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Justification for Iraqi invasion
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The Iraq War began in 2003 and lasted until 2011, and stands to be among the most controversial conflicts of modern times. It was a war that proceeded without the approval of the United Nations (UN) and was said to be a failure on all counts, for despite managing to end Saddam Hussein’s regime did not lead to an improvement in the situation in Iraq, and instead led Iraq to becoming a failed state and being on the brink of a civil war. According to then Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the Iraq War was “not in conformity with the United Nations charter (and) from (their) point of view, from the charter point of view, it was illegal” (BBC News, 2004). This essay will first aim to identify the arguments given to justify the Iraq war, followed by an analysis on how the war was depicted by the United States (US) media and why it was done in such a way. Following that, this essay will attempt to identify alternative reasons as to why the war was started and why the alternative reasons remained as such.
This part of the essay will identify the US government’s argument and justifications for its war on Iraq in 2003 and examine the evidences presented to support the given argument. Officially, the US brought forth the argument that war on Iraq in 2003 was a pre-emptive strike responding to the threat of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and the belief that the Iraqi government had ties to the Al-Qaeda terrorist organization which was responsible for the attack on the World Trade Centre in New York during the 11th of September in 2001. This argument carries significant weightage in present times for modern wars must only be fought in self-defence, as stated in the BBC's Ethics Guide on war (2014). Furthermore, a ‘just cause’ is also ne...
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The Independent (2007). Blood and oil: How the West will profit from Iraq's most precious commodity [online]. Available at: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/blood-and-oil-how-the-west-will-profit-from-iraqs-most-precious-commodity-431119.html [Accessed 12th January 2014].
Weisman, S. R. (2005). Powell Calls His U.N. Speech a Lasting Blot on His Record [online]. Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/09/politics/09powell.html?_r=0 [Accessed 12th January 2014].
WMD in Iraq: Evidence and Implications [online]. Available at: http://carnegieendowment.org/files/Iraq3FullText.pdf [Accessed 10th January 2014].
Wokusch, H. (2006). How the Bush Family Makes a Killing from George's Presidency [online]. Available at: http://www.heatherwokusch.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=86 [Accessed 12th January 2014].
September 11, 2001 marked a tragic day in the history of the United States; a terrorist attack had left the country shaken. It did not take long to determine those who were behind the attack and a call for retribution swept through the nation. Citizens in a wave of patriotism signed up for military service and the United States found resounding international support for their efforts in the war on terror. Little opposition was raised at the removal of the Taliban regime and there was much support for bringing Osama Bin Laden and the leaders of al-Qaeda to justice. Approval abroad diminished approximately a year and a half later when Afghanistan became a stepping stone to the administration’s larger ambition, the invasion of Iraq. The administration would invent several stories and in some cases remain silent of the truth where would prove positive for the Iraqi invasion. It seems they were willing to say anything to promote the largely unpopular and unnecessary war they were resolved on engaging in.
Since the 9/11 attacks, the Bush administration has been calling every citizens and every nations to support his Middle East policy. Nonetheless, the U.S. has been involved in the middle-east struggle for more than half of the century, wars were waged and citizens were killed. Yet, political struggles and ideological conflicts are now worse than they were under Clinton’s presidency. As “President’s Address to the Nation” is a speech asking everybody to support the troops to keep fighting in Iraq, I, as an audience, am not persuaded at all because of his illogical fallacy in the arguments. In this essay, I will analyze how and what are the illogical fallacies he uses in the speech.
This I’ll admit was a very interesting book that looked at what could have really caused the Iraq war and whether we really had to go to war. The book talks about the flaws with the reasons that Bush proposed for going to war with Iraq and why we haven’t had a fuller victory yet. The book basically goes into details about the four observations that arise from examining certain aspects of the war and afterwards. In the next few pages I’ll be summarizing the book then stating my analysis and opinions about ideas presented in the book.
Steffy, L. C. (2010). Drowning in Oil: BP and the Reckless Pursuit of Profit. McGraw Hill.
Schwarz, Frederic D. "The Demagogue’s Downfall." American Heritage Nov.-Dec. 2004: volume 55, issue 6. Web.
Mervin argues that Bush practiced a style of presidential leadership known as “Guardianship.” He contends that Bush’s presidency was marked by foreign policy success and domestic failure. Mervin claims that the failure of Bush’s domestic record is demonstrated by his
1. Bovard, James. Feeling Your Pain: The Explosion and Abuse of Government Power in the Clinton-Gore Years. New York: St. Martin’s, 2000
On September 11, 2001, our country was hit with enormous devastation, just after eight o’clock a.m. the first of the twin towers was struck by a suicide pilot, the second was struck slightly later. The towers fell just after ten o’clock a.m., devastating the entire country, and ruining the lives of many. A plane also hit the Pentagon in Washington D.C., and another in rural Pennsylvania causing just as much grief. The U.S. is still in mourning, but standing tall, more Americans showed their American pride in the following months than ever before. In the months to come the only thing that was on the minds of millions was: Should we go to war? War is necessary for the survival of our country. Going to war with Iraq is a fight against terrorism. Many people believed that going to war with Iraq is unjust. Some believe that there are other ways in looking at the situation.
Pika, J.A., & Maltese, J. (2004). The Politics of the Presidency. Washington, D.C.: CQ Press.
In early 2003, the threat of Saddam Hussein and the possibility of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq captured the attention and concern of the world. One nation decided to illegally act on these unsubstantiated claims, invading the country, violating the UN Charter and breaking several international laws in the process. The penalizations that were subject to the invading country, the United States, were never carried out. The United State’s role and influence over the UN and the Security Council, along with the nature of the unenforceable, politics and power-based international laws, allowed them to escape sanctions after their invasion of Iraq. The United States did not have a legitimate reason for invading, and their ability to repudiate international law would be unacceptable for any other country. Their decision to invade Iraq was one based on money and politics, and the US should be subject to penalties just as any other nation would have to face after unnecessarily waging war on a nation.
... hand, the principle is still very useful and is referred to in global political and social debate. It is noted that Richard Falk, critic of western wars argues that the just war theory ‘is a vital source of modern international law governing the use of force and it focuses attention on the causes, means and ends of war’ (Shaw, 2005, p.133). It can be acknowledged, that the morality of war still remains urgently central to political argument around the world. In recent years, the Just war theory has seen to respond to the main challenges surrounding the establishment of war in Iraq in 2003. It can be assessed the war in Iraq has distorted into a stimulating theory positioning the existence of Weapons of mass destruction.Therefore, this dissertation will elaborate on the theories that are challenged by Iraq war in relation to the use of weapons of mass destruction.
In “Ethics and Intervention: The ‘Humanitarian Exception’ and the Problem of Abuse in the Case of Iraq, Alex Bellamy argues that war is only justified in exceptional cases where “supreme humanitarian intervention” is genuinely required (Bellamy, p. 137). Bellamy discusses the ethics of intervention and the decision of the US to invade Iraq. He provides the argument that international law does not provide moral reasoning on the issues of war. However, he acknowledges that it does provide an important foundation on the issue of legitimacy of war. He discusses two legal justifications for war, which include implied UN authorization and pre-emptive self-defense of that state. Neither of these is the case in Iraq, although the government may say
"How the Bush Administration Sold the Iraq War." Msnbc.com. NBC News Digital, 14 Oct. 2013. Web. 25 Apr. 2014.
The Iraq War was a protracted armed conflict that began with the 2003 invasion of Iraq by a US-led coalition. The US wanted to destroy Saddam Hussein’s regime and bring democracy. To addition to that, US and its allies believed that Iraq had secret stocks of chemical and nuclear weapons, hence Iraq was a threat to the world (Axford 2010). In March 2003, US air bombed Baghdad and Saddam escaped Iraq. The invasion disarmed the government of Saddam Hussein. President Bush in March 2003 gave a premature speech, that tyrant of Iraq has fallen and US has freed its people. President Bush flew into Iraq to show the world that the war is over, even though nothing was accomplished (Kirk et al. 2014). Iraq was facing 13 years of scantions, therefore regime diverted its resources to flexible networks of patronage that kept it in power (Dodge 2007, 88). Iraq faced widespread of lawlessness and after the violent regime changed US could not control the situation. Iraqi civilians were looting, attacking ministries building and this resulted into a series of event (Kirk et al. 2014) . From a military perspective the regime was taken down, but they made no commitment to rebuild or secure the country.
Ginsberg, Benjamin. "The Presidency." We the People: An Introduction to American Politics. 9th Essentials ed. New York: W.W. Norton &, 2013. 306-26. Print.