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War in Iraq: There Was Another Option Essay example

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War in Iraq: There Was Another Option

1. As our brave men and women in uniform find themselves embroiled again in a conflict in the Middle East, debate surrounding the timeliness and necessity of this second Gulf conflict has ceased in most professional circles. However, before the current conflict began, controversy raged over when and how to best prosecute this situation. Many argued that the United States should have worked through the United Nations to pursue a resolution that had the consensus of the world behind it. That endeavor, however, was doomed to failure from the start. The United States sought to solve this dilemma using military force. France and Germany desired to diffuse it using anything but force. In order to …show more content…

However, what is the likelihood the Saddam Hussein would have used them on the United States or even our allies in the region? Recent history demonstrates that it was not very likely. Up until the first Gulf War, Iraq was an ally, in some sense of the word, of the United States. The US government supported Saddam Hussein in his battle with Iran because we opposed the Shi'a fundamentalists in Tehran. We gave Hussein, through American contractors, many of the chemical agents we sought to disarm him of. In fact, Donald Rumsfeld, now Secretary of Defense, arranged some of the deals himself (Mearsheimer 47). American relations with Iraq were cordial until Saddam Hussein initiated an attack against his neighbors in Kuwait in 1991. Many war supporters used this as evidence that Hussein acts irrationally and without contemplating the consequences of his actions. However, this assertion is absurd given the facts surrounding the first Gulf War.

4. Before invading Kuwait, Iraq essentially asked US Ambassador April Glaspie if the United States had any opposition to Iraq's taking action against Kuwait. She responded with the now famous line “We have no opinion on the Arab-Arab conflicts or your border disagreement with Kuwait” (47). The State Department had earlier told Saddam that Washington had “no special defense or security commitments to Kuwait” (47). Saddam Hussein, not wanting to anger his ally, asked our

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