U.S. involvement in Iraq - Essay Example

1 Introduction United s of America (USA), the only super power of the planet Earth, fully believes in its supremacy and obviously prides in its military and economic power. Against this backdrop, it feels it can do whatever it likes. BodyThe involvement of USA, the self proclaimed policeman of the world, in Iraq was strategic and stretched over a longer period of time. It must share due responsibility for the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives during the period it supported the Saddam Hussein regime and also after the invasion of that country in 2003.

It should be held equally guilty for indirectly abetting and aiding the genocide of ethnic Tutsis by the Hutu armed gangs in Rwanda in 1994 by keeping silent and not interfering to stop the mass killings of innocent people. Whenever the US acted, its humanitarian face was covered with false explanations and lame excuses. In Iraq, US repeatedly acted, at times overacted, and precipitated killings of innocent people. In Rwanda, US never acted when its intervention was most sought after and thereby allowed lawless gangs to take the law into their hands.

US involvement in Iraq began when the latter invaded its neighbour Iran in 1980. The then Reagan Administration had removed Iraq from its list of terrorist countries to find a way out to equip the then Saddam regime with improved defence capabilities. Confirmed and unconfirmed reports in the past revealed that the US had supplied weapons grade poison material secretly to Iraq which turned it into chemical and gas weapons and used them against Iranians in the war. In August 1988, Iran and Iraq declared a cease fire but prior to that nearly 65ooo Iranians were 2killed in the last four major offensive campaigns in which Iraq used nerve gas weapons.

With the full knowledge and backing of US, the then Iraq also used the same weapons against the Kurds of northern Iraq killing 100,000 people and destroying 1200 Kurdish villages completely. During those days, Saddam was fully supported by the US. (King, Arming Iraq and the path to war ) The hypocrisy of US was exposed when it declared war on Iraq in 2003 on the pretext that the Saddam regime had contained weapons of mass destruction and it posed a threat to the US through its terrorism. How could it justify its war reasons when the UN weapons inspectors had declared after several rounds of inspection that they could not find any mass destructive weapons in Iraq Then why did it invade Iraq The only convincing reason could be that it wanted to control the oil rich countries in the Gulf.

History stands as a tall witness that US was only responsible for moulding Saddam into a dictatorial role and messing up things in the Gulf. With regard to Rwanda, the genocide continued for 100 days continuously and there was no reason to imagine that the White House was not in the know of things. Knowing full well about the genocide and its perpetrators, the then American Administration had kept silent and the mass killings in the tiny African country continued. Why the US acted the way it did still remains a mystery.

But there must have been sufficient grounds for the US inaction. If the US wanted to stop the genocide, it could have done so with in a day or two. But instead of trying to contain the mass killings, US officials had competed in providing mere statements. The US no doubt played a commendable role in providing all possible succour to the survivor families and the injured. But unfortunately it did not play a role in preventing the Rwanda genocide. 3Conclusion:USA believes in opportunism irrespective of humanitarian aspects.

Its role in the Gulf, particularly in Iraq supports this statement. It used Saddam Hussein as a tool against Iranians in the past. It never thought of questioning the Saddam regime which indulged in mass killings of Kurds or Iranians through chemical weapons. Its only aim was to take control of the oil wells in Iran at that time. Now Saddam himself was made a scapegoat in the name of terrorism by the US which wanted to take control of Iraq's oil wells now. In all this, where would you find the base for humanitarianism except for opportunism References:John King, Arming Iraq: A Chronology of U.S.Involvement.

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