Was the Invasion of Iraq Justified - Research Paper Example

Was the invasion of Iraq Justified? The history wars started even from the evolutions of human being. Bible says that the first human encounter occurred between the sons of first human Adam. The competition, struggle for existence and dominance, egoisms, thirst for occupying others property and wealth etc has started from there onwards. We have already witnessed two world wars and the possibility of a third one is in the horizon at present. The conflicts between the Koreas, conflicts between India and Pakistan and the conflicts between United States and Iran have the potential to become another world war. In most of the cases, simple reasons may attain the proportions of big wars. “Some wars begin badly. Some end badly. The Iraq war of 2003 was exceptional in both beginning well for the Anglo-American force that waged it and ending victoriously” (Keegan, p.1). The reasons or the justifications of recent Iraq war between America and Iraq are highly debated across the world at present. Even though the Iraq war ended quiet long while ago, the controversies surrounding Iraq war is not over yet. Saddam Hussein was executed and Iraq is slowly getting back to its normal state. Many people believe that Iraq war was an unnecessary one whereas many others support the Iraq war because of the successful American mission in freeing Iraqi people from the brutalities of Saddam Hussein. This paper supports Iraq war after analyzing the pros and cons of Iraq war. On March 20, 2003 America with the help of its allies attacked Iraq, accusing Iraq for the possession of illegal chemical, biological and nuclear weapons or weapons of mass destruction. Moreover, America explained to the world that the possession of such fierce weapons may cause immense threat to the global peace. It is a fact that America has failed to find out any weapons of mass destruction from Iraq; however, many people believe that Iraq is currently breathing the air of freedom after a long period. The heinous killing of thousands and torture to millions by Saddam Husain and his sons is highly notorious. One has to punish them to death to retain humanity in this world. The ghastly incidents of killings showed in TV's in the early war days revealed the barbaric nature of Saddam (ssrkraju). Even while the political analysts differ in their opinions about the justification of Iraq war, nobody has any doubt about the brutalities of Saddam and his son Uday. Saddam and his son Uday was accused of killing huge number of Kurds in Iraq. The dictatorship of Saddam and Uday has not been confined in Iraq alone. The neighboring countries like Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Iran were always targeted by Saddam. In fact Saddam tried to create a unified Arab world under his leadership just like what Hitler tried to do before the Second World War. In other words, Hitler’s effort to rule the entire world has resulted in the Second World War. Same way, Saddam’s effort to conquer the neighboring countries could have been end up in another world war. America’s interference in this region prevented Iraq and Saddam from expanding their territories. In fact most of the neighboring countries of Iraq supported Iraq war only because of the threats they were facing from Saddam. Chemical Ali, a first cousin of Saddam Hussein and a notorious person conducted mass killings of the Kurds in the 1980s and 1990s using chemical weapons which is another reason for the US war against Iraq. Proponents argue that liberating the people of Iraq from Saddam’s human rights abuses, spreading democracy in the region, enforcing UN regulations, finding suspected weapons of mass destruction, and making the US safer from terrorism in a post-9/11 world, all justify the war in Iraq (Should the US have attacked Iraq?) Arab world in general is not so much interested in democracy. But nobody has any doubt over the importance of democracy in creating a civilized world. It is a fact that in most of the prominent Arab countries like Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar etc, a kind of monarchy is prevailing even in the twenty first century. The administrators of these countries will never leave their power and they transfer the power from them to their children only. The issues like human right protection have not much meaning in the Arab world. These rulers rule their country in the name of Islam and any attempt to establish democracy in this region is perceived as an attempt to destroy the Islamic culture and fundamental values. The adamant belief of the people in their religion helped these administrators to stay or continue in power for a prolonged period. The implementation of a democratic administration in Iraq will definitely help the people not only in Iraq, but also in the entire Arab region to experience the tastes of democracy. The Saudis wanted relief from the military—political pressure that Saddam's conquest of Kuwait had generated. The Syrians wanted their Ba'athist rival's wings clipped. The Egyptians and other Arab governments, worried that their peoples might find Saddam attractive, also wanted him taken down a peg (Codevilla). Saddam tried to exploit the anti-Israeli stands of Islamic countries in order to execute his hidden agenda of dictatorship. Saddam had not many reasons to convince the Arab world. But he was smart enough to recognize that the Muslim world generally had an anti-Israeli feeling and decided to exploit it. But the neighboring countries had strong doubts about the intentions of Saddam. Saddam was actually trying to become another Hitler and US helped the Arab world from the massacres of another dictatorship. Opponents of Iraq war argue that George Bush was taking revenge on Saddam for harassing his father Bush Sr. it is a fact that in an early encounter between America and Iraq, Bush Sr. faced humiliation from the hands of Saddam. At the same time it is illogical to think that Bush Jr. would spend billions of dollars just for saving the pride of his father. It should be remembered that America has already paid big price in their efforts to establish a democratic regime in Iraq. The current financial crisis is believed to be the by-product of Iraq war. In other words, Iraq war not only affected the Iraqi people, but it affected the Americans and its allies as well. Many of the American soldiers sacrificed their lives in Iraq in their efforts to bring peace back in Iraq. In short, it is foolishness to think that an American president would sacrifice the lives of its soldiers and billions of dollars just to save the pride of a single person. The cost of Iraq war can be better analyzed with the help of following illustration. (Cost of Iraq War and Nation Building) Many people believe that the Iraq war succeeded in giving a strong reply to terrorism and dictatorship. One of the major threats faced by the world at present is terrorism. The links of Saddam with some of the infamous terrorist groups has created suspicion in the minds of America, especially after the 9/11. Many people even now believe that some invisible hands helped Bin Laden in executing the 9/11 attack. Most of them suspect that Saddam had a massive role in the 9/11 attack. According to former US secretary of defense, Donald Rumsfeld, “we have what we consider to be credible evidence that al Qaeda leaders have sought contacts in Iraq who could help them acquire weapon of -- weapons of mass destruction capabilities”(US-Iraq War). In the absence of Iraq war, terrorist’s activities could have been even more than what we witness today. The Iraq war along with the current Afghan war has strengthened the belief in the world that the terrorism would be countered strictly. Even though many people criticized the Iraq war initially, according to the latest surveys, the support for Iraq war is increasing after witnessing the economic, political and social progress achieving by Iraq since 2003. The perceptions that things were going well in Iraq have reached the all-time low of 28% in January 2007. More recently, in polls conducted last September and in March of 2009, as well as in the current July 2009 poll, majorities have returned to the viewpoint that things are going well in Iraq. The current 56% "going well" percentage is as high as Gallup has measured vis-à-vis Iraq since July 2003; just months after the war began (Newport) The chart given in the following page reveals the growing support of people for the Iraq war. In other words, those who initially hesitant in supporting the Iraq war have come out openly now in favor of the Iraq war after seeing the steady progress Iraq is achieving now under the democratic regime. (Newport) In short, the support for Iraq war is growing at present even though initially people had some concerns about this war. Considering the steady progress achieving by Iraq since 2003, Iraq war should be justified. This war should be perceived as a war which avoided another world war. In the absence of Iraq war, the terrorist activities could have been intensified further. Works Cited 1. Codevilla, Angelo M.“American Statecraft and the Iraq War”. 2007. Web. 15 December 2010. 2. “Cost of Iraq War and Nation Building”. 2008. Web. 15 December 2010. 3. Keegan, John. “The Iraq War”. 2005. Publisher: Vintage (May 24, 2005) 4. NewPort, Frank. “Americans Upbeat on Progress in Iraq, Afghanistan”. 2009. Web. 15 December 2010. 5. “Should the US have Attacked Iraq?”. 2010. Web. 15 December 2010. 6. “US-Iraq War”. Web. 15 December 2010. Read More