The US-led Invasion and Occupation of Iraq in 2003 - Assignment Example

The US-led invasion and occupation of Iraq in 2003 Some major events that dominate the world history should be deliberated upon in order to understand the background of the US-led Iraq war. To this day, the Palestine-Israel conflict which started in 1948 has been one of the many underlying reasons of different conflicts and oppression-ridden wars. In the Palestinian quest of resisting the Israel to make it a Jewish State, the US has sided with Israel which has planted seeds of dissent between the US and the Muslim world. The years 1946-1991 also marked the contention between the two superpowers, US and Soviet forces with no direct encounter. While vying for political, economic and military supremacy, the two giants waged proxy wars in countries of the developing South like Vietnam and Afghanistan, where in they faced defeats but the after effects of the war had to be faced by the developing countries themselves. The Israelites developed a strategy of forcing the Western powers to move the soviet Jews into Palestine with US financing their resettlement, which according to Zionist leader Anatoly Shcharansky was one of the most significant factors contributing towards the collapse of Soviet Union. Possibly one of the most influential episodes in the series of events preceding the US-led invasion of Iraq was the Afghan ‘Jihad’ of 1980s. The CIA led by three US administrations and its different associations in countries like Pakistan, Britain, and China etc trained Pakistani, Afghani and Arabic Muslims as ‘Mujahideen’ in order to drive out Soviets present in Afghanistan. The US planned to continue the supply of money, arms and technical assistance to the rebels. Following the defeat of Soviet forces in Afghanistan, the Afghan Taliban movement took control over the country from years 1996-2001 but were ousted by the US in the wake of 9/11 attacks. The US was sympathized with, until its attack on Iraq, which had no weapons, no relation to 9/11 and had not led any attack on the US first ever. The war in Iraq reported an enormous amount of casualties and deaths. The total number of US soldiers who were wounded from March 2003 rose to 32,223 in number by November 2011.1 The total deaths for US and coalition in Iraq war from March 2003 to November 2014 has been recorded as 4,806 with 32,244 soldiers being wounded.2 On the other hand, the estimate for Iraq war death toll has been put around between 100,000 and one million. According to an article published by Guardian in the year 2008, a survey by British polling firm Opinion Research Business (ORB) calculated the death toll between 733,158 and 1,446,063.3 Following the invasion of the US military forces in Iraq, many Iraqis sought refuge as internally displaced persons or by flying across the border. In the year 2007, the Northern Iraq had 800,000 Iraqis settled on its borders as internally displaced persons and the already alarming toll of 4.7 million displaced people was rising at a staggering rate. 2.4 million People fled to neighboring countries like Syria and Jordan.4 The war in Iraq has incurred a lot of costs as shown in a report by Democrats in the US congress. The hidden costs have increased the total costs to about $1.5 trillion.5 Where George Bush’s administration had initially planned of allocating 50-60 billion dollars to the war, the Nobel Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz has suggested that more than three trillion dollars have been spent on the war.6 The invasion of the US in Iraq has been tried to be justified with a lot reasons. One of the reasons put forward for waging this war against Iraq was the attempt of searching and eliminating nuclear, chemical or radiological weapons in order to prevent mass destruction. Another reason was to punish Iraq for a having a connection with Al-Qaeda-Hussain, which was not even proven. The above reasons cannot be described as the real causes behind the war. The head of the Iraq Survey Group, Charles Duelfer in his report stated that Iraq had destroyed their Weapon of Mass Destruction program in 1991 and Saddam Hussein was not in possession of illegal weapons when the US attacked.7 Similarly, the other justification of the attack proved to be false since no ties between Al Qaeda and Iraq were found. ‘National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States’ published a report dismissing the allegation that Saddam Hussein had “long established ties with Al Qaeda”. It said that Bin Laden looked forward to a possible collaboration with Iraq, but Iraq did not show any interest.8 The US said that it also carried an attack on Iraq to promote democracy and freedom across the Middle East, which does not serve as a liable justification to carry out the war, since the countries that US allied with in the Middle East were mainly monarchies. The only democracy in the Middle East was Israel, which has a special alliance with the US. Another reason for waging war on Iraq was to take care of the oil fields and its business contracts in Iraq. But the statements issued by President George W. Bush constantly contradicted with this reason. Bush assured that almost 75% of US oil imports from the Middle East will be reduced by year 2025. Even in the recent years, President Obama’s energy policy states that US dependence on Middle East oil will be reduced within 10 years. Similarly, the energy policy of American Jewish committee aims to weaken the Arab OPEC. United States’ attempt for alternative energy sources does not only stem from economic concerns but also from the opinion that the constant import of oil will increase the dependence of US on OPEC and some countries which can possibly threaten world peace.9 Furthermore, the new solar energy deal between Israel and California, which is also the world’s largest deal in this regard, tells us that US is making a shift in terms of energy dependence.10 Hence, we rule out the possibility of taking control of the oil fields as being on of the real causes of US attack on Iraq. One of the most plausible reasons of carrying such a devastating attack on Iraq was to protect Israel, which is the strongest ally of US in the Middle East. Iraq did not pose a threat to the US, but it did threaten the existence of Israel. According to Philip Zelikow, the executive director of 9/11 commission, the real cause of the war was the eminent danger for Israel since 1990s. Israel receives constant support from the US and also 3 to 4 billion dollars each year from as aid. Zeliko in his address in a University strongly supported the attack on Iraq by explaining that Saddam Hussein was financing a plan which was a side effect of nuclear explosions that would bring radio and other forms of communication to a halt. He stated that Iraq planned to have a nuclear exchange with Israel. Consequently the pro-Israel US carried out an attack eradicate this possibility.11 Before the Iraq war, Jim Moran, D-Virginia passed a statement that if the US had not received this much of a strong support from the Jewish community, they would not have been carrying out this war today. Though the statement was met with lot of disagreement, the statement purely reflects that the threat to Israel was the leading reason behind the attack.12 The US-led war in Iraq had its effect on Arab. US Secretary of State Colin Powell warned the neighbors of Iraq, Syria and Iran to stop supporting terrorist groups and to not to involve in the issue of Iraq. Previously, Syrian women protested and chanted anti US slogans in Damascus. Farouk al-Sharaa had told the parliament that Syria encouraged the removal of US from Iraq.13 The political situation in Iraq in 2003 also had effect on sectarian differences and it was aggravated by the social media. Also, perhaps the downfall of Saddam Hussein gave hopes to Arab people to stage their protests to overthrow in the Arab Spring. Read More