Introduction
The hubris documentary: selling the Iraq war by Rachel maddow was a movie aired on the tenth anniversary of selling of the Iraq war. It tells the story of how the American presidential administration deceived America into war by expanding the powers of the executive branch. The movie reveals the animosity of America towards Iraq. The movie starts with a striking resemblance to the 2008 series titled bush’s war.
The neo-cons were eager to invade Iraq. They lay down their strategy to the bill Clinton the then president. They say that the magnitude of the threat which depends for its success upon the steadfastness of their coalition partners and upon cooperation of Saddam Hussein. Saddam Hussein is the Iraq’s president at this time. They see a policy that will prevent Iraq from using weapons of mass destruction as the as the only acceptable strategy to protect America from possible attacks by Iraq. This shows the willingness to start a military action since it was clear that diplomacy was failing. It also meant removing saddam Hussein from power. That was the American policy.
The neo-cons urged Clinton to articulate this aim and turn the attention of his administration to removing saddam from power. This required a full complement of political and military efforts. Neo-cons tell Clinton that America had to take the necessary resolutions to protect its interests in the gulf. Even the United Nations had no power to prevent America from safeguarding its interests in this gulf. Unfortunately, Clinton leaves office without fulfilling these goals. George W. Bush comes into power. When bush becomes the president, his cabinet is filled by neo-cons who immediately start to look for excuses to go into war with Iraq. The neo-cons start looking for ways to convince President Bush to start a war against saddam Hussein’s Iraq. Finally they succeed to win bush’s heart.
The war was caused by propaganda from the Bush-Cheney administration. Cheney was the US vice president. On 5th February 2003, Cheney delivered a speech at the annual veterans’ conference for foreign wars in 2002. He says that there was clear evidence that saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and that he is amassing the weapons to use them against America and its allies. These speech shocks some of the people at the convention. They get worried and surprised too. For instance, zinnia, a CIA agent on Iraq WMD (WEAPONS FOR MASS DESTRUCTION) affirms that he did not see any credible evidence in what Cheney (Dietrich 25). A day after delivering the speech, Powell asks senator john Edwards about the French. It’s clear that the Bush-Cheney administration deliberately drove US into war by disinformation and misinformation.
The film highlights a pentagon document that was declassified two year earlier. It features the yellowcake that was bought by saddam in Niger, aluminum tubes which were used to process uranium into weapons, and the connection between Osama bin laden and saddam. Saddam is suspected of having bought the yellowcake in Niger. Intelligence on these topics was considered uncertain or wrong. However, the administration officials kept using inconclusive and lousy intelligence to push for the war. There was no clear and comprehensive investigation that was ever done about these issues.
The then state secretary Collin Powell hides his deep skeptism from the public (Rodney P 98). His chief of state, Lawrence Wilkerson, clearly recalls the day the congress passed a resolution to attack Iraq. Powell walks into Lawrence’s office and wonders what will happen when the US deploys 500000 troops into Iraq and comb the country from one corner to the other and finally find nothing. This clearly shows that Powell had no idea about the veracity of the intelligence which he cited when delivering his speech. Though no one from the state department lied, the country actually participated in a hoax. Almost 4500 Americans were killed during the war and over 100000 people wounded in Iraq.
The media did fail in its roles during the war run up to Iraq. The administration was majorly using the media to propagate the propaganda. The press simply accepted swe3eping assertions by government officials without looking for concrete evidence to support it. between august 2002 and the eruption of the war on 19 march 2003, General Barry McCrery appeared in the media more than 140 times to offer comments on Iraq.
On 16th October 2002, Iraq war resolution was enacted. 29 democrats in the house of senate, 82 democrats in the House of Representatives including Hillary Clinton and john Kerry voted for the resolution. In the documentary, jones develops an antiwar voice in the congress but later he gives a mea culpa. No one wanted to appear weak when it comes to national unity. That’s why almost every leader in Bush’s government voted for the war against Iraq.
The war against Iraq was not right. It was just propaganda. Bush’s administration claimed that Iraq had bought a yellow cake at Niger and had purchased special machines which could be used to transform uranium to weapons of mass destruction. These claims were not well investigated by the CIA. America, based on these allegations spreads propaganda in the media. The main aim of the propaganda was to start a war with Iraq. This propaganda finally leads to a tough war between Iraq and America. Thousands of people are killed, others injured and property worth millions of dollars destroyed in the countries. The diplomatic relationship between them was also tattered. This is just a clear indication of how misuse of powers by leaders can cost a country and the world at large. The enmity between the two countries goes on and on until saddam is finally killed.
Iraq is fighting a moral and justified war to defend itself from US attacks. Iraq’s was actually a just effort. America is attacking Iraq due to false allegations. It was therefore rightful for Iraq to respond back. However, America is fighting an unjustified and immoral war. It just decides to raise false allegations against Iraq and attack it based on those allegations. It was wrong for US to base their allegations against Iraq on unproved propaganda. America could have investigated their doubts and use diplomatic means to solve the issues rather than deploying their military. America started a war but it had no clear reasons for doing so. Later, they realize and affirm that what they participated in was a hoax. It costed the lives of so many Americans and Iraqis.
Bush, Cheney and et al are not heroes. They are war criminals. As the commander in chief of the armed forces and navy of the United States, Bush used his powers to declare war against Iraq. Planning and initiating an unjust attack against another nation does not make one a hero. These leaders misused their powers to cause a lot of suffering to innocent Americans. It was wrong for them to accuse Iraq of planning an attack against US. These accusations were baseless. However, they just decided to attack Iraq. Things were not good for them. Iraq responded by dropping deadly weapons in America. These weapons did not spare the Americans. They were killed in large numbers. These leaders are therefore responsible for what happened in America. They should be held fully responsible for causing massacres in America. Were it not for their propaganda, Iraq would never have attacked America. They are people who willingly decided to misuse their powers to cause political, social and economic suffering in America.
It seems that bush and his administration were against Iraq’s peaceful existence. This is why they just made a decision to attack Iraq without proper consultation. If these leaders were just they would have used peaceful methods to address their grievances rather than going into war. Given the criminality done by Bush’s administration it is shameful that those who spearheaded these criminal acts are still happily enjoying their lives.
This documentary reveals to us how misuse of presidential powers can lead to political, social and economic unrest or even loss of lives and property. Therefore, president’s day is not only a day to celebrate great presidents but also a day to reflect how misuse of powers can dig a grave for a nation, community, society or even the entire world.
Works cited
Dietrich, Julie Costanzo, and Eric Holland. Miss Representation. New York, NY: Virgil Films, 2012
Carlisle, Rodney P, and John S. Bowman. Iraq War. New York, NY: Facts On File, 2007. Print.
