Why United States Invades Iraq

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

During his announcement, President Bush claimed that Hussein’s government showed no regard for international law, human rights, or morality. He also promised that the coalition forces would make every effort to liberate people who were suffering from mass killing and other atrocities under Hussein’s regime. The goal was to remove the threat posed by Hussein’s regime and help Iraq to establish a democratic political system, which would allow it to become a benevolent and peaceful country.

At the end of the 1990-91 Gulf War, the Security Council passed Resolution 687, which set out the terms that Iraq’s leader Suddam Hussein was to comply with. The resolution required the destruction of all chemical and biological weapons, and ballistic missiles with a range greater than 150 kilometres and required Iraq to submit to a rigorous UN inspection system. Inspections were conducted by United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) and later the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) throughout the 1990s to the US-led invasion 2003. The UNSC has proved to be an effective legal response to monitoring conflict and maintaining world order as no ‘weapons of mass destruction’ were found after the American invasion in 2003.

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.

The war in Iraq started because the American and British governments thought that Iraq had dangerous weapons of mass destruction. They were afraid Iraq would use the nuclear weapons on other countries. After America invaded Iraq, it was discovered that Iraq did not have any weapons of mass destruction. The invasion of Iraq began in March 2003. It was fought by the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom because they all wanted to end the ruling of Saddam Hussein.

The Containment Policy established by George W. Bush after the Gulf War is the most viable option for the United States. The Containment Policy strictly sustains the status quo, and is inexpensive in terms of blood, money, and political capital.The Containment Policy will halter the making of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons and will ensure free oil flow from the Gulf, while preventing Iraq from threatening its neighbors. For this reason, a political strategy of containment is comparatively advantageous to the alternative. This essay will begin by examining the effect of no-fly zones on the Iraqi discussing the strategic viability of sanctions and their effect on the Iraqi economy, finally explaining the importance of oil in Iraq 's economy.

On September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks took place on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon. This led to the war in Afghanistan. Also during this time period Saddam Hussein was in power of Iraq. The Bush Administration claimed that the invasion was the right thing to do because Hussein was working with the Al-Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden on the 9/11 attacks. They wanted to invade Iraq and stop Hussein. To do this legally however, they must prove that they began the war out of self defense or retaliation, or they must present valid proof and get approval from the United Nations Security

People always question the Iraq War, why did it start, how did it end. The Iraq War started in March 20, 2013 and lasted till December 15, 2011. Between those years there was two phases to the Iraq War. First phase started in March to April of 2003 and the second phase started from 2003- till 2011. Within those years there was ten battles that took place in Iraq, Battle of Qurna, Baghdad, Debecka Pass, Haifa Street, Karbala, Najaf, Umm Qasr, Al Faw, Najaf, and the Battle of Basra. By the end of the war there was more than 4,486 American soldiers killed, and over 1,000,000 that were wounded. But for Iraq there was over 1,400,000 Iraqi deaths including soldiers and civilians.

The justification was the need to overthrow the regime of Saddam Hussein, accused of developing weapons of mass destruction and links with Al Qaeda. Preventive action was justified by the degree of danger and unpredictability of a one-man dictatorship, with a history of aggression against neighboring countries (Iran and Kuwait), and use of chemical weapons against internal (Kurdish) and external enemies (Iran). Tests on the links with terrorism and weapons of mass destruction were upheld on intelligence reports, especially 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.

1. From a realist perspective explain why a military attack against Iraq at this time would be a mistake. Explain why the logic of realism has helped you come to this conclusion.

The united states has made some questionable policies and decisions making the last three decades. Many people do not understand why policies are passed, therefor they raise no opinion or speculation. A society’s responsibility and duty to their nation is to be involved in government affairs. Decisions like keeping the petrodollar alive and invading anyone who threatens it. The petrodollar has influenced the United States government into making rash and questionable decisions like going to war, toppling governments, and a rigged presidential election.

As of recent, there is an ongoing debate over the response of the Obama administration related to the events occurring in Syria and the potential violation by the Syrian government of customary international law and relevant treaties and conventions in the use of chemical weapons against its own people. The conflict itself has history which is required to be thoroughly examined before conclusions can be placed and actions are to be carried out. The Syrian Civil War has not only affected the lives of Syria’s citizens but has becoming a pressing issue in direct international relations between countries like Russia and the United States. Obama’s administration has their own response to the crisis at hand and believes that a military strike is a fully legal move to make given the situation present at hand. According to the evidence, it would seem possible that a violation has not occurred and that the threat by Obama’s administration to use force in the Syrian crisis stands on illegitimate grounds because the proceedings are done by Syrian government on their own grounds. However the atrocious actions committed by the Assad regime could in fact provide legality to military intervention by the United States. Finally, the focus will be to determine whether chemical weapons are in fact the sole factor for international intervention.

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.

This project argues that there were many more complex reasons for Tony Blair’s 2003 invasion of Iraq, other than the war on terror, the need to find weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and to free the Iraqi people from the tyranny of Saddam Hussain as the government implied. Factors such as the vast amounts of crude oil that the coastal areas of the Persian Gulf contains (which includes a large part of Iraq’s coast) and the need to control future oil supplies was the overall determining factor on going to Iraq. There was also a need to stay allied with the US (which has been deeply ingrained in UK foreign policy since the Suez Crisis of 1956) and help secure US and in turn UK military presence in the middle east.