War in Iraq, is one of the controversial events in history of American wars. It takes two to tango, and this is the case of the war in Iraq. For a war to start there should be some driving forces or effects. The justification for the Iraq invasion remains quite unclear despite the prior consequences that came with the war. The invasion was suggested to have begun following the 9/11 attack of World Trade Center and Pentagon in 2001. Americans attacked Iraq in 2003 and toppled Saddam’s dictatorship, and seven years later the war came to end (Mahnken and Keaney 25). Families lost their loved ones; women got widowed, families got torn apart and innocent children lost their sole breadwinners. According to me, the war should not have happened in the first place. It was against humanity and violated the right of many people both in U.S and Iraq.
Some of the possible effects of the war comprise of the attack of World Trade Center in 2001. However, the administration of President George Bush explained that the constant attacks to Iraq aimed at disarming Iraq of the mass destruction weapons such as the nuclear bombs and other deadly weapons. The administration said they were aiming at ending the Saddam Hussein regime that supported terrorism as well as freeing the people of Iraq from their country’s captivity. These and others are said to be reasons for the war and, although some of the causes are still unclear, it is clear that the war never halted from the three weeks siege of Baghdad. The aftermath led to a period of ten good years of major conflicts that riffed to the border countries of Iraq.
The history of Iraq is caught up through many tiffs within the past years. For instance, during World War I, Britain took control of Baghdad and in 1920 Iraq was created. Within the same year, Iraq organized a huge revolution against Britain, which was followed by the creation of independent states comprising of Iraq and Britain. Saddam Hussein took over the leadership of Iraq from July of 1979 to 2003. Saddam Hussein’s regime had a series of conflicts with the countries that attempted to have good foreign relations with Iran, Israel and Egypt. In order to understand the sources of the war, it would be easier to understand the situation in the country before it all erupted. The country was poor and very rural and the people living there were extremely vulnerable.
United States, through the rule of George W. Bush, invaded Iraq after there was a serious terrorist attack in United States (Mahnken and Keaney 32). The attacks saw a security breach in the country, and the death of many American civilians. This speculation relied on the sources from the pentagon that announced the terrorism attack and, thus, the government of United States had to protect its people. The 9/11 tragedy could be the main driving force, although some critics argue against that terming the attack of Iraq as due to the need to control oil resources in Iraq.
Critics explain the attack to be due to interest of the Americans in controlling these resources. Another reason that might have led to the attack of Iraq is approval rate of security by other countries. United States is, obviously, the world power and thus it takes charge for the security of the other countries. Iraq appeared to be a bully to most of the countries with its connection to Al Qaeda and Taliban groups of terrorists. These groups were linked to a series of terrorist attacks around the globe. The Al Qaeda group, ran by Osama Bin Laden, was connected to 9/11 tragedy. To underscore his seriousness, President Bush issued a warning to invade Iraq within a period of 48 hours. The military attacked Iraq exactly at 48 targeted time in 2003. Al Qaeda tested the patience of America through attacking pentagon, world trade center and American Embassy in Kenya and Tanzania.
Again, Britain contributed in supporting the US to attack Iraq. However, with a good number of Muslims living in Britain, its involvement with United States to attack Iraq instigated war, making terrorists’ assault more eminently. Britain should not have supported U.S in the war as this would have eased the terrorist attacks in the country. The Muslim community took the issue too personal as Britain attacked Iraq, and it was evident as Britain got major terrorist attacks.
With all that said by different critics and war analysts around the world, the main reason to account for the attack of Iraq was possession of deadly weapons or weapons of mass attack. The war in Iraq involved United States of America and Iraq, with countries like Britain and Russia helping in military reinforcement; however, United States was the heart and the master plan. Iraq has a history of constant aggression against other countries, especially its neighbors.
For instance, the country used poisonous gas on Iran and, to make matters worse, against its citizens. The speech delivered by President Bush, while in Cincinnati, indicated that Iraq possesses weapons of mass destruction that were being controlled by the dangerous tyrant, and had already used those chemical weapons in killing thousands of innocent people. He also went ahead and explained that the country (Iraq) had sponsored a set of international terrorist attacks. He explained that the attacks targeted Iran, Israel and other Arab countries. The remarks met much criticism from different scholars, and this affected the welfare of Iraq (Bonn 63).
Iraq also repeatedly violated the U.N Security Council resolutions, making United States declare war on Iraq. The country violated Resolutions 661,660,678,687 and 688, which had been passed by the U.N. On its part, United States wanted to reinforce the system. Iraq was by then under the rule of Saddam Hussein, a dictator who resorted to the use of terrorism to settle scores with countries ideologically opposed to him. To end the era of dictatorship and as protect the people globally, United States had to go fighting to avoid the spread of the Hussein’s ideologies in Middle East. Given the circumstances, President Bush had to declare war against terror (Brennan, Ries and Hanauer 12).
The war in Iraq took a long period; it is estimated to be 7 years within the rule of President Bush and part of it within the rule of President Obama. There are adverse effects of the war as it led to great impacts in Middle East and United States of America. It is estimated that over 1,040 American soldiers died, and over 7,413 troops wounded in Iraq. It also affected the economy significantly. Over $151.1 billion was spent, and it was expected the amount rose to roughly $3,415 billion for all household of United States. It also led to oil prices rising to a record estimated to be over $90 per barrel. This together with other many economic forces have affected greatly the residents of United States and also posed some effects to the allies of United States.
Iraq faced tremendous effects and some devastating measures. In 22, September 2004, reports indicated that 12,800 to 14,843 civilian belonging to Iraq had lost their lives due to U.S occupation and invasion. The reports also showed that 40,000 Iraq civilians had faced devastating injuries. Just like the other cases of war in history, the war in Iraq left many people homeless and undergoing psychological trauma because of the war. Among the most affected sectors in Iraq were their oil industry and unemployment levels. People lost their jobs due to state of insecurity. In addition, there were massive reports of rape cases and crimes in the country. The government lost its stand as systems of rule were taken over by the U.S military. These are some of the negative effects of the war in Iraq. Therefore, it can be concluded that this war in Iraq brought about detrimental effects in both countries. However, this is nothing compared to the advance results at the end of the war. The end of terrorism is quite important, not only to the people of United States, but also the whole world (Brennan, Ries and Hanauer 23).
The war in Iraq came to an end through The Obama-Biden Plan. Their main idea was to renew military strength through dedicating resources and efforts in the fight against Al Qaeda and Taliban in Afghanistan as well as investing on the economy in U.S. Obama was vocal about the issue even as far as 2002 when he warned against the undetermined results of the war. He said that people should focus on the end of the war (Rai 45).
Again, as soon as he took office as the president, Obama instructed the secretary of Defense and military commander on the mission to end the war in Iraq. He announced of the withdrawal of the military in Iraq slowly with prior consultations from the Iraq government. They believed in redeploying safely the combat brigades from those Iraq territories at one to two brigades each month. The idea was meant to withdraw the whole troop in period of 16 months. It happened from 2010, seven years from the time the war began. They targeted some forces to be left (in those areas) to face the presumed counter-terrorism against Al Qaeda and also to protect American civilians and diplomatic personnel. They also promised not keep permanent base, but to train as well as support the Iraq security. They set a condition that there should be political reconciliation and that Iraq should keep off from sectarianism.
Obama’s administration also pressed the government of Iraq towards political accommodation. They suggested that instead of having military solutions to their differences in politics, it was high time for the government of Iraq to redirect efforts in other responsibilities while investing on the oil industry for their own improvement in infrastructure and reconstruction. They also made an alliance with Iraq’s neighbors like Syria and Iran.
The alliance aimed at securing the borders of Iraq and keeping neighbors from interfering with the reconstruction process. They also aimed at isolating Al Qaeda by providing financial support for Iraq’s development, reconstruction and support reconciliation process among Iraq’s sectarian people and groups. Obama and Joe Biden also took the initiative of maintaining humanitarian crisis, since over 5 million Iraqis were refugees and others displaced in their country. Therefore, they built international working groups of personnel to address the issue. They were assigned the responsibility of reserving the rights of militarily, suppressing potential genocidal attempts within the country and monitoring international partners (Harris, Moffitt and Squires 45).
When president Obama took his campaigns in the 2008 presidential line up, one of his main reforms was to end the war in Iraq. It is one of the few ways of ending the war in Iraq, as many people needed a leader who would fight for the end of the bloodshed similar to that experienced in Vietnam War, where many soldiers lost their lives. First, to solve the plight of Iraq war, U.S government together with the allies had to retrieve their troops from Iraq. It was a suggestion after resurgence of attacks from Iraqi militants as they saw the presence of the troops as an occupational force. Again, it was suggested that, before they withdrew their forces, there had to be multi-ethnicity government in Iraq. It meant that the proposed government had to represent all the main factions and parties (Harris, Moffitt and Squires 10). The government had to be composed of the Sunni’s, Shia’s as well as the Kurd community that is the minority in Iraq. With such a democratic base, the country could rebuild infrastructure and the people of Iraq should also be allowed to rule themselves. However, the governing of Iraq was strongly opposed to factional, foreign or tyrannical rule.
In conclusion, the war in Iraq started in 2002 through a warning given by President George W. Bush warning the Iraq government of an attack within 48. The invasion of Iraq by United States of America had a couple of reasons; for example, Saddam Hussein’s rule in Iraq supported terrorism and dictatorship that saw the Iraqis being tortured. Again, U.S got agitated as there was an attack in U.S that was referred to as the 9/11 attack. The attack saw death of innocent citizens of United States. The government of U.S linked the attack with acts of terrorism. The administration of President Bush decided to reciprocate through sending troops to Iraq to bring down the rule of Saddam Hussein, and fight terrorism. Iraq was also connected to be making weapons of mass destruction such as nuclear bombs. These weapons were meant to attack other countries and, United States, as the world power, had to fight for the other countries. The war lasted for about seven years and came to an end in 2010 during the Obama regime. The war saw a massive death of about 1,040 American combats and over 7,413 troops injured. More than 14,843 Iraqis were also murdered. The war also destroyed the economy of Iraq, especially the oil industry. The government of United States ordered the withdrawal of combats from Iraq, and the move saw the end of the war and the formation of international security system. In addition, the move saw the death of many Al Qaeda leaders and the dismantling of Taliban group of terrorists. The war violated human rights, and accumulated many crimes. Again, it cannot be humane loosing such number of people most of who were innocent women and children. Families were torn apart; children lost their fathers and women lost the sole breadwinners. Economies got destroyed in both countries; social allies broken and enmity created between the participating countries. According to my opinion, the war should not have happened to prevent all this things from happening.
Works Cited
Bonn, Scott A. Mass Deception: Moral Panic and the U.S. War on Iraq. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2010. Print.
Brennan, Richard R. Jr., et al. Ending the U.S. War in Iraq: The Final Transition, Operational Maneuver, and Disestablishment of United States Forces-Iraq. Santa Monica: Rand Corporation, 2013. Print.
Frederic Wehrey, Dalia Dassa Kaye, et al. The Iraq Effect: The Middle East After the Iraq War. Santa Monica: Rand Corporation, 2010. Print.
Harris, Heather E., Kimberly R. Moffitt and Catherine R. Squires. The Obama Effect: Multidisciplinary Renderings of the 2008 Campaign. New York: SUNY Press, 2010. Print.
Mahnken, Thomas G. and Thomas A. Keaney. War in Iraq: Planning and Execution. London: Routledge, 2007. Print.
Lansford, Tom. 9/11 and the Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2011. Print.
Rai, Milan. War Plan Iraq: Ten Reasons Against War on Iraq. London: Verso, 2002. Print.
