War With Iraq example essay topic

Copyright 2004 Devon M. Largo. All rights reserved. Introduction In the weeks and months that followed the events of September 11, 2001, the nation watched, listened, and read as the Bush administration declared a war on terror and the media began frenzied coverage of the military efforts in Afghanistan and the hunt for Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda. But in the midst of all of the chaos, speculation about the suspects at the heart of the attacks started to shift, though ever so slightly, into the direction of a familiar foe to the United States, and particularly to the Bush family: Saddam Hussein. Although he was mentioned by members of the media and the Bush administration as a possible conspirator in the terrorist acts on New York City and Washington, D.C. and any actual connection has yet to be established, the name Saddam Hussein was in the news and on the lips of government officials and President Bush himself only a couple of weeks after the dust had settled at Ground Zero. Now, more than two years after the horror of 9-11, a war with Iraq has been fought and, supposedly, won.

Saddam's regime has been ousted and a new-found freedom awaits the Iraqi people. But how did we get here, to the point of final confrontation with an enemy once challenged and long despised? When did the road to war with Saddam begin? When did the nation start to focus on the threat of terrorism in Iraq as opposed to threats from other nations and networks? Much discussion has occurred in political circles, in the news media, in classrooms, and in social settings about the reasons for the recent war with Iraq. The focus of the Iraq war rationales has been on the war on terrorism, a war that began as a result of September 11, 2001, and launched its first attack on Afghanistan and al Qaeda approximately one month later.

Yet, as preliminary research for this project showed, many other states were harboring al Qaeda networks and the link between al Qaeda and Iraq has yet to be solidly proven by the Bush 2 administration or others. Iraq may or may not actually have been supporting terrorism against the United States. What was clear to the Bush administration, however, was Saddam Hussein's outright refusal to allow United Nations' inspectors in his country any longer. It seems, then, that another rationale behind the war emerges: the potential for nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons development in Iraq. In fact, Saddam Hussein had once used chemical weapons on his own people, another act that clearly warranted suspicion from the United States. Such a vicious crime against one's people brings to light two other common themes for the war with Iraq in 2003: removing the Hussein regime and bringing a known villain and evil man to justice.

Saddam Hussein's rejection of the United Nations Resolution 1441 by forcing nuclear weapons inspectors out of his country also takes its place in the long line of motivations for the war; defying the resolution gives the United States and any other member of the U.N. the right to take action, according to the resolution (at least as the U.S. and Britain argued). But other, more sinister and less established rationales litter the path to war, as well. The feud with Saddam Hussein began over a decade ago when President Bush's father lived in the White House (though the United States' connection to Iraq began before that time, as the U.S. supported Iraq in its war with Iran). Could this war have been about tying up loose ends and taking care of unfinished business? Or could it have been a personal vendetta against Hussein because of his attempt on George Bush, Sr.'s life? Even more cynical than that, was this a war for oil?

Protestors often espoused this view of the war and give it some amount of credibility. All of these motives surfaced at some point during the debate over and analysis of the second conflict with Iraq. There may be more reasons for war than this that have yet to appear or have been overlooked in the past. This paper intends to chart these rationales over the time.