American Invasion in Iraq, Research Paper Example

For many decades there has been a war between America and Iraq. The American government has spent billions of dollars on this war. It is puzzling to realize how leaders can go to extraordinary heights with the pretext of protecting their citizens. Others, for the economic advantages it may gain out of the situation. On several occasions, the American government has vowed to finish the war and bring home its soldiers, but people have never seen that day coming. Every day, there are new military camps set up in Iraq and more reinforcement of already existing ones. For a majority of Iraq adult citizens, it is normal to witness having American troops and intelligence living amongst them. This war has killed millions of people both in Iraq and America, but a majority of civilians who have lost their lives were Iraq citizens. Every year, the American government, brings home their fallen soldiers in coffins. The government has also built medical centers for the injured American troops from Iraq. At these centers, injured soldiers recovering through physiotherapy are increasing in number. Most of these patients are victims of an explosive disaster, most of them having lost their limbs. The center also helps the patients recover from the psychological trauma experienced from the horrific events. There have been numerous real life experiences where a young American soldier leaves American soil to go and fight the war in Iraq, in the name of defending his nation only to come back disappointed and traumatized from what he saw there. In the meantime, Iraq citizens bury their dead within a day and their injured taken to normal hospitals. However, Iraq government does not chip in footing the medical expenses. For a normal citizen who has innocently lost so much to the war and has no knowledge of what is happening, they would suggest that soldiers pack up their war gear and go home. Several reasons that have fueled this war will be depicted in the essay. It also discusses on the war during the leadership of former American president George W. Bush and during the reign of Saddam Hussein. The thesis below describes the justification of invasion; even though, the US had suspected Iraq in having the weapons of mass destruction and being a threat of terrorism, it was not justified in invading it, because as the time showed, the US attacked Iraq due to its own economic interests, distrust of Saddam Hussein and ease of achieving its objective.

US government presented various grounds for the invasion which were not genuine. Firstly, US believed that Iraq possessed all kinds of weapons of mass destruction and said that it was a risk to the Middle East and the world, as well. These fears came because of the Persian Gulf War where Saddam used chemical weapons against the religious sect called Kurdish. Therefore, invasion was necessary in order to disarm it of its destructive weapons (Rosenthal). However, no weapons were reportedly found and later on, it came to be known that they were false claims. This information about Iraq was created by a special unit that operated outside the normal intelligence channels of the DIA and the CIA run within the pentagon by Feit, Wolfowitz and Rumsfeld. The main stream media in the US propagated information on Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction to the public. Thus, making Americans support their government in invading Iraq with no clear justification.

Secondly, after the September 11^th attack, President Bush declared war on terrorism and accused Saddam Hussein in sponsoring terrorism training in Iraq. Hence, it was the target in the war against terror and defeating them was the only way they could win against the fight. It was also very well known that, before the invasion, Al Qaeda had no connections to Iraq. Evidence for Saddam support of international terror was small compared to Iran and Saudi Arabia (Lyttle). Many reports from 2005 have showed that terrorism activities have increased even after the invasion. The justification by President Bush of Hussein sponsoring terrorism was not genuine as Al Qaeda had no training grounds in Iraq.

Among the various reasons given, one of the actual ones was for economic reasons. There were plans to exploit Iraq’s reserves of oil as this would enable President Bush to secure oil cheaply and plentifully. It would lead to growth in US economy. Although the US government seeks to differ against this allegation, documents found to prove this are numerous. For example, secret memos showed how the then British Minister of trade Lady Symons agreed on behalf of BP in lobbying Presidents Bush administration (thedebate.org). As BP feared it was being “locked out” in deals, which US, Russian and French governments with their energy firms were taking with Washington (The Debate). Also, documentation of minutes of meetings (www.independent.co.uk/news/uk ) undertaken by Shell, BP and BG on 31 October 2002 read that : “Baroness Symons agreed that it would be difficult to justify British companies losing out in Iraq in that way if the UK had itself been a conspicuous supporter of the US government throughout the crisis” (independent.co.uk). This is proof enough of how the oil in Iraq was a significant factor in the invasion hence US had no justification to invade Iraq.

Among the several actual aspects why America has invaded Iraq and killed millions of innocent women, children and men are the distrust between Saddam Hussein and George W. Bush. The Bush administration made the majority of the public to believe in Iraq’s involvement, in the 9/11 bombing. It was able to convince most American citizens that Saddam Hussein was involved in the bankrolling of the 9/11. The bombing was linked to the Al Qaeda terror group. The American citizens were also made to believe that the Iraq president was involved in production of weapons of mass destruction (Torr 50). Arguably, production of weapons of mass destruction was done in the center of a milk processing plant (albionmonitor.com). This was the Abu Ghraib infant formula production plant three miles from Abu-Ghraib military complex. This facility was struck by US bombers on 3rd February 1991. There was no evidence presented to the people. Bush said that this was a threat to the American nation and its welfare. This was all a part of a whopping 2004 campaign. Many of the voters thought it was reasonable to go to war with Iraq; based on the reality that they were not aware of the 9/11 a staged act of terrorism. Moreover, Saddam Hussein tried to assassinate former America’s president who was the father of George W. Bush. The trigger of this mistrust to Hussein seemed to be a personal revenge. Bush personal revenge mission to invade Iraq due to the assassination attempts led to the creation of propaganda that Hussein sponsored the 9/11 bombings. This false information led to the public supporting the US administration to invade Iraq.

Another factual argument for the invasion was that Iraq was an easy target. President Bush knew for sure that Hussein’s army was no match for the US army. They went for the war as a means of expanding their power and profits as the military industries favors war (Torr 75). It was simple to defeat Iraq as to create claims of having weapons of mass destruction. In addition, it was less costly to US in terms of money and human lives. Additionally, attacking Iraq was the best opportunity, for US, to finish what they had gone to do there in the nineties. The former president of US George Bush had gone to war with Iraq to protect Kuwait from the invasion of Iraq’s army. This was perceived to create a clear image for the nation as they would get rid of the enemies.

Conclusion

It is evident that a peaceful world cannot be built on nuclear arsenal and weapons. In order to promote international cooperation and harmony, declaring war on countries with dissident governments is not the answer. Therefore, the US invaded Iraq unjustifiably. This is obvious through the reasons given and backed up with evidence. This war has created an unimaginable bloodbath where millions were killed, orphaned and left crippled for life. Fighting terrorism is an extremely vital aspect if a nation is threatened by acts of terrorism. Although, doing it in the name of protecting a nation, while the real agenda is gaining economical advantages or for revenge purposes is not satisfactory. America is a powerful nation and is a role model for several other nations and their leaders. It is devastating when it paints such an image. The international law declared the American war in Iraq, illegal, and even the CIA concluded that Iraq was not a threat to America. The people all over the world sit at home and watch these happenings on international news thinking it is sad. Everybody understood that US made such a cruel step own Iraq’s resources. Even though, terrorism is a crime against humanity and should be met with heavy penalty for those who are guilty. Therefore, the US did not have any justification, but due to its own economic interests, distrust of Saddam Hussein and ease of achieving its objective it invaded Iraq.

Works Cited

American Chronicle. “Measuring Stability and Security in Iraq.” Report to Congress, 2007. Print.

Arkin, William M. Powell Takes Us into the Wilderness of Mirrors. Web. 13 April 2012.

Bignell, Paul. The independent topic: Secret memos expose the link between oil firms and invasion of Iraq. Web. 12 April 2012.

The Debate. Is Oil or big business an undisclosed motive for the war on Iraq? Web. 12 April 2012.

Lyttle, Bradford. Invasion. Article, January 2003. Print.

Rosenthal, Andrew. Bush-Era Torture: A Dissenting View. The New York Times. The Opinion Pages, 2012. Print.

Torr, James. Is military action justified against nations that support terrorism? Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2003. Print.