The Origin of Conflict amongst the United States and Iraq - Case Study Example

The Origin of Conflict amongst the United s and Iraq The cause of enmity amongst nations cannot be singled out for a specific issue, even though there is usually a particular issue that might cause events, leading a conflict into violence. This case applies to Iraq, which is an area with some of the oldest prehistoric empires that were situated in Mesopotamia, between Euphrates and Tigris Rivers. Although these prehistoric empires developed, there were involved in a lot of conflict, caused by several issues including trade routes and oil; however, the most recent source of conflict tends to be the establishment of Islam, otherwise known as Muhammadanism (Gallagher 2006, p. 10). ISLAM Islam originates from Saudi Arabia and is perceived as successor religion to Christianity; since it clinches a mass of Christian and Jewish beliefs, while at the same time building on several beliefs. These religions belief in prophets of God like Abraham and Jesus being bearers of new messages that change in beliefs, although only Muslims belief in Muhammad as being the last prophet; a belief that is not embraced by other religions (Keegan 2004, p. 35). Islam developed gradually, especially in the fifteenth century all over the world, especially in the Middle East, Africa and some European countries. This tremendous range of Islam was ruled by leaders, caliphs, who assembled religion and civic governance. This association goes against the American belief of proper governance, which implies that religion and government are obviously differing social activities and that the government is restricted from showing support to any particular religion. The Islamic empire grew drastically which led to different sections of the Islamic empire started breaking into conflicting splinter groups as a result of increased wealth, as well as a variety of interests and customs. The central part of the Islamic empire that is situated in parts of Turkey, Iran and Iraq, transversed by international travel roads from and to China, India and other parts of the Orient (Cashman 2007, p. 48). As anticipated, conflict occurred given that the Middle East, which is currently referred to as Israel, was the place where Christianity, Islam and Judaism originated. As a result, there were military endeavors referred to as Crusades, in an attempt to recapture the Christian Holy Land from Muslims, which created a block of hostility, antagonism, threat and fear amongst the Islamic East and Christian West. Apart from that, succession to Islam’s leadership was the first cause of conflict amongst Muslims; with the main split amongst Sunnis and Shiites, as to who was the genuine successor of Muhammad (Hess 2009, p.76). TRADE ROUTES During the Industrial Revolution, the West developed gradually especially in wealth, physical resources, competence as skills, as well as military experience and power, unlike the Islamic territories. As a result, the West secured more colonial empires by being hostile to countries that influence its trade routes, which in most cases were Islamic. They did this by taking control of countries, or part of countries, and imposing on them rules that were disadvantageous and humiliating to Islamic people and their countries, while, on the other hand, those rules were advantageous to the West (Hiro 2009, p.100) While bringing change, both the British and French were mainly concerned with the short term gains they would achieve by splitting the empire into independent nations, rather than the long term growth of these regions. The British established and implemented their desired government in a place that is currently Iraq, which was perceived as unsatisfactory by the indigenous leading to the rebellion that prolonged for years, giving rise to the rise of Baath Party that eventually acquired control of Iraq, as well as the rise of Saddam Hussein. Apart from that, this place, which is currently Israel, was set up in a manner that gave British control over the area, and this meant long term suffering in Palestine. British main goal was maintaining stability in this region, ignoring the local people’s desire of self governance, as well as independence. Following the completion of World War II, which was associated with the Jewish holocaust, there was massive movement of Jews from Europe, who was in search of a new place to call home, and Palestine seemed to be the only viable place, with the rejection of South Africa (Hiro 2009, p. 125) This massive immigration of European Jews into Israel intensified hostility with the indigenous Arab people, since they perceived these Europeans, who had better education along with more skills as being socially, as well as economically exceptional, although economically better than them; which was not a favorable condition for peaceful coexistence. Eventually, the Israelis rebelled against British rule by engaging in terrorist activities counter to both Arabs, as well as the British governors, which led to the driving away of Britain and setting up of Israel as a state (Duelfer 1991, p 87.). OIL After the World War II, there was the discovery of huge deposits of oil in the Arabian Peninsula, comprising of Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and a number of other sheikdoms around the Persian Gulf referred to as United Arab Emirates, as well as Iraq; which meant that the conflicts in this region were far from over. All these regions became politically significant to both the United Sates and Europe due to the increasing utilization of petroleum in the industrialized countries. Initially, oil supplied fuel for airplanes, automobiles and trucks, but latter on, it use drastically increased into all types of energy production including electric power plants (Ehrenberg 2010, p.78). Conflict in these regions has flourished especially following the origin and spread of Islam, its encounters with the West, in addition to its numerous periods, of relapse and breakup. Europeans interventions following the Crusades were aimed at protecting the Suez Canal, along with other trade routes found in both the Middle and Far East; which resulted in many countries either being governed or controlled by the Great Britain, France and other non-Islamic nations. With the end, of World War I, conflict and hostility in Islam was clearly brought out, given that post war settlements incorporated arbitrary, the arbitrary imposition of government, and unnatural geographical boundaries. For instance, British imposed a monarch on Iraq; while, on the other hand, there was the creation of a separate Syria and Lebanon, which were French protectorates, and this generated hostility between these two nations given that the Syrians perceived Lebanon is entitled to be a section of Syria (Ehrenberg 2010, p. 101). To understand clearly the above roots of conflict in between the United States and Iraq, it is desirable to take a closer look at two regions i.e. Iran and Afghanistan (Keegan 2004, p.106). Iran The history of Iran gives a clear understanding of how oil was the cause of misunderstandings in the Middle East. Considering that Iran is a country that is extremely rich in oil, this made it the main attention of western oil companies. This led to Iran benefiting from extensive prosperity from the oil industry and established into a new middle, as well as an upper class, while the other population, which was 96-percent Muslim, were denied the opportunity to enjoy uniform prosperity. The majority of ordinary people acquired nothing, yet they saw the majority of their traditional values repeatedly being affronted, by both the Westerners, who were the minority in population; as well as the Iranians who were approving and getting used to the Western lifestyle. This practice went on for a long time until the traditional religious leaders such as Ayatollah Khomeini, who could not take it anymore and decided to speak aggressively against this trend. This led to Ayatollah being expelled from Iran by Shah Pahlavi, and lived in exile for fifteen years, while sending messages to his home country criticizing the underlying values of Islam. These messages led to the uprising of a movement, which treated supporters of western culture with hostility, leading to an unrest that saw Shah fleeing the country and Ayatollah returning to his home country. This hostility was directed on the United States, and the unruly mass attack on the US embassy led to American fleeing form Iran in 1979; to this date, United States has not established any diplomatic relations with Iran. The significance of this story is the way the rebellious groups under religious leadership succeeded in affronting the general Muslim masses’ religious, as well as cultural values as a principally global issue throughout Islam. Although the leadership allowed more westerners to settle in their countries, primarily with the aim of developing resources, it failed in providing a wide range of benefits to its citizens. Ironically, those who were entirely committed to traditional Islam as a means of life, were the ones who were most affronted, while at the same time benefited the least from foreign intrusions (Keegan 2004, p.109). Afghanistan Afghanistan has given homage to conflict between Russia or the Soviet Union and the Great Britain for governance over the country. Although the country is quite tribalized, majority of its citizens are Sunni Muslims, even though its ethic groups, the Pushtans, Uzbeks, Hazaras and Tajiks are a continuing cause of internal conflict who in one way or the other, maintained the country as a tribal society. Afghanistan is a strong country that is occupied by tough people, which makes it extremely difficult for this country to become modernized. Being a tribal society that contains a highly questionable and ineffective central government, its intensity in trying to achieve reforms, as well as its rate of recovery, cannot be comprehended. This is because; the U.S. intelligence believes that there is still a number of Al Qaeda members present in the country, who pose as a big threat to the US. Considering that Iraq was set up under British authority, with an arbitrary type of government, while, on the other hand, having no support of other nations; a fact ties Afghanistan to Iraq. During a series, of coups, the Baath, an extremist party took over; whose influence extended beyond Iraq, as well as most part of the Middle East. General Kassem, the leader who succeeded the Hashamite monarchy, ruled openly, providing opportunities for bureaucratic employment to both the Shiites and Kurds; unfortunately, he was overthrown and then executed by the Baathists in1963. This led to the taking over by the oppressive, totalitarian Baath in 1968 with Saddam Hussein being the second-in-command, and later on becoming first-in-command, ruling with an iron fist (Gallagher 2006, p.90). In 1981, a war erupted between Iraq and Iran, which lasted for seven years, but ended as a result of United Nations brokering settlement between the two countries. Iraq’s effort to invade Kuwait, a territory they claimed to be their, were fruitless since United States in collaboration with the UN, along with multinational involvement liberated Kuwait by driving out Iraq. As a result, the war ended prematurely due to the massacre of the Shiites, who were the strongest tribe in the South, and this gave Saddam the opportunity to plan his vengeance. The beneficiaries in this war included the Kurd; with the no-fly zone set up, their region was protected from attack for over a decade, which led to the prosperity, as well as nourishment of this society. However, the Kurds failed to understand US interest since initially it had not protected Kurd form the tremendous horrors caused by Saddam such as the poison gassing of a huge number of children, women, and the elderly in Saddams strikes, as a form of punishment against them (Hess 2009, p. 121). Saddam manipulated the people’s religious commitment to support his regime by building his government in his hometown area and appointed Sunnis to fill positions in both the military, as well as the government; this guaranteed their loyalty since both their prosperity and success was dependant on Saddam upholding command (Horowitz 2004, p. 114). The U.S. government’s assertion that the al Qaeda had an agreement with Iraq to get support, which included weapons of mass destruction in WM, led to Iraq being by international treaty to have weapons of mass destruction, which included chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons that were all intended to have been wiped out after the Iraqis defeat in 1991. The US government was afraid that, with Iraqis production of weapons, dissident movements like al Qaeda would become more powerful and this was a threat to the whole world. For this international agreement to be success, sanctions were imposed by the UN, for instance the revenue accruing from Iraq oil sales was used only in purchasing food, as well as medical supplies, plus a restricted number of other items for the Iraqis. Despite all these, Saddam’s regime continued to be stubborn especially with the US position that Iraq was assisting al Qaeda through the supply of weapons for mass destruction; a claim that led to the weapons inspection system being set up by the UN, whose results were contrary to US expectations. The United States decided to form a coalition force in order to disarm and eliminate Saddam Husseins government; although there was a disagreement with the UN about the strategy to be used. However, the United States, along with the U.K. led the operation, obtaining massive support from two other countries i.e. Saudi Arabia and Turkey (Horowitz 2004, p. 119). The roots of conflict in Iraq were mainly driven by their commitment to an ideology, which blinded the stakeholder to other alternatives. As a result, more emphasize was given to the urgency of the situation rather than its importance. Failure in acknowledging and appreciating cultural differences in this region led the elected leadership inability, as well as unwillingness in anticipating how a culturally different group with whom they engaged in conflict may perceive these actions or what actions they may undertake in responding theirs or how they might misunderstand each other. There was a tendency in demonizing the enemy, without even understanding them; which eliminate the boundaries of humanity, thus avoiding any significant contemplation of their intentions, leading to the neutralization, elimination or paralization of the enemy. In the past century, the number of terrorism cases has been rising throughout Latin America, the Middle East and Africa. This is because, the government has been the aggressor in utilizing illegal, as well as immoral force, while at the same time inflicting economic, social, physical, and more often than not, cruel yet inhumane physical punishment or restrictions to its on people so as to maintain the status quo (Singer 2010, p 215). International organization’s failure to making attempts eliminate state-based terrorism might change slowly, considering that Iraq as an example of a country where state-based terrorism has prolonged for decades, without yielding any positive results. After the first Gulf War, the United States, together with the UN, was capable of intervening and preventing government terrorism in Iraq, but it failed to do so. This is a powerful lesson to the entire world that state-based terrorism far much worse since it is the greatest source of extensive violence against blameless people (Singer 2010, p. 219). Conclusion The root of conflict amongst United States, UN and Iraq can be determined through a number of issues such as the old hostility that prevailed within Islam amongst the Sunni, as well as the Shiitesthe; with Sunni supporting and depending on the Hussein regime and the Shiiteshs’ oppression by the Hussein regime. The results of the structure of Iraq, along with the failure to set up a Kurdish state at the end of World War I, gave rise to Iraqis hostility and independence-seeking group Gallagher 2006, p. 171). Apart from that, the growth of oil as a significant international resource converged the superior nations consideration on the need for an assurance of stable supply of fuel. The totalitarianism of the Hussein regime was a hindrance to internal reform and forced any foreign leader from their country. Another reason for conflict was the fact that Saddam manipulated the Israel-Palestine situation by providing vocal support, as well as arms to the Palestinians, while at the same time raising the universal cry of Pan Arabism against Israel. This culminated into war between the UN and Iraq, with some missiles being fired into Israel, and this fueled some Pan Arabic support to Iraq as an adversary of Israel and a friend of the movement. There was extensive resistance in disarming Saddam by the fundamentalists throughout Islam formed hostility against the West, along with support any nation which was deemed as supporting Western powers (Defronzo 2010, p. 121). Furthermore, the Western imperialism in the Middle East gave birth to immediate suspicion of any declared motives following the intervention. The cultural gap between the Muslims and the West played a key role in conflict with the United States downplaying the reality of diverse cultural differences, considering that the United Nations perceived that their culture was superior those customary rules in the Middle East. Finally, the 9/11 shocker that politically prompted the US to respond vigorously in their efforts in tracking the al Qaeda terrorist group, as well as its supporters (Khadduri 2001, p. 120). References: Gallagher, Jim. Causes of the Iraq War. Stockton, NJ: OTTN Pub., 2006. Print. Keegan, John. The Iraq war. New York: A.A. Knopf, 2004. Print. Cashman, Greg, and Leonard C. Robinson. An introduction to the causes of war: patterns of interstate conflict from World War I to Iraq. Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 2007. Print. Hess, Gregory D.. Guns and butter the economic causes and consequences of conflict. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2009. Print. Duelfer, Charles. Hide and seek: the search for truth in Iraq. 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