United Nations Security Council Resolution example essay topic

U.S. History The War in Iraq Since the end of the Gulf War of 1991, Iraq's relations with the United States remained poor. In the absence of a Security Council agreement that Iraq had fully complied with the terms of the Persian Gulf War ceasefire, both the United Nations and the United States enforced numerous economic sanctions against Iraq throughout the Clinton administration, and the United States and the United Kingdom patrolled Iraqi airspace to enforce Iraqi no-fly zones that they had declared. The United States Congress also passed the "Iraq Liberation Act" in October 1998, which provided $97 million for Iraqi in order to establish a program to support a transition to democracy in Iraq. This differed with the terms set out by the United Nations, which related to weapons and weapons programs, but made no mention of regime change. Weapons inspectors had been used to gather information on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program and to enforce the terms of the 1991 cease fire, which outlawed Iraq from developing weapons of mass destruction. The information gathered by the inspectors was used in targeting decisions during Operation Desert Fox, a United States and United Kingdom bombardment of Iraq in December 1998 which was supposedly hurried by lack of cooperation between Iraq and the United Nations weapon inspections team.

On October 11, 2002, the United States Congress passed the "Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002", giving President George W. Bush the authority to attack Iraq if Saddam Hussein did not give up his weapons of mass destruction. On November 9, 2002, the United Nations Security Council passed United Nations Security Council Resolution, offering Iraq "a final opportunity to comply with its disarmament obligations" that had been set out in several previous resolutions notably to provide "an accurate full, final, and complete disclosure of all aspects of its programs to develop weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles". Resolution 1441 threatened "serious consequences" if the Iraqis didn't met the demands that United Nations gave them to disarm themselves of these weapons. On February 15, 2003, as a response to the imminent invasion, the largest ever world-wide protests took place with 6-10 million people in over 60 countries around the world. In his March 17, 2003, address to the nation, President George W. Bush demanded that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and his two sons Uday and Quay leave Iraq, giving them a 48-hour deadline.

This demand was rejected by the 3 men. Iraq maintained that it had disarmed as required. The United Nations weapons inspectors headed by Hans Blix, requested more time to complete their report on whether Iraq had complied with its obligation to disarm. The International Atomic Energy Agency reported a level of compliance by Iraq with the disarmament requirements. The attempt of the United Kingdom and the United States to obtain a further Resolution authorizing military force failed. But the United States led an invasion without the approval of the United Nations Security Council, and most legal authorities regard it as a violation of the United Nations Charter.

On March 20, 2003, 90 minutes after the lapse of the 48-hour deadline, explosions were heard in Baghdad. There is now evidence that various special forces troops from the coalition crossed the border into Iraq well before the air war commenced. President George W. Bush announced that he had ordered the coalition to launch an "attack of opportunity" against targets in Iraq. Both the United States ambassador to the United Nations, John Negroponte, and the United Kingdom ambassador Jeremy Green stock, in promoting Resolution 1441, had given assurances that it provided no "automatic ity", no "hidden triggers", no step to invasion without consultation of the Security Council. Such consultation was forestalled by the United States and United Kingdom's abandonment of the Security Council procedure and their invasion of Iraq.

There is still considerable disagreement among international lawyers on whether prior resolutions, relating to the 1991 war and later inspections, permitted the invasion. Richard Perle, a senior member of the administration's Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee, argued in November 2003, that the invasion was against international law, but still justified. At the same time Tony Blair's Attorney General Lord Goldsmith, while concluding that a reasonable case could be made that resolution 1441 required no further resolution of the United Nations, he could not guarantee that an invasion in the circumstances would not be challenged on legal grounds. United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan said in September 2004, "From our point of view and the United Nations Charter point of view the attack was illegal". Supporters of the war claim that the invasion had approval of the Security Council and wasn't in violation of the United Nations Charter.

Even with the discovery of some potential components of weapon of mass destruction manufacturing, no actual weapons of mass destruction were found. The Republican party and George W. Bush administration have been behind the effort for democracy in Iraq scene the first controversies started when Bush senior was the president. The United States Republican Party's campaign platform in the United States Presidential Election, 2000 called for "full implementation" of the Iraq Liberation Act and removal of Saddam Hussein. Upon the election of Bush as president, according to former treasury secretary Paul O'Neill, an attack was planned since the inauguration, and the first security council meeting discussed plans on invasion of the country. O'Neill later clarified that these discussions were part of a continuation of foreign policy first put into place by the Clinton Administration. After the attacks on 9-11-01 the George W. Bush administration announced a War on Terrorism, accompanied by the doctrine of military action.

From the 1990's, United States officials have constantly voiced concerns about ties between the government of Saddam Hussein and terrorist activities, notably in the environment of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The total death toll in Iraq scene the beginning of the war is 2,322 dead and 17,004 injured of United States military. There's also 103 British, 27 Italian, 18 Ukrainian, 17 Polish, 13 Bulgarian, 11 Spanish, 17 other military figures dead. And sadly there are 309 contractors, 81 journalists, 20 media support workers, and 150 aid workers dead. The war in Iraq commenced March 20, 2003 and has sustained to this very day and will persist till the U.S. is completely assured that we have finished are responsibility as to support the promotion of democracy into other countries. In the following it is evident that our just decisions that where made by George W. Bush, Congress and with the support of the citizens of the U.S. does not necessitate the approval of the U.N. and was the greatest decision the U.S. could have possibly made in such a situation.

The deduction that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction was a reasonable motive to invade Iraq, and knowing the history of the militant force that Saddam was capable of, which his invasion of Kuwait in 1991 showed, was another addition the legitimacy of the invasion. The information that Saddam had intelligence meet with the "masterminds" behind 9-11 is an additional ground as why the U.S. should of invaded, for Saddam helped the attacks of 9-11 which would be later engage Iraq in the War on terrorism. George W. Bush aspiration to rush into Iraq was decelerated by the complications of the U.N. desire to prevent such a war, therefore the U.S. decided to go around the U.N. As for the actions taken by the U.N. was completely unnecessary because as American we can do what we want when we want and no one would have the power to stop us. So in closing we gave the Iraqi militant and loyalists to Saddam what they deserved which was a complete overthrow of Saddam's corrupt government and an end to their crimes though the use of U.S. military force with the help of several other counties.

"We will never forget"