks with fear, anger, as well as a growing intolerance for immigrants, especially against people who were or appeared to be from the Middle East, a trend that continues to this day. Over 6,000 service members have been killed fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq along with thousands of innocent civilians in these two countries. The United States war on terror has created anger and resentment towards the U.S which in turn has the potential to create and recruit more terrorist members. The cost to fight the war on terror has been astonishingly high. The war on terror has cost over 3 trillion dollars and can account for many of the financial crisis that has plagued the United States for many years. According to the National Intelligence Estimate report, even though al-Qaeda has been weakened since the September 11 attacks, new radical Islamic movements have taken its place and have grown stronger and been responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent civilians. These movements can be seen in Iraq and Syria. The war on terror in Iraq can be contributed to the rise of ISIL due to the failure of the United States in creating a stable and non-corrupt government. While Saddam Hussein and his Ba’ath Party were ruthless, he was able to keep a strong hold over his
To begin, the U.S. should not have gone to war in Iraq because of the costly monetary value of the war. “I will soon submit to Congress a request for $87 billion. The request will cover ongoing military and intelligence operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, which we expect will cost $66 billion over the next year”(Bush). Although the many of the goals set to be accomplished in Iraq may seem noble, it will not be accomplished at no cost. Tens of billions of dollars will need to be spent to
According to Albert Bin, "the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency estimated 100,000 Iraqi military deaths" (Bin, 237). Philip Taylor adds, "the United States had only 148 killed in action, 458 wounded, and 121 died through non combat incidents" (Taylor, 102). The United States victory was the most lopsided in recent history, in terms of numbers who died when looking at both sides. Casualties did not only occur during the progress of the war, "about 12,000 Iraqi civilians died during the war, and 5,000 civilians died since the end of the war due to wounds, lack of medical care, or malnutrition" (Lopez 1991). These statistics reinforce the realist belief concerning wars because of the numerous deaths that resulted from the Persian Gulf War; That is, the casualty count of the war supports the belief that the war was inadequate and preposterous due to the lack of concern for lives, rather the concern for substantial power and stability. Both Iraq and the United States were at war only because they both had oil interests that would help to expand either state's power.
On August 2nd, 1990 Iraqi military forces invaded and occupied the small Arab state of Kuwait. The order was given by Iraqi dictatorial president Saddam Hussein. His aim was apparently to take control Kuwait's oil reserves (despite its small size Kuwait is a huge oil producer; it has about 10 per cent of the world's oil reserves ). Iraq accused Kuwait, and also the United Arab Emirates, of breaking agreements that limit oil production in the Middle East. According to Saddam Hussein, this brought down world oil prices severely and caused financial loss of billions of dollars in Iraq's annual revenue.
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
After years, the US must withdrawal troops from Iraq, but leaving behind is a shattered and exhausted country with no longer a war land but peace has not seen. The overthrow of Saddam Hussein was not only destroyed the regime, but also destroyed the internal security and order. It has been promoted the rise of the forces of al-Qaeda terrorists and the sparking an outbreak of conflict ethnic conflicts, sectarian. The Bush Administration rested its public case for war against Iraq on two putative threats – Iraq’s possession of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and Iraq’s ties to al-Qaeda. In hindsight, the Bush Administration should have planned much better such as strategy of exiting, released convincing evidences about Iraq’s possession of WMDs, whether Iraq was connected to the 9/11 terrorist attacks or maybe, ultimately stayed out of the
On March 20, 2003, the combined military forces of the United States and Britain crossed the southern border of Iraq and Kuwait with the intent of capitulating the government of Saddam Hussein. Over the course of 21 days, the joint task force moved quickly and decisively to seize major objective cities along the road to Baghdad using aviation, armor, artillery, and infantry. Following the overwhelming success of the primary combat operations of the invasion, stability and support systems proved insufficient as sectarian violence and other criminal activity among the local population of Iraq increased.
Not true. Despite all the problems of the past decade, the overwhelming majority of Iraqis agree that we’re better off today than under Hussein’s brutal dictatorship. Iraqis will remain grateful for the U.S. role and for the losses sustained by military and civilian personnel that contributed in ending Hussein’s rule. These losses pale by comparison, of course, to those sustained by the Iraqi people. Our government emerges from this experience determined to ensure that these sacrifices contribute to a future of freedom and prosperity in our country… The United States has found a partner for our shared strategic concerns and our common efforts on energy, economics and the promotion of peace and democracy.” This article’s title was “By the way, we won the Iraq War.” However, if we do intervene with Iraq then we would have some really great benefits from it. The question is: does American intervention in Iraq do more good or more
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 war against Iraq began on March 20, 2002, when the U.S lunched “Operation Iraqi Freedom”. This was after President Bush called Iraq part of an “axis of evil”, also calling the country dangerous which is threatening U.S with the world’s most destructive weapons. The major phase of the war began when U.S troops marched within 50 miles of Baghdad with heavy aerial attacks on Baghdad and other cities. After the attack on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon which was believed to be the work of Al Qaeda, U.S was concerned about the security of the Untied States which lead to the war in Iraq. Even though U.S officials felt the war in Iraq is the main priority, but many people in U.S opposes the war which brings up a lot of controversial issues.
What triggered the Iraq War that we are currently still having? During this time in history we were still in the cold war as well Cold War (1945–1991), a lot of events has happened during this time period. I am going to start with the Iran-Iraq war which started in 1980 and ended in 1988. The war began when Iraq invaded Iran, launching a simultaneous invasion by air and land into Iranian territory on 22 September 1980 following a long history of border disputes, and fears of Shia insurgency among Iraq's long-suppressed Shia majority influenced by the Iranian Revolution. (Wikipedia, Iran–Iraq War, 2011). This war had at least a million and half casualties and it severely damaged both their economies, the Iran-Iraq war conflict is often