The Iraq War On Terror

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The Iraq War, our government’s invasion dubbed “Operation Iraqi Freedom,” had finally arrived after declaring war on March 19, 2003. The U.S.-British coalition to invade Iraq and remove Hussein’s dictatorship has been both a beneficial and damaging political effort. A war that began because of Hussein’s unwillingness to participate in weapons inspections became a messy situation that would last over a decade. President George W. Bush announced his trademark “War on terror” and, as a result, invaded Iraq on the grounds that Hussein was hiding weapons of mass destruction which threatened world security. Prime Minister Tony Blair concured with Bush and believed that the world would be safer when Iraq disarmed itself. One year after the invasion of Iraq, Hussein had been captured, no weapons of mass destruction were found, leaked photos of abuse of Iraqi detainees, and other nations providing troops were withdrawing—Was Iraq worth it? Bush and Blair both argued that even with all the setbacks, Iraqi citizens were better off then, than under the Hussein’s command, especially with the democracy on the horizon.
On the one hand, Bush believed Iraq did in fact have weapons of mass destruction. In his first State of the Union Address after the attacks of 9/11, Bush pledged the foreclosure of any regime that promoted terrorism through the use of WMDs. With the prompt military success in Afghanistan, Bush’s war on terror would not stop there. The chief executive called the United States to stand firm against the “axis of evil”—North Korea, Iran and Iraq (Milkis 416). The term “axis” evokes memories of America’s enemy Axis of World War II—Germany, Italy, and Japan. This is misleading because axis implies an alignment of some sort. ...

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...aghdad: “I made it quite plain…that it was obvious from the briefings that Saddam had no weapons of mass destruction and had only battlefield weapons…I could not have been more blunt” (Watt-1). After British troops went to Iraq, Cook resigned promptly afterward. Blair went into Iraq with the intention to disarm not to dethrone because of the imminent threat to British interests. The Prime Minister was well aware that President Bush was to go to war in any case, yet Blair believed “it would be more damaging to long-term world peace and security if the Americans alone defeated Saddam Hussein than if they had international support to do so” (Wheatcroft pg.67). This is why British troops went to Iraq without the second United Nation Security Council resolution, which Parliament was promised by Blair. Tony Blair was committed to the Iraq War regardless of defections.

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