War On Iraq example essay topic
President Bush claims that Saddam is hiding nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons from inspectors, and even though he's shown some credible evidence, nobody seems to believe him. Everybody is in doubt about it because they don't want to full-heartedly trust the government with something of this caliber. It's hard to feel terribly anti-war, when even Elie Wiesel, a survivor of the Holocaust, says that we should go to war. He feels like Saddam is doing the same to the Iraqi people as was done to him. "We must do everything possible to prevent Saddam from using his weapons", said Wiesel.
Saddam has proven himself to be a threat time and again, but the problem comes when we try to assess that threat. What are his intentions? Does he really have weapons of mass destruction? And if so, will he actually use them? President Bush believes that his intentions are hostile, and that he does plan to use the weapons that he may or may not have.
In a presentation to the UN Security Council Colin Powell charged Iraq with conspiring to hide weapons from inspectors upon multiple occasions and allowing Al-Qaida to operate in Baghdad. Powell said that we have "irrefutable and undeniable" evidence that Iraq has weapons that are sanctioned by the UN. Satellite photos of supposed chemical weapons plants were shown, as were images of trucks moving things from one place in Iraq to another, but there is no credible evidence that the contents of the trucks were weapons. Powell also played recordings of radio conversations between Iraqi military workers talking about the movement of weapons being complete. Many people think that the evidence presented by the Bush Administration was fabricated. The radio conversations present by Powell never mention anything about chemical or biological, just that "The shipments have been moved and the facilities are empty".
Yes, this does sound suspicious, but it shows no proof that Iraq has weapons. The government has been grasping at straws, and has yet to pull together a solid case against Iraq. A war on Iraq could have huge repercussions, the largest of which is losing the backing of many of our long term allies. It is also possible that Bush will then want to push into North Korea, and if he succeeds it could cause World War. North Korea has long had the protection of China, and if we start a war with China, we will be in huge amounts of trouble. The Chinese military is extremely large, and even though it is not as advanced as ours, they have us beat with sheer numbers.
My grandfather was a Marine in the Korean War, and he remembers fighting the Chinese. "The thing that I remember most about the entire war, is watching as an endless stream of Chinese soldiers poured over hills, thousand after thousand, for hours upon time", said Donald Beaman, my grandfather. He was an artillery loader so he was usually in the back lines, but he says that the soldiers just never stopped coming. I personally have mixed feelings about the entire idea. I agree with Elie Wiesel in thinking that Saddam needs to be taken out of power, because he has committed huge atrocities against his people.
But, the consequences of a war just blow me away. All of the things that could happen if we go to war don't seem worth it if we " re only going to take out one man. We should push to disarm, not destroy. Keep him under our eye, and make sure he does no harm, but don't kill him because of things he might or might not have.
The consequences are too great. War or no war, I just pray that we come out of it as a strong nation. War could cause great devastation, but the threat that could be posed to the United States and the rest of the world if Iraq develops nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons is too great to simply be ignored by the world. The subject is incredibly controversial, and incredibly complicated, so it is smartest to just wait and see.