What were the motivations of war in Iraq - Essay Example

Motivations for the Iraq War Many debates have emanated about the War on Iraq as orchestrated by President George Bush. As a result, the motivation and justification of the war have varied significantly since the 2003 US invasion of Iraq (Fisher and Nigel 687). The motivation of the war on Iraq includes political, economic and social factors. Nonetheless, it is notable that later, the war faced a lot of resistance and opposition even from the Americans themselves. This is due to the negative consequences or implications of the war on the Iraq people, Americans and the two economies. This essay gives a critical analysis and discussion on US war on Iraq with a view of arguing that the motivation for the war was not justified. In 2003, the Bush administration argued that Iraq was a security threat to the US. This was based on assertions that Iraq had links with Al Qaeda terrorist group. This was translated to mean that Iraq was a terrorist threat to the American people (Sirin 254). On the other hand it is argued that Bush failed to prove the link between terrorists and Iraq (McHugh 458). In justifying the war, the Bush administration pointed out that there was a connection between the masterminds of the September 11 terror attacks and Saddam Hussein, the then Iraqi leader (Coe 307). Nonetheless it is further argued that there is no evidence to support this connection (McHugh 459). The connection was related to postulates that Saddam was actively manufacturing weapons of mass murder. It was further predicted that there was a likelihood that these weapons would fall into the hands of the Al Qaeda group of terrorists (Fisher and Nigel 688). This was the major motivation of the war on Iraq because the US administration wanted to prevent the use of these weapons by the al Qaeda to attack the US people. Nonetheless the decision by the Bush government to go against Iraq was not justified because Iraq had not declared war against the US. Unlike North Korea which had claimed possession of nuclear weapons, Iraq had not revealed any move of war against the US (Biggar 29). Critics of the Iraq war argue that it is surprising the US went to war against Iraq instead of North Korea which had said that it was ready to fight against the US with its nuclear weapons (Davies 435). Analysis of these assertions only act to disclose that the issue of nuclear threat from Iraq was not an honest justification for the war. Moreover, it has been argued that the US administration was aware that military action was not the best strategy of fighting terror and yet went ahead to declare war against Iraq (Miller 53). The risks that the Iraq war was associated with such as recruitment of terrorists and nuclear weapons falling in the hands of terrorists act to further demonstrate that the justification of the Bush government were not adequate to lead into war (Biggar 30). America’s commitment to fight terrorism was revealed by the Bush administration which budgeted for $1 billion for the sake of funding the operations of CIA within Iraq (Miller 57). A story published by Newsweek titles “The Salvador Option” described the plans of the pentagon to legitimate death squads that were aimed at countering any resistance to the US’s occupation in Iraq (Blanka 287). The publication disclosed that the Bush administration deemed the Sunni population as supports of terrorists and as a result they had to pay a price (Coe 320). It is because of this that the US invasion of Iraq has been described as a dirty war which was not based on unreliable evidence that the Sunni population had any support for terrorist groups (Davies 438). Opponents of the Iraq war point out that the Bush administration targeted Iraq civilians rather than the actual terrorists and resistance fighters (Biggar 34). It is in this sense therefore that the war against Iraq was not justified. The connection that was said to exist between Saddam and terrorists includes Abu Nidal and terrorist organizations (Blanka 280). The Bush administration asserted that Saddam was giving terrorists a safe haven in Iraq. This also fueled the war against Iraq. Nonetheless, the justification of the Bush administration and the motivation of the war were later found as not being entirely true (Blanka 287). It was further argued by the Bush administration that foreign terrorists from Saudi Arabia and Syria were among the insurgents who fought against the US occupation in Iraq (Coe 310). This further fueled the war because it meant that Iraq had a connection with terrorists and terrorist groups. For example the Sunni insurgency against US occupation was led by Jordanian Abu Musab Al Zarqawi who was said to be closely associated with Al Qaeda. However the number of foreign fighters and terrorists who were part of the insurgency against the US has not yet come by (Fisher and Nigel 671). Even though many foreigners and fighters crossed the border and entered Iraq during the war, the connection between foreigners and the insurgency in Baghdad has not been established (Sirin 256). However sources from the US military are said to have reported that foreign fighters confessed as being part of the insurgency against the US (Seib A8). Evidence of the Iraq war reveal civilians in Iraq received a lot of torture on the pretext that they supported terrorists. For example in the April of 2005, the US government deployed Special Police Commandos in Baghdad (Miller 55). The Commandos caused a series of murders and tortures. This was demonstrated by a shallow mass grave that was found in Kasra-Wa-Atash where bodies of 14 young men were discovered. It is said that the young men had their hands tied at the back of their heads with their eyes blindfolded. They also had gunshot wounds on their heads with most of them having their eyeballs removed (Davies 440). These bodies were identified later to be a group of civilian farmers that were taken captive and arrested by the Special Police Commandos from a vegetable market in Baghdad. These illustrations reveal that regardless of the fact that the US had proved a connection of the Iraq civilians with terrorists, torture and unwarranted murders were directed at the local people. Opponents of the Iraq war argue that the war was not justified because the US military attacked civilians and killed them without substantiating their connection with terrorist groups (Blanka 287). Intelligence information reported that there was brutality in Iraq. This brutality was said to have emanated from the Saddam administration and directed against the Iraqi people. This is argued to be one of the motivations for the war on Iraq (Blanka 290). It is said that mass murders and cases of rape were very common in Iraq during Saddam’s regime. For example mass graves of the victims of brutality have been found and uncovered in Iraq (Fisher and Nigel 703). It is further pointed out that the Iraq people hated Saddam who forced them into submission. In this sense, the social and moral justification of the US war includes the driving forces or motivation for the Iraq war. Arguments against the Iraq war reflect that the US was not justified to fight brutality with the use of similarly brutal means (Miller 57). This is reflected by a report on Los Angeles times which disclosed interrogators from the US Interior Ministry abused more than 60% of prisoners within Iraq penitentiaries (Biggar 35). This information was given by Saad Sultan on behalf of the Human Rights Ministry of Iraq. Moreover, many bodies were found in garbage dumps as a result of the torture of the US interrogators. Among those who were killed include Sunni clerics, officials from the Association of Muslim Scholars and Hareth al-Dari. The activities of the US forces were so extreme that the Interior Ministry was accused of terrorist like activities (Davies 442). In the light of these arguments, the use of Saddam brutality as a motivation of Iraq war is not a convincing justification for the war. This reflection is due to the fact that evidence discloses that the American Military was more brutal against the local people and caused a great deal of suffering to them. Political factors such as Saddam’s opposition to Israel are also pronounced as the motivation for the Iraq war (Sirin 260). Back in 1990s, Saddam revealed his intention of destroying Israel through the nuclear weapons which he was manufacturing. In addition, Saddam had in 1990 staged an invasion of Kuwait. The opposition that Saddam had against the allies of the US is therefore a motivating factor for the 2003 war on Iraq (Fisher and Nigel 690). The Bush administration was prompted to act and stop Saddam from his potential future invasion of Israel and Kuwait. Jordan and Saudi Arabia also called for help from the US against Saddam which further motivated the declaration of war against Iraq. Nonetheless, the manufacture of nuclear weapons by Saddam is said to be one of the major motivators of the Iraq war (Coe 312). Oil is one of the economic motivators of the Iraq war. The world’s largest oil deposits were being controlled by Saddam. Oil earned Iraq billions of dollars but Saddam is said to be full of greed because regardless of this the Iraq people lived in poverty (Blanka 295). Saddam did not care about the plight of the Iraq people. Instead he was focused on building his military force and manufacturing weapons of mass murder (Sirin 255). The US was therefore motivated by the need for regime change in Iraq and proper use of the country’s economic resources for the benefits of Iraq people. However, the war proved worse because it caused more harm on innocent Iraqi people including women and children (Fisher and Nigel 703). For example early in the war the Associated Press reported that more than 200 Iraq civilians were killed by the US soldiers most of them being women and children (Mark A8). Iraq violated the U.N Security Council resolutions in many counts. This motivated the declaration of war on Iraq by the US (Fisher and Nigel 687). The Bush government justified the war on Iraq by arguing that it was mandated to enforce international laws by removing the Saddam regime (Blanka 296). Furthermore, the US considered the Iraq regime as dictatorial. This was against the American values of democracy. Therefore the US occupation in Iraq was a way through which the US would spread democratic governance across the Middle East (Coe 317). The dictatorial regime in Iraq was not only directed against its own people, but Saddam was also a threat to neighboring countries such as Iran. It is therefore arguable that the US was trying to demonstrate its superiority over other nations by spreading its political values and dominating over economies (Sirin 259). The declaration of war on Iraq by the US was also motivated by the need to achieve regional influence over the Middle East and radical Islam (Blanka 292). The American form of government is said to have opposition from Islamic extremists. Even through the US wanted Iraq to form a new republic with democratic policies, the Islamic agenda in the governments of the Middle East was not appealing to the US (Coe 320). It is because of this that the Bush administration was motivated to dominate the region and have a regional influence in the Middle East. This was aimed at overcoming the Islamic agenda in governance and its alleged support for terror groups (Fisher and Nigel 703). Nonetheless, the influence that the US wanted to achieve in the Middle East Region was not achieved (Greg and John A1). However it is argued that the US invasion on Iraq has a significant impact on the politics of this region especially on democracy (A 4). The US’s move against Iraq is said to have been motivated by Saddam’s increased influence in the Middle East (Miller 56). Because of this the US wanted to overthrow Saddam and have greater influence in this region. However it is argued that Saddam’s intentions in the Middle East were not potential threats to the US. This is because the capacity of the weapons that Saddam produced are said to be nothing close to that of the US (Davies 439). It is because of this that the justification for the Iraq war has been questioned after thorough reexamination. Saddam wanted to deter Iran and was not motivated to attack the US at any time. This is the reason why the claims of the Bush government that Iraq was a military threat to the US are not entirely correct. There was no eminent threat that would have warranted the Iraq war and the negative consequences which emanated from this war (Fisher and Nigel 703). The opposition that the war on Iraq faced from the planning stage into its active progression is used to argue that the justifications and motivations of the war were unwarranted. For example the US society opposed the war arguing that a diplomatic approach and dialogue was the best option to approach the Iraq situation (Biggar 37). Nonetheless, the Bush administration argued that they had the support of the American people and therefore the war was justified (Blanka 287). Even though this was true, the support for active engagement of the US in Iraq diminished during the course of the war with an increase of the number of people who opposed the war (Miller 60). It is postulated that the opposition to the Iraq war did not only emanate from civilians but also from military officers and American soldiers themselves (Fisher and Nigel 703). It is in relation to this opposition that it becomes evident that the Iraq war was all wrong and would have been prevented or stopped at some stage. Nonetheless it is said that the politicization of the war especially by presidential candidates further fuelled it (Biggar 36). The war became a political fight among the US leaders themselves and the Bush administration was determined to win against the opponents of the war to justify their original claims. In the light of the above discussion and illustration, it is conclusive that among the major motivators of the Iraq war includes the need to combat terrorism and prevent Saddam from manufacturing weapons of mass destruction. The fight against terrorism centered the justification of the war with reference to the September 11 terror attacks against the US by the Al Qaeda who were said to have the support of Saddam. Additionally, the US needed to have control over oil and petroleum and the riches that were under the control of Saddam Hussein. Additionally, the US wanted to expand its regional influence to the Middle East. This was so especially the need for spreading policies of democracy to the Middle East region which is generally considered dictatorial. However there are political and military conspiracies and rivalry between the US and Iraq which motivated the war. These included Saddam’s intention of destroying Israel and the Iraq war against Kuwait in 1990. Despite the justifications put forward for the Iraq war, negative implications were felt by both Iraq and America. Works Cited Biggar, Nigel. "The Invasion of Iraq: What Are the Morals of the Story?." International Affairs 87.1 (2011): 29-37. Blanka, Rip. "Whose Fault Is It Anyway? Political Orientation, Attributions of Responsibility, And Support for the War in Iraq." Social Justice Research 22.2/3 (2009): 280-297 Coe, Kevin. "George W. Bush, Television News, And Rationales For The Iraq War." Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media 55.3 (2011): 307-324 Davies, Nicolas J. S. "Evidence of an American Dirty War in Iraq." Peace Review 19.3 (2007): 435-443. Fisher, David, and Nigel Biggar. "Was Iraq An Unjust War? A debate on the Iraq War and Reflections on Libya." International Affairs 87.3 (2011): 687-707. Greg Jaffe and., John, Daniels. "Bush to Seek Up to $95 Billion to Cover Costs of War on Iraq." Wall Street Journal: A.1 Mark, Melly. "The Assault on Iraq: Tracking Civilian Casualties is an Elusive Task." Wall Street Journal: A.8 McHugh, Kelly. "Bush, Blair, and the War in Iraq: Alliance Politics and the Limits of Influence." Political Science Quarterly 125.3 (2010): 458-465 McKinnon, John. "Bush Defends Iraq War, Activism." Wall Street Journal: A.4. Seib, Gerald F. "Bush Hints U.S. to Seek War-Crime Trial of Iraq's Leaders for Actions in Kuwait." Wall Street Journal: A8. Sirin, Cigdem. "Public Support For Military Interventions Across Levels Of Political Information And Stages Of Intervention: The Case Of The Iraq War." Armed Forces & Society (0095327X) 38.2 (2012): 252-272 Miller, Richard. "Justifications of The Iraq War Examined." Ethics & International Affairs 22.1 (2008): 43-67 Read More